Unprecedented Partnerships Bring Drama to Life at AGO

TORONTO.- The Art Gallery of Ontario’s major summer exhibition will feature the voices of Stratford’s brightest stars, live performances from cast members of the Canadian Stage TD Dream in High Park, and Degas-inspired ballet performances by Opera Atelier’s Artists of Atelier Ballet. These are just a few of the unprecedented partnerships between the AGO and Canada’s most prominent performing arts organizations — ensuring that Drama & Desire: Artists and the Theatre will be an exhibition like no other. Co-designed by [...]

Unpaid Greek Workers Heckle Culture Minister on Acropolis

ATHENS.- Greece’s economic problems erupted at the country’s best-known ancient site Tuesday, as unpaid cultural heritage workers heckled the country’s culture minister during a tour of newly completed restoration work on the Acropolis. Amid goggling tourists, about 100 protesters with bullhorns and banners pressed Pavlos Geroulanos to pay wages outstanding for up to 16 months and to renew their soon-to-expire contracts. The demonstration ended peacefully after the minister conceded that many of the demands were “absolutely justified,” and promised action [...]

A Magnificent Pagan Altar was Exposed at the Barzilai Hospital Compound

JERUSALEM.- The development work for the construction of a fortified emergency room at Barzilai Hospital, which is being conducted by a contractor carefully supervised by the Israel Antiquities Authority, has unearthed a new and impressive find: a magnificent pagan altar dating to the Roman period (first-second centuries CE) made of granite and adorned with bulls’ heads and a laurel wreaths. The altar stood in the middle of the ancient burial field. According to Dr. Yigal Israel, Ashkelon District Archaeologist of [...]

Dallas Museum of Art Receives Certification to Ship Works of Art

DALLAS, TX.- The Dallas Museum of Art has been named by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a certified cargo screening facility (CCSF), a federal designation that makes the process of shipping artwork by air much easier for the Museum. This makes the DMA one of very few museums in the USA, and the second museum in Texas, to achieve this clearance level; others include the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern [...]

Denver Biennial of the Americas Announces Inaugural Exhibition

DENVER, CO.- The Nature of Things will be the central art exhibition of the The 2010 Biennial of the Americas, an international event celebrating the culture, ideas and people of the Western Hemisphere hosted by the City of Denver from July 1-31. Featuring 24 artists from countries throughout North, Central and South America, the exhibition will premiere several works, including a site-specific installation by Jerónimo Hagerman (Mexico) and a mural by Santiago Cucullu (Argentina), as well as new works by [...]

Art Gallery of South Australia Announces New Director

ADELAIDE.- Chairman of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Michael Abbott QC today announced the appointment of Nick Mitzevich as the new Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Mr. Mitzevich is currently the Director of the University of Queensland Art Museum in Brisbane and was formerly Director of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery. His more than 15 years experience managing and directing public art museums has been characterised by innovation and bold strategic vision, with impressive success in [...]

Germany’s Ozeaneum is the European Museum of the Year

LIVERPOOL.- At the European Museum of the Year Award Ceremony on Saturday 22nd of May, in front of an audience of more than 160 museum professionals from 22 European countries, the Ozeaneum Museum in Stralsund, Germany was announced as the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award for 2010. Mikhail Gnedovsky, Chairman of the European Museum Forum (EMF) which gives the European Museum of the Year Award, in congratulating the museum said: – Ozeaneum has succeeded brilliantly in [...]

Peter Max and Annette de la Renta Receive 20th Anniversary, the Black Alumni of Pratt Awards

NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Max and Annette de la Renta, two major figures in the art world, will be honored by The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) on Wednesday, May 26 at black tie dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant. Max will receive the prestigious “Pinnacle Alumni in Art and Design Award.” President Bill Clinton will make the presentation by video. When Max learned that another honoree is Lee Daniels, the director of the now filming “Selma” about Martin Luther [...]

Alexander Melamid’s “Oh My God” Opens at Phillips de Pury & Company

LONDON.- Russian painter and conceptual artist Alexander Melamid is to have a solo exhibition of thirty paintings at Phillips de Pury & Company in London. Including the now renowned series of life-size portraits of hip-hop stars such as Snoop Doggy Dog, 50 Cent and Kanye West, the paintings then shift from ‘fame’ to the ‘mundane’, with a further group of works from 2008 that have so far remained unseen, including portraits of priests and rabbis, Russian oligarchs, sculptures of ancient [...]

Frank Auerbach Painting of His Lover to Be Auctioned at Bonhams

LONDON.- An important painting by the British painter Frank Auerbach of his long-term lover, Estella Olive West, entitled Head of E.O.W. III, 1961, is to be sold at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of its 20th Century British Art sale on 30 June 2010. The painting, which has never appeared at auction before, is expected to fetch £400,000 – 600,000. Estella, a widowed amateur actress, was Auerbach’s lover for 23 years, and one of his most regular models, referred [...]

Auction of World’s Greatest Collection of Snuff Bottles Illustrates a Chinese Emperor’s Personal Taste

HONG KONG.- Bonhams will sell 140 snuff bottles from the unique Bloch Collection in Hong Kong on May 28th. This Collection is the World’s largest and finest in private hands, comprising 1720 exceptional examples of these Chinese ‘miniature masterworks’. The auction includes an Imperial enamel-on-copper snuff bottle personally commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor for his own use in the Forbidden City in Beijing. This stunning object is estimated to sell for £250,000 and is one of the finest and rarest [...]

Foundling Museum Exhibits the Finest Works Submitted through the Flourish Programme

LONDON.- This summer the Foundling Museum will be exhibiting the finest and most exciting examples of works submitted through the Flourish programme. Curated by Beatty Hallas, Flourish was set up in 2006 as a response to the frustration voiced by looked-after artists about the lack of opportunity to show their work. It is a showcase for young artists to express themselves and challenge preconceptions of the care system. All of the artists included in this exhibition have been cared for [...]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Announces Unique Art Conservation Funding Programme

LONDON.- Bank of America Merrill Lynch today launched a major initiative to help conserve important works of art and cultural treasures. As part of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art Conservation Programme, The Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Inc. will provide grants to restore cherished art works to preserve their unique cultural value for future generations. Applications are welcome from non-profit museums and cultural institutions throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. They will be assessed by a group [...]

Bonhams to Sell Haunting Picasso Portrait of the Artist’s Friend

LONDON.- An intimate portrait by Pablo Picasso of the artist’s friend Mr. Minguell is to feature in the Impressionist and Modern Art auction at Bonhams on Tuesday 22nd June, and is estimated to fetch £700,000-1,000,000. The portrait shows Mr. Minguell, a Catalan tailor who was probably introduced to the artist on his visit to Paris in 1901 and who became a close friend. It was completed in Barcelona in the early summer of 1901, when the artist was just 20 [...]

100 Years After Henri Rousseau’s Death, the Guggenheim Devotes First In-Depth Exhibition

BILBAO, SPAIN.- One hundred years after the death of the French artist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is devoting an exhibition to this pioneer of Modernism—the first occasion that Rousseau has been seen in depth in Spain. Organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in co-operation with the Fondation Beyeler, Henri Rousseau presents a selection of approximately thirty masterpieces that provide a concise overview of the development and diversity of his oeuvre. From his famous jungle paintings in the [...]