On 24 Oct, 2010 With
London salerooms produced a record series of Impressionist and Modern art auctions last week, but only just By Colin Gleadell After the buzz of expectation created by the London salerooms, they did produce a record series of Impressionist and Modern art auctions last week, but only just. Mid-way through the fifth and final session, the sales total crept past the previous record of £298 million, set in June 2008, finally ending up at £303 million. There were no celebrations, however, and a palpable air of disappointment pervaded. Strip away the auctioneers’ commissions, and the total was nearer £250 million, below the £300 to £450 million estimate for the series. Things began badly at Bonhams, which sold none of its top…
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On 23 Oct, 2010 With
Some counterfeiters try to enter the “soul and mind of the artist.” Some delight in the chemistry of baking paint and creating wormholes. Some start with real pictures and then “restore” them until they look as if they’re by a different artist. From ancient vases to conceptual art—if someone made it, someone else has tried to bamboozle the world with a copy. by Milton Esterow In Italy,” Salvatore Casillo, who founded the University of Salerno’s Museum of Fakes, recently commented, “if you’re a good enough counterfeiter, you eventually get your own show.” Casillo was right. Several good-enough counterfeiters have recently had their own shows. Icilio Federico Joni, who was known as the prince of Sienese fakers and specialized in Renaissance…
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On 22 Oct, 2010 With
The most expensive work from classical antiquity ever sold at auction 2007: The most expensive work from classical antiquity ever sold at auction: Roman-era bronze sculpture of Artemis and the Stag. Sold for $28.6 million.
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On 21 Oct, 2010 With
Edvard Munch’s Madonna sold for £1.25 million A hand-coloured image of Edvard Munch’s Madonna sold for £1.25 million today – doubling its estimate and making it the most expensive print ever to be sold in the UK. The controversial artwork, in Munch’s famous swirling style, had been estimated to fetch £500,000 to £700,000 at Bonhams Prints sale in London. Bonhams said that as well as setting a UK record, the image was also the second most expensive print to be sold in the world. Another Munch work, Vampire II, sold in Oslo in 2007 for around £1,256,000. The Madonna artwork was snapped up at Bonhams by a private buyer from the United States, for £1,252,000 including buyer’s premium. The work,…
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On 20 Oct, 2010 With
New media art New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art technologies, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology. The term differentiates itself by its resulting cultural objects and social events, which can be seen in opposition to those deriving from old visual arts (i.e. traditional painting, sculpture, etc.) This concern with medium is a key feature of much contemporary art and indeed many art schools and major Universities now offer majors in “New Genres” or “New Media”. New Media Art often involves interaction between artist and observer. New Media concerns are often derived from the telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of delivery the artworks involve, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation.
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On 19 Oct, 2010 With
Edward Burne-Jones Tate puts costly error on display By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent Four decades ago, the Tate Gallery could have bought Edward Burne-Jones’s huge final painting, The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon, for £1,000. But the Victorian Pre-Raphaelites were despised and the gallery spurned the chance. Now, the 21ft by 10ft painting is worth millions and on Tuesday Tate Britain welcomed it back – but only on loan. Stephen Deuchar, the director of Tate Britain, admitted that his predecessors made a serious error of judgment. He said: “There is not a shadow of a doubt that this is Burne-Jones’s late great masterpiece. These days it would be fought over.” Burne-Jones spent 17 years on the canvas and he was…
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On 18 Oct, 2010 With
Sir George Sitwell (father of the famous writer Dame Edith Sitwell) was a very bizarre man in many ways. He was a keen gardener (he actually studied garden design) and, annoyed by the wasps in his garden, he invented a pistol for shooting them. After he moved to Italy to avoid taxes in Britain, he refused to pay his new wife’s debts which resulted in her spending three months in prison. He was such an avid reader and collector of books that he had seven libraries in his home. Other eccentricities included paying his son an allowance based on the amount paid by one of his forebears to his son during the Black Death, and trying to pay his son’s Eton school…
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On 17 Oct, 2010 With
A three month public campaign has seen the painting ‘Inner Harbour – Abbey Slip’ by Stanhope Forbes saved. Grants of £130,000 together with generous donations from many private individuals has meant the iconic view of Penzance is secure. Painted in 1921 the painting is loved throughout the country through its use on greetings cards and prints. It will now continue to be displayed less than half a mile from where it was painted. The success of the fundraising campaign means this important part of Cornish heritage is available for everyone to enjoy at Penlee House Gallery & Museum. For thirty years the National Heritage Memorial Fund has been saving the nation’s most important treasures and now this piece of quintessentially…
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On 16 Oct, 2010 With
Software art Software art refers to works of art where the creation of software, or concepts from software, play an important role; for example software applications which were created by artists and which were intended as artworks. As an artistic discipline software art has attained growing attention since the late 1990s. It is closely related to Internet art since it often relies on the Internet, most notably the World Wide Web, for dissemination and critical discussion of the works. Art festivals such as FILE Electronic Language International Festival (São Paulo),Transmediale (Berlin), Prix Ars Electronica (Linz) and readme (Moskow, Helsinki, Aarhus, Dortmund) have devoted considerable attention to the medium and through this have helped to bring software art to a wider audience of theorists and academics.
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On 15 Oct, 2010 With
A 75-year-old Surrey woman cleared out her attic and found two paintings that could fetch up to £30,000 at auction. The woman decided she wanted to throw the oil paintings away, but first went to her neighbour Spencer Wright to ask how to dispose of them. Mr Wright said he realised they should not be consigned to the bin, and used an iPhone app to contact Christie’s. He said a specialist immediately knew the value of the paintings, by Australian artist William Blamire Young. The paintings – Light Horse and Artillery – had been bought by the woman’s father 60 years ago, but were kept in the attic because her mother did not like them. ‘Headed for dump’ Mr Wright…
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