Day one of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, The Legendary Jewels achieves $115,932,000

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor: The Legendary Jewels Evening Sale achieved $115,932,000 (£74,196,480/€89,267,640), becoming the most valuable jewelry auction in history* and setting the tone for Christie’s highly anticipated four-day series of landmark auctions devoted to the iconic collection of Elizabeth Taylor (13-16 December 2011). A tribute to the discerning eye of this celebrated film star, fashion icon, and humanitarian, the sale was 100% sold by lot and 100% by value, with 24 of the 80 jewels fetching over $1 [...]

Storied 16th century pearl from the collection of Elizabeth Taylor makes history at Christie’s

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The extraordinary beauty, rarity and provenance of the pearl known as “La Peregrina” inspired a fierce bidding battle at Christie’s New York at the opening auction of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor. Estimated at $2-3 million, the pearl reached a world auction record price for a pearl at $11,842,500 (£ 7,579,200 / € 9,118,725) after four and a half minutes of bidding. The pearl, an historic 16th century pear-shaped pearl suspended from a necklace custom-designed for Ms. Taylor by Cartier, [...]

For the first time in Spain: The work of photographer Gotthard Schuh at Fundacion Mapfre

MADRID.- From 14 December 2011 to 19 February 2012, Fundacion Mapfre presents for the first time in Spain the work of the photographer Gotthard Schuh (Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany, 1897 – Küsnacht, Switzerland, 1969). The exhibition has been organised in close collaboration with the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur, from where the works have been loaned, and is curated by its director Peter Pfrunder. Gotthard Schuh will be presented alongside the most important Swiss photographers of his day, all members of the College of Swiss Photographers [...]

Bonhams to hold San Francisco based period Art and Design auction in late January

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Bonhams looks forward to presenting its third-ever Period Art & Design Auction, January 29, 2012 in San Francisco, featuring a strong selection of furniture and decorative arts. To tastefully outfit a living or dining room, one need look no further than the auction’s top offerings of uniquely crafted chairs and tables. Among these offerings will be a pair of mid 20th century, Louis XV style giltwood fauteuil a la reine by Quatrain. The pair features arched backs centering a [...]

Palazzo Strozzi to show Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists

FLORENCE.- Americans in Florence. Sargent and the American Impressionists on view at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence , from 3 March to 15 July 2012, sets out to illustrate the extremely fertile and multifaceted relationship that the painters of the New World established with Florence and other cities in Tuscany between the mid 19th century and the World War 1. After the end of the American Civil War, there was a substantial increase in the number of American artists travelling to Europe , although, [...]

The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day by Bruegel the Elder now on display at the Museo del Prado

MADRID.- The Museo del Prado is presenting to the public for the first time The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the leading figure within 16th-century Flemish painting. Following the recent acquisition and subsequent restoration of the painting, it will be displayed in Room D in the Jerónimos Building until 25 March. In addition to highlighting the exceptional nature of a new discovery and acquisition of a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (of whom only 41 paintings [...]

Brilliant success of the sale of Russian art and several world records for photographs of the imperial family

GENEVA.- The Hôtel des Ventes in Geneva was the scene of a historic moment as more than 300 original and unpublished photographs of the last Tsars of Russia were sold for a record price of almost CHF 1.6 million. Out of a total of 28 lots of photographs, 26 lots were sold for more than 100 times the estimated price, an exceptional result for a sale at auction of this type. It was only at the end of a fierce fight between several [...]

White Cube Bermondsey presents artist Anselm Kiefer’s “Il Mistero delle Cattedrali”

LONDON.- White Cube Bermondsey presents a new exhibition of work by the internationally renowned artist Anselm Kiefer. Staged across 11,000 sq ft of gallery space, ‘Il Mistero delle Cattedrali’ is the largest presentation of Kiefer’s work ever made in London. The title of the exhibition is taken from the esoteric publication by Fulcanelli (published in 1926), which claimed that the Gothic cathedrals of Europe had openly displayed the hidden code of alchemy for over 700 years. As with all Kiefer’s work, allusions [...]

The Word of God by Jeffrey Vallance at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, PA.- The Andy Warhol Museum announces its latest special exhibition, The Word of God: Jeffrey Vallance. Jeffrey Vallance is a California artist who creates objects, installations, performance and curatorial works. Vallance’s process is based in his interactions with institutions, communities, politicians, religions, museums and pop-culture figures. Some of his past projects have included traveling throughout Polynesia in search of the origin of the myth of Tiki; creating a Richard Nixon Museum; and traveling to the Vatican, Turin, and Milan, Italy to [...]

For its 3rd edition, Menasart-Fair becomes Beirut Art Fair

BEIRUT.- Menasart-Fair (BEIRUT ART FAIR) takes place for the third time at the Beirut International Exhibition Leisure Center (BIEL), under the leadership of Laure d’Hauteville, Pascal Odille and Jean-Marc Decrop, and becomes BEIRUT ART FAIR. Its mission remains unchanged: it is the only modern and contemporary art fair to provide an exchange platform entirely dedicated to artists of the ME.NA.SA. (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) region. After a promising opening edition in 2010, the fair brought together in 2011 for its [...]

The Art of the Brick: LEGO sculptures by Nathan Sawaya at the Morris Museum

MORRISTOWN, NJ.- Visitors to the Morris Museum this winter will be delighted by a new exhibition featuring over 25 awe-inspiring and thought-provoking large-scale sculptures created out of LEGO® bricks by artist Nathan Sawaya. The Morris Museum opened The Art of the Brick®, which will be on view through February 19, 2012. While the exhibition is on view, a special area has been set up where visitors, inspired by Sawaya’s work, can build their own fantastic LEGO creations. Several special programs are planned, including [...]

Tribeca Issey Miyake unveils new light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Tribeca ISSEY MIYAKE presents Uros, a lighting sculpture installation from a recent series of works by Peruvian artist Grimanesa Amorós. Uros will be unveiled on Thursday, December 15 and running through January 14th, 2012. Amorós recently represented Peru at the 54th Biennale di Venezia at the Fondazione Claudio Buziol as part of Future Pass, a traveling exhibition curated by Victoria Lu that will also show at Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum, the National Taiwan Art Museum in Taichung and the Beijing Art [...]

National Portrait Gallery, London announces Call For Entries for the BP Portrait Award 2012

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery announces the Call for Entries for the BP Portrait Award 2012, the world’s most prestigious open competition for portrait painting. The Portrait Award, now in its thirty-third year at the National Portrait Gallery and twenty-third year of sponsorship by BP, is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work. The BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from 21 June to 23 September 2012. Holly [...]

Sexy model pictures by George Katsanakis

Enjoy some fashion and glamour photos by George Katsanakis, talented women photographer, based in Athens, Greece.

Art Dubai announces artists and Curator inResidence for 2012

DUBAI.- Art Dubai, in partnership with the Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Tashkeel, has launched Artists-in-Residence (A.i.R) Dubai 2012, an annual programme for artists and curators based in the historic quarter of Bastakiya, Dubai. Artists Hadeyah Badri, Fayçal Baghriche, Zeinab Al Hashimi, Magdi Mostafa, Nasir Nasrallah, and Deniz Uster have been selected for the three-month residency in the lead-up to Art Week, the Gulf-wide programme of fairs, museum shows, exhibitions, performances and projects that coincides with Art Dubai [...]