Saatchi Online Revamped as Social Marketplace for the Discovery and Purchase of Art from Emerging Artists

LOS ANGELES, Ca.- Saatchi Online, which re-launched in beta five months ago, now begins connecting its 100,000+ artists with potential buyers who have been visiting the site in growing numbers since October 2010. On March 16, 2011, Saatchi Online started selling pieces of artwork from emerging artists. Saatchi Online offers the highest earnings in the industry, giving 70 percent to the artist. Charles Saatchi, who originally conceived of the site, remains a major shareholder along with Balderton Capital Saatchi Online [...]

Exhibitors Bring their Greatest Works to the World’s Most Influential Art Fair: TEFAF

MAASTRICHT.- Exhibitors at TEFAF Maastricht put their finest works of art to one side to bring to the world’s most influential art and antiques fair. Sometimes tracking them down has involved specialist knowledge and skilled detective work while in other cases their recent history has been more straightforward. But the one unifying factor at The European Fine Art Fair is quality. At the 24th edition of TEFAF, which takes place at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre) in Maastricht [...]

Christie’s Takes in the Panorama with Photographs from the Consolidated Freightways Collection

NEW YORK, N.Y.- This spring, Christie’s will offer an insightful coast-to-coast look at the 20th Century American landscape with Crossing America: Photographs from the Consolidated Freightways Collection. The highly anticipated sale has more than 250 lots and will be offered in two parts, beginning on April 7, 2011, followed by a second auction to take place in the fall, at Christie’s Rockefeller Center. Robert Mapplethorpe, Flag, 1987. Estimate: $70,000-90,000. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2011. The collection, hailing from the freight [...]

Nest Egg’s April 16 Auction Features Photographic Nudes, Fine Art and Cameras

MERIDEN, CT.- An extraordinary archive of Alfred “Cheney” Johnston (1884-1971) glamour photos of Jazz Age beauties, as well as important artworks from the renowned Ziegfield Follies photographer’s personal collection, will be auctioned on April 16, 2011 at Nest Egg Auctions’ gallery in Meriden, Connecticut. Johnston’s personal photo archive, which was bequeathed to a neighbor 40 years ago and has remained in the same family ever since, includes dozens of beautiful nudes that were considered very daring for their time. Johnston [...]

Keith Haring’s 10-Piece Apocalypse Series Donated to Gay & Lesbian Center

LOS ANGELES, CA.- A complete series of 10 silkscreens by iconic gay artist Keith Haring has been donated to the Center by Tyler Cassity, a co-owner of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The Apocalypse series is on exhibit in the Advocate & Gochis Galleries until March 30. “Haring’s work is so iconic; we’re honored to receive and exhibit this series,” says Jon Imparato, Director of the Center’s Cultural Arts program. “It’s rare to have a complete Haring series together like this; [...]

Alte Pinakothek Exhibits Painting by Johannes Vermeer as Part of Its 175th Anniversary

MUNICH.- The Alte Pinakothek welcomes a very special guest to its 175th anniversary: Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman Holding a Balance” from the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The exhibition is on display until June 16, 2011. In the early 19th century, this exquisite masterpiece once formed part of the exceptional private collection amassed by the first king of Bavaria, Max I Joseph (1756-1825). He focused almost exclusively on 17th-century Dutch masters, mostly landscapes and genre paintings. To these he added [...]

Brooklyn Museum Presents a New Twist on Its Annual Gala “The Brooklyn Artists Ball”

BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum will be partnering with Brooklyn artists to celebrate the Brooklyn Artists Ball, on Wednesday evening, April 27, 2011. This new twist on the Museum’s longstanding annual gala will celebrate the creativity and considerable influence of Brooklyn artists. “It is incredibly exciting for the Museum to enlarge in yet another way its already major engagement with the community of artists living and working in Brooklyn. The new direction of the Ball signifies the Museum’s enormous commitment [...]

More than 130 International Artists and Writers Threaten Boycott of Guggenheim in UAE

DUBAI (AP).- More than 130 international artists and writers vowed Thursday to boycott a branch of the Guggenheim Museum under construction in Abu Dhabi, unless authorities do more to protect the rights of workers on the site. Human Rights Watch released a statement from the artists saying they will refuse to cooperate with the project until Guggenheim and Abu Dhabi authorities ensure that workers are reimbursed for any recruitment fees they paid and hire “a reputable independent monitor” that will [...]

National Museum Wales Purchases Painting by Howard Hodgkin for the Nation

WALES.- Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales has acquired one of Howard Hodgkin’s most spectacular original prints, entitled Venice, Evening, 1995 thanks to funding grants from the Nerys Johnson Contemporary Art Fund and the Derek Williams Trust. Thanks to the generous support of the Nerys Johnson Contemporary Art Fund and the Derek Williams Trust, who each awarded a grant of £9,000, the 16 part hand painted etching and aquatint will beautifully complement and enhance other Venetian works by artists in [...]

Norwegian and Swiss Landscapes from the Lunde Collection Announced at the National Gallery

LONDON.- This summer the National Gallery displays 51 paintings from a major private collection, most of which have never been seen in the UK before, and are rarely on public view. ‘Forests, Rocks, Torrents’ draws on the collection of Asbjørn Lunde, an American who has formed the world’s leading private collection of Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings, primarily of the 19th century. British audiences are well aware of the landscape tradition of Constable and Turner. This landmark exhibition introduces skilled [...]

Leading British Art Collector Charles Saatchi’s Ex-Wife Sells Off Art at Christie’s

LONDON (REUTERS).- Kay Saatchi, ex-wife of leading British art patron Charles, is selling off part of her own collection at a Christie’s auction in June and expects to raise up to 3.4 million pounds ($5.4 million). The highlight of the sale, which will form part of the post-war and contemporary art evening auction in London on June 28, is a larger-than-life yet disturbingly realistic model of a seated and naked baby by Ron Mueck. “Big Baby,” which measures nearly three [...]

National Portrait Gallery Marks the Centenary of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s Death

LONDON.- A new display at the National Portrait Gallery marks the centenary of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s death in 1911. Gilbert alongside Sir Arthur Sullivan made up the famous partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan that revolutionized Victorian theatre with comic operas such as HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert by Francis Montague, oil on canvas, 1886. ©: National Portrait Gallery, London. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836 –1911) worked as a civil servant, a [...]

American Artist Roxy Paine Installs “Inversion” in the Billy Rose Art Garden at the Israel Museum

JERUSALEM.- James Cohan Gallery announces the installation of Inversion (2008), by American artist Roxy Paine, as part of the Israel Museum’s Billy Rose Art Garden this past January 2011. Inversion was acquired by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem through a gift by Jill and Jay H. Bernstein, New York, to the American Friends of the Israel Museum. US artist Roxy Paine, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, near his huge huge stainless steel, inverted tree sculpture called ‘Inversion’ in the Billy [...]

Valencia’s IVAM Presents a Retrospective Exhibition of the Sculptor Baltasar Lobo

VALENCIA.- The IVAM presents a retrospective exhibition of the sculpture Baltasar Lobo, on display until May 1, 2011. The exhibition gathers 92 works between sculptures and paintings that represent the different stages of his creative production from the forties to his last works in the nineties. It is a complete perspective of a legacy that has been shown in museums and public spaces in France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Venezuela. His sculptures on a medium and large scale are characterized [...]

Late Queen Juliana’s Attic Sale Draws Crowds of Royal Fans at Sotheby’s in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM (AP).- From threadbare armchairs to marble mantel clocks, garden furniture to a silver pocket knife, thousands of the late Dutch Queen Juliana’s possessions are going under the hammer in an attic sale fit for a king. The four-day auction by Sotheby’s started Monday and was stirring interest among serious collectors as well as die-hard Dutch royalty fans of the popular House of Orange. A total of 1,725 lots gathered from seven royal palaces were being auctioned with the proceeds [...]