Gift of $10 million to Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago committed by Helen and Sam Zell

CHICAGO, IL.- Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, announced the extraordinary gift of $10 million from longtime supporters Helen and Sam Zell on behalf of the Zell Family Foundation to create The Zell Fund for Artistic Excellence. “Helen and Sam Zell are visionary philanthropists whose passion and commitment to the arts is beyond measure,” said Madeleine Grynsztejn. “We are extremely grateful for this generous gift which will help support key Vision initiatives to position the [...]

Winston Churchill at his darkest hour…favourite painting on loan to National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery has been lent a major portrait of Winston Churchill, a rarely seen life-size painting by William Orpen, one of Britain’s most significant portrait painters and war artists. It goes on display at the Gallery from tomorrow, Thursday 1 November 2012. Painted in 1916, during the darkest moment in the statesman’s career, Churchill regarded it as the finest portrait of himself. Capturing a mood of uncertainty in this introspective portrait, Orpen spoke of the misery expressed in the [...]

With between 10,000 to 30,000 tourists each day, Vatican may have to limit visitors to Sistine Chapel

VATICAN CITY (AFP).- As the Sistine Chapel celebrates its 500th anniversary, the Vatican said Wednesday it may have to limit the huge numbers of visitors because pollution is damaging Michelangelo’s frescoes, one of the artistic wonders of the world. The scenes, including the moment in which God reaches out and gives life to Adam with the touch of his finger, are being damaged by the breath, sweat and heat of the 10,000 to 30,000 tourists who walk through the chapel every [...]

Major gift to Tate Gallery marks leading British painter William Scott centenary of his birth

LONDON.- A major work by the leading British painter William Scott (1913-1989) has been pledged to Tate by the artist’s sons, Robert and James Scott, to mark the centenary of his birth in 2013. The Harbour 1952 is one of the artist’s most radical works and was a treasured painting in his own collection. Valued at over £500,000, it is the first example of Scott’s seminal black and white works to enter the Tate Collection. The Harbour will be included [...]

New loan to the Columbia Museum of Art arrives in an unexpected and peculiar way

COLUMBIA, SC.- A special and unexpected loan to the Columbia Museum of Art now provides visitors a view of Venice, Italy, by the renowned painter, Thomas Moran. Typically, the CMA researches and strategically plans for loans of art, but in this case, CMA Chief Curator Will South was surprised and delighted when the painting arrived at the Museum unforeseen. The owners (also CMA donors) of this Thomas Moran painting weren’t expecting to see it here either. They asked their friends [...]

The Art Institute of Chicago presents a specially developed platform for the iPad

CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago‘s Department of Digital Information and Access and the Department of European Decorative Arts unveiled a new gallery interactive that revolutionizes the museum experience while improving public access to art. LaunchPad is a specially developed platform for the iPad–containing engaging and interactive multimedia resources–that brings three-dimensional objects to life. With the new LaunchPads in the galleries, visitors have at their fingertips basic introductory facts about works of art enhanced by animations, brief video documentaries [...]

LACMA’s 2012 Art+Film Gala raises $3.5 million to support film-based programming at the Museum

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art hosted its second annual Art+Film Gala on Saturday, October 27, honoring artist Ed Ruscha and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Co-chaired by actor Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA Trustee Eva Chow, the evening brought together 550 international guests from the worlds of art and design, entertainment, fashion, and music, among others. The evening raised over $3.5 million, with proceeds going to support LACMA’s initiative to make film more central to the museum’s curatorial [...]

Dallas Museum of Art discovers George Inness painting “In the Woods” in the Collection

DALLAS, TX.- The Dallas Museum of Art announced today the reattribution of a painting to the artist George Inness, widely admired as one of America’s greatest landscape painters. The work of art has been in the Museum’s collection for eighty years, entering in 1931 as part of a bequest by Cecil A. Keating. At the time of the painting’s acquisition, the unsigned work carried the title of In the Woods and was believed to be by the hand of Asher [...]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch art conservation project helps restore 20 works of art across globe

LONDON.- At an event at London’s Courtauld Gallery last night (31 January), Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced this year’s conservation funding recipients through its unique Art Conservation Project. This year, participating institutions span the globe from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), to Asia, Australia, Latin America and the United States. The Art Conservation Project will see the restoration of 20 art works and artifacts with important cultural and historical value from 19 countries. The 2012 award selections for EMEA include [...]

Sweden’s Nationalmuseum acquires Tradgardsinterior by artist Johan Krouthén

STOCKHOLM.- Nationalmuseum has acquired the painting Trädgårdsinteriör från Linköping by Swedish artist Johan Krouthén. The detailed painting depicts army surgeon Ernst Boman and his family and is dated 1887-1888. Nationalmuseum previously only owned one painting by Krouthén, and is thus pleased to be able to add this work from the artist’s best period. Johan Krouthén (1858-1932) was part of the generation of artists that broke through during the 1880s, when a French-oriented realism dominated Swedish painting. However, in contrast to many of [...]

Turner watercolour, lost from public view for 100 years, brought home to Brighton

BRIGHTON.- A painting of Brighton by JMW Turner which was lost from public view for 100 years has found a home at the city’s Royal Pavilion thanks to an Art Fund grant. Jenny Lund, Curator of Fine Art at the Royal Pavilion and Museums, said: “The watercolour The Chain Pier at Brighton will be a tremendous asset for the Royal Pavilion and Museums and its fine art collection.” The painting Painted around 1824-5, The Chain Pier at Brighton is the only picture Turner [...]

Special contributions allow Knoxville Museum of Art to acquire masterpiece by Catherine Wiley

KNOXVILLE, TN.- Thanks to an outpouring of generosity from the community, the Knoxville Museum of Art has acquired a landmark 1913 Impressionist painting by East Tennessee native Anna Catherine Wiley (1879-1958). The colorful scene of a woman and child in a sun-dappled meadow was purchased at auction at Case Antiques in Knoxville on January 28, 2012. “Catherine Wiley was not prolific, and her paintings rarely come on the market,” says KMA Curator Stephen Wicks. “This is one of her greatest works, from her [...]

Eclectic Florida museum to be emptied by auction

BOCA RATON, FL.- Say goodbye to the twirling carousel, the rows of perfectly shined classic cars, the player pianos and jukeboxes. They’re selling all the neon signs, the slot machines, the antique guns, the Tiffany lamps, the hulking chandeliers. There will be no more rare organs or vintage gas pumps or the Army airplane gliding overhead, none of this out-of-this-world collection that took a lifetime to amass. It will all be gone soon, before most people ever knew it existed. Two [...]

Kunsthalle Zurich announces opening date in new permanent home in the Lowenbrau art complex

ZURICH.- The Kunsthalle Zürich will re-open to the public in its new permanent home in the Löwenbräu art complex in Zurich on 10 June 2012 with the special exhibition, Looking Back for the Future. Since it was founded in 1985, the Kunsthalle Zürich has established itself as one of Europe’s most influential art institutions, helping to define the direction of contemporary art. Having moved to a series of different venues in its early years, the Kunsthalle has been based in the Löwenbräu [...]

Art Institute becomes first U.S. museum to receive grant from Government of India

CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute of Chicago announced that the Government of India has given a major grant to the Art Institute in support of a new professional exchange program between India and the museum. The Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence –the first grant ever made by the Indian government to an American art museum–honors Swami Vivekananda, who gave one of the most important speeches in modern religious history at what is now the Art Institute on September 11, 1893. On [...]