A way of thinking: Christie’s announces sale of works from an important private collection

LONDON.- Following the success of a selection of works from the celebrated Collection of Anton and Annick Herbert of Minimal Art, Conceptual Art and Arte Povera auctioned in New York in November 2011, Christie’s will offer for sale a portion of another extraordinary private collection, presented with the title ‘A Way of Thinking’. A unique assembly of works collected over the course of three decades and mainly acquired through inaugural gallery exhibitions, ‘A Way of Thinking’ represents a discerning vision. It contains exceptional [...]

The Watercolours + Works on Paper Fair: The specialist fair for every type of art on paper

LONDON.- The Watercolours + Works on Paper Fair returns to the stylish and spacious Level 2 Galleries at the Science Museum, South Kensington, London from 2 – 5 February 2012. The 2012 fair brings together an impressive range of art on paper exhibited by leading art dealers from across the UK. This eclectic and lively fair presents all types of art on paper from the 16th Century to the modern day. Works include original drawings, watercolours, prints, photographs and posters, all of [...]

MoMA exhibits James Rosenquist’s F-111 as it was first exhibited at the Castelli Gallery in 1965

NEW YORK, NY.- James Rosenquist designed the eighty-six-foot-long F-111 to wrap around the four walls of the Leo Castelli Gallery, at 4 East Seventy-Seventh Street in Manhattan. He began the painting in 1964, in the middle of a turbulent decade marked by the escalating Vietnam War. Funded by citizens’ tax dollars, the F-111 fighter-bomber plane was being developed as the USA’s newest, most technologically advanced weapon. Rather than celebrate its military might, Rosenquist used the plane as a symbol of the [...]

Abu Dhabi developer outlines a new timetable for opening of Louvre, Guggenheim

DUBAI (AP).- The developer of an ambitious cultural district in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday outlined a new timetable for the stalled project, with its first attraction — a branch of the Louvre — now slated to open in 2015. A division of the Guggenheim will follow in 2017, which like the outpost of the French art institution will make its debut in the Emirati capital years later than originally planned. The landmark projects on the emirate’s multi-billion dollar Saadiyat Island development [...]

Record numbers attend 24th London Art Fair

LONDON.- London Art Fair today reports a record attendance for the 24th edition of the UK’s largest and longest running fair for contemporary and Modern British art. 25,020 visitors attended the event at the Business Design Centre, Islington between 18-22 January 2012, compared with the previous record of 24,389 in 2011. Many of the 120 galleries exhibiting have reported strong sales as a result of the increased interest, with the busiest day, Saturday 21 January, 1,000 up on visitor numbers for the [...]

Annie Leibovitz opens new art show at Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington

WASHINGTON (AP).- Photographer Annie Leibovitz says she has come back from some dark days and revived her creativity with a new project now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that marks a departure from her popular celebrity portraits. Two years ago, Leibovitz was facing millions in debt and a mismanaged fortune that nearly cost her the legal rights to her own work, which includes some of pop culture’s most memorable images. The ordeal was a good lesson in managing [...]

Purdue University President France Cordova becomes Smithsonian Institution chairwoman

WASHINGTON (AP).- Purdue University President France Cordova was installed Monday as chairwoman of the Smithsonian Institution’s governing board as the museum complex expands with the coming construction of a new black history museum and amid calls for another focused on Latino American heritage. As Cordova begins her three-year term, she will maintain her post at the Indiana university. She will lead oversight and support fundraising for the world’s largest group of museums and research centers. Cordova is an astrophysicist and previously [...]

Lisa Jonasson’s “Man’s Inner in Average” opens at Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM.- Lisa Jonasson transforms colored paper into figures with scissors. It is both intuitive and meticulous work that takes place at her studio table and later develops into large collages. The figures, equal parts human, animal, and fantasy, can be said to form states of mind and provoke thoughts connected to what it is to be human today. There are glimpses in the titles of these pieces of everyday phenomena: career stress, fixation with appearance, and ideas about perfect parenting. For [...]

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announces historical endowment

BOSTON, MA.- Charles Brizius, President of the Board of Trustees at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, announced at a museum board meeting last night that both the Director and Chief Curator positions have been endowed for the first time in the museum’s 75 year history. Ellen Poss has endowed the Director position, now named the Ellen Matilda Poss Director; and Barbara Lee has endowed the Chief Curator post, now named the Barbara Lee Chief Curator. These gifts are part of a $50 [...]

James Holloway CBE to retire as Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

EDINBURGH.- The National Galleries of Scotland announced that James Holloway CBE will retire from his post as Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery at the end of January 2012. James Holloway (b. 1948) began his career in Scotland back in 1972 as a Research Assistant and Assistant Keeper at the National Gallery of Scotland (Department of Prints and Drawings). After a period as Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Wales from 1980-1983, he returned to Scotland, joining the Portrait Gallery [...]

Sotheby’s forthcoming Contemporary Art Evening Auction highlighted by desirable and fresh-to-market works

LONDON.- Following Sotheby’s third most successful year ever (2011) for global auctions of Contemporary Art, which totalled $1.17 billion, the company presents its forthcoming Contemporary Art Evening Auction. The sale, which will be staged in London on Tuesday, February 15th, 2012, will include an array of major artworks by established Post-War and Contemporary artists including Gerhard Richter, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alighiero Boetti and Alberto Burri, and will also feature an exceptionally strong British Art section, comprising works by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, [...]

In Living Color: A group exhibition of 10 artists at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York

NEW YORK, NY.- The FLAG Art Foundation is presenting the exhibition In Living Color, a group exhibition of 10 artists. The exhibitions will be on view through May 19, 2012. The exhibition presents a chromatic study from a wide range of artists including: Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Kristin Baker, Olaf Breuning, Dan Colen, Mark Grotjahn, Anselm Reyle, Gerhard Richter, Fred Tomaselli, Cy Twombly and Rachel Whiteread. The majority of the works being shown have been completed in the past 2 years and [...]

“Stowaways” Series at New Museum features Brian Bress’s Status Report

NEW YORK, NY.- The New Museum announces the latest presentation in its ‘Stowaways’ series, the New York premier of Brian Bress’s Status Report (2009). In Bress’s low-tech video, humorous characters, all played by the artist, struggle with interpersonal relationships, the pursuit of intended goals, and the desire to communicate. Manipulating pictorial and sculptural conventions through fantastically hand-crafted sets and costumes that combine drawing, painting, and collage, Bress creates a disjunctive world where spaces of imagination and representation compete for equal footing. [...]

£80 million plans unveiled today to create world’s leading design museum in London

LONDON.- The Design Museum today unveiled plans to create the world’s leading museum of design and architecture at the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington, London. Designs for the site have been produced by two of the world’s most innovative architectural practices: John Pawson has redesigned the interior of the Grade 2* listed building and OMA has planned the surrounding residential development. The move will allow the new Design Museum to become a word class centre for design, nurturing British talent and [...]

Lucian Freud My Father-A personal portrayal: Sculpture by Jane McAdam Freud

LONDON.- This January, artist Jane McAdam Freud presents a large scale sculpture portraying her father Lucian Freud. It will be unveiled and exhibited for the first time in London’s Freud Museum – once home to her great grandfather, Sigmund Freud. Jane spent many hours with her father in the months before his death in July 2011 making sketches for this new work. It will be shown at the Freud Museum alongside other smaller scale work and preparatory sketches, from 25 January – 4 [...]