| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, November 27, 2018 |
| Ancient Chinese painting auctioned for almost $60 million at Christie's Hong Kong | |
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Su Shi (1037-1101), Wood and Rock. Handscroll, Ink on paper. Image: 26.3 X 50cm. Overall with mounting: 27.2 X 543cm. Estimate on Request. © Christies Images Limited 2018. HONG KONG (AFP).- A nearly 1,000-year-old ink painting by one of China's greatest literati masters Su Shi fetched US$59.5 million (HK$463,600,000) at auction, Christie's said Monday. The auction house has described the Song Dynasty artwork created by Su as "one of the world's rarest Chinese paintings". Entitled "Wood and Rock", the ink-on-paper handscroll depicts a dragon-like old tree with withered branches and a sharp rock resting at its root. The painting was the most expensive item ever sold in Christie's Asia, it said. Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, is one of the most important cultural figures in Chinese history and was an esteemed scholar, poet, prose-writer, painter, calligrapher and statesman. The 185.5cm-long scroll is inscribed with calligraphy and the poems of four important literati of the 11th century in China, and also exhibits the seals of 41 collectors. "The number of the works securely attributed to him are very few, probably only two or three. They are extremely ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This picture taken on November 24, 2018 shows carved wooden statues and funerary figurines called "Ushabtis" made of wood, faience and clay laid out on a table, discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission at the site of Tomb TT28 at Al-Assasif necropolis on the west bank of the Nile north of the southern Egyptian city of Luxor. Located between the royal tombs at the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, the Al-Assasif necropolis is the burial site of nobles and senior officials close to the pharaohs. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
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| 'Last Tango In Paris' director Bertolucci dies | | Kerlin Gallery opens a solo exhibition of new work by Liam Gillick | | Guillaume Lethière masterpiece goes on view in Clark Art Institute galleries | In this file photo taken on November 10, 2013 Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci attends the screening of "The Last Emperor" 3-D during AFI FEST 2013. VALERIE MACON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP. ROME (AFP).- Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose films include "Last Tango In Paris" and "1900", died on Monday aged 77. Considered one of the giants of world cinema, Bertolucci was the only Italian ever to win the Oscar for best film, snapping up the award in 1988 for "The Last Emperor." He had gained notoriety for his 1972 erotic drama "Last Tango In Paris" starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, which featured a controversial sex scene involving butter. The filmmaker died at his home in Rome early on Monday, his press office Punto e Virgola said in an email. He had been wheelchair-bound for several years because of back problems. Bertolucci's biographical masterpiece about the last Chinese emperor won a total of nine Oscars, all of those for which it was nominated. He won an honorary Palme d'Or for his life's ... More | | Liam Gillick, Liability Channelled, 2018 (detail). Powder-coated aluminium, 32 x 90 x 8 cm. DUBLIN.- Kerlin Gallery is presenting A Depicted Horse is not a Critique of a Horse, a solo exhibition of new work by Liam Gillick. This exhibition brings together a series of new abstract wall-based works alongside a sequence of large-scale graphics. The two sets of works stand in confrontation to each other, offering a clear view of the distinct contradictions at the heart of the artists practice. Drawn from an extensive archive of prints produced over the last twenty years, the large wall graphics express an interest in production over consumption, each one combining medieval woodcuts with a commentary upon conditions of production artistic and industrial, cognitive and craft-based. A friar toasts the arrival of the first car to be produced with computer-controlled robots. Saint Sebastian thinks about the Return on Capital Employed. And a chivalrous Knight dreams of hard-edged abstraction. In close proximity to each ... More | | Guillaume Lethière (French, 1760 1832), Brutus Condemning His Sons to Death, 1788 (detail). Oil on canvas, 23 3/8 x 39 in. Clark Art Institute, 2018.1.1. WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.- For the first time since acquiring Guillaume Guillon Lethières masterpiece, Brutus Condemning His Sons to Death, the Clark Art Institute presents the painting in its permanent collection galleries, beginning November 27. The painting was acquired at auction this spring along with a preparatory drawing by Lethière (c. 1788) and a stipple engraving dated 1794 by Pierre Charles Coqueret (Paris, 17611832) after Lethières painting. Conservation of the painting, drawing, and print were undertaken by Montserrat Le Mense at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. All three works will go on view in a special installation in the Clarks galleries. We are truly thrilled to be able to be able to share these works with our visitors, said Esther Bell, the Clarks Robert and Martha Berman Lipp Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture. For more than 200 years, Lethières impactful pain ... More |
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| Previously unseen portrait of Amy Winehouse and other recent acquisitions unveiled at National Portrait Gallery | | David Castillo Gallery to present works by a stellar group of artists at Art Basel Miami Beach | | Carsten Höller premieres a series of works that transform Massimo De Carlo's gallery into a doubt machine | Amy Winehouse by Ram Shergill, 2004, © Ram Shergill. LONDON.- A previously unseen portrait of musician Amy Winehouse, taken by fashion photographer Ram Shergill in 2003, has gone on public display for the first time at the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of a major new display of the Gallerys Contemporary Collection. The portrait, commissioned by The Guardian, but never published, reveals a young and playful Winehouse a year after the release of her debut album Frank, showing her vulnerability before she rose to fame with her second album Back to Black in 2006. The work, acquired by the Gallery in 2017, is shown alongside another rarely seen portrait of Winehouse by Shergill from the same series. The photographs feature in a section of the display devoted to music and fashion from the Nineties to Noughties, including portraits of Blur, Kate Moss, Take That, The Spice Girls and Alexander ... More | | David Castillo is recognized in the art industry for his long-term nurturing of artists, many represented by Castillo since the beginning of their careers. MIAMI, FLA.- David Castillo Gallery celebrates a pivotal moment during Art Basel this year, with trailblazing news: for the first time in more than a decade, Art Basel Miami Beach has vetted a gallery from Miami into the exclusive Galleries Section, where only the leading 200 galleries in the world are showcased. The gallerys ̶̶̶singular success story is exemplified by being chosen for this honor, and this year the stars are aligned. The ̶̶̶gallerys ̶̶̶booth ̶̶̶at Art Basel (Booth F26) presents a stellar group of artists from throughout the U.S. and abroad, featuring works in sculpture, painting, photography, installation, and paper by the artists Belkis Ayón, Sanford Biggers, Adler Guerrier, Quisqueya Henriquez, Pepe Mar, Glexis Novoa, Xaviera Simmons, Shinique Smith, and Vaughn Spann. This ̶̶̶marks ̶̶̶the ̶̶̶gallery ... More | | Carsten Höller, Mushroom Mathematics. Installation views Massimo De Carlo, Milan-Belgioioso, 2018. Photo by Roberto Marossi. Courtesy Massimo De Carlo, Milan/London/Hong Kong. MILAN.- Massimo De Carlo is presenting Mushroom Mathematics, a new exhibition by Carsten Höller. The artist returns to Italy having presented The Florence Experiment at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence earlier this year. With a similar scientific approach, Carsten Höller premieres a series of sculptures and paintings that transform the gallery into a doubt machine. Upon entering the first room of the gallery we are confronted with a large vitrine that accommodates 48 replicas of mushrooms in various colours, sizes, and shapes each composed by one half Fly-agaric and the second half made up of edible, inedible, or poisonous mushrooms. The Fly-agaric mushroom (also known as Amanita muscaria) is an important element in cultural history: it holds poisonous and psychoactive ... More |
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| Tributes for British director who filmed Bowie, Jagger | | Perrotin Seoul opens an exhibition of works by New York-based artist Josh Sperling | | Hamiltons opens the first-ever UK exhibition of paintings by Irving Penn | Bowie starred in Roeg's "The Man Who Fell To Earth" as an unhappy alien. Bowie's filmmaker son Duncan Jones said he was a "great storyteller" and "inimitable". LONDON.- Tributes have poured in for late British director Nicolas Roeg, a filmmaker who worked with David Bowie and Mick Jagger and who died at the age of 90 last week. Hollywood star Donald Sutherland, who starred in Roeg's critically-acclaimed 1973 psychological thriller "Don't Look Now", paid tribute to him as a "fearless visionary". Oscar-winner Sutherland said in a statement that Roeg was a "liberating joy to work for", adding: "I fell in love with him then and will love him forever". Roeg's family said the director died on Friday. Bowie starred in Roeg's "The Man Who Fell To Earth" as an unhappy alien. Bowie's filmmaker son Duncan Jones said he was a "great storyteller" and "inimitable". Roeg also shot "Performance" (1970) starring James Fox as a gangster and Rolling Stones frontman Mick ... More | | View of the exhibition "Two Purple Tigers", at Perrotin Seoul © Photo: Youngha Cho. Courtesy of the artist & Perrotin. SEOUL.- Two Purple Tigers, an exhibition of new work by New York-based artist Josh Sperling, his second with Perrotin and his first in Asia, features the artists signature formssquiggles, swirls, rambunctious geometryin new configurations. Eat Your Heart Out (2018), a wall of geometric forms and snaking glyphs, is an edge-to-edge composition with seemingly porous borders, delimited only by the wall that supports it. No central figure anchors the image, no individual shape overpowers the eye. Instead, all-over pattern and motion reign. Like wriggling forms seen through a microscope, Eat Your Heart Out presents only a sample of a larger phenomenon: in this case, Sperlings ongoing series of shaped canvas forms. Each shaped canvas is meticulously crafted. Layers of plywood are built up, forming the armature over which canvas ... More | | Untitled, ca. 1987. © The Irving Penn Foundation. LONDON.- Hamiltons presents the first-ever UK exhibition of paintings by Irving Penn. Although Penn is internationally renowned for his work as a photographer, he initially set out to be a painter and worked in the medium at the beginning and end of his career. Focused on Penns paintings from the artists final two decades, Hamiltons exhibition will be on view until 25th January 2019. Encompassing multiple works drawn from the collection of The Irving Penn Foundation, the exhibition will showcase Penns mixed-media paintings from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, highlighting the artists experimentation with materials, form, and colour. Drawing inspiration from leading 20th century figures such as Henri Matisse, Giorgio Morandi, and Fernand Léger, Penns textured, primarily abstract, paintings deviate from the striking style of his photographs yet share in similar techniques and bold character. ... More |
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| In Iraq, an ancient board game is making a comeback | | Medardo Rosso's Petite Rieuse the star of Chiswick Auctions upcoming Fine European Works of Art sale | | Ketterer Kunst's Auction of 19th Century Art: Top lot goes to Russia | Iraqi artist Hoshmand Mofaq sits over an ancient board game, known as the Royal Game of Ur, in the northern Iraqi city of Raniey on October 22, 2018. SHWAN MOHAMMED / AFP. RANIYE (AFP).- After rolling pyramid-shaped dice, Iraqi Kurdish artisan Hoshmand Muwafaq shifted his pebble around an ornate board, his handmade recreation of one of the Middle East's oldest and most popular games. Originating nearly 5,000 years ago in what would become Iraq, the Royal Game of Ur mysteriously died out -- until Muwafaq resurrected it by making his own decorated wooden board. "It is a nice feeling when you rebuild and recreate a game which is not played by people anymore, and you try to show your generation and your people what we used to have before," he told AFP. "So you introduce the board again to the people. It's just really something, somehow amazing." It was only in 1922 that the board game came to light. A board -- a kind of draughtboard ... More | | Medardo Rossos wax head of a laughing woman known as Petite Rieuse. LONDON.- Medardo Rosso is the most famous sculptor you have probably never heard of. Considered by critics of his time as without doubt, the greatest living sculptor, it is only in relatively recent years that his work is again receiving the acclaim it so justly deserves. Chiswick Auctions will be offering Medardo Rossos wax head of a laughing woman known as Petite Rieuse in the forthcoming Fine European Works of Art sale on December 5, 2018. The sculpture was originally sold by the artists granddaughter to the important art dealer Philip Granville of Lords Gallery in 1965 and is sold with the original invoice. It was sold at the same time as the Grande Rieuse, which is now in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery. The Petite Rieuse featured in the seminal exhibition at the Hayward Gallery Pioneers of Modern Sculpture in 1973 and ... More | | Ivan Aivasovsky, Ruhige See, 1887. Oil on canvas, 65.3 x 98.5 cm. Sold for: 212,500. MUNICH.- The autumn auction season at Ketterer Kunst in Munich kicked off with an extremely successful sale of 19th Century Art. Grossing total proceeds of more than 1.6 million (with just 128 lots!) it was one of the best auctions this department has ever seen. The star of the evening was Ivan Aivasovskys atmospheric Ruhige See. Todays auction has proven that the combination of a high recognition factor, a flawless provenance, and a reasonable estimate price is the key ingredient for a guaranteed success, says Robert Ketterer. The auctioneer and company owner continues to explain: Additionally, two other significant components fell into place, as this sale was dominated by open sellers and active buyers. This favorable situation led to an excellent sales quota of more than 75% by lots, as well as an average increase of around 70% per sold lot. What is particularly ... More |
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href=' href=' A Young Marriage Portrait | Anthony van Dyck's 'Portrait of Princess Mary'
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| More News | All eyes on Richard Lin and Yayoi Kusama at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong HONG KONG.- The work of the renowned Taiwan-born minimalist artist, Richard Lin (1933-2011) sparked high interest at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art in Hong Kong on 26 November with three pieces selling for at least three times their original estimates. The largely all-Asian sale achieved a total of HK$29,622,500 with 84% sold by lot and 73.52% sold by value. Pieces included two sourced directly from Richard Lins estate Painting Relief (1961) which sold for HK 3,940,000 against a pre-sale estimate of HK$1,000,000-2,000,000 and Untitled (The Black Sun) (1958-1960), selling for HK$3,460,000, against an estimate of HK$850,000-1,250,000. The third piece, Untitled (1967), also hammered down at HK$2,000,000, against a pre-sale estimate of HK$650,000-850,000. In October this year, Bonhams held the artists first European retrospective ... More New book marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most celebrated images in American history LONDON.- Released this November Art Kane: Harlem 1958 marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most celebrated images in American history. Now commonly known as A Great Day in Harlem, the famous shot of 57 jazz musicians gathered outside a brownstone in New York is one of the most imitated images in popular culture, by one of the worlds greatest photographers. Art Kane: Harlem 1958 is a visual history of an iconic image including, for the first time, virtually every single frame from the historic shoot. With original text by Art Kane, forewords by Quincy Jones, the legendary Benny Golson, who appears in the photo, and an introduction by Kane's son, musician and photographer Jonathan Kane, the 168-page hardback volume is the story behind the shot. I came up with the idea of getting as many musicians together in one place as we ... More Professor McAra-McWilliam appointed Director of The Glasgow School of Art GLASGOW.- The Board of The Glasgow School of Art has announced today, 26 November 2018, that it has appointed Professor Irene McAra-McWilliam as Director of The Glasgow School of Art. The appointment will initially be for one year and the GSA will in due course undertake a full candidate search. Since 16th October, Professor McAra-McWilliam and Professor Ken Neil have been acting as joint interim Directors and the Board wishes to thank Professor Neil for undertaking this role. Irene McAra-McWilliam joined the GSA in 2005 as Head of School of Design which flourished under her leadership and expanded to include the Institute of Design Innovation. She was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Years Honours in recognition of her work in Higher Education, Innovation and Design, and in that year was appointed Deputy Director (Innovation). She established ... More Rare Italian design highlights Bonhams Modern Decorative Art & Design sale NEW YORK, NY.- On December 14, Bonhams sale of Modern Decorative Art + Design will offer over 150 works featuring rare designs of furniture, glass, and ceramics from the most sought-after Italian designers of the 20th century such as Osvaldo and Valeria Borsani, Fausto Molotti, and Carlo Mollino. Following this sale, Bonhams will also offer Fire and Light: A Selection of Highlights from the Cenedese Archive. Highlighting the sale is a unique occasional table by Osvaldo (1911-1985) and Valeria Borsani, 1971 (estimate: $15,000-30,000). This is a tour de force of amalgamated geometries and one of Borsanis last great designs. Essentially one folded sheet of steel serves double duty as both leg support and table top surface. Taking the X motif from the console tables, but rendering it in the negative, this leaves just half of the X outline ... More Ghostbusters movie prop tops $71,000 in Hake's $1.5M mid-November auction YORK, PA.- In mid-November, Hakes Auctions concluded a banner year in high-flying style with a $1.5 million sale that underscored the relentless collector interest in Star Wars, movie and political memorabilia, and pop culture in general. The Nov. 13-15 event, which consisted of two days of selling separated by a gap day, pushed the years total for the Pennsylvania-based company to $5.9 million. This number eclipses our previous annual record of $3.9 million, which was set just last year, said Hakes president, Alex Winter. Some of the prices realized in the November sale surprised even our experts, who have a day-to-day involvement with some of the highest-quality collections across all categories. The November headliner was a fantastic screen-used Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II Ghost Trap film prop that came complete with ... More Highlights from Freeman's upcoming Design Sale announced PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Rounding out Freemans 2018 auction season is the December 10 sale of Design. The auction includes close to 130 lots, offering a varied selection of master American studio artisans from Pennsylvania, and the New Hope area. Among the modern designers, works by George Nakashima (1905-1990), Paul Evans (1931-1987), Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), and Phillip Lloyd Powell (1919-2008) feature prominently, along with an assortment of more than a dozen silver items, from a California collection. Lot 122, an Important Holtz Dining Table by George Nakashima (estimate: $150,000-250,000) is perhaps the most impressive piece in the sale. In 1984, the woodworker and guru was approached by a D.C. architect, David A. Holtz, to create a dining table to serve as a truly spectacular piece of art in Mr. Holtz's Potomac , ... More Figure of a Young Boy confirmed as the work of American Folk Art sculptor Asa Ames LAMBERTVILLE, NJ.- Ragos December 1 Curiouser and Curiouser auction is filled with beautiful, intriguing and remarkable objects, as well as significant discoveries. The most important of these discoveries is a major find in the American folk art field: a forty-three inch high figure of a young boy, a tender yet serious carving in original polychrome paint, purchased over 20 years ago in the Buffalo, New York area. Hitherto unidentified (and still an attribution as of production of the print auction catalog), this sculpture, ca 1840, has now been confirmed as the work of Asa Ames (1823 1851). Relatively unknown until the American Folk Art Museums 2008 exhibit Asa Ames: Occupation Sculpturing, today Ames is an icon in the folk art field. It is fitting that it is the curator of Asa Ames: Occupation Sculpturing who has recently examined and authenticated ... More Casablanca insert boosts Heritage Auctions' Movie Posters Auction beyond $1.6 million DALLAS, TX.- A Casablanca (Warner Brothers, 1942) Insert nearly doubled its pre-auction high estimate when numerous bidders drove its final price to $102,000, claiming top-lot honors in Heritage Auctions Movie Posters Auction in Dallas. The total value of the auction, which boasted sell-through rates of 97 percent by value and 96 percent by lot, was $1,602,103. The 14-by-36-inch high-demand poster was widely anticipated prior to the Nov. 17-18 auction. Part of the appeal to collectors is the fact that this poster features all of the films main characters, including the leads played by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. The film went on to become one of the most important films in Hollywood history, developing an enormous base of fans and collecting several Oscars along the way, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. ... More On December 9, estate jewelry & more goes up for bid at Turner Auctions + Appraisals SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will present Estate Jewelry & More, offering fine and costume jewelry. Featuring over 185 lots from multiple collectors and estates, the sale offers antique, vintage and contemporary jewelry, mostly for ladies, including rings, earrings, necklaces, chains, bracelets, pendants, brooches, watches, and more. Most are crafted of gold or sterling silver, gem-set with embellishments such as white or colored diamonds, opal, coral, jade, sapphire, amethyst, turquoise, rose quartz, lapis, malachite, tanzanite, and other semiprecious stones. Other lots offer Southwest-style and Mexican silver jewelry. Highlights of the sale include several Matl necklaces by noted Mexico City jewelry designer Matilde Poulat or her nephew, Ricardo Salas. There are also many groupings of costume jewelry and other wearables including ... More Noted composer, instrument builder, and sound artist, brings his sonic ingenuity to the Morris Museum MORRISTOWN, NJ.- John Morton has spent his life immersed in sound. As a composer, his passion is to make musical connections between unintentional events. Simple things like bird song masked by a passing truck, a creak in a floor, or the very specific envelope of dissolve made by the slamming of a hot dog cart lid, are among his inspirations. Mortons sound installations have graced public parks, village greens, pedestrian bridges, historic and industrial sites, libraries, and now the Morris Museum with Sound Garden, starting November 16th and continuing through February 24th in the Main Gallery. Sound Garden consists of two interactive, sound-immersive installations: Fever Songs (2018) by Morton and The Voyage Out (2006-2018), in collaboration with Jacqueline Shatz. John Mortons work showcases the sonic beauty in the world around our ears. If were often ... More
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| href=' Flashback On a day like today, Italian sculptor and architect Jacopo Sansovino died November 27, 1570. Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino (2 July 1486 - 27 November 1570) was an Italian sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity. Giorgio Vasari uniquely printed his Vita of Sansovino separately. In this image: Maestro del san giovannino, san giovannino nel deserto, 1505-1507.
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