Three men investigated over $130 million art heist from Paris’ Museum of Modern Art

PARIS (REUTERS).- Three men are being formally investigated over the theft of five famous paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse from a French museum, the Paris Prosecutor’s office said on Saturday, in a heist worth $130 million. The artworks, stolen from Paris’ Museum of Modern Art 18-months ago after the alarm system failed to trigger, have still not been recovered, said an official from the Prosecutor’s office. “Pastorale, Nympe et Faune” painted in 1906 by Henri Matisse. This [...]

Sotheby’s to offer works from the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s announced that it will offer a group of works from the collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem across a series of sales throughout the upcoming autumn and winter auction seasons, in both New York and London. The group will be led by works in the New York sales of Impressionist & Modern Art this November, including canvases by René Magritte, Camille Pissarro, Chaïm Soutine and Georges Braque, among others. The Israel Museum, founded in 1965, houses encyclopedic collections [...]

Phillips de Pury & Company announces highlights from its October contemporary art auctions

LONDON.- Phillips de Pury & Company announces the highlights from its London Contemporary Art auctions. The Evening auction will feature 36 lots with a low estimate of £10,060,000 /$15,938,000 and a high estimate of £14,600,000 /$22,111,000. The Day auction will comprise of 256 lots with a low estimate of £4,351,500/$6,273,300 and a high estimate of £6,191,500/$9,690,700. “We are delighted to present our October Frieze Evening sale which includes major established artists such as Koons, Hirst, Prince, Warhol/Basquiat, Cattelan and Sherman integrated with [...]

Two New York City-themed exhibitions open this weekend at The Katonah Museum of Art

KATONAH, N.Y.- Empire City, Gotham, The Big Apple — whatever you call it, there’s no doubt that New York City has impacted millions of hearts, minds, and imaginations throughout history. This fall, the Katonah Museum of Art shows works of art inspired by New York City in New York, New York! The 20th-Century. Organized by the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL, the exhibition features over 50 works from the Norton collection, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on paper, [...]

J. Paul Getty Museum explores the birth of the Los Angeles art scene with a historic survey

LOS ANGELES, CA.- —In recent decades, Los Angeles has shed its stereotype as the land of sunshine, palm trees, and movie stars to become an artistic powerhouse and an increasingly important international creative capital. This fundamental shift in the cultural landscape of the city dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, a period of critical importance in art history that has never before been fully studied and presented. On view October 1, 2011 – February 5, 2012 at the J. Paul Getty [...]

University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art launches new Robert Rauschenberg exhibition

NORMAN, OK.- As excitement builds for the opening of the new Stuart Wing at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma this fall, the museum debuts a new exhibition of modern art. Robert Rauschenberg: Prints from Universal Limited Art Editions, 1962-2008 opens at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at the museum. A guest lecture by Mary Lynn Kotz, biographer and author of Rauschenberg: Art and Life (2004, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.) will precede the opening reception at 6 [...]

Leading black contemporary artists featured at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery

WASHINGTON (AP).- Works by leading black artists in the contemporary art realm go on view Saturday at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art to tackle issues of racial, sexual and historical identity. The exhibit, “30 Americans,” will be on view through February. It features 31 artists, including Jean-Michel Basquait, Hank Willis Thomas, Kehinde Wiley and others. The 76 works come from Miami-based collectors Don and Mera Rubell. Corcoran Director Fred Bollerer said it marks an effort to undertake more daring exhibitions that examine serious [...]

Roving art show on view at the Provincial Museum brings Pablo Picasso to Cuban masses

PINAR DEL RIO (AP).- A traveling exhibition of art donated by a U.S. philanthropist is giving Cubans outside the capital a rare chance to see works from masters such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol that would normally hang in world-class galleries instead of sleepy provincial cities. Selections from the 120-piece collection have already toured Camaguey and Holguin in the island’s far-flung east and recently went on display in the western city of Pinar del Rio, known more for tobacco farms [...]

Sotheby’s New York to offer six works to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Sotheby’s announces that it will offer six works generously donated by leading contemporary artists to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF). Works by Cecily Brown, Tracey Emin, Jim Hodges, Howard Hodgkin, Jeff Koons and Keith Haring will be include in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Sale on 10 November 2011, with proceeds benefitting the Foundation’s initiatives. The auction is part of a series of art-related events that will help mark the 20th year of the organization in 2012. “All [...]

Joan Miró’s Triptych “Mural Painting I-III” Installed at National Gallery of Art, Washington

WASHINGTON, DC.- Joan Miró’s triptych Mural Painting I–III (1962), on loan from a private collection, was installed on September 29, 2011, on the East Building Mezzanine—seven months in advance of the opening of Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape. This triptych uses large monochromatic color fields of yellow-orange, green, and red (each canvas measures 104 3/4 x 136 1/16 inches) on which a set of symbols (two dots and three vertical lines on the first canvas; a few calligraphic lines on [...]

Paul Klee & Cobra explored in major exhibition at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark

HUMLEBAEK.- The major exhibition of the autumn at the Louisiana Museum explores for the first time the relationship between the Cobra movement (1948-51) and the Swiss artist Paul Klee’s (1879-1940) works and artistic thinking. For artists like Asger Jorn, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Ejler Bille and Corneille, Klee’s art seemed to show the way forward after the war. They encountered them in publications as early as the 1930s; later came the first exhibitions in Denmark and Holland and – most significantly – the later legendary [...]

First exhibition in Switzerland devoted to Surrealism opens at Fondation Beyeler in Basel

BASEL.- The Fondation Beyeler is devoting the first-ever comprehensive exhibition in Switzerland to Surrealism in Paris. On view will be major works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Max Ernst, and many more who either belonged to the movement or were associated with it. The show will focus on the innovative forms of expression developed and employed by the Surrealists – especially object art, collage, photography and film. Surrealism was one of the most crucial artistic and literary movements of the [...]