Selection of new and recent works by Russian artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov at Erarta Galleries

LONDON.- Erarta Galleries London presents a selection of new and recent works by Vladimir Ovchinnikov. One of the most significant artists to emerge from St. Petersburg during the Soviet era, Vladimir Ovchinnikov is known for his paintings that blur the boundaries between realism and surrealism, fusing together contemporary Russian subject matter with magical, fantastic elements, often derived from myth and religion. His distinctively rotund, heavy-bodied, yellow-skinned figures have a primeval, statuesque quality, as if stemming from ancient monuments or religious icons – [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art showcases legendary black photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris

PITTSBURGH (AP).- Charles “Teenie” Harris had a photographic mission: going beyond the obvious or sensational to capture the essence of daily African-American life in the 20th century For more than 40 years, Harris — as lead photographer of the influential Pittsburgh Courier newspaper — took almost 80,000 pictures of people from all walks: presidents, housewives, sports stars, babies, civil rights leaders and even cross-dressing drag queens. Now, a new exhibit and online catalog is showing the depth of Harris’ work, an [...]

Vasily Vereshchagin’s masterpiece to highlight Christie’s Russian Art sale in London

LONDON.- This autumn’s Russian Art Sale in London will feature Vasily Vereshchagin’s awe-inspiring Crucifixion by the Romans, painted in 1887 in Paris. It will be offered on 28th November with an estimate of £1,000,000-1,500,000. The picture will be sold to benefit the acquisitions fund of the Brooklyn Museum, where it was exhibited for the last time in 1932. “After conducting a careful review of the Museum’s late-19th and 20th-century Russian holdings, we came to the conclusion that Crucifixion by the Romans by [...]

The most important pair of Russian vases to appear on the market this Autumn

LONDON.- A magnificent and important pair of porcelain vases by the Imperial Porcelain Factory will highlight this autumn’s Russian Art Week in London (estimate: £1,700,000-2,200,000). In their 28 November Russian Art Sale, Christie’s will offer perhaps the finest and grandest pair of Russian porcelain vases to appear at auction in recent memory. Over the years, Christie’s have been entrusted with the sale of numerous important pairs of Russian vases and have achieved the highest price ever paid at auction for a pair of [...]

“The Art of Collecting” exhibition opens at the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan

FLINT, MI.- The Art of Collecting, organized by the Flint Institute of Arts, opened on November 25 and continue through January 8. This exhibition of more than 100 paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures are on consignment from galleries in New York, Chicago and Detroit and have been selected based on comparisons of price and quality. All of the artworks are available for purchase and represent an outstanding value in the art market and an excellent opportunity for seasoned, as well as novice [...]

The photographs of Brett Weston opens at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

KANSAS CITY, MO.- Over his long and prolific career, photographer Brett Weston (1911-1993) exemplified the modernist aesthetic. The son of famed photographer Edward Weston (1886-1958), Brett Weston was a “natural” with the camera: he was still a teenager when he first received high-level, international recognition as a creative artist. The Photographs of Brett Weston, Nov. 23, 2011, through April 1, 2012, at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, presents a condensed 40-print survey of his long and prolific career. While rare [...]

Exhibition at Moderna Museet focuses on non-commercial gallery Ynglingagatan 1

STOCKHOLM.- Following this spring’s events and magazine projects on the 1980s, Moderna Museet moves on in Swedish art history to the 1990s, with the exhibition Moment – Ynglingagatan 1. The non-commercial gallery Ynglingagatan 1 was a vital forum for Swedish contemporary art in the 1990s, featuring international artists such as Pierre Huyghe, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Takashi Murakami and M/M (Paris), decades before their works were recognised by critics and major institutions all over the world. With modest means and fuelled by a feeling of [...]

Libya’s state antiquities department recovers and displays looted Roman antiquities

TRIPOLI (AP).- Moammar Gadhafi’s forces tried to flee Tripoli with a sack of ancient Roman artifacts in hopes of selling them abroad to help fund their doomed fight, Libya’s new leaders said Saturday as they displayed the recovered objects for the first time. The director of the state antiquities department, Saleh Algabe, hailed the find of 17 pieces, mostly small stone heads, as an important recovery of national treasures. The pieces included a female figurine evocative of ancient fertility symmbols, several [...]

Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opens new galleries of Ancient Egypt and Nubia

OXFORD.- On Saturday 26 November 2011, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened six new galleries for the collections of Ancient Egypt and Nubia (present day Sudan). Building on the success of the Museum’s extension, which opened in 2009, this second phase of major redevelopment redisplays the world-renowned Egyptian collections to exhibit objects that have been in storage for decades, more than doubling the number of mummies and coffins on display. The galleries take visitors on a chronological journey covering more than 5000 years [...]

Two trial proofs for Andy Warhol’s iconic image of a dollar sign for sale at Bonhams

LONDON.- Two trial proofs for Andy Warhol’s iconic image of a dollar sign are for sale at Bonhams Print sale on 29 November in London. The signed prints, estimated at between £15,000- 20,000, date from 1982 – just five years before the artist untimely death – and are based on paintings executed the year before. They are among the most obvious representations of the link he often drew between art and money, underlined by the high prices paid for them by collectors at [...]

Sotheby’s previews highlights from impressionist & modern and contemporary art sales in Hong Kong

HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s is exhibiting selected highlights of the London Sale Series of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong from 25 to 27 November (Friday to Sunday) 2011. The exhibition offers an early viewing of important highlights from the major London sales of Impressionist & Modern Art which take place on 8 and 9 February 2012, and the Contemporary Art auctions on 15 and 16 February 2012. Prominent works by Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul [...]

First major exhibition of works by Cathy Wilkes outside the UK at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst

BREMEN.- The GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst presents the first major institutional solo exhibition of works by Cathy Wilkes to be staged outside the UK. The show is a cooperation with the Kunstverein Munich. The exhibitions in Munich and Bremen will feature two specially commissioned installations as well as selections of previously unseen archive material compiled individually for each institution by the Northern Irish artist. Wilkes’ installations at both sites will be accompanied by varying selections of works highlighting different aspects of her [...]

Visionary Canadian Jack Chambers Celebrated at the Art Gallery of Ontario

TORONTO.- The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) opens an exhibition of Canadian artist Jack Chambers’ work on Nov. 26, 2011. Entitled Jack Chambers: Light, Spirit, Time, Place and Life, the collection surveys the varying styles and media used by the artist to create an incredible range of work. Curated by renowned Canadian art scholar Dennis Reid with art critic Sarah Milroy, the exhibition is based largely on holdings from the AGO’s permanent collection and remains on view until May 13, 2012. Situated [...]

French cultural identity through design at the Wolfsonian-Florida International University

MIAMI BEACH, FL.- The Wolfsonian–Florida International University presents Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, an exhibition exploring French cultural identity through design produced from the mid-twentieth century to the present. The exhibition will be on view from November 25, 2011 through March 26, 2012 and is organized by The Wolfsonian from the collection of the Centre national des arts plastiques, France (National Center for Visual Arts or CNAP). The opening of the exhibition will coincide with the celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach/Design Miami [...]

Historic 17th century items from rulers of Southern China for sale at Bonhams in Hong Kong

HONG KONG.- Historically important objects relating to Guangdong province in Southern China will go on sale at Bonhams’ 2011 Autumn Auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on November 28, 2011 at the Island Shangri-la Hotel. Located in Guangdong province, the economic powerhouse in Southern China, Hong Kong is the ideal place for these important artefacts to be auctioned. First up is the magnificent lacquered eight-leaf screen showing the earliest depiction of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), the provincial capital of [...]