| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, November 24, 2016 |
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| | Israeli scientists unearth extraordinary 'thinker' figurine from the Middle Bronze Age | |
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Israel Antiquities Authority conservator Elisheva Kamaisky shows a 3,800-year-old jug from the Middle Bronze Age, featuring a human sculpture, on November 23, 2016 at the Israel Antiquities Authority lab in Jerusalem, after the artifact was unearthed during an archaeological excavation ahead of the construction of new buildings in Yehud. A "unique" jug shaped as a thinking person nearly 3,800 years old and the first of its kind found was revealed by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Uncovering the ceramic vessel during an archaeological excavation ahead of the construction of new buildings in Yehud, a small city east of Tel Aviv, was "very exciting," according to Gilad Itach, the excavation director for the IAA. MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP.
JERUSALEM (AFP).- A "unique" 3,800-year-old figurine showing a seated person, apparently deep in thought, was unveiled in Israel on Wednesday. Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said that the figure, wearing a hat and with its chin resting on its hand, was discovered recently in excavations at Yehud, east of Tel Aviv. It caps an 18-centimetre (seven-inch) jug, and was found in a grave alongside other funerary offerings including daggers, arrowheads and an axe head. "Such a unique ceramic vessel, which is the first we've found, within the context of the grave, can indicate that an important person was buried there," Gilad Itach, IAA excavation director, told AFP. The findings date from the Middle Bronze Age, also known as the Canaanite period, but it is impossible to say who the creators of the objects and the person buried at the site were since they left no writing, Itach added. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A picture taken on November 21, 2016 shows a mosaic inside Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
| Anne Frank poem fetches 140,000 euros at Dutch auction | | Stairs from Eiffel Tower sell for over half a million euros | | Sotheby's Latin American Art Evening Sale totals $16.8 million | 
A man shows a handwritten poem by Anne Frank, written shortly before she went into hiding from the Nazis. Koen Suyk / ANP / AFP.
HAARLEM (AFP).- A very rare handwritten poem by Jewish diarist Anne Frank was sold for 140,000 euros to an unnamed online bidder Wednesday, fetching almost three times its reserve price. Auctioneers closed the sale after just two minutes of tense bidding at the Bubb Kuyper auction house in the western Dutch city of Haarlem. Around 20 collectors took their seats in a sales room decorated with antique books, maps and illustrations while others bid by telephone and online. The reserve price was set at 30,000 euros ($31,000). "Over the last 40 years, only four or five documents signed by the teenager have gone under the hammer," Bubb Kuyper co-director Thys Blankevoort said. Dedicated to "Dear Cri-cri," the poem, written in Dutch in black ink on a notebook-size piece of white paper which has slightly discoloured with age, is signed "in memory, from Anne Frank." Frank wrote the 12-line text, dated March 28, 1942 ... More | | 
Gustave Eiffel, Escalier de la Tour Eiffel, 1889. © Artcurial.
PARIS (AFP).- A section of stairs from the Eiffel Tower in Paris sold for more than half a million euros, auctioneers said Wednesday -- more than 10 times the pre-sale estimate. The 14 wrought-iron steps from a winding staircase between the second and third floors of the Paris landmark went for 523,800 euros ($556,000) after furious bidding at the sale in the French capital. Auction house Artcurial said the dramatic sale on Tuesday had "unleashed the passions" of several international buyers, with bids rising rapidly from 20,000 euros, leaving the 40,000 euro estimate far behind. The prize eventually fell to a telephone bid from an Asian buyer. Auctioneer Francois Tajan said "the battle over the phone and in the auction room for the stairs showed the profound attachment there is for a monument that is so emblematic of French culture." The stairs date from 1889 when the legendary French engineer Gustave Eiffel built the 324-metre (1,063-foot) edifice as the ... More | | 
Rediscovered Frida Kahlo fetches $1.8 million. Photo: Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Last night at Sothebys New York, the evening sale of Latin American Art brought a total of $16,841,500, within the $14.5/19.9 million estimate, with 69% of lots sold. Online participation was particularly strong, with 23% of lots selling to internet bidders. The top lot of the evening was SandÃas y naranja by Rufino Tamayo, which was formerly in the collection of film legend and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn. The work was the subject of a long contest between two telephone bidders before eventually selling for $2,292,500 (est. $1.2/1.8m). A series of exceptional prices for Fernando Botero were led by the monumental bronze Man on a Horse from the collection of Marjorie S. Fisher, Palm Beach, which realized $1,824,500, well over the $800,000 / 1.2 million estimate. Homage to Bonnard, a largescale nude painting, also exceeded expectations to sell for $1,392,500 (est. $600/800,000). Frida Kahlos Niña con collar realised $1,812 ... More |
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| Modern & Post-War British Art Sales at Sotheby's London total £10,345,500 | | Rijksmuseum launches own cook book | | New Christie's sale taps Asian quest for Western art | 
Christopher Wood, Anemones in a Glass Jar, pencil and oil on canvas, 1925. Estimate: £70,000 - 100,000. Sold for: £3,758,750 ($4,690,544).
LONDON.- Modern & Post-War British Art took centre stage at Sothebys in London this week, as collectors responded with resounding enthusiasm to this seasons standout offerings. The Evening and Day Sales on 22 23 November brought a combined total of £9,457,250 (est. £5.5 8.1 million), with a sell-through rate of 92%, and 75% of the lots selling for above their pre-sale high estimates. This sell-through rate ranks as Sothebys highest for a sale of Modern & Post-War British Art1. The auctions were led by a monumental sculpture by Barbara Hepworth from her seminal Family of Man series, which brought £3.8 million. Highlights of Modern British Art from the collection of Lord & Lady Attenborough also soared in the saleroom, as every single lot sold to bring a grand total of £1.8 million. This was followed by the white-glove sale A Painters Paradise, ... More | | 
Rijksmuseum Cookbook cover.
AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum has launched a cookbook in which fifty typically Dutch ingredients, from potatoes to seaweed, form the basis of 160 dishes. There are stories and traditional recipes, and fifty top chefs and master patissiers from all over the country have been inspired to create their own dishes. Nine hundred illustrations from the Rijksmuseums collection provide a colourful historical culinary backdrop. The Rijksmuseum asked Jonah Freud, cookery journalist and owner of De Kookboekenhandel in Amsterdam, to compile the Rijksmuseum Cookbook. She collected original and modern dishes based on one or more of the fifty ingredients that define Dutch cooking. She invited fifty Dutch cooks and patissiers to create their own recipes inspired by one of the ingredients. The contributors included celebrities such as Robert Kranenborg and Jonnie Boer, as well as young, up-and-coming chefs like Jim de Jong and Benny Blisto. RIJKS® chef Jor ... More | | 
The works by contemporary and classical artists include Willem de Kooning (pictured above), Andy Warhol and Claude Monet. © Christies Images Limited 2016.
HONG KONG (AFP).- Auction house Christie's is holding its first ever sale of Western art masterpieces in Hong Kong this week in response to a surge in interest from wealthy Asian collectors. The works by contemporary and classical artists including Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol and Claude Monet are designed to appeal to an elite pool of buyers in the region who are increasingly making their presence felt on the global art scene. Worth more than $250 million in total, the works will not go under the hammer, but will be available for private sale and on show to the public from Thursday as part of an exhibition called "The Loaded Brush". In the past three to four years Asian collectors from across the region have "driven the art market at the highest level", said Brett Gorvy, chairman and international head of post-war ... More |
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| From the Lands of Asia: A world premiere at Pointe-à-Callière | | Freeman's to offer the Forbes Collections December 4 | | 1,000 East African skulls, bones still held in Berlin | 
Noh actor. Painted wood. Japan, Momoyama period (15731603). Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. Photo: Thierry Ollivier.
MONTREAL.- In a world premiere, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection is being featured at Pointe-à -Callière, the Montréal Archaeology and History Complex from November 17, 2016 to March 19, 2017. Some 450 exceptional objects offer an uncommon perspective of the vast sweep of East Asian history. Part of a larger collection of some 5,000 works of Asian art, including one of the worlds most extensive private collections of ancient jade, the exhibition also includes a selection of pieces from classical antiquity, ivories, impressive Buddhist icons, porcelain, and silks. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection is a wonderful opportunity to experience some faraway places, explains Pointe-à -Callières executive director, Francine Lelièvre. Its a real privilege to have access to such a collection, ... More | | 
Malcolm Forbes.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- No other name in recent American history conjures up the image of the skilled collector as readily as that of Malcolm Forbes. Over the course of his life, he amassed a collection of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences on three continents. On December 14 Freeman's will be presenting The Forbes Collection, with items drawn from the houses on his two hundred-fifty square mile ranch in Colorado, palace in Tangier, mansion in London, island in Fiji, legendary yacht The Highlander, FORBES former headquarters at 60 Fifth Avenue and his beloved New Jersey estate Timberfield. Senior Vice President and Division Head, Nicholas B.A. Nicholson remarks on the sale: "It has been a wonderful experience to work with this family of consummate collectors. The Forbes family is truly happy to see these pieces head off to join or form new collections elsewhere. ... More | | 
This file photo taken on September 30, 2011 shows one of 20 skulls about to be handed over to a 55-strong Namibian delegation. JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP.
BERLIN (AFP).- More than 1,000 skulls and bones belonging to east Africans and brought to Germany for racial "scientific" research during the colonial era are still in storage in Berlin, a media report said Tuesday. Public broadcaster ARD said it had obtained lists of the human remains that are still held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which administers the capital's state museums. Most of the skulls and bones are marked as stemming from Germany's former East African colonies, including 1,003 items from Rwanda and 60 from Tanzania. Among them are 10 skulls of children. Some of the human remains, kept at the Foundation's main storage facility, came from insurgents who had been decapitated by German troops. Their skulls were then sent to Berlin for "scientific" ... More |
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| E.Charlton Fortune's vibrant Monterey painting shines at Bonhams California Sale | | Dramatic Sioux war shirt fringed with human hair locks may bring $45,000 at Heritage Auctions | | Beastly good: Rare Books Auction in Hamburg achieves €72.000 for a whole lot of mammals | 
Detail of Untitled (Monterey Bay) by E.Charlton Fortune, sold for $787,500. Photo: Bonhams.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- At Bonhams California and Western Paintings & Sculpture sale last night (November 21), an exceptional painting of the famous Monterey Bay by Californian Impressionist E. Charlton Fortune sold for $787,500. The work had never appeared at auction before, and Californian buyers clamored to bid on the painting, which featured the female artists favorite subject the curving bay south of San Francisco. E. Charlton Fortune has been hailed as Californias finest Impressionist she was a pioneering modernist in her day, and her varied travels informed her practice throughout her career. The Monterey Bay work featured in Bonhams sale was painted in the late 1920s, shortly after Fortune had returned from a long sojourn to Europe, where she lived in St Ives and St Tropez and was hugely influenced by the avant-garde movements tearing through the continent. There were strong results elsewhere in the sale, ... More | | 
A Sioux Pictorial Beaded Hide War Shirt, c. 1890. Hide, pigments, glass seed beads. Estimate: $45,000 - $65,000.
DALLAS, TX.- A circa 1890 Plains style Sioux Pictorial Beaded Hide War Shirt, fringed with long locks of dark hair, could sell for as much as $45,000 as part of an extraordinary array of American Indian art in Heritage Auctions' American Indian, Pre-Columbian and Tribal Art Auction in Dallas Dec. 13 in Dallas. "This is a really important piece, in part because, it's a war shirt a very masculine object. Collectors love weapons and things related to warriors, and this shirt falls into that category," Heritage American Indian Art Director Delia E. Sullivan said." "Plus, it's pictorial it has American flags worked into the bead patterns, which everyone likes." The war shirt was created to be worn in the style of a poncho. The open sides are held together with hide tie laces, and the sleeves are sewn together from wrist to elbow. Painted blue, green and yellow, the shirt is decorated with beaded strips over the shoulders and down the sleeves, ... More | | 
Joachim Joh. Nepomuk Spalowsky, Beytrag zur Naturgeschichte der vierfüssigen Thiere, 2 vols. Paris around 1450. calling price: 30,000, result: 72,000
HAMBURG.- With total proceeds of around 1.8 million, the two-day auction of Rare Books at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg on 21/22 November realized excellent results. Last year's figures were even exceeded by 200,000. Joachim Joh. Nepomuk Spalowsky's splendid natural history of mammals was particularly in demand. The only edition of Joachim Joh. Nepomuk Spalowsky's Beytrag zur Naturgeschichte der vierfüssigen Thiere (lot 34) was the top lot in the auction. Several written bids and three phones from Germany, Austria and the USA competed for the lavishly printed natural history of mammals. Called up at 28,000 the bidding quickly picked up pace, eventually a collector from California made the race with a price of 72,000. The list of written bids for Marc Chagall's Eaux-fortes originales (lot 113) was also quite long. The work with 105 original etchings was made in Paris in 1956. In preparati ... More |
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Paris Contemporary: Monumental Oils and other Masterpieces
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 Latin American art sells for nearly $23 mn at Christie's auctionNEW YORK (AFP).- Christie's on Wednesday wrapped up one of its biggest auctions of Latin American art at $22.7 million, with seven Cuban painters drawing record prices as interest in the region's artists climbs. In a two-day sale, Christie's auctioned nearly 300 lots of five major private collections. Although the total came in below the expected $30 million, it was still one of the auction house's largest takes for Latin American art. "There were strong results for the collection of Cuban works belonging to a single owner, with active bids that earned many lots more than double the initial estimates," Virgilio Garza, Christie's Latin American art chief, said in a statement. "This auction means that modern Cuban painting is back," he added. Buyers from 36 countries took part in the bidding. "Sandias" ("Watermelons") by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, an almost abstract work of explosive ... More Exhibition of new work by the British artist Mat Chivers opens at PM/AMLONDON.- PM/AM presents Harmonic Distortion, an exhibition of new work by the British artist Mat Chivers, his first solo show in London in more than five years. Chiverss presentation uses a range of media to explore relationships between environmental phenomena, the fundamental materials that constitute the world, and the contemporary production technologies that we use to understand and interact with them. Harmonic Distortion is comprised of an eponymous series of large-scale sculptures, a further series of wall-based works, and a performative piece inspired by Shibari, a ritualised form of erotic bondage that will incorporate drawing and original music. The Harmonic Distortion works are large-scale sculptures that are formed from solid blocks of alternately black and white sections of marble. The patterns have a binary, pixel-like quality that alludes ... More Hamburg's Drawing Room presents works by conceptual artist, photographer and sculptor Almut LindeHAMBURG.- My studio is the world and reality my materialwith this succinct statement the conceptual artist, photographer and sculptor Almut Linde, born in Lübeck in 1965 and currently living and working in Hamburg, describes the basic principles behind her artistic work. Linde questions familiar and automated processes, as well as the actions of individuals in their professional and everyday life. She also exposes social injustices, highlighting them from an unusual perspective. Hence her works have a political relevance that is more important than ever in the current art sector and discourse. The solo exhibition Almut Linde Radical Beauty, on show at the Drawing Room from 10th November 2016 to 26th January 2017, presents works arising from actions with people in existential settings and includes objects, photographs, stills and a video. Linde seeks out places ... More Audain Foundation pledges $2 million to Art Gallery of Greater Victoria - Next GalleryVICTORIA, BC.- British Columbia philanthropist Michael Audain, through the Audain Foundation, has pledged $2 million to support the expansion plans of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Audain is Chairman of Polygon Homes Ltd., one of British Columbias leading home builders. The donation was announced today by AGGV Board Chair, Ruth Wittenberg. We are extremely grateful to the Foundation and Mr. Audain for their support. This inspiring gift will help ensure that British Columbias capital city will have the astonishing new home for art that it deserves. The gift is contingent upon the Art Gallery of Victoria Next Gallery receiving the necessary funding from the Province of British Columbia during the 2017 calendar year. The AGGV is currently in talks with both the federal and provincial governments. Commenting on the donation, Audain noted that For many years, ... More Artists announced for the sixth edition of Jerwood Makers OpenLONDON.- Following a national call which elicited 271 submissions, Sam Bakewell, Juli Bolaños-Durman, Jessica Harrison, Marcin Rusak and Laura Youngson Coll have been selected for Jerwood Makers Open 2017, a unique commissioning opportunity recognising the most exciting new talents in contemporary applied arts. Each artist will receive an award of £7,500 to realise and make new work. The resulting work will be shown in a group exhibition as part of the Jerwood Visual Arts programme at Jerwood Space in London from 28 June 27 August 2017, before touring nationally. The 2017 awardees have submitted distinct proposals which they will develop over the next six months, each with a focus on exploring new materials and processes: · Breaking with his history in clay, Sam Bakewell will be using wood for the first time. He plans to carve with a chainsaw ... More Paul Manship Diana sculpture realizes $727,500 at Bonhams New YorkNEW YORK, NY.- Paul Manships Art Deco sculpture, Diana, of Diana the huntress smashed estimates at the Bonhams American Art sale in New York 22 November, 2016, selling for $727,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $400,000-600,000. The sale saw strong results across the board, achieving over $3,000,000 in total. Manships bronze sculpture was conceived in New York in 1921. The artists influences lay in Greek and Roman mythology, and his work often depicts classical scenes inspired by the stories of antiquity. Manship is most famous for his gilded Prometheus sculpture outside the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Although in wide demand across the US, his Diana sculptures were especially prized. The version featured in the Bonhams sale may be the most recognizable Diana, and has been described by critics as the triumph of his career. In Alistair Smarts ... More Exceptional Asian rarities set to star in Heritage's Hong Kong Coin and Currency AuctionHONG KONG.- Gold issues and large-denomination currency headline Asia's fastest-growing World Coin and Currency auction. The 3rd semi-annual Heritage HKNIF World Currency and World and Ancient Coins Signature Auctions will give collectors the opportunity to grow their collections before the year's end December 7th-9th. The auctions will take place at the Mira Hong Kong Hotel in Kowloon. An exceptional gold rarity leads the coin offerings. One of just 66 People's Republic Gold Peacock Proof 1500 Yuan 1993 PR68 Ultra Cameo NGC is one of the scarcest modern Chinese coins. This is the first example Heritage has offered of this rare issue. Weighing in at 20 oz., this massive piece displays frosted devices and blemish-free mirrored fields. A 1928 Republic "Auto" Dollar AU55 PCGS Different Doors variety will star in any elite offering of vintage Chinese coinage. ... More Obama awards his final Presidential Medals of FreedomWASHINGTON (AFP).- Basketball star Michael Jordan, actor Robert De Niro and music legend Bruce Springsteen were among the 21 people honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday. During a ceremony at the White House President Barack Obama gave out the awards -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- for his last time to a diverse group of sports stars, scientists, artists and philanthropists. "Everybody on this stage has touched me in a very powerful personal way," Obama said. "It's useful when you think about this incredible collection of people to realize that this is what makes us the greatest nation on earth. "Not because of what we are, not because of our differences, but because in our difference we find something common to share." The star-studded group included actors Tom Hanks and Robert Redford, basketball great Kareem Abdul- ... More Winnipeg Art Gallery brings land issues to the forefront with pair of Boarding exhibitsWINNIPEG.- The Winnipeg Art Gallery presents Boarder X and Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant, two exhibitions demonstrating how Indigenous art, culture, and land intersect. Boarder X reveals skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing as vehicles that challenge conformity and status quo. Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant, organized by the National Gallery of Canada, connects surfboards and video to Australian Aboriginal territory. Both exhibitions are on view until spring 2017. The Winnipeg Art Gallery is working to embrace reconciliation, Indigenous communities, and their art, states Dr. Stephen Borys, WAG Director & CEO. Boarder X and Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant support this mission by promoting a greater understanding of Indigenous culture, while tapping into the energy of boarding. Boarder X features work by contemporary artists from Indigenous nations across Canada: ... More Exhibition of work made in the last two years by Donald Sultan on view at Ryan LeeNEW YORK, NY.- Ryan Lee is presenting Donald Sultan: New Paintings, an exhibition of work made in the last two years. Sultan, who first rose to prominence during the 1980s, has challenged the boundaries between painting and sculpture throughout his career. Using industrial materials such as roofing tar, aluminum, linoleum and enamel, Sultan layers, gouges, sands and constructs his paintingssumptuous, richly textured compositions often made of the same materials as the rooms in which they are displayed. This is Sultans second solo painting exhibition at Ryan Lee. In this new series of paintings, Sultan expands his exploration of the industrialization of nature, interrogating the transformation of natural elements such as fruit and flowers into iconography for consumption, whether as fine art or manufactured goods. The image of a button poppy a hybrid shape ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born November 24, 1864. Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 - 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an ?uvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern and sometimes decadent life of those times. In this image: A man passes in front of two posters by French artist Toulouse Lautrec, belonging to Brussels' Musée d'Ixelles, which were shown for the first time in Spain under the title 'Toulouse Lautrec. The origin of the modern poster', at Valencian Museum of Illustration and Modernity, in Valencia, eastern Spain, Thursday 29 September 2005.
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