Italian Masterpieces from Uffizi Gallery in Florence Go Online

ROME (AP).- Imagine being so close to Botticelli’s Venus that you can see the strands of her blond hair, the shades of pink in her cheeks, the cracks in the centuries-old paint. That sensation is now just a click away. This week, an Italian company put online high-resolution images of “The Birth of Venus” and five other masterpieces from the Uffizi gallery in Florence, including works by Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci. Enlarged details of Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’. [...]

Photographer Rankin Celebrates 10 Seasons of Luxury Clothing Label Thomas Wylde

LONDON.- Launched during London Fashion Week, TEN TIMES ROSIE is a high-end fashion photography book featuring the bold and contemporary designs of Paula Thomas, founder and head designer of the luxury label Thomas Wylde, as shot by Rankin. The project marks a spectacular UK homecoming for a British designer whose work has achieved global acclaim. In this striking collection of images model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley takes on ten distinctive characters expressing the spirit of ten seasons of the label. The publication [...]

The Impressionists in Paris Opens at the Museum Folkwang in Essen

ESSEN.- From October 2, 2010 to 30 January, 2011 the Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, is showing, with Images of a Capital – The Impressionists in Paris, a unique exhibition with numerous spectacular loans, dedicated to the first modern metropolis in Europe. The exhibition shows about 80 paintings altogether by the most famous impressionists such as Manet and Pissarro, Monet and Renoir, and important contemporaries such as Caillebotte, Luce and Goeneutte. Among the masterpieces are Renoir’s Ball at the Moulin de [...]

National Gallery of Art Announces Gauguin: Maker of Myth” in Washington

WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art will present Gauguin: Maker of Myth, the first major exhibition of his work since The Art of Paul Gauguin, the Gallery’s blockbuster retrospective of 1988–1989 that traveled to Chicago and Paris. Some 120 works by Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), whose use of poetic narrative, myth, and fable throughout his career continues to mesmerize audiences worldwide, will be on view in the East Building, February 27 through June 5, 2011. A woman looks at a [...]

Actor and Surrealist Painter, Tony Curtis, Dies at Age 85 in Las Vegas-Area Home

LAS VEGAS (AP).- Tony Curtis, who defiantly worked to mold himself from a 1950s movie heartthrob to a respected actor with such films as “Sweet Smell of Success,” ”The Defiant Ones” and “Some Like It Hot,” has died. He was 85. The Oscar-nominated actor died about 9:25 p.m. PDT Wednesday at his Henderson, Nev., home of a cardiac arrest, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Thursday. Reflecting a determined streak that marked other areas of his life, Curtis began with [...]

Rosario Puglisi photos from Italy

Artist photographer Rosario Puglisi has created these photos, light like the mistral, tasty as water from the springs, delicious like a ripe olive and fig trees, legibly as beautiful and clear handwriting in the letter received from Italy. Their simplicity radiates harmony and balance. They were created to enjoy and think about the world we live in an intimate and natural way, without haste and tension which we face every day.

National Trust and Art Fund Launch Appeal to Save Brueghel Painting for the Nation

LONDON.- Today, the National Trust and the Art Fund are launching a £2.7 million fundraising campaign to save an iconic Old Master painting for the nation. ‘The Procession to Calvary’ by Pieter Brueghel the Younger is the star attraction at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, owned by the National Trust since 1954, where it has hung for over 200 years. Now, however, the painting, which is still owned by Lord St Oswald, has been put up for sale, with the risk [...]

Israel Museum Restitutes Drawing by Paul Klee to Estate of Pre-World War II Owner

NEW YORK, NY.- The Israel Museum announced today the restitution of the Paul Klee drawing Veil Dance, 1920, to the estate of German art collector Harry Fuld Jr. Fuld owned the work from 1932 until 1941, when it was confiscated in war-time Germany. The drawing was received in 1950 by the Israel Museum’s precursor, the Bezalel National Museum, through the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO), established after World War II to distribute looted works of art whose owners or heirs [...]

Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham Exhibit Opens at the National Portrait Gallery

WASHINGTON, DC.- Born into privilege, newspaper publisher Katharine Graham (1917–2001) was catapulted onto the international stage as publisher of The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. From her entrée to the world of journalism to her formidable attainment of power, the National Portrait Gallery’s “One Life: Katharine Graham” exhibition presents a multifaceted view of the woman whose personal tenacity had the ability to shape the nation. The one-room exhibition of the National Portrait Gallery’s continuing “One Life” [...]

Sotheby’s October Sale of Contemporary Art to be Headlined by Gursky and Warhol

LONDON.- Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction on Friday, 15 October, 2010, which coincides with the Frieze Art Fair in London, will present for sale 40 artworks that are estimated to realise in excess of £10 million. In addition to the outstanding pieces by leading artists such as Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach in the auction from the Collection of Jerry Hall, the world-famous American supermodel and actress, the sale will also feature important works by established artists such as Andy [...]

The Phillips Collection Celebrates 90 Years of Creative Innovation with New Exhibitions

WASHINGTON, DC.- In 2011, The Phillips Collection celebrates its 90th anniversary and launches the countdown to its centennial. A host of exhibitions, programs, and events throughout the year debut stunning new acquisitions in contemporary art, engage artists in conversation with the collection, and tell the story of artistic innovation that has been the heart of the museum since Duncan Phillips opened its doors in 1921. The Phillips kicks off the anniversary with a free weekend on January 15–16 and brings [...]

Qatar Museums Authority Announces Opening of New Arab Museum of Modern Art

DOHA, QATAR.- Conceived as a gathering place where questions are asked, ideas are explored and creativity is fostered, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art will open to the public on December 30, 2010, in Doha, Qatar. Mathaf (pronounced Mat-haff, which means “museum” in Arabic) will present exhibitions and programs that explore modern Arab art. Its collection of more than 6,000 works represents major trends and sites of production of modern Arab art, spanning the 1840s to the present. In addition [...]

Francis Bacon Painting Shown Alongside Artist’s Favorite Work

LONDON.- The Estate of Francis Bacon has generously placed an important painting by the artist on loan to The Courtauld Gallery. Untitled (Crouching Figures), c.1952, went on display from yesterday and will initially be presented alongside Honoré Daumier’s Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, c.1870, in recognition of Bacon’s admiration for Daumier’s masterpiece. When James Thrall Soby, curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, was researching his book on Francis Bacon he contacted Harry Fischer, director of Marlborough Fine [...]

“Persistence of Memory” to Join Dalí Exhibition at the High

ATLANTA, GA.- On November 16 Salvador Dalí’s iconic Surrealist painting “The Persistence of Memory” from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, will join the highly successful exhibition “Salvador Dalí: The Late Work.” The exhibition brings together many works from Dalí’s later career as well as several works of art not seen in the United States since the 1950s. The exhibition will be on view through January 9, 2010. “‘The Persistence of Memory’ represents Dalí in ways few paintings have [...]

“Show of the Year” at Tate Modern is UK’s First on French Painter Paul Gauguin in 50 Years

LONDON (REUTERS).- French painter Paul Gauguin gets his first major exhibition in Britain for over 50 years this week, and early reviews suggest it was worth the wait. Two newspapers have given the show five stars, including the Times’ Rachel Campbell-Johnston who described “Gauguin: Maker of Myth” at London’s Tate Modern gallery “the show of the year.” Organizers say they have come up with a “fresh and compelling” look at the master of modern art, concentrating on his approach to [...]