Sotheby's Presents Lord Attenborough's Superb Cross-Section of British Art

LONDON.- Following the announcement in August of the sale of a group of pictures from the collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, Sotheby’s is now providing further details of this spectacular, one-off single-owner sale. "A Life In Pictures: The Collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough" will present a superb cross-section of British Art from the middle decades of the 20th-century that the Attenboroughs have assembled over the last 60 years with immense passion and a very distinctive eye. The leading names of LS Lowry, Edward Burra, Ivon Hitchens, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and Christopher Wood – many of whom the Attenboroughs knew personally - are all represented in the collection and feature alongside one of the most remarkable group of prints by Christopher Nevinson to appear on the market in recent years. The 51 lots

New Zealanders have the Chance to See Preview of Robertson Gift

AUCKLAND.- In May 2009 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki announced a promised gift of 15 works of art through its Foundation, including paintings by C�zanne, Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin and Mondrian – the largest gift ever made to an art museum in Australasia. The gift, from New York art collectors and philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, represents some of the major European artists of the modern era. Its cultural value places it among the most generous philanthropic acts in New Zealand history. Now, for the first time in New Zealand and for

Medieval Works from Court of Burgundy to Leave France for First and Only Tour

DALLAS, TX.- A group of nearly 40 of the greatest masterpieces of medieval sculpture, which have never before been seen in their entirety outside of France, will be presented in seven cities in the United States for the first and only time starting in 2010. Carved by Jean de La Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier between 1443 and 1470, the unique devotional figures, known as “mourners,” were commissioned for the elaborate tomb of the second Duke of Burgundy.

Decorative Art Treasures at Christie's New York in November

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announced the sale of 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe on November 24, which will include over 450 treasures from the 16th to the 19th centuries. With a range of estimates, the sale offers superb private and institutional collections such as carpets from the Corcoran Gallery of Art and one-of-a-kind examples of European and English furniture, ceramics, and decorative works of art showcasing the variety and the range of styles from the scholarly to the exotic.

MoMA to Present Fourth Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You

NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Modern Art presents the fourth edition of Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, an exhibition of the five films nominated for the IFP Gotham Independent Film Award “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.” The winner will be announced on November 30, 2009, at IFP’s Nineteenth Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. This exhibition of screenings at MoMA, from November 19 through 22, 2009, is a collaboration between the Museum’s Department of Film and the nonprofit

Wadsworth Exhibition to Reunite Long-Separated Paintings

HARTFORD, CT.- Many of the world’s most iconic paintings were originally conceived in pairs or sets and have been separated over the hundreds of years since their creation. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art’s collection contains many of these works—instantly recognizable, yet conceptually incomplete without their matches. Reunited Masterworks: From Adam & Eve to George & Martha, on view from February 14, 2010—May 30, 2010, will remedy this situation by presenting some of the best-known paintings from the Wadsworth’s permanent

Vehbi Koc Foundation Funds New Galleries for Ottoman Art at Metropolitan Museum

NEW YORK, NY.- In recognition of a generous gift of $10 million from the Istanbul-based Vehbi Ko� Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today the designation of two new galleries for Ottoman Art as the Ko� Family Galleries. To be part of the Museum's galleries for the art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and later South Asia, scheduled to open in 2011, the two galleries will display works created within the borders of the Ottoman Empire between the early 14th and early 20th centuries.

Fashion House Salvatore Ferragamo's Museum Goes Online

MILAN (REUTERS.- Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo has taken a museum detailing its history and culture online, allowing young designers to add their creative touch to its shoe models. The website, www.museoferragamo.com, is dedicated to its "shoemaker to the stars" founder and includes pictures, vintage films relating to the Florence-based maison,

MCA Chicago Exhibition Places Works of Art in Unexpected Locations

CHICAGO, IL.- In the spirit of scavenger hunt games, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, offers a new approach to audience engagement by presenting art from the MCA collection that is intended to be actively sought out in Hide and Seek, on view through November 13, 2009. The works are positioned outside of the galleries in unexpected locations -- such as in the staircase, Puck’s Caf�, or atrium floor -- to challenge viewers’ expectations and ideas of what art is

Major Art Institute Exhibition Traces the History of the Arts and Crafts Movement

CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago has organized a major exhibition that, for the first time, traces the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain through its manifestation in Chicago. Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago, on view from November 7, 2009 to January 31, 2010, presents nearly 190 outstanding examples by the movement’s British originators, such as William Morris, Elbert Hubbard, and Charles Robert Ashbee, as well as its greatest American

Royal Collection Publications Appoints New US Distributor

LONDON.- Royal Collection Publications has appointed the University of Chicago Press as their new distributor in the United States and Canada. From 1 January 2010, UCP will be responsible for the fulfilment of all new and backlist trade titles. The Royal Collection produces between ten and twelve new publications a year, including exhibition catalogues, gift books and scholarly catalogues raisonn�s. The Royal Collection launched its own imprint in the 1990s. In 2002 it created an inhouse publishing

Tate Liverpool Announces Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic

LIVERPOOL.- Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic takes its inspiration from Paul Gilroy’s seminal book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (1993). The exhibition is the first to trace in depth the impact of different black cultures from around the Atlantic on art from the early twentieth century to today. From the influences of African art on the modernist forms of artists like Picasso, to the work of contemporary artists such as Ellen Gallagher,

IMMA to Hold Forum on Amalgamation Announced by the Government

DUBLIN.- A public forum on the amalgamation of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, announced by the Government in 2008, will be held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 18 November. The event is being organised by IMMA both as a means of exploring further the possible impact of the decision on the Museum and in response to the many queries which IMMA has received on the subject from visitors, artists, collectors and other stakeholders.

Walker Art Center Presents the 2009 British Television Advertising Awards

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The British Television Advertising Awards program returns for another smashing run of screenings at the Walker Art Center, December 4–January 2, where over 20,000 people saw the 2008 award-winning spots. Awards Administrator Peter Bigg will reprise his annual role as host of the opening-night screenings on Friday, December 4, at 7 and 9:30 pm. Remaining programs include both evening and matinee screenings. To complement this popular December tradition, Wolfgang Puck offers an array of hearty fare at the Walker Pub in the Bazinet Garden Lobby and in 20.21 Restaurant & Bar, as well as evening pre-show drinks in the Hennepin Lobby. Brimming with creativity and chosen by top advertising executives and producers across the globe, the sly, sexy, hilarious, and thought-provoking British spots have been a Walker highlight for 21 years. The program this year includes dancing marionettes, monkeys, and n

World War II Museum Adds Theater, Restaurant and "Canteen"

NEW ORLEANS, LA (AP).- Peter Vandyke's steps have slowed since he stormed Normandy Beach, but his 1942 Army uniform still fits and he wore it proudly as the National World War II Museum dedicated a $60 million expansion as Tom Hanks and other celebrities looked on Friday. The museum has added a theater, a restaurant and a replica of the "Stage Door Canteens" that cheered military men during the war. Vandyke was one of hundreds of World War II veterans on hand for Friday's ceremony along with Hanks, fellow film star Patricia Clarkson and Mickey Rooney. "This is quite a deal," said Vandyke, 91, of LaGrange, Ill. "It's nice to know there'll be something to remember when we're all gone." The new Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen, and the American Sector restaurant make up a $60 million segment of the $300 million museum expansion to be completed by 2015. The next phase of the expansion is "The Campaigns Pavilion, which will document battles on land, sea and in the air. The 70,000-

Start of Donald Judd Catalogue Raisonn� Announced

NEW YORK, NY.- Judd Foundation announced today the start of the Donald Judd Catalogue Raisonn� through the appointment of the Catalogue Raisonn� committee and a Catalogue Raisonn� Manager, Katy Rogers. Ms. Rogers, who is currently completing the Robert Motherwell Catalogue Raisonn�, will manage the Donald Judd Catalogue Raisonn� project with the advisement of the committee. The project is supported by a newly designed catalogue raisonn� database, which Judd Foundation has developed over two years specifically to document artworks by Donald Judd (1928-1994). The Committee is comprised of catalogue raisonn� scholars, curators with experience with Judd works, and former studio assistants to Donald Judd. Founding members include William C. Agee, Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, James Bruce Dearing, Dudley Del Balso and Flavin Judd. Ms. Rogers will begin work on the project in April 2010 and will manage a team of scholars and researc

Merseyside Maritime Museum to Show the Vanished World of Imperial China

LIVERPOOL.- The vanished world of Imperial China is vividly captured on glass plates by an intrepid Scottish photographer who travelled throughout the country meeting people from all walks of life. China: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868 – 1872 startlingly reveals the character of the vast empire mainly through its remarkable people. Thomson bravely faced danger in order to get the images he wanted. Some people feared his camera would take vital essences from their bodies while others were reluctant to face each other in portraits. The photographer won their confidence and portrayed everyone from humble flower sellers and knife-grinders to beautiful brides and powerful Mandarin bureaucrats. They pose before backdrops of palaces, monasteries, pagodas, streets and back yards. Street gamblers entice wary passers-by, four men carry a passenger in a sedan chair, a dealer hawks his curiosities on a doorstep and a woman carries two buckets on a yoke. An opulently-dressed bri

Major Exhibition Celebrates the Bicentenary of the Artist Paul Sandby

EDINBURGH.- This winter the National Gallery of Scotland will present a major exhibition celebrating the bicentenary of the artist Paul Sandby (1731-1809). A pioneer landscape painter and brilliant innovator with watercolour, Sandby played a key role in promoting the appreciation of spectacular scenery across Britain and inspired many later travellers and artists. Although the significance of his work has long been acknowledged, this is the first exhibition to include and analyse the full range of Sandby’s achievement. Paul Sandby was born in Nottingham in 1731. He visited Scotland early in his career as a part of the Military Survey, which through map making, formed part of the campaign to control the country after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. During his time as the Survey’s chief draughtsman he was based in Edinburgh and produced numerous ground-breaking landscape and genre studies. These works became wel

New Zealand Lawmaker Sculpted in Cow Manure

WELLINGTON (AP).- A sculpture of a New Zealand government minister crafted from cow manure sold for New Zealand dollars 3,080 ($2,220) on an auction Web site. The bust of New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith, sculpted as a protest by artist Sam Mahon, attracted 112 bids before being picked up by an anonymous buyer on Friday. Mahon said he created the sculpture, and chose the medium, to protest what he considers Smith's too-soft stance on pollution created by dairy farms. He said the bust did not smell and would last forever. "The sculpture has a hollow head, which is very fitting. It is highly polished and sits on the stand slightly to the right of center," Mahon said. Mahon gathered cow dung from an organic dairy farm, ground it in a coffee grinder, mixed it with a polymer resin and pressed it into a mold. He polished the sculpture with beeswax to create a finish that resembles bronze. Smith joked about the tribute Friday. "Excuse the pun, but I would describe it as crap

Recent News on Artdaily.org