A major landscape by Ferdinand Hodler sells for CHF 7,138,500 at Sotheby’s Zurich

ZURICH.- Sotheby’s Zurich last evening sold a major landscape by the celebrated Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler – Genfersee von Chexbres aus (Lake Geneva from Chexbres) – for CHF 7,138,500 (€5,784,660). A new world auction record for a work by Albert Anker was also established when Strickendes Mädchen, Kleinkind in der Wiege hütend achieved CHF 6,130,500 (€4,967,830). Estimated in excess of CHF 11 million, tonight’s auction realised CHF 17,410,500 (€14,108,540), bringing the total of Swiss Art sold by Sotheby’s Zurich in 2011 to [...]

New display celebrates the fifty year career of photographer Sandra Lousada

LONDON.- A new display at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates the fifty year career of photographer Sandra Lousada. The twenty one portraits on display depict key figures in literature, film and fashion from the early 1960s and form the first display of work by Lousada at the Gallery. Sandra Lousada: Work and Performance runs in the Bookshop Gallery from 28 November 2011 until 20 May 2012. Sir Tom Courtenay, 1962 by Sandra Lousada. ©Sandra Lousada. The Gallery has recently acquired forty portraits by [...]

Two important loans from Germany make an impression at National Museum Cardiff

CARDIFF.- The National Museum Wales often shares its collections with venues both home and abroad. And this autumn is no different as the French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist gallery at National Museum Cardiff feature two important loans from Germany, as part of an international exchange initiative. Edouard Manet’s depiction of The Painter Monet in his Studio-boat, lent by the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 1874, will be at National Museum Cardiff until October 2012 and Claude Monet’s The Sea at Antibes, 1888, which is on loan [...]

Exceptional work of art by Paul Cézanne at Christie’s impressionist and modern art sale in Paris

PARIS.- Christie’s announces the auction of an exceptional work of art by Paul Cézanne at its Impressionist and Modern Art sale on December 1st, 2011. This oil on canvas study was realized between 1902 and 1906 when the artist was at the peak of his career. This study, one of the few known to this date, is estimated between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 Euros. Thomas Seydoux, International director of the Impressionist and Modern Art department: ”The Bathers of Paul Cézanne figure among the [...]

British Museum announces major aquisition of complete set of Picasso’s Vollard Suite

LONDON.- The British Museum announces the major acquisition of a complete set of Picasso’s Vollard Suite, which will go on display at the Museum in the summer of 2012. The suite comprises 100 etchings produced by Picasso between 1930 and 1937 and is the most important cycle of etchings produced by arguably the 20th century’s most important artist. This will be the only complete Vollard Suite held by a public museum in the UK and only a handful of museums in the world [...]

New rooms with works spanning the years 1962 to 1982 on view at the Reina Sofia Museum

MADRID.- Opening to the public at the Museo Reina Sofía on Wednesday 30 November are the rooms devoted to the third section of the Museum’s Collection, which covers the period from 1962 to 1982. The Museum’s Collection is articulated around four areas corresponding to the key moments in the history of art, both Spanish and international, in the 20th and 21st centuries. Two of them have already been opened to the public. The first, exhibited on the second floor of the Sabatini Building, [...]

Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh opens following £17.6 million transformation

EDINBURGH.- The Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) will open on 1 December, following an ambitious £17.6m restoration project and with an entirely new presentation of its world-famous collection. The project – the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history – has restored much of the architect’s original vision, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the building and increasing the public space by more than 60 percent. It has also added a range of new facilities that will utterly transform visitors’ [...]

7th consecutive installment of Aqua set to open at the Aqua Hotel in Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH, FL.- Aqua Art Miami announces its 7th consecutive installment during Art Basel Week in Miami this December. After last year’s successful return to its original location in South Beach and this year’s surge of interest in art fairs around the country, the fair’s organizers are looking forward to an even stronger event in 2011. With expanded arts programming and the collective exchange of ideas by 45 exhibiting galleries, Aqua 2011 will surely live up to what many in the arts [...]

The New Art Dealers Alliance returns to Miami Beach for the 9th edition of NADA Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH, FL.- The New Art Dealers Alliance announces the 9th annual NADA Miami Beach on December 1st through December 4th at the Deauville Beach Resort (6701 Collins Ave) in its expansive Napoleon, Richelieu, and Le Jardin Ballrooms. NADA Miami Beach is recognized as the preeminent fair featuring the world’s most significant emerging art galleries from over 30 cities worldwide. The fair is prominently recognized for celebrating new and innovative contemporary art from rising talents around the globe. In an effort to accommodate [...]

Ferrari, Glenn Kaino, Ellsowrth Kelly, and Michael Dweck-Just some of the events at Art Basel Miami

MIAMI BEACH, FL.- Art Basel Miami’s tenth edition will hold several not to be missed events. Visitors to the art fair will have many options where to view art and party. Here are some of them: American photographer Michael Dweck’s personal exploration of Cuba, reflected in his most recent release, Habana Libre, will be presented at Base, 939 Lincoln Road in South Beach. Michael Dweck will be present signing books and then will head to Haven Lounge for an after party [...]

Sotheby’s important Russian art evening auction brings £5.6/$8.7 million

LONDON.- This evening, Sotheby’s Important Russian Art auction which was exceptionally well-attended brought £5,597,000/$8,657,999 (est. £5,755,000-8,415,000). The sale achieved sellthrough rates of 66.7% by lot and 74.6% by value, and established two new artist records for Alexander Golovin and Pavel Kovalevsky. The top-selling lot of this evening’s auction was Petr Konchalovsky’s exceptionally rare, pre-revolutionary painting Tatar Still Life, dated 1916. The painting saw competition from 5 bidders and realised the above-estimate sum of £914,850/$1,415,181 (est. £500,000-700,000). The painting first belonged to influential Polish [...]

Rodin’s Head of Pierre de Wissant fetched HK$ 64,900,000 at Tiancheng International Auctioneer Ltd.

HONG KONG.- Tiancheng International Auctioneer Limited held its inaugural auction in Hong Kong. The star lot of the sale, Monumental Head of Pierre de Wissant by Auguste Rodin, fetched HK$ 64,900,000 (US$8,327,254). The bronze head sculpture in colossal form was sold to an Asian private collector over the phone after intense bidding, the sold price is over three times of the pre-sale low estimate of 20 million Hong Kong dollars. “We are happy with the sale result today,” said Ingrid Lam, CEO [...]

“Cloud Studies: The Scientific View of the Sky” at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur

WINTERTHUR.- The English pharmacist and meteorologist Luke Howard wrote in 1802 in the preface to his manuscript On the Modification of Clouds: “Clouds are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which affect all the variations of the atmosphere; they are commonly as good visible indicators of the operation of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person’s mind or body.” Eighty years later, meteorologists had still not reached a consensus on how to [...]

Michel Majerus’ complex and comprehensive oeuvre on view at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

STUTTGART.- -Michel Majerus only lived to the age of thirty-five and nevertheless the artist left behind a complex and comprehensive oeuvre. In a creative period of just ten years he produced a unique statement about painting that remains relevant today. Majerus worked with diverse techniques and varied subjects and motifs taken from the realm of computers, comics, and advertising. At the same time he made use of art history, drawing on works by artists such as Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Willem [...]

New works by Jannis Kounellis, master of Arte Povera, on view in China for the first time

BEIJING.- Art Povera and its representative Jannis Kounellis may sound strange to Chinese audiences. Yet Art Povera has been widely acknowledged as a hugely influential school in art history. As an internationally renowned artist, Kounellis is highly acclaimed for his achievements. Some of his works are regarded as significant connecting points in art history. In 1967, works by Kounellis first became typical of Arte Povera and they were internationally recognized in first contemporary Italian art movement. In late 1980s, his works [...]