Vast Collections, from artistic treasures to everyday items, on the National Trust go online

WARRINGTON.- From great works of art by Gainsborough to the ordinary cotton underpants of a Midlands grocer, details of over 700,000 objects in the care of the National Trust go online for the first time. Now anyone with an interest in historic objects or old curiosities can have virtual access to collections from over 200 historic properties. The website also includes details of collections in storage, items that are too fragile to display, or on loan to other museums, making it one of [...]

Donors honor retiring Cantor Arts Center Director with gifts of art and endowed fund

STANFORD, CA.- In a tribute to Thomas K. Seligman, the retiring director of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, 23 donors are giving 57 artworks to the Center, to be added to its comprehensive collection. Also to honor Seligman, more than 200 people contributed funds to support student engagement in the Cantor Arts Center’s Education Department, using new technologies to facilitate learning about art. The artworks, given as outright and promised gifts in Seligman’s honor, include a Joseph Cornell box construction from [...]

Stunning Hercules figure sets new world record at Bonhams’ Fine European Ceramics auction

FLORENCE.- A very rare and important 82cm high porcelain figure of Hercules created at the Doccia factory in Tuscany in 1753-55 sold for £657,250 last week in Bonhams Fine European Ceramics auction, setting a new world record pirce for Doccia porcelain at auction. It was the first time that a Doccia figure of this size had come to auction and the piece far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of £300,000-500,000. Nette Megens, Bonhams European Ceramics Specialist, comments, “It was a great joy to have [...]

Menil Collection celebrates return of Byzantine frescoes with exhibition until March 2012

HOUSTON, TX.- The Menil Collection announced that March 4, 2012 will be the final day to see the Byzantine frescoes currently housed on its campus in the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, after which time they will be returned to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. In celebration of the frescoes, their time in Houston, and the purpose-built Chapel that has been their home for fifteen years, the Menil will present special public events commemorating the return of this sacred art.  The works, the largest intact [...]

Soaring steel sculpture by preeminent American artist Mark di Suvero at Brooklyn Bridge Park

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- Storm King Art Center, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy have announced the installation at the Park of a soaring steel sculpture by preeminent American artist Mark di Suvero. Organized and implemented by Storm King, working closely with the Park and the Conservancy, the presentation of the work, titled Yoga (1991), represents the first initiative in an anticipated ongoing arts program there. The roughly thirty-foot-tall composition is sited on the Bridge View Lawn at the Park’s [...]

$2.7 million for South Australian museum to fight bugs in its bug collection

ADELAIDE.- As part of the Mid Year Budget Review, the Government has allocated $2.7 million to the South Australian Museum, to stop a recurring infestation of beetles that could threaten its world-class insect collection. Anthrenus verbasci, also known as carpet beetles, are highly destructive, difficult to control and could threaten the irreplaceable specimens within the museum. In the most recent outbreak in early September, some holotype specimens – the original physical example of a species – were infested. In the most recent [...]

Fellowship Exhibition at the School of the International Center of Photography

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The International Center of Photography presents Faces of Aravind and The Tierney Foundation Fellowship Exhibition showcasing the work of fellowship recipients who documented daily life in India’s Aravind Eye Care System and explored personal projects. Faces of Aravind Fellowship Exhibition by Willie Davis Dramatic images from a day in the life of India’s internationally renowned Aravind Eye Care System will be on view at the School of the International Center of Photography, December 17, 2011 to March 18, 2012. The [...]

Nationalmuseum to get passionate this spring, exhibition of over 100 works depict emotions

STOCKHOLM.- This spring’s big exhibition at Nationalmuseum, Passions, is all about emotion in art. Starting on 8 March, over 100 works depicting emotions such as sorrow, fear and joy will go on show. The artists represented include Dürer, Munch, Rembrandt, Tony Oursler, Rineke Dijkstra and Bill Viola. Passions – Five Centuries of Art and the Emotions, the major exhibition at Nationalmuseum this spring, will examine how the emotions are interpreted and portrayed in art. Body language has been a source of fascination [...]

Kenneth Wayne appointed Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at the Noguchi Museum

QUEENS, N.Y.- Jenny Dixon, Director, The Noguchi Museum, announced that Kenneth Wayne has been named Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at The Noguchi Museum. Mr. Wayne, who assumes his post on January 3, 2012, will be the first person to hold this position at the Museum. Ms. Dixon states, “We are delighted that Kenneth Wayne will be joining The Noguchi Museum staff. A highly regarded expert in modern sculpture, with extensive museum experience, he will bring new scholarship on Noguchi and his [...]

Museum Kunst der Westküste to create a crocheted coral reef as a collective, cross-border installation

ALKERSUM.- From January to June 2012 a crocheted coral reef will be created as a collective, cross-border installation. The project is open to all interested. On 13 and 14 January 2012, a lecture and a workshop led by Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring will take place at the Museum Kunst der Westküste to kick off the project. The workshop serves to provide instruction on crocheting corals, anemones, sea snails and other marine organisms. Following the workshop, weekly crocheting sessions are scheduled [...]

Exhibition of new work by Alan Michael at David Kordansky Gallery

LOS ANGELES, CA.- David Kordansky Gallery announces Res Gestae, an exhibition of new work by Alan Michael. Concerned with a densely cross-referential network of reflection, repetition, and subtly conflicting stylistic choices, Michael’s practice represents an investigative, even experimental, approach to the contemporary fascination with reference material and the narratives that accompany images and objects of all kinds. The exhibition will consist of oil paintings and oil and silkscreen works on canvas. Michael’s attention to detail, and his deep understanding of the history [...]

Before The Law: Post-War sculptures and spaces of contemporary art at Museum Ludwig

COLOGNE.- The question of the fundamental conditions of human existence is of timeless importance as well as contemporary urgency. Human rights violations and assaults on human dignity can be observed every day – the media seeming to allow us to examine these with increasing thoroughness. The exhibition Before the Law is dedicated in both a focused and comprehensive manner to the central theme of the human condition and its fragility. The sculptures of the postwar era and spaces of contemporary art [...]

Color Photographs since 1970 by Joel Sternfeld on view at Foam in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM.- In mid-December Foam presents the first major retrospective exhibition in the Netherlands of the work of Joel Sternfeld (1944, New York), one of the pioneers of color photography. Foam will be showing more than one hundred photos from ten different series in an exhibition spanning two floors. A highlight is Sternfeld’s early work from the 1970s, which has never been previously exhibited. A large selection from famed series such as American Prospects, the result of his legendary journey through the United States, [...]

The Herbert welcomes its millionth visitor

COVENTRY.- The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum welcomed its millionth visitor through its doors on Wednesday 14 December. Amelia Mansell, from Stratford upon Avon, attended the gallery to enjoy the Tiny Tot Explorers: Sensory Play session with her daughter Sophie. Amelia said “I can’t believe we’re the millionth visitor. I booked to come here ages ago so for this to happen is crazy. I was shocked when they [the Herbert] said that we’d won. We love the Herbert.” In celebration of the Herbert’s [...]

Highlights of the 4th Edition of India Art Fair, formerly India Art Summit, announced

NEW DELHI.- India Art Fair (formerly India Art Summit) announces its 4th edition from 26-29 January 2012 in a new location at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in New Delhi. Founded in 2008, India Art Fair is the country’s premier art fair and a pioneering platform for modern and contemporary art in India. It has attracted more than 170,000 people over its first three editions, making it among the world’s most attended art fairs. The upcoming edition will feature 91 exhibitors from 20 [...]