Loans from all Over Europe Form a Comprehensive Picture of Napoleon and His Time

BONN.- During the nearly sixteen years of his reign, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), more than any other historical figure, redrew the very foundations of European history and wrought changes that can be felt to this day – both positively and negatively. The exhibition, which has been panned and organized by the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, draws on a selection of high-calibre loans from all over Europe to present a comprehensive picture of Napoleon and his [...]

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Rediscovers the Work of Gabriel Metsu in Exhibition

AMSTERDAM.- This autumn at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam the work of Gabriel Metsu (1629- 1667), one of the most influential Dutch genre painters of the 17th century, are put back in the spotlight. Metsu’s paintings beautifully depict everyday life during the Golden Age, with scenes such as a young man writing a love letter, a kitchen maid peeling an apple and an old man raising a glass. Despite his relatively short life, Metsu was one of the most popular painters of his [...]

AGO to Present Masterworks by Pollock, Rothko, and Others from The Museum of Modern Art

TORONTO.- Jackson Pollock. Mark Rothko. Robert Motherwell. Joan Mitchell. Arshile Gorky. Lee Krasner. Willem de Kooning. These are just a few of the legendary 20th-century artists whose artwork will be on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario in summer 2011 when the Gallery welcomes Abstract Expressionist New York, an exhibition drawn from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The exhibition, on view from May 28 through September 4, 2011, features 100 key works by artists whose radical work [...]

50/50 Exhibition Features Works on Paper Selected by Both the Public and the Walker Art Center

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Curators and visitors share the spotlight as organizers of the new Walker Art Center exhibition 50/50: Audience and Experts Curate the Paper Collection on view now through July 17, 2011. Invited to view 183 images of art from the Walker’s expansive collection of works on paper, the public cast nearly 250,000 votes indicating whether the artworks should “definitely” or “maybe not” be included in the exhibition. Meanwhile, chief curator Darsie Alexander was considering artists whose work represents important art [...]

Norton Museum of Art Creates Striking New Exhibition with Pieces from the Miami Beach Fairs

WEST PALM BEACH, FL.- Each December, the country’s leading contemporary art collectors, dealers, critics and fans engage in urgent, heated exchanges about what’s new, what’s good and what’s next at Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the world’s most influential art fairs. Began Wednesday, December 15, 2010, barely a week after Art Basel shuts down, the prestigious Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla. will propose some of its own answers to those questions in a special exhibition called [...]

OverstockArt.com Reveals its Annual Top 10 Oil Paintings Rankings for 2010, van Gogh Continues Reign

WICHITA, KANSAS.- The popular online art gallery, overstockArt.com, revealed its annual Top 10 Oil Paintings rankings for 2010. Topping the list is Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece, “Branches of an Almond Tree in Blossom.” Other artists named on the 2010 list include Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Mark Rothko. Van Gogh continues his reign as the best-selling artist this year. According to overstockArt.com statistics, van Gogh’s magnum opus “Starry Night” was the world’s most popular oil painting in 2009 and [...]

Pair of Paintings by Sir Peter Lely Reunited at the Dulwich Picture Gallery with New Acquisition

LONDON.- In time for its 2011 Bicentenary year, Dulwich Picture Gallery announced its acquisition of the portrait of Bartholomew Beale by Sir Peter Lely. The portrait is now reunited with its counterpart, Sir Peter Lely’s A Boy as a Shepherd, one of the most popular paintings in the Gallery’s permanent collection. Bartholomew Beale was obtained with generous help from the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art; The Monument Trust; the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund; The Hamish Parker [...]

Kunsthaus Zürich Shows ‘Karl Moser: Art and Architecture’

ZURICH.- From 17 December 2010 to 27 February 2011 the Kunsthaus Zürich presents about 400 drawings, sketches, models and furniture by Karl Moser (1860-1936), its renowned architect. Revered in Switzerland as a ‘father of modernism’, Moser made architectural history with his contributions to the University of Zurich campus, Basel’s Church of St. Anthony and Badischer Bahnhof, and the Lutherkirche in Karlsruhe. Moser’s 1910 Kunsthaus is a paragon of architecture for art – indeed, of an architecture that collaborates with art; and [...]

First Large-Scale U.S. Exhibition of Helmut Newton’s Work to Premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts

HOUSTON, TX.- The first large-scale U.S. exhibition of Helmut Newton´s work premieres at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Helmut Newton: White Women • Sleepless Nights • Big Nudes encompasses the entire contents of his first three groundbreaking books. Newton (1920-2004) survived Nazi Germany as a self-supporting, nomadic teenager to emerge a world-renowned photographer. He first cemented his international reputation as the supreme recorder of female identity with his early books White Women (1976), Sleepless Nights (1978), and Big Nudes (1982). [...]

Sotheby’s Sale of 20th Century British Art Establishes a New Auction World Record

LONDON.- The sale of 20th Century British Art at Sotheby’s in London established a new auction record for a work by Sir Stanley Spencer (in pounds – see note at foot of email), when his Hilda and I at Pond Street sold for £1,430,050 ($2,249,612), far in excess of its pre-sale estimate of £400,000-600,000. (The previous auction record for Spencer was £1,320,000 ($2,161,454) and this was achieved for his The Crucifixion, which sold at Sotheby’s in London in 1990.) Hilda and [...]

Celebrated Brazilian Architect Oscar Niemeyer Turns 103, Opens Museum of His Work

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP).- Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is celebrating his 103rd birthday with the launch of a museum dedicated to his career. The Oscar Niemeyer Foundation outside Rio de Janeiro will house exhibits about the legendary architect’s 70 years of work. A man walks past a building designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer during the inauguration of his new foundation building in Niteroi, Brazil, Wednesday Dec. 15, 2010. AP Photo/Felipe Dana. Niemeyer is responsible for more than 600 [...]

Adam Szymczyk Named 2011 Recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement

HOUSTON, TX- Menil Director Josef Helfenstein has announced the 2011 recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement: Adam Szymczyk, director and chief curator of Kunsthalle Basel. Established in 2001 in honor of Menil Founding Director Walter Hopps (1932-2005), the award recognizes curators in early to mid-career who have made significant contributions to the field of contemporary art. The Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement carries a stipend of $15,000. A distinguished panel of three arts professionals made the selection: [...]

Restored Renaissance Masterpiece on View in New Installation at Metropolitan Museum

NEW YORK, NY.- Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) is one of the great artists of 15th-century Florence. Among his principal patrons was the wealthy banker Filippo Strozzi (1428–1491), who in 1487 contracted the artist to decorate his funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella with an outstanding cycle of frescoes. Around the same time, Strozzi also commissioned a Madonna and Child for his villa at Santuccio, west of the city. This work was acquired from the Duveen firm in 1928 by Jules Bache [...]

First Ever Exhibition of Norman Rockwell’s Original Works on View at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

LONDON.- Norman Rockwell was America’s best known and best-loved illustrator for over six decades of the 20th century. Astonishingly prolific, he is best-known for the 322 covers he created for the Saturday Evening Post; but he painted countless other magazine illustrations and advertisements, capturing images of everyday American life with a humour and power of observation that spoke directly to the public, whose love for his work never wavered. Norman Rockwell, (1894-1978), The Runaway-Runaway Boy and Clown, 1922, oil on [...]

A Group of Masterpieces from the Besselaar Collection are Sold for $2.8 Million

AMSTERDAM.- On Dec. 13th at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, during the sale of 19th Century European Paintings, a group of exceptional masterpieces from the Besselaar Collection, are sold for a total of €2.1 million/ £1.8 million/ $2.8 million, a figure within the pre-sale expectations of €1.4 million – 2.1 million. The star of the evening was Andreas Schelfhout’s, Winterscape with skaters, one of the finest paintings appeared on the market of the artist. Four clients on the phone and two in the room [...]