Exhibition of Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera Opens at Tate Modern

LONDON.- Exposed offers a fascinating look at pictures made on the sly, without the explicit permission of the people depicted. With photographs from the late nineteenth century to present day, the pictures present a shocking, illuminating and witty perspective on iconic and taboo subjects. Beginning with the idea of the ‘unseen photographer’, Exposed presents 250 works by celebrated artists and photographers including Brassaï’s erotic Secret Paris of the 1930s images; Weegee’s iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe; and Nick Ut’s reportage [...]

Phillips de Pury & Company’s Africa Auction Totals $1,401,038

NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company’s AFRICA sale totaled $1,401,038 selling 74% by value and 62% by lot. The auction showcased work by established and emerging artists, reflecting the spirit of the African continent and its global impact. This unique sale, the first auction of its kind to address the burgeoning market for contemporary art and photography of Africa and the African Diaspora, generated excitement and interest amongst international collectors culminating in great results. Top prices for contemporary [...]

Athens’ Parthenon Scaffold-Free for First Time in Years

ATHENS.- Visitors to Athens have a rare window of opportunity to see the showpiece Parthenon temple on the ancient Acropolis without scaffolding for the first time in nearly 30 years as a major restoration work nears completion. The Greek government launched a project to restore the Parthenon and other buildings on the world heritage site in 1975, but it was not until 1983 that work started. Scaffolding has been up somewhere around the ancient temple ever since. But from now [...]

New Book Features Candid Photographs from Ivy League Universities by Teruyoshi Hayashida

NEW YORK, NY.- Described by The New York Times as, “a treasure of fashion insiders,” Take Ivy was originally published in Japan in 1965, setting off an explosion of American-influenced “Ivy Style” fashion among students in the trendy Ginza shopping district of Tokyo. The product of four collegiate style enthusiasts, Take Ivy is a collection of candid photographs shot on the campuses of America’s elite, Ivy League universities. The series focuses on men and their clothes, perfectly encapsulating the unique [...]

Most Comprehensive Exhibition of Work by Atlanta Artist Radcliffe Bailey to Premiere at the High

ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art will organize and premiere the most comprehensive presentation of works by Atlanta-based artist Radcliffe Bailey beginning June 28, 2011. The exhibition “Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine” will highlight the artist’s experimentation with diverse media, showcasing sculptures, paintings, installations, works-on-paper, glass works and modified found objects. Comprising more than 25 works, “Memory as Medicine” will include new art created for the exhibition as well as works never before seen on public display. The exhibition [...]

INAH, Candidate to Win Prince of Asturias Award

MEXICO CITY.- The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is pleased by the nomination to receive the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2010, as the Jury of the Award in Oviedo, Spain announced. Alfonso de Maria y Campos, general director of the Institute, declared that the fact of had been mentioned among finalists to be awarded with this important prize is “an acknowledgement to the scientific and academic labor of the specialists of INAH that work [...]

Van Gogh Museum Acquires Exciting Painting by Louis Anquetin

AMSTERDAM.- The Van Gogh Museum purchased the painting Woman on the Champs-Élysées by night (c. 1891) by Louis Anquetin (1861-1932). The purchase was made possible with support of the BankGiro Lottery, the Rembrandt Association (supported by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds) and the VSB Foundation. The painting shows a mysteriously smiling lady in extravagant attire strolling alone in the glow of the streetlights along a grand boulevard in Paris. The painting seems to fit into a thematically linked group of works in [...]

Seattle Art Museum to Close for Two Weeks to Balance Budget

SEATTLE, WA.- Today the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has announced a series of measures aimed at cutting expenses and achieving a balanced budget for the forthcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2010. Immediate reductions to staffing levels, other compensation-related expenses, and a two-week furlough and museum closure will be implemented as parts of successive, institution-wide efforts to create lasting financial stability at the 77-year old art museum. These measures have been designed to minimally impact SAM’s commitment to provide [...]

Eight New Paintings by Christopher Wool at Gagosian in Rome

ROME.- Gagosian Gallery presents an exhibition of eight new paintings by Christopher Wool. In a fugue of gestural restraint and release, Wool filters the fundaments of abstract painting through the gritty syntax of urban reality. By painting layer upon layer of whites and off-whites over silkscreened elements used in previous works — monochrome forms taken from reproductions, enlargements of details of photographs, screens, and Polaroids of his own paintings — he accretes the surface of his pressurized paintings while apparently [...]

Raphael’s Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel Announced at the V&A

LONDON.- The V&A announces that four of the ten tapestries designed by Raphael for the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City will go on show in September 2010. These are the original tapestries from the only series designed by Raphael of which examples survive, and are comparable with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling as masterpieces of High Renaissance art. The tapestries will be displayed alongside the full-size designs for them – the famous Raphael Cartoons, which have been on display in the [...]

Contemporary Art Museum Designed by Iraqi-Born Architect Zaha Hadid Opens in Rome

ROME (AP).- A huge museum for contemporary arts and architecture opens in Rome this weekend in a bid to draw avant-garde art lovers to a city defined by its ancient monuments and Baroque fountains. The MAXXI museum designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid is the latest and most ambitious project to try to refresh the Italian capital’s image of a decadent city bent on its glorious past. “My work just really stems from the fact that we can make new [...]

Phillips de Pury Announces Details of Halsey Minor-Design Sale

NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury announced the highlights from its June 9th New York Design auction. The sale will offer additional works from The Halsey Minor Collection. Part I was sold in a single-owner evening sale held at Phillips de Pury on May 13th, including Marc Newson’s prototype Lockheed Lounge for $2,098,000, a new world record for the artist. The Halsey Minor Collection Mr. Minor, a technology entrepreneur, founded CNET Networks in San Francisco in 1993. Since then he [...]

Timothy Taylor Gallery Presents New Work by Sean Scully

LONDON.- Timothy Taylor Gallery presents new work by Sean Scully from 27 May – 3 July 2010. The first time that Scully has exhibited new work in London since 2006, this exhibition comes hot on the heels of a major retrospective, Constantinople or The Sensual Concealed. The Imagery of Sean Scully, at the newly re-opened Ulster Museum in Belfast and the MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany. The significance of Scully’s contribution to the history of abstraction since [...]

Long-Unseen Painting by Frida Kahlo Tops Latin America Art Auction

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- A Frida Kahlo portrait of a pre-Hispanic warrior was the top selling work in a sale of Latin American art, which also set five auction records, including one for Mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco. The evening auction at Christie’s on Wednesday fetched $16.8 million, its strongest Latin American sale in two years. “It was a sale full of excitement and surprises with world auction records for key Latin American modern and contemporary artists,” said Christie’s Latin [...]

Kimbell Art Museum Unveils Final Design by Renzo Piano for New Building

FORT WORTH, TX.- Today the Kimbell Art Museum unveils the final design by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) for a major new museum building located to the west of its existing building, a landmark of modern architecture designed by Louis I. Kahn. Slated to open in 2013, the new building provides much-needed space for the Kimbell, whose exhibition and education programs have grown far beyond those envisaged when the Kahn building opened in 1972. During the major exhibitions that the [...]