J. Paul Getty Museum announces acquisition of rare Francesco Primaticcio bronze

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a rare bronze female double head attributed to Francesco Primaticcio (Bologna, 1504–Paris, 1570). Created in France in about 1543, Double Head is closely related to the head of the so-called Cesi Juno, one of the most famous antique marble statues in 16th-century Rome, a work that Michelangelo considered the most beautiful object in Rome. Female double heads are unusual both in classical and post-classical sculpture. Though its original purpose is not known, Double [...]

Newly discovered portrait by Spanish artist Diego Velazquez to be sold at Bonhams

LONDON.- A previously unknown portrait by the Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) will be the highlight of the Old Master Paintings auction on Wednesday 7th December 2011 at Bonhams, 101 New Bond Street, London. The work is a Portrait of a gentleman, bust-length, in a black tunic and white golilla collar and measures 47 x 39cm. It is estimated to sell for £2,000,000-3,000,000. Andrew Mckenzie, Director of Old Master Paintings at Bonhams, comments, “This is an extraordinarily beautiful [...]

Numerous collectors from the four corners of the world attend this year’s FIAC in Paris

PARIS.- French and international collectors and professionals were particularly numerous on the opening day of FIAC : 15,455 guests attended the inauguration at the Grand Palais on Wednesday 19th October. In 2010, there were 14,053 at the Grand Palais, or an increase of 10% for the professional day this year. FIAC welcomed numerous collectors from the four corners of the world: from across Europe, Switzerland, the United States, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, the Middle East, South America, India, China and Indonesia among others. Visitors [...]

Fernando Botero’s Via Crucis: The Passion of the Christ at Marlborough in New York

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Marlborough Gallery presents the first showing of a new body of work by the world renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero. The exhibition, entitled Via Crucis, is based on scenes from the passion of Christ. This will be Botero’s first New York exhibition since 2006 when he presented the critically acclaimed show of paintings dealing with the events of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003. The show of Via Crucis (Latin for The Way of the Cross) consists [...]

International exhibition of early modern Scandinavian painting opens at Scandinavia House

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Luminous Modernism: Scandinavian Art Comes to America, 1912, an international loan exhibition of paintings by Edvard Munch, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Anders Zorn, and other Scandinavian pioneers of modernism, opened at Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America. The exhibition brings together 48 works by Nordic artists who embraced, and pioneered, the transformative aesthetic innovations that swept the European continent during late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. It remains on view through February 11, 2012. Luminous Modernism looks back at the first [...]

Rare early Smurf drawings by Belgian cartoonist Peyo on sale at Artcurial in Paris

PARIS (REUTERS).- Rare original drawings of the Smurfs, blue-skinned cartoon characters created by Belgian artist Peyo, are set to fetch up to 120,000 euros ($167,000) each on Saturday in the first auction of the late artist’s work. The highlight of a sale of 33 full-page Peyo comic strips at the Artcurial auction house on the Champs-Elysees in Paris will be a black-and-white sketch — “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.” It is the first time Peyo’s family has sold original Smurf [...]

Exhibition of masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age at Pinacothèque de Paris

PARIS.- The exhibition L’Âge d’or hollandais, organized in the Pinacothèque de Paris in the fall of 2009, around the treasures in the Dutch royal collections, provided a spotlight on that unique period in Europe during which a very important human revolution had taken place a century and a half before the one in France. That first middle-class revolution occurred thanks to the arrival to political power of a merchant class, which had turned the little territory of the Republic of the United Pro¬vinces [...]

Blain/Di Donna’s inaugural exhibition presents survey of paintings by Magritte

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Blain|Di Donna presents as its inaugural exhibition, Dangerous Liaisons, a survey of paintings, works on paper and objects by the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte. Bringing together over twenty five major oils, gouaches and drawings, this is the first Magritte show of this scale to be presented in New York in almost fifteen years, and comes at a time of renewed interest in Surrealism and its key exponents. The exhibition’s title is derived from Magritte’s seminal early work, Les Liaisons [...]

Sotheby’s in London announces sale of Victorian & Edwardian art in November

LONDON.- Sotheby’s Victorian & Edwardian art sale on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 will include a collection of six works by Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929) which come to the market from a Private Collection. With a combined pre-estimate low estimate of just over £200,000, the group comprises oils, a sculpture and a watercolour. Although Tuke was born in Yorkshire, the family moved to Falmouth during his early childhood, where his connection with Cornwall began. He studied in London at the Slade School under [...]

Bonhams inaugural Period Art & Design auction in Los Angeles announced

LOS ANGELES.- Bonhams, following in the success of its UK auctions in this category, announces its inaugural two-day Period Art & Design auction in Los Angeles, November 20-21. The new auction category will feature property of the late Charles Bronson and property of Candy and the late Aaron Spelling, as well as an impressive selection of Fine Art, European Furniture and property from private West Coast collectors and estates. Tim McNab, Los Angeles Director of Period Art & Design auctions says [...]

Loved, hated, and much-delayed China TV tower by architect Ole Scheeren to open next year

BEIJING (REUTERS).- The much-delayed but striking steel, concrete and glass headquarters for Chinese state television is expected finally to fully open in the new year, said Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, whose firm designed the building, on Thursday. The skyscraper, described by its chief architect Ole Scheeren as a “loop folded in space,” is two towers sloped together and joined by a gravity-defying canopy equivalent to 80 stories in height. Dominating the skyline of Beijing’s central business district, the building was among [...]

Francois Morellet’s interest in Kasimir Malevich in new exhibition at Annely Juda Fine Art

LONDON.- Annely Juda Fine Art presents this exhibition of works by François Morellet and Kasimir Malevich. The gallery has had a long standing relationship with both artists’ works. François Morellet’s first solo-exhibition at Annely Juda Fine Art was in 1977 and they have had several collaborations since then. Kasimir Malevich’s work was included in their first Non-Objective World exhibition in 1970 and has played a strong role in many of their historical exhibitions since then. The exhibition includes recent works by Morellet, [...]

Christie’s announces results of Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art part I sale

DUBAI.- Christie’s established Dubai’s place as a truly international sale centre with the introduction of a two part sale format, in line with the major auctions in London, New York and Hong Kong. The most important works of the season were offered at this evening’s auction of Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art Part I, with a second session (150 lots) to follow offering works at a more accessible price level, encouraging a new, younger group of collectors to participate. [...]

Yale Center launches fall season with premiere of Zoffany exhibition that re-evaluates artist

NEW HAVEN, CT.- This fall the Yale Center for British Art will be the first and only US venue for a major retrospective of Johan Zoffany, considered one of the most fascinating and visually captivating artists of the eighteenth century. Opening October 27, Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed will feature sixty-fi ve oil paintings and a selection of drawings and prints—many of which have rarely or never been exhibited—from public and private collections around the world, including Britain, India, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, [...]

Serbian police finds two Picasso paintings stolen from a gallery in Switzerland in 2008

BELGRADE (REUTERS).- Police in Serbia have recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso stolen in 2008 from a gallery in Switzerland, Belgrade’s interior minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters the paintings — Tte de Cheval (Horse’s Head) and Verre et Pichet (Glass and Pitcher) — were found in Belgrade. Picasso’s artwork ‘Glass and Pitcher (Verre et Pichet)’ from 1944 which was stolen from an exhibition in the town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, in February 2008. Serbia’s interior minister [...]