Smithsonian Accepts Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ball Gown

WASHINGTON, DC.- First Lady Michelle Obama formally presented the gown she wore to the 2009 inaugural balls to the Smithsonian’s First Ladies Collection Tuesday, March 9, during a ceremony at the National Museum of American History. The gown will be displayed in the center of a new gallery addition to the museum’s popular exhibition, “The First Ladies at the Smithsonian.” The new gallery, “A First Lady’s Debut,” opens to the public March 10. The one-shouldered, white-silk chiffon gown, created by [...]

MUMOK Exhibition Explores Art and Television 1963-1987

VIENNA.- “Changing Channels” investigates how art reflected and drew on the mass media of television between the 1960s and the 1980s. The exhibition presents works that show the increasing significance and the economic, technological and social mechanisms of the medium. The works in question were made at the moment when television itself had undergone fundamental changes and this in turn brought about a comprehensive revision of the relationship between art and the role of media in the public sphere. Beginning [...]

Eight Remarkable Canadians Win Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts

MONTREAL.- The winners of the 2010 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts were announced by the Canada Council for the Arts today at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal. Haida sculptor Robert Davidson, filmmaker André Forcier, painter Rita Letendre, video artist Tom Sherman, photographer Gabor Szilasi and painter Claude Tousignant won the awards for artistic achievement. Glass sculptor Ione Thorkelsson won the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in fine crafts, while Terry Ryan received the Outstanding Contribution Award as [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art Announces Staff Promotions and Changes

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announces two staff promotions and two curators sharing responsibilities of the chief curator. Dan Byers, previously assistant curator of contemporary art, and Amanda Zehnder, previously assistant curator of fine arts, have been promoted to associate curators. Zehnder, who joined the museum in 2005, has curated numerous exhibitions in the Works on Paper Gallery, including the current Caricature, Satire, and Comedy of Manners: Works on Paper from the 18th through 20th Centuries. Byers has been [...]

Aretha Franklin Honored at International Slavery Museum’s Black Achievers Wall

LIVERPOOL.- The International Slavery Museum is continuing its celebrations of International Women’s Day with the unveiling of three new plaques on the Black Achievers Wall on Wednesday 10 March 2010. The plaques will be unveiled during “Celebrating Women”, a special evening of guest speakers, dance performance and discussion at the museum. The three new faces, who have earned their places through creativity, bravery and talent are: Aretha Franklin – the multi-award winning American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to [...]

Chen Man, China’s Celebrated Avant-Garde Photographer, in Her First Hong Kong Show

HONG KONG.- Ooi Botos Gallery will present the 8irst solo show ever in Hong Kong of one of China’s most celebrated, avant‐garde photographers, Chen Man. The artist’s solo exhibition “Unbearable Beauty” opens March 13, 2010 and runs through May 22, 2010 and will be the internationally recognized artist’s 8irst exhibition in Hong Kong. It will also mark the premiere of three new works, represented exclusively by Ooi Botos Gallery. Chen Man’s unique, revolutionary vision was 8irst showcased in groundbreaking covers [...]

SFMOMA Announces New Thursday Night Happenings

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) marks 75 years as a pioneering force in art with exhibitions and events, including a series of three Thursday evening happenings that offer a sophisticated social experience for late-night guests. Launching on March 18, 2010, SFMOMA: Now Playing invites artists to animate the museum in unexpected ways—and audiences to come play and see the museum in a new light. Guests can roam the galleries, take in live performances and [...]

Lisa Gralnick: The Gold Standard at Bellevue Arts Museum

BELLEVUE, WA.- The Gold Standard, on view at Bellevue Arts Museum from March 18 through August 1, 2010, is Lisa Gralnick’s most recent body of work, spanning over the last six years. A metalsmith by trade, Gralnick explores the relationship between gold’s lore and history as an artistic medium and the function it serves in today’s world as a commodity. Thought-provoking and incredibly well-crafted, the artist’s jewelry and sculptural works descend deep into the psychology and perception of value. The [...]

National Portrait Gallery Presents First Ever Exhibition Devoted to Indian Portraits

LONDON.- An important exhibition telling the story of the Indian portrait over three centuries will open at the National Portrait Gallery on 11 March 2010. Bringing together 60 works from international public and private collections, The Indian Portrait 1560-1860 will celebrate the beauty, power and humanity of these works of art. The exhibition sets out to show that Indian portraiture – an area of artistic achievement overlooked in Britain – should be seen alongside other outstanding portraits from around the [...]

Sargent Masterpiece Travels to Spain for Meeting with Velazquez’s “Las Meninas”

BOSTON, MA.- An historic meeting among some of the art world’s most enigmatic young ladies will take place at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, where John Singer Sargent’s “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1882) and Diego Velázquez’s “Las Meninas” (Museo Nacional del Prado, 1656) will be shown together for the first time. On view March 16 through May 30 as part of the Prado’s series “The Invited Work” Sargent’s painting—one of the [...]

Ron Arad’s Design Museum in Holon Opens to the Public

HOLON.- Following four years of construction, Design Museum Holon opened the award-winning building by Ron Arad Architects. Constructed of five sinuous bands of varying shades of COR-TEN (weathered steel), Design Museum Holon is Arad’s first architectural project of this scale and the pinnacle of a sixteen-year urban regeneration programme, a process which is transforming the city of Holon, central Israel, into a global epicentre for culture and education. Design Museum Holon’s mission is to explore the impact of design and [...]

Pablo Picasso and other Modern Masters Announced at the Gibbes

CHARLESTON, SC.- The Gibbes Museum of Art will present the exclusive exhibition Modern Masters from the Ferguson Collection in the Main Gallery from April 30 through August 22, 2010. Selected from the private collection of prominent art enthusiasts Esther and James Ferguson, this exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by significant twentieth-century artists such as Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, and Christo. The Ferguson ’s remarkable collection reflects their personal tastes in art, but also offers [...]

Sotheby’s Sale of the Peter Stuyvesant Collection Realises 13,590,475 Euro

AMSTERDAM.- This evening, Sotheby’s Amsterdam saleroom was filled to overflowing as the company’s offering of the world-renowned BAT ArtVenture Collection, formerly known as The Peter Stuyvesant Collection became the most heavily sale attended in Sotheby’s history in Amsterdam. The sale – Sotheby’s first auction of 2010 in Amsterdam – exceeded all expectations, achieving the remarkable total of €13,590,475 ($18,597,750 / £ 12,263,600), well in excess of pre-sale expectations (Est. €4,364,200-6,276,300). Presale interest had been huge and more than 500 clients [...]

Matisse Museum Shows Paintings by Robert De Niro, Sr.

NICE.- The The Matisse Museum has chosen to display the works of the American painter Robert De Niro, Sr. (1922-1993), to answer its vocation of making known the works of Matisse, master of the 20th century, through different angles and, on this occasion, as a source of inspiration. The paintings and drawings of Robert De Niro, Sr. show a relationship to the works of Matisse through the creation of certain compositions, graphic assertion of certain drawings, use of the same [...]

Erol Akyavas’s “The Siege” Fetched 1.274.000 Euro at Antik A.S. Auction House

ISTANBUL.- At Antik A.Ş. in Istanbul, Erol Akyavaş’s monumental masterpiece, “The Siege”, brought a remarkable 1.274,000 EURO. It exceeded pre-sale estimation of 700,000 – 1,000,000 EURO. There was a considerable interest before the sale and the saleroom was filled more than the capacity. Erol Akyavas’s “The Siege” was top-selling lot in the Modern & Contemporary sale of Antik A.S. auction house. The painting signed and dated 1982 and was exhibited in Überse Museum, Bremen, Germany, 1982, Instutute of Contemporary Art, [...]