Exceptional Auction of Michael Jackson’s Unpublished Portraits

PARIS.- Early December 2010, Pierre Bergé & Associés will organize an exceptional auction of Michael Jackson’s unpublished portraits. These photographs of the pop king are the result of an extraordinary adventure lived by a young French photographer, Arno Bani, to whom the star exceptionally entrusted his image. Arno Bani, entirely free in the production of this session, created 4 different artistic scénarii and chose the greatest fashion professionals to work with him: Yves Saint Laurent, François Lesage, Topolino, Seb Bascle, [...]

Exhibition at SFMOMA Reveals the Depth and Quality of the Fisher Collection

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The first public presentation of the celebrated Fisher Collection, one of the world’s foremost private collections of contemporary art, will be presented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from June 25 through September 19, 2010. SFMOMA recently announced an unprecedented partnership with Doris and the late Donald Fisher, founders of the Gap, to provide a home at the museum for their outstanding collection of more than 1,100 works, most of which have never been [...]

Outdoor Installation of Over 100 Terra Cotta Fish at Fuller Craft Museum

BROCKTON, MA.- Fuller Craft Museum presents Migration, an installation by S. Dartmouth, Massachusetts-based painter and ceramic artist Nancy Train Smith, on view through Oct. 31, 2010 in the courtyard moat on the bucolic grounds of the Museum. Consisting of over 100 terracotta fish figures, the installation is a dramatic reinterpretation of the landscape through the visual tension between form, location, and color. Located on 22 acres of woodland on the shores of Porter’s Pond, Fuller Craft Museum provides a picturesque [...]

Strong Bids for Asian Art Tuesday at Bonhams & Butterfields in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- An anonymous Asian art collector paid more than $1.38-million on Tuesday for a two-foot high Qianlong Period gilt bronze censer – sold during the $4.7-million Asian Art auction held at Bonhams & Butterfields in San Francisco. The 250-year old censer was described by the auctioneers as “fine and rare;” its bell-form bowl is decorated overall with rows of bronze lotus petals above a base of three gilt bronze elephant heads. Bidding opened at $40,000 with private collectors [...]

Antarctica of 1959 Revealed in Black and White by Robert McCabe

NEW YORK (REUTERS).- Cold, white and forbidding the images spring from the glossy pages as they once did from the window of a plane carrying a young photographer into the icy wastelands of Antarctica. “DeepFreeze! A Photographer’s Antarctic Odyssey in the Year 1959″ by Robert McCabe has been published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the race to be the first to the South Pole. Though a venture capitalist at now defunct Lehman Brothers, McCabe, then 24 and a [...]

Peabody Essex Museum Announces Re-Opening of Crowninshield-Bentley House

SALEM, MA.- The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) announces the reopening of one of its most storied properties, the Crowninshield-Bentley House. The house, one of 22 historic properties stewarded by PEM, is located at 126 Essex Street in Salem, MA and designated by the National Register of Historic Places. Docent-led tours of the house will resume on June 26, and a public opening celebration for the house will take place during Salem Heritage Week in August. Built at 108 Essex Street [...]

Twenty British and International Artists Exhibit at South London Gallery

LONDON.- A 24 carat gold leaf wall painting, a 40 metre high design on a tower block and a 5,000 word film script hand-written directly on the gallery walls are brought together in the South London Gallery’s next exhibition, Nothing is Forever. Celebrating the completion of the SLG’s £2 million building project, this ambitious group show brings together wall paintings, drawings and text pieces by 20 British and international artists. Seamlessly integrating art and architecture, and with each work destined [...]

Munch, Warhol, Picasso’s Take on Women at Bonhams Print Sale

LONDON.- They modelled for three of the greatest artists who ever lived. One was murdered by her lover; another shot herself; the third lives on, a potent reminder of Hollywood’s glamour years. And their images lead Bonham’s Print sale in London on 13 July. The star lot is an impression of Edvard Munch’s Madonna, thought to be the first hand coloured version of this iconic image. The model was his mistress, Dagny Juel, a femme fatale who, after numerous ill-fated [...]

Thematic Exhibition Featuring Works by Six Artists at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

NEW YORK, NY.- Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York presents Touched, a thematic exhibition featuring works by Noriko Ambe, Klara Kristalova, Brett Lund, Maria Nepomuceno, Angel Otero, and Allison Schulnik, on view at 540 West 26th Street from June 24 – August 13, 2010. Touched presents a variety of abstract and representational, hand-crafted works—ranging from painting, ceramics and sculpture to fiber art and works with paper—that have been laboriously manipulated. The juxtaposition between artworks that have each been crafted in entirely [...]

Laser Scanner Applied at Emblematic Mexican Monuments

MEXICO CITY.- Emblematic Mexican constructions such as the Metropolitan Cathedral, Palacio Nacional, Padre Tembleque Aqueduct and San Juan de Ulua Fort have been digitalized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History using the laser scanner method, becoming a pioneer in Latin America. As part of the seminar that took place at Templo Mayor Museum, in Mexico City Historical Center, different projects that have used the 3D Laser Scanner technology to conform a digital database of historical and archaeological constructions [...]

Bonhams Appoints Dalia Stanley as Senior Specialist to New Australian Team

LONDON.- Bonhams announced today (24.6.10) that Dalia Stanley will join its Australian team as a Senior Specialist, an appointment that adds greatly to the company’s local strength. Bonhams is relaunching its business in Australia with the Owston Collection sale on June 25 and 26, to be followed by its first sale of Collectors Cars in the Spring. With the appointment of Dalia Stanley the company shows that its commitment to growing its Australian business with leading specialists continues apace. Dalia [...]

National Portrait Gallery Announces BP Travel Award Winner 2009

LONDON.- Portraits from major historical re-enactments in Switzerland and Belgium will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery as part of this year’s BP Portrait Award exhibition. The portraits are by Isobel Peachey winner of the BP Travel Award 2009. Peachey won a £5000 bursary to travel and paint the re-enactments following her winning proposal to record ‘the transformation that participants undergo in living outside of their own time, taking on the living conditions, trade and military practices of [...]

PHYLUM by Spanish artist Rafael Andres

Bangkok.- Phylum, the debut exhibition by Bangkok based Spanish artist, The RAF, will be on display at AT ME RESTAURANT from June 16 – July 31, 2010. Born in Barcelona, Spain, 40-year old Rafael Andres studied Fine Art at the University of Barcelona and has over two decades experience working as a graphic designer. Having spent the last five years working in Asia, Phylum presents a fantastical series of 30 monochromatic bestial prints evoking the pioneering 19th century British naturalist [...]

New Acquisition to Welcome Visitors at the de Young Museum this Summer

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Coincidentally timed with the special exhibition Birth of Impressionism at the de Young Museum, John E. Buchanan, Jr., the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, announces the acquisition of The Absinthe Drinkers (Les buveurs d’absinthe), 1881, by the French painter Jean-François Raffaëlli (1850–1924). Widely regarded as one of the artist’s most important and accomplished paintings, The Absinthe Drinkers will temporarily grace the entrance of the Birth of Impressionism exhibition this summer before settling into [...]

Christie’s in Record London Sale, Misses Target and Monet Water-Lily Painting Fails to Sell

LONDON.- Christie’s held London’s biggest ever art auction on Wednesday when its impressionist and modern sale fetched 153 million pounds ($227 million), but the total fell short of expectations of 164-231 million pounds. The big disappointment on the night came when a Monet water-lily painting worth an estimated 30-40 million pounds failed to sell. Bidding reached 29 million pounds. The other top lot did change hands, however, with a Blue Period portrait by Picasso selling for 34.8 million pounds. The [...]