Concentrated and impressive survey of Douglas Gordon’s work at MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst

FRANKFURT.- With the major solo exhibition “Douglas Gordon” (19 November 2011–25 March 2012), the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst presents an artist who is one of the most important and most influential of his generation. While he gained renown above all for his films and large video installations, his oeuvre also comprises photographs, texts, sculptures and sound installations. Douglas Gordon (b. 1966 in Glasgow) has been a professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt since 2010. The MMK has in its possession one of [...]

Of Beauty and Death: Animal Still Lifes from the Renaissance to Modernism in Karlsruhe

KARLSRUHE.- On 19 November, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe unveiled a new major exhibition that will, for the first time ever, cast the spotlight on the rich history of the genre of the animal still life, spanning from the 16th to the 20th century. Over 120 paintings, watercolours and reliefs by such famous artists as Dürer, Rubens, Weenix, Chardin, Goya, Manet, Ensor, Kokoschka and Beckmann form a testimony of the subject’s importance. Besides works from our own collection, around 90 exquisite loans from renowned [...]

Indiana University Art Museum to return painting to Berlin’s Jagdschloss Grunewald

BLOOMINGTON, IN.- More than 60 years after it disappeared from a Berlin museum in the chaotic aftermath of World War II, a painting depicting the flagellation of Christ will return home. The Indiana University Art Museum will return the painting to the Jagdschloss Grunewald in a ceremony Nov. 21 at Charlottenburg Palace in Germany. Created by a Cologne master, the Flagellation of Christ dates to the late 15th century and originally formed part of a wing of an altarpiece. It was one of [...]

Brooklyn Museum presents Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the first major museum exhibition to explore how gender and sexual identity have shaped the creation of American portraiture, organized by and presented at the National Portrait Gallery last fall, will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from November 18, 2011, through February 12, 2012. With the cooperation of the National Portrait Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum has reconstituted the exhibition in concert with the Tacoma Art Museum, where it will be on view [...]

Latin American sales in United States have best year since 2008 financial crisis

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- Latin American art sales, which totaled nearly $90 million in New York in 2011, scored their best year since the 2008 financial crisis, aided by a boom in Brazilian art and demand from Asia. The sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s were second only to the 2008 Latin American market total of $96 million, according to the auction houses. While they primarily attribute the success to the selective quality of the works, collectors and gallery owners said a [...]

Gagosian Gallery exhibition celebrates the work of Piero Manzoni and fellow artists

LONDON.- Following the acclaimed exhibition “Manzoni: A Retrospective” in New York in 2009,Gagosian Gallery presents “Manzoni: Azimut” at the Davies Street gallery in London. Organized in cooperation with the Fondazione Piero Manzoni, the exhibition celebrates the work of Manzoni and fellow artists during the brief life of the Azimut gallery in Milan from 1959 to 1960. On December 4, 1959, Azimut opened in the sub-basement of a furniture store on a narrow street around the corner from La Scala in Milan with [...]

Keith Smith creates books as works of art in first exhibition at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Bruce Silverstein presents Book by Book, the gallery’s first solo exhibition by the artist Keith Smith. Smith has been creating books as works of art since the 1960s, yet he has rarely shown his work to the public over the past twenty-five years. The 30 books selected for this exhibition, made between 1967-2011, reveal Smith’s unfailing interest in experimenting with new materials and processes.He designs books that allow the viewer to experience and question the structure and nature of [...]

Auction house MacDougall’s announces Russian paintings, icons and works of art sale

LONDON.- On 1 December 2011, MacDougall’s will present Russian paintings, icons and works of art with a total pre‐sale estimate of over £16m. The sale is led by Boris Kustodiev’s Merchant’s Wife dating from 1923. Kupchikhas, as merchants’ wives are known in Russian, are among the artist’s most recognisable images. The present example, which is estimated at £1,200,000–1,800,000, was shown at the historic Russian Art Exhibition in New York’s Grand Central Palace in 1924. Another highlight of the sale is Listening to the [...]

Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in Christie’s New York sale

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture auction atChristie’s New York on November 30, at 10 am, will lead off with two vibrant landscapes from Oscar Bluemner and Frederic Church, two superb Georgia O’Keeffe paintings and a heroic tableau of Columbus departing for the New World by Emanuel Leutze, the renowned painter of Washington Crossing the Delaware. A total of 136 lots will be offered, featuring outstanding works from diverse movements across the 19th and 20th centuries, including Hudson [...]

Sotheby’s to sell one of the most important works by Vilhelm Hammershøi at auction

LONDON.- Sotheby’s Scandinavian sale on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 will be headlined by Interior with Ida in a White Chair by Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916). Estimated at £500,000-700,000, the painting is one of the most important works by the artist ever to be offered at auction and comes to the market from a Private Danish Collection. Painted in 1900 in the artist’s home at Strandgade 30 in Copenhagen, it depicts his wife Ida. A sublime distillation of Hammershøi’s artistic concerns during his lifetime, [...]

Remembering a lost museum: The first Jewish museum and modern art collection of the world

BERLIN.- Perhaps only a few people in Berlin and elsewhere know that there was a Jewish museum in the German capital from 1933 to 1938. Astonishingly enough, the first Jewish museum worldwide was opened one month before the seizure of power by the National Socialists. It was situated next to the new sinagogue in Oranienburger Strasse, in the centre of Berlin. The collections contained not only art works and historical artifacts of the past but also modern art. In its five [...]

Bonhams breaks world records in 20th century British and Irish sale held yesterday

LONDON.- A new world auction record for a work on paper by Henry Moore was set by Bonhams yesterday (16th November) in the 20th Century British and Irish Art sale. Entitled Shelter Drawing: Seated Mother and Child, the work sold for £634,850, after much enthusiastic bidding. Executed in 1941, the work had only appeared a couple of times in public, including the Tate Gallery’s major retrospective of Henry Moore last year. The sale total was £4,150,000. Another world record for a work on [...]

Gesamtkunstwerk: New art from Germany on show at the Saatchi Gallery in London

LONDON.- On 18 November, the Saatchi Gallery will open Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art from Germany, the gallery’s first survey of German art. The exhibition, which presents artists from or based in Germany (including Berlin, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bremen and Cologne), confirms Germany’s position as a powerhouse of European contemporary art. Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art from Germany showcases 24 artists, most of whom have been little seen in the UK, but are rapidly establishing themselves in Germany and internationally. Their work, including sculpture, painting, drawing and [...]

Abu Dhabi Art 2011: 50 prestigious and innovative galleries participate in this year’s edition

DUBAI.- The third edition of Abu Dhabi Art, the leading platform for international modern and contemporary art, has today launched its diverse 2011 programme on Saadiyat Island. Abu Dhabi Art 2011 will be housed in the new UAE Pavilion which was designed by Foster + Partners as well as Manarat Al Saadiyat, the Saadiyat Cultural District’s exhibition center, opened since 2009. The huge UAE Pavilion, originally designed for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 has been relocated in more than 24,000 individual parts [...]

Sotheby’s Latin American Art evening sale in New York totals $17 million, breaks records

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Sale of Latin American Art at Sotheby’s in New York brought a total of $16,975,750, meeting pre-sale expectations (est. $15.2/20.7 million).* The highlight of the evening was Watermelon Slices by Rufino Tamayo, which exceeded the high estimate to fetch $2,210,500; the work was sold by The Museum of Modern Art, New York to benefit the Acquisitions Fund (est. $1.5/2 million). Watermelon Slices was just one of a number of excellent prices for the Mexican painter, with a particular resurgence in [...]