University of Virginia Art Museum exhibit on The Fourteenth Street School opens

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.- Urban realism, with a touch of Renaissance idealism, was the bread and butter of the Fourteenth Street School, a group of New York artists who made their mark between the world wars. A new exhibition at the University of Virginia Art Museum, “Figure Study: The Fourteenth Street School and the Woman in Public,” draws on the museum’s collection of paintings, prints and drawings by these artists. The exhibit opened Aug. 26 and runs through Dec. 23. The museum is open to [...]

Rarely seen artworks by the Blk Art Group go on show at Sheffield’s Graves Gallery

SHEFFIELD.- From Saturday 27 August, Sheffield’s Graves Gallery will debut the UK ’s first exhibition exploring the work of the influential art collective, the Blk Art Group. Curated by Museums Sheffield, the exhibition will bring together rarely-seen works from the city’s own collections and loans from the artists to showcase the group’s considerable contribution to raising awareness of black British art. In the early 1980s, the British National Party was on the rise, the Brixton riots were shaking London and South Africa was [...]

Bonhams Knightsbridge to sell iconic Terence Cuneo image of Golden Arrow train

LONDON.- Bonhams are to sell The Golden Arrow by Terence Cuneo in their Modern Paintings auction on 20th September 2011 at Bonhams Knightsbridge. The painting is estimated to sell for £40,000-60,000. The Golden Arrow was a luxury boat train that ran between London’s Victoria station and Dover. Passengers would then take the ferry across the Channel to Calais and complete their journey from there to Paris by another train, the Fleche d’Or. The train was initially entirely for first-class passengers, before later [...]

“Portraiture Now: Asian American portraits of encounter” at the National Portrait Gallery Aug. 12

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Smithsonian‟s National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program have collaborated to mount the Smithsonian‟s first major showcase of contemporary Asian American portraiture. Through the work of seven artists from across the country and around the world, the exhibition offers thought-provoking interpretations of the Asian American experience and representations against and beyond the stereotypes that have obscured the complexity of being Asian in America. The exhibition is open Aug. 12 through Oct. 14, 2012. “The Portraiture Now‟ exhibition [...]

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe opens Stylectrical: On Electro-Design that Makes History

HAMBURG.- The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg is showing the exhibition “Stylectrical – On Electro-Design That Makes History” from 26th August 2011 until 15th January 2012. The exhibition takes a look at the complex process of industrial product design in the context of cultural studies. Once again the Museum is taking up a highly topical and socially relevant subject. The focus is on the design of Jonathan Ive (*1967), Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, and responsible for creating [...]

Behind Apple’s clean, inviting products is longtime British designer Jonathan Ive

SAN FRANCISCO (AP).- Steve Jobs has been Apple’s most recognizable personality, but much of its cachet comes from its clean, inviting designs. For that, Apple can credit its head designer, Jonathan Ive. Ive, a self-effacing 44-year-old Brit, helped Jobs bring Apple back from the brink of financial ruin with the whimsical iMac computer, whose original models came in bright colors at a time when bland shades dominated the PC world. He later helped transform Apple into a consumer electronics powerhouse and [...]

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art retains three scumak sculptures by Roxy Paine

KANSAS CITY, MO.- Artist Roxy Paine’s sculpture-making machine has been churning out sculptures, called Scumaks, in Bloch Lobby at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since April. Three of the sculptures, donated by Paine and James Cohan Gallery, will be retained by the Museum. The more than 40 sculptures were winnowed down to five choices by Jan Schall, curator of modern & contemporary art. From those choices, the public, the Museum staff and volunteers, and the Museum’s Board of Trustees voted for their favorite. [...]

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VCU and 13 charities to receive $125 million bequest

RICHMOND, VA.- The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) jointly announced today the largest-ever cash gifts to both organizations totaling $115 million. The record gifts will help acquire additional works of art and support medical research. Thirteen additional charitable organizations will receive the remaining $10 million. The trusts, created in the 1950s by Arthur Graham and Margaret Branch Glasgow, terminated earlier this summer with the death of their son-in-law, Ambrose Congreve 104, in London. VMFA, VCU and the [...]

Smithsonian Prepares for Hurricane Irene

WASHINGTON.- Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are preparing for possible severe weather this weekend along the East Coast due to Hurricane Irene. Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., and the National Zoo are open; however, if weather worsens over the weekend, this status could change. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, the George Gustav Heye Center, will be closed on Saturday, Aug. 27 and Sunday, 28, due to a severe storm threat. Hawk Kennedy, Nathan Gilham, [...]

Christie’s presents superb jade carvings from an important European collection on September 15

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Christie’s presents Superb Jade Carvings from an Important European Collection, a sale of 36 lustrous jades from the collection of a European connoisseur on September 15 at 2 pm. This exceptional group was formed over the past fifty years and focuses on outstanding examples exhibiting stone of high quality, fine carving, and the decorative themes appreciated by the Chinese scholarly elite. Leading the sale is a very rare white jade archaistic vase and cover, Qianlong/Jiaqing period (1736-1820) (estimate: $750,000-1,000,000). [...]

Major retrospective devoted to Japanese artist Hokusai opens at Martin-Gropius-Bau

BERLIN.- For the first time in Germany a major retrospective is being devoted to the world- famous Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). Perhaps his best-known picture is the woodcut: “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” from the series: “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” (1823-29). Over 440 loans, which with few exceptions come from Japan, are on display in the exhibition in Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau. NAGATA Seiji, the leading Japanese authority on Hokusai and his work, curated the exhibition, which is shown exclusively in Berlin. Works [...]

Christie’s presents over 100 lots in its New York Fall sale of Japanese and Korean art

NEW YORK, N.Y.- On September 14, Christie’s will present the Fall Sale of Japanese and Korean Art, which offers over 250 exemplary works of Japanese and Korean art. With over 100 lots, the Japanese section of the sale will feature Inro from the Collection from the Estate Catherine H. Edson, paintings, lacquer wares, and furniture, while the Korean portion includes fine porcelains, as well as traditional and modern paintings by Korean masters. The sale is expected to realize in excess of $9 million. [...]

Discover Latin American art at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art this September

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) honors Latino Heritage Month this September by highlighting Latin American works of art and inviting visitors of all ages to discover them in the exhibition Selected Histories: 20th-Century Art from the SFMOMA Collection on the museum’s second floor. Iconic Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are represented along with their contemporaries Jose Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo, all of whose paintings tell a story. Other featured works include a geometric abstract [...]

August Wilson Center celebrates Romare Bearden Centennial with world-class traveling exhibition

PITTSBURGH, PA.- The August Wilson Center for African American Culture is hosting the exhibition From Process to Print: Graphic Works by Romare Bearden through September 12, 2011 in The Centerʼs Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation Changing Exhibit Gallery. The Romare Bearden Foundation, a New York based, public foundation dedicated to the legacy of preeminent American artist, Romare Bearden (1911-1988) has organized the exhibition From Process to Print: Graphic Works by Romare Bearden for a three-year national tour. The exhibition presents a selected body [...]

Jerusalem’s five-century-old walls restored at cost of $5 million, idiosyncracies and all

JERUSALEM (AP).- Israeli experts are nearing completion of an ambitious restoration of the five-century-old walls of Jerusalem, the holy city’s dominant architectural feature and a unique record of its eventful and troubled history. The $5 million undertaking, which began in 2007, is set to be complete by the end of this year. The first restoration of the walls in nearly a century, it has required decisions about which of the walls’ many idiosyncrasies — the falcon nests, for example, the hundreds [...]