Walking in a Cloud at Venice Architecture Biennale 2010

VENICE (REUTERS).- If you thought that the world’s biggest architecture show would be about buildings, this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale has a few surprises in store. Highlights include a steel ramp sneaking into a cloud, a pitch-black room where water falls from a swirling hose and a tower of metal cages from which one can jump into the void — setting the tone for a show that, in a break with the past, this time focuses on people and space. [...]

French Pavilion in Venice by Dominique Perrault Explores the Metropolis

VENICE.- Obviously, unceasing transformation of urban territories has considerably altered the perception and the reality of the city envisaged as a unified urban entity of defined space and built form. The new, increasingly complex, disjointed, splintered and polluted urban territories we see today are a succession of solids and voids. The metropolis, in contrast to the city considered as a single physical mass, is precisely what the city has rejected, expelled outside of and beyond itself. With the “METROPOLIS ?” [...]

Phillips de Pury & Company Announces Highlights from Its New York Photographs Sale

NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company announced the highlights of the forthcoming New York Photographs sale on Friday, October 8, 2010. Securing its position as a leader in the Photographs market, the Photographs sale features a strong balance of the best in classic and contemporary photography. Vanessa Kramer, Director of Photographs, New York “Our Fall Photographs sale is not only a testament to the resilience of the photography market, but Phillips de Pury & Company’s strong dedication to [...]

Some of the Earliest Photographs of Fiji from 1881 to Make £20,000 at Bonhams

LONDON.- An extraordinary journey into the heart of Fiji some 129 years ago by three British brothers, carrying with them all the heavy paraphernalia associated with early photography, returned in triumph with images that still fascinate today. This remarkable collection of photographs taken on a journey by three Ansdell brothers has been passed down through the family and is to be auctioned by Bonhams on September 15 in the Travel and Topographical Sale in New Bond Street. In 1881 Gerrard [...]

Getty Museum Reopens Suite of Sculpture & Decorative Arts Galleries

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum today reopens its suite of sculpture and decorative arts galleries in the West Pavilion at the Getty Center with several recently acquired masterpieces featured prominently. These include Pietro Cipriani’s Medici Venus and Dancing Faun (1722-24) and a nine-foot bronze vase by the French sculptor Jean-Désiré Ringel d’Illzach (1847—1916). “On the heels of unveiling the highly successful reinstallation of the sculpture and decorative arts collection in the North Pavilion, we are pleased to [...]

Bonhams Appoints Camilla Prini as Its Agent in Northern Italy

LONDON.- Camilla Prini has been appointed by Bonhams, the international fine art and antiques auction house, as the company’s Agent for Northern Italy. She will be based in her hometown, Milan, but will cover the whole region, including Bologna, Genova, Verona, Bergamo and Torino. Bonhams have offices in 27 countries on four continents and hold 700 sales a year covering 57 specialist areas of collecting. Camilla’s professional experience includes work for Galleria Tega, Modern and Contemporary Art in Milan, organising [...]

Sotheby’s to Offer a Unique Collection of Imperial Porcelain

HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s Hong Kong will hold an unprecedented sale of Chinese ceramics and works of art, titled Masterpieces Of Qing Imperial Porcelain From J.T. Tai & Co., on 7 October 2010 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, comprising 13 lots and expected to bring in excess of HK$170 million/US$22 million. The second part of the collection will be offered at Sotheby’s New York during its Asia Week in March, 2011. The imperial Chinese porcelains from the J.T. [...]

Julián Zugazagoitia, New Director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

KANSAS CITY, MO.- Julián Zugazagoitia begins his post Wednesday, Sept. 1, as the fifth Director & CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. An international scholar, museum director and consultant, he has served for the past seven years as the Director/CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York. Already Zugazagoitia has become known among Board of Trustees members and the community as a personable leader who is enthusiastic about the arts. He has pledged to use his first weeks [...]

Simryn Gill: Gathering Opens at Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane

BRISBANE.- A solo exhibition of key works from the past five years by leading Sydney-based Malaysian artist Simryn Gill opened at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art until October 17. Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said ‘Simryn Gill: Gathering’ included major works created since 2005, as well as photographs, collections, books and jewellery made from paper and found objects. ‘We are thrilled that Queensland audiences will have an opportunity to engage with Gill’s multi-disciplinary practice that questions ideas about place [...]

Co-Owner of Painting Missing in New York ID’d as a Thief

NEW YORK (AP).- First it was a curious tale of a $1.3 million painting a middleman said he drunkenly lost while trying to help a friend sell it. Now the story has gotten stranger still: A part owner of the canvas identified its co-owner as an admitted art thief, her lawyer said. Kristyn Trudgeon sued the middleman in New York earlier this week. But attorney Max Di Fabio said she was withdrawing the lawsuit after realizing Wednesday upon seeing a [...]

The Oyster Eater by Henri Stresor Returns to France for the XXVth Biennale Des Antiquaires

PARIS.- A painting that once belonged to Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), the half-brother of Napoleon’s mother, Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte, is among the superb selection of Old Masters being shown by Bernheimer-Colnaghi at the XXVth Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris from 15 to 22 September 2010. (Stand no. S02) The Oyster Eater, which shows a young man caught in the act of eating an oyster, was painted by Henri Stresor (1613?-1679) and has an asking price of 1.75 million euros. Very [...]

Diverse Selection of American and European Works at Swann Galleries

NEW YORK, NY.- On Thursday, September 21, Swann Galleries offers a large selection of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings at auction. The two-session sale is divided into sections devoted to 19th century prints and drawings, American works, and modern European prints and drawings. Two extraordinary drawings by renowned artists appear in the afternoon session. One of Pablo Picasso’s earliest drawings, Portrait de femme, pen and dark brown ink, circa 1900 ($30,000 to $50,000), begins a fine run of [...]

Sotheby’s to Sell Paintings To Benefit the David Nalbandian Foundation

NEW YORK, NY.- With the US Open underway Sotheby’s announced that it is to offer paintings by two of the leading artists in Argentina to benefit the charity founded by one of tennis’s biggest stars – David Nalbandian. The works will be included in the Latin American Art auction on 16 and 17 November in New York. The Argentine player has had a successful 2010, guiding Argentina through to the Davis Cup semi-finals and winning his 11th ATP World Tour [...]

Zimbabwe Artist Faces Trial, Exhibit Banned

ZIMBABWE (AP).- A Zimbabwe artist’s attorney says the artist will go to trial next month for depicting scenes in his paintings of civilians being massacred by government troops, images that have now been banned under the country’s censorship laws. Earlier this year, police shut down Owen Maseko’s exhibit depicting an armed uprising after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 when civilians were crushed by troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe. Attorney Lizwe Jamela said Tuesday that Maseko has now been charged with [...]