Rare Vintage Photograph by Roger Fenton Saved for Bradford’s National Media Museum

LONDON.- The Art Fund has helped Bradford’s National Media Museum buy a rare vintage photograph by acclaimed British photographer Roger Fenton (1819 – 1869). Pasha and Bayadère depicts a dancing girl (bayadère) performing for the enjoyment of a high ranking official (pasha), who watches her intently. Seated on the floor on the left hand side of the Pasha, a musician plays a stringed instrument. The exotic tableau was taken in 1858. It captures the contemporary fascination with the Orient and [...]

Survey Exhibition of Important Paintings by Peter Saul at Haunch of Venison in New York

NEW YORK, NY.- Haunch of Venison Gallery is showing a survey exhibition of paintings by Peter Saul curated by Chris Byrne through January 8 2011. Twenty important paintings from the span of the artist’s career are exhibited alongside a selection of new works made especially for the exhibition. Early sketchbooks and a collection of the artist’s correspondences and personal artifacts are also exhibited. A catalogue with introductory essay by Eric Fischl accompanies the exhibition. The exhibition features significant works from [...]

Sotheby’s London Sees Strong Prices for Spanish, Scandinavian, Orientalist and Greek Art

LONDON.- Sotheby’s sale of 19th Century European Paintings in London today (which included works by Spanish, Orientalist, German, Austrian, Scandinavian and Symbolist artists) brought a total of £11,166,050 (€13,168,101), a figure comfortably within pre-sale expectations of £8.6-12.8 million. Vilhelm Hammershoi, Unge Egetræer (Young Oak Trees), oil on canvas. Estimate: £70,000 – 90,000. Sold for: £205,250 (€242,051). Photo: Sotheby’s • Spanish Painting: The top-selling lots of the sale overall were two outstanding beach scenes by the Spanish master, Joaquín Sorolla. Depicting [...]

“An Excellent Year”: 14th Edition of Paris Photo Turned the Spotlight on Central Europe

PARIS.- Paris Photo 2010: the best edition in 14 years, “an excellent year,” “splendid 14th edition,” “one of the best editions ever seen.” These were some of the headlines in the press hailing the success of the 14th edition of Paris Photo which closed on Sunday 21st November. The 14th edition of Paris Photo turned the spotlight on central Europe – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia – and included 106 exhibitors from 25 countries. Some 38,000 visitors came [...]

Masterpieces by Felix Vallotton to Take Centre Stage in Sotheby’s Zurich Swiss Art Sale

ZURICH.- This autumn, Sotheby’s Zurich auction of Swiss Art on 6 December will celebrate Félix Vallotton in a sale bringing together masterpieces by the Swiss master. Estimated between CHF 9.3 and 12.9 million, the 133- lot sale will also be spearheaded by works by eminent representatives from the 19th and 20th centuries’ Swiss art production, including Giovanni Giacometti, Cuno Amiet, Albert Anker and Ernest Biéler. Commenting on the exceptional quality of this autumn sale, Urs Lanter, Sotheby’s Director and Swiss art [...]

Tradition and Innovation at the Netherlands’ Art and Antiques Fair: PAN Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM.- Over the course of nine days in November, PAN Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ art and antiques fair, presents more than 10,000 objets d’art. The common denominator is that all the objects are vetted for authenticity, artistic quality and condition and are on sale at prices from € 500 to € 500,000. The 130 or so exhibitors represent the elite of the Dutch and Flemish art trade. The works of art at PAN Amsterdam span more than 5,000 years of history. They [...]

Versace’s Return Painting Stolen from a London Home in 1979 to Original Owners

LONDON (REUTERS).- A painting stolen from a London home in 1979 and which ended up in the collection of late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has been returned to its original owners, Britain’s Art Loss Register said on Monday. The work by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany had been billed as the star lot in a Sotheby’s auction of the contents of Versace’s Lake Como villa last year, but it was withdrawn at the last moment. Johann Zoffany, Portrait [...]

Ansel Adams, Herb Ritts and Cartier-Bresson Among Famous Names in New York Photography Auction

NEW YORK, NY.- Fresh-to-market finds from the holdings of an important Fortune 500 company – including photographs from such luminous names as Harold Edgerton, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Sandy Skoglund, Eliot Porter, Ernst Haas, Annie Leibovitz, O. Winston Link and William Wegman – provide the anchor to Heritage Auction’s Signature(r) Vintage & Contemporary Photography Auction, Friday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m., at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute), 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Avenue). “This is as eclectic and as a [...]

Exhibition on Treatments and Techniques Used to Conserve Rare Works on Paper at the Getty

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Works on paper are inherently more fragile—in terms of sensitivity to light and handling—than mediums such as canvas, panel, bronze, or clay, and often show the passage of time more acutely than their counterparts. Frequent handling by artists in their workshops and later by collectors, combined with poor storage and display conditions, often leads to distracting damage. As a result of their fragility, drawings in the Getty Museum’s collection spend much of their life inside solander boxes in [...]

Major Retrospective of Paintings by Alexis Rockman Opens at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

WASHINGTON, D.C.- “Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow” can be viewed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 19 through May 8, 2011. The exhibition is the first major survey of the artist’s work with 47 paintings and works on paper that trace his career from early works in the mid-1980s to the present. Alexis Rockman (b. 1962) has been depicting the natural world with virtuosity and wit for more than two decades. He was one [...]

Richard Avedon’s Most Prized Photographs for Sale Saturday at Christie’s in Paris

PARIS AP.- A model in a silk Dior gown, posing with elephants. The psychedelically colored faces of the Beatles. A soot-covered coal miner. Christie’s in Paris will auction some of Richard Avedon’s most prized photographs Saturday to raise money for the foundation set up by the influential American portrait and fashion photographer before his death in 2004. The more than 60 photographs are expected to raise $6 million. The auction represents the largest collection of Avedon’s work to reach market. [...]

Important American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture to Be Auctioned at Sotheby’s New York

NEW YORK, NY.- On 2 December, Sotheby’s auction of American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture in New York will offer works by important American artists and genres, spanning Impressionism, Modernism, 19th Century Paintings, American Illustration and Western Art. The sale is highlighted by paintings from Property from the Collection of Philip and Charlotte Hanes, led by Winslow Homer’s Peach Blossoms (est. $3/5 million*), and will be on exhibition beginning 27 November. Winslow Homer’s Peach Blossoms. Estimate: $3/5 million. Photo: Sotheby’s Property [...]

Two Ancient Statues Stolen in the 1980s From Italian Museums are Now Home

ROME (AP),- Two ancient statues stolen in the 1980s from Italian museums are now back home, thanks in part to a police art squad expert who spotted one of them in a New York gallery while window-shopping on vacation in the United States. The bronze statue of the Greek god Zeus and a marble female torso, both dating from the 1st century, had ended up in the hands of a dealer and a collector in New York, officials told a [...]

Colombian Fernando Botero’s Matadors, Chile’s Matta Top Latin American Auction at Christie’s

NEW YORK (REUTERS).- A portrait of an infant matador and his bullfighting elders, painted by Colombian Fernando Botero, topped Christie’s Latin American art sale, which also set auction records for postwar Brazilian, Colombian, Mexican and Argentine artists. Botero’s 1985 “Family Scene” of bullfighters fetched $1.7 million, the top lot of an $18.65 million sale on Wednesday evening, which also underscored strong demand for Chile’s Matta, whose work bridges abstraction and surrealism. Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s 2002 bronze sculpture, “Seated Woman,” [...]

Getty Announces Exhibition that Recreates a Day in the Life of an 18th Century Parisian Townhouse

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The nation of France, and its capital city of Paris in particular, held a special status in European culture during the 18th century. The upper echelons of societies throughout Europe were predominantly Francophiles— imitating French fashions of dress and furniture in their daily lives. On view in the Exhibitions Pavilion at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, April 26 through August 7, 2011, Paris: Life & Luxury re-imagines, through art and material culture, the [...]