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The American Art Market Gets Its Spark Back at New York's Spring Auctions, Led by Cassatt and Hopper
18/05/2012
The American Art Market Gets Its Spark Back at New York's Spring Auctions, Led by Cassatt and Hopper Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It Photo Gallery: Slideshow: Highlights from the American Paintings Sales at Christie's and Sotheby'sby Sarah P. Hanson, Art+AuctionPublished: May 18, 2012NEW YORK — At this week's auctions, sales of American paintings in New York reached their highest totals since the bottom fell out of the market in 2008. Christie’s turned in a respectable $27,198,600 on Wednesday, while Sotheby’s netted $34,787,625 on Thursday. More encouraging still, the buy-in rates — 23 percent at Christie’s and 12 percent at Sotheby’s — have not been seen in the category for several years. “We’re seeing a pronounced uptick in the marketplace,” says Eric Widing, deputy chair of the American paintings department at Christie's. “We’ve been waiting for it for some years now, and it’s finally happened.” Both houses fielded new department heads, Elizabeth Sterling at Christie’s and Elizabeth Goldberg at Sotheby’s, who presented slimmed-down sales and reaped the rewards of careful editing and, for the most part, judicious pricing. “I think it’s more about quality than anything else,” says Goldberg. At Christie’s, the somewhat sparsely attended proceedings nevertheless got off to a crackling start with the $60,000 realized for Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s cast-bronze Martha Lorber (1927) (est. $10–15,000), followed by a strong tranch of modernist works, including Milton Avery’s gangly yet charming Adolescent (1947) (est. $400–600,000), which at least five bidders chased to $1,022,500. Mary Cassatt’s Sara Holding a Cat (ca. 1907–08) (est. $800–1,200,000), an intimate oil on canvas in which the artist’s exploration of her signature single-child theme reaches stylistic maturity, fetched a sale-high $2,546,500 from a gentleman on his cell phone seated at the back of the salesroom. The same man also claimed Boston School painter’s Frank Weston Benson’s tender Portrait of Gertrude Russell (1915) (est. $1–1.5 million) for a comparative bargain of $962,500.  Although surpassed in price by a classic Saturday Evening Post cover image by Norman Rockwell, Dreams of Long Ago (1927) (est. $2–3 million), which sold for $2,322,500, a sunlit Giverny picture by Frederick Carl Frieseke, Foxgloves (ca. 1912–13), generated heat, sending the work well above its $1.5-million high estimate to $2,210,500. The same occured with Robert Frederick Blum’s oil on canvas Venetian Gondoliers (ca. 1880–89) ($500–700,000), which was bagged by a collector for $1,142,500. “We had a solid interest in the Cassatt going into the sale, but the hammer price of $2.2 million went beyond our expectations,” says Sterling. “That’s a great sign for the American Impressionist market, particularly when you couple it with the results we had for the Frieseke.” The top 10 was rounded out by a Maxfield Parrish, a John Singer Sargent, and a pair of Georgia O’Keeffes: the pastel Lake George in Woods (1922) (est. $300–500,000), which soared to $902,500, and one of her first “bones” paintings from New Mexico, Deer Horns (1938) (est. $1.2–1.8 million), which New York private dealer Baird W. Ryan wrangled for $1,930,500. Some of the highest-estimated lots, however, failed to gather enough steam for takeoff. In contrast to last November’s record-setting $5,346,500 sale of Oscar Bluemner’s Illusion of a Prairie, New Jersey (Red Farm at Pochuck) (1915), the artist’s similarly-hued Perth Amboy West (Tottenville) (1911) (est. $2–3 million) went nowhere. A luminous Fitz Henry Lane, Gloucester, Stage For Beach (1849) (est. $2–3 million), also sank. (Rumor has it the cows in the foreground may have turned buyers off.) The Sotheby’s sale was buzzier, thanks in part to the sale’s headliner, the Edward Hopper oil Bridle Path (1939) (est. $5–7 million), put up by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to benefit its acquisitions fund. Depicting a trio of horseback riders galloping into one of Central Park’s distinctive tunnels, the sizable canvas attracted plenty of bidders, and ultimately sold to a private collector for $10,386,500, double its low estimate and the top-earning painting in the category since December 2007. "The subject matter, while at first glance somewhat unusual for the artist, the longer you stood in front of that picture, the more Hopperesque it became," says Goldberg. "It was such a visually and psychologically rich painting." It was hardly the only bright spot. A splendid George Bellows sporting picture, Tennis at Newport (1920) (est. $5–7 million) — one of only four tennis scenes the artist produced, in verdant greens and lemon yellow — also attracted a pack of bidders. New York dealer Debra Force fought for the Bellows, but it ultimately went to an American collector for $7,026,500. Two different sources said after the sale that the Bellows buyer was James McGlothlin, collector and Virgina Museum of Fine Arts benefactor Comparatively late in the tight, 59-lot sale, a Frederic Remington oil on canvas, A Halt in the Wilderness (1905) (est. $800–1.2 million), which had been held by the same New Jersey family since its acquisition from Solomon R. Guggenheim in 1919, shot up to $2,770,500, offered by a bidder in the room. The chilling yet compelling Jacklight (1980) (est. $600–900,000) by Andrew Wyeth — a tempera on panel depicting a deer the artist used to observe eating apples, then slaughtered and strung up in a tree — fetched an unambiguously strong sum of $1,538,500 from an American museum bidding by telephone.  Finally, one artist record was set at the Sotheby's sale: for David Johnson, whose View from New Windsor, Hudson River (1869) (est. $300–500,000), came in at $722,500. Western art got a boost from New York’s J.N. Bartfield Galleries, which snapped up five lots, including Charles Marion Russell’s watercolor The Tenderfoot (1900) (est. $600–900,000), for $932,500, bound for a private collection. “We saw some people who we haven’t seen in a while, and for areas like Western, we saw new people. We also had a handful of people outside the U.S., which is very exciting,” notes Goldberg. As at Christie’s, the high prices at Sotheby’s were often the result of multiple bidders, rather than the two-way trophy tussle seen in recent seasons. But setting aside the choicest pieces, an estimate north of $2 million — especially if it’s not attached to a name-brand artist — seems to be the breaking point in this category. That said, Ryan points out, “Half a million goes a long way in American art. You can get a really great thing for $600,000 instead of a mediocre Cindy Sherman.” To see highlights of the Spring auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's, click on the slide show. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Auctions, Sotheby's, Christie's, American Art, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

“Dormitorio Pubblico 1954″ at Campoli Presti
18/05/2012
Artists: Carla Accardi, Luciano Fabro, Lara Favaretto, Marisa Merz, Ugo Mulas, Alessandro Piangiamore, Carol Rama, Santo Tolone, Giuseppe Uncini, Vedovamazzei Venue: Campoli Presti, Paris, and Campoli Presti, London Exhibition Title: Dormitorio Pubblico 1954 Curated by: Marianna Vecellio Date: March 17 – May 19, 2012 Click here to view slideshow Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump. Images: Images courtesy of Campoli [...] Read full article here

Casting Around Cannes: The Weinsteins' Spending Spree, Marion Cotillard's Legless Sensation, Kanye West's Seven-Screen Wotsit
18/05/2012
Casting Around Cannes: The Weinsteins' Spending Spree, Marion Cotillard's Legless Sensation, Kanye West's Seven-Screen Wotsit Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Graham FullerPublished: May 18, 2012Three days into the Cannes film festival, Marion Cotillard is already being tipped for the Best Actress award for her performance in Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed “Rust & Bone,” which is based on characters in Craig Davidson’s eponymous short story collection. Cotillard plays a trainer of Orca whales at the Marineland Park who has both of her legs amputated after one of them attacks her. In her despair, she turns to a Belgian bouncer and bare-knuckle fighter (Matthias Schoenaerts) who earlier rescued her from a drunken brawl in a club. They become lovers, but she finds that he still wants sex outside their tentative relationship. “It’s a passionate and moving love story which surges out of the screen like a flood tide,” raves The Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw. The lunatics will take over the asylum again: actress Lily Rabe (“Mona Lisa Smile, “All Good Thing”) has been cast as “America’s sweetheart” Mary Pickford in a biopic that will incorporate her co-founding of United Artists in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks (shortly to become her husband), Charlie Chaplin, and D.W.Griffith. Co-producers Julie Pacino and Jennifer DeLia, who announced the film in Cannes, are currently casting the other main parts, reports Variety. Maybe “The Artists”’s Jean Dujardin could play Fairbanks? Quoth Eminem: “Where’s Kanye when you need him?” Actually, says Vulture, Kanye West is in Cannes preparing to premiere his short film-cum-installation on Wednesday. Titled “Cruel Summer,” it’s “an immersive seven-screen experience” that was inspired by the G.O.O.D. compilation album produced by Mannie Fresh. If you’re planning to be on the Croisette, you can get tickets here. Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, Melissa Leo, and James Earl Jones have been lined up for “The Angriest Man In Brooklyn,” which is being presold at the festival. According to Screen International, it’s about “a stand-in doctor who tells an obnoxious patient he has 90 minutes to live.” Phil Alden Robinson (“Field of Dreams”) will direct the comedy, which begins production in September. “The idea of being that nasty and funny is a gift,” Williams said. The Weinstein Company has been on a spree at Cannes. Before the festival started, writes Anne Thompson, it bought John Hillcoat’s “Lawless,” a Depression-era crime drama about Virginian bootleggers; Andrew Dominik’s gangster film “Killing Me Softly,” starring Brad Pitt; and “Quartet,” first-time director Dustin Hoffman’s film about ageing opera stars (Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, and Billy Connolly) living in a retirement home. On the eve of the festival, the Weinsteins picked up the Australian film “The Sapphires,” directed by Wayne Blair, which tells the factual story of four Aboriginal girls whose pop group entertained American troops in Vietnam in 1968. It was written by Keith Thompson and the dramatist Tony Briggs, whose mother and other family members performed with the band. TWC has also bought “The Oath of Tobruk,” Bernard Henri-Levy’s documentary about the last eight months of Muammar Gafaddi’s dictatorship in Libya, Anne Thompson reports. Another acquisition is Christian Vincent’s culinary comedy “Haute Cusine,” based on the true story of Danièle Delpeuch (Catherine Frot), who became the personal chef of the late French president François Mitterand (played by novelist Jean D’Ormesson). Her cooking made her one of his favorites, which did not endear her to other members of his household. According to Thompson, the company is also “expected to nab James Gray’s unfinished New York immigrant drama ‘Low Life.’” It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Cotillard, and Jeremy Renner. In an unexpected bit of casting news, it was announced that Terence Davies has chosen the Lancashire fashion model and actress Agyness Deyn to play Chris Guthrie in the Scottish coming-of-age drama “Sunset Song,” based on Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s 1932 novel about life and love on a rural farming community on the eve of World War I. Peter Mullan will play her widowed father, who casts incestuous eyes on Chris. The multi-national production, sales, and distribution company Fortissimo Films has acquired the international rights to the $8m movie,writes the Liverpool Echo. Read more ARTINFO news on "Sunset Song" here and on Deyn here.   Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, Film, Graham Fuller, Mary Pickford, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Mila Kunis, Harvey Weinstein, Kanye West, Marion Cotillard, Jacques Audiard, Joaquin Phoenix, Terence Davies Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Bon Soir! The 6 Most Exciting Experiences You Can Have During This Weekend's "Night of Museums" in Paris
18/05/2012
Bon Soir! The 6 Most Exciting Experiences You Can Have During This Weekend's "Night of Museums" in Paris Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Grégory Picard, ARTINFO FrancePublished: May 18, 2012PARIS — This Saturday is the eighth annual European Night of Museums, and as night falls 3,000 European museums will be outdoing themselves to show off their collections in the most inventive ways possible. With the support of UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and the International Council of Museums, the event turns European cultural institutions into vast experimental terrains by bringing cinema, video, music, performance, and contemporary art out to play. Best of all, the evening's events are entirely free. ARTINFO France selected some of the most unusual and inspiring Night of Museums happenings in the Paris area. See Rodin by Torchlight and Flashlight For the first time, the Rodin Museum in Meudon in the southwestern suburbs of Paris — which is a bit more under-the-radar than Paris's Rodin Museum — will open its doors for European Museum Night. The Villa des Brillants, where the sculptor resided until his death, has been preserved as a studio and museum, and both it and the surrounding garden will be lit by torches so that his work can be discovered in a more intimate and eerie setting. You can pay respects at Rodin's tomb, which is in the garden, next to that of his wife, Rose Beuret, and in the shadow of "The Thinker." Shuttle service will be provided between Paris and Meudon. In Paris, the famous Rodin Museum in the Hôtel Biron is closed for renovations, but visitors can take guided tours of the garden by flashlight. Rodin's contemporary Etienne Dujardin-Beaumetz already came up with the idea in his "Conversations with Rodin": "You will do well to examine [the sculptures] at night by the light of a lamp or a candle slowly projected on all the surfaces; you will see muscles spring forth that you didn't see before, shapes that you didn't suspect... Sculpture is in movement, it changes with lighting." At the same time, Polish artist Katarzyna Kozyra will project her version of "The Rite of Spring" on seven screens under a tent — pagan, hysterical, and filled with unexpected muscles of its own. Shop at Rob Pruitt's Flea Market The Musée de la Monnaie is also undergoing renovations, but will open up its courtyard for Rob Pruitt's flea market from 6pm to midnight. In the midst of tools used for minting coins and medals (the museum is located in an active mint), Pruitt will evoke the relationship between art and money, in the tradition of Marcel Duchamp, who once said that "art is a product, just like green beans." Pruitt has invited 80 contemporary artists — close friends and celebrities, emerging talents and confirmed ones — to take part in a giant flea market, selling objects that are dear to them, whether created or purchased, or things that they simply want to get rid of. At Gavin Brown's New York gallery in 2000, Pruitt inaugurated this new type of artwork, an interactive fair that thumbs its nose at the art industry. He has since done other editions at Frieze and Tate Modern. On Saturday night, he'll welcome Pierre Ardouvin, Camille Henrot, Mohammed Bourouissa, and M/M, among others, for an earthy fair full of good deals that's also a who's-who of the French art scene. Sweet Sounds at the Grand Palais or the Musée d'Orsay Take your pick: electronic music among the animals, or orchestral sounds with an Impressionist backdrop. Notable Paris DJ Joakim, founder of the Tigersushi label and the creator of musical gems mixing acid house, metal, and late disco, will be at the "Animal Beauty" exhibition at the Grand Palais. Starting at 8pm, visitors can stroll through the artistic fauna to the tune of Joakim's specially concocted mix, and he'll perform live at 11pm. The atmosphere at the Musée d'Orsay will be quite different, as the museum celebrates its new décor and its expanded Impressionist collection with music in the galleries. The group La Lyre d'Orsay will perform works by composers including Charles Gounod, Amilcare Ponchielli, and Francis Popy. Explore Outer Space at Versailles For Parisians who aren't afraid to venture a bit beyond the capital, the Château of Versailles promises a luminous evening. "Passion for the Stars" will offer erudite pleasure-seekers a leap into the past, to the time when the grandiose and festive palace was in thrall to astronomical discoveries. In 1609, Galileo threw the doors to the universe wide open, making astronomy the reigning science of the time. Louis XIV — who was, after all, the Sun King — dedicated each of his palace apartments to the seven planets that were known at the time, and science infiltrated architecture, interior design, and all the arts. Saturday night, Versailles presents an ephemeral display of illuminations, installations, and video projections that mingle astrological and astronomical representations of the past with ultra-precise images from the latest astrophysics labs. This brilliant telescoping of the eras will fill the grands appartements and the famous mirrored hall, the Galerie des Glaces. A version of this article appears on ARTINFO France. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ by Grégory Picard, ARTINFO France,Museums, Travel,Museums, Travel Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Slideshow: Highlights from the American Paintings Sales at Christie's and Sotheby's
18/05/2012
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In Five: “Blade Runner” Writer Scripts Sequel, 50 Cent Supports Gay Marriage, and More Performing Arts News
18/05/2012
In Five: “Blade Runner” Writer Scripts Sequel, 50 Cent Supports Gay Marriage, and More Performing Arts News Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by ARTINFOPublished: May 18, 20121. “Blade Runner” writer Hampton Fancher will script Ridley Scott’s sequel to the movie. [THR] 2. Van Halen have postponed more than 30 of their tour dates amid reports that the band is fighting “like mad.” [RS] 3. 50 Cent is the latest rapper, after Jay-Z and T.I., to echo President Obama’s support of gay marriage, saying that only a “fool” would oppose it. [SOHH] 4. Watch the amusing trailer for “Madea’s Witness Protection” below. [A.V. Club] 5. Twenty-five humorous suggestions for possible new “Star Trek” television spinoffs. [Gamma Squad via Fark] Previously: Nicki Minaj, “Breaking Bad,” “Cock,” Jack White, and Artie Lange  Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, In Five, Blade Runner, Van Halen, Hampton Fancher, Ridley Scott, 50 Cent, Star Trek, Madea's Witness Protection, vidéo, Trailer Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

The Best of ART HK 2012, From a Zaha Hadid-Designed Booth to a Pack of Hairless Pets
18/05/2012
The Best of ART HK 2012, From a Zaha Hadid-Designed Booth to a Pack of Hairless Pets Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It Photo Gallery: Slideshow: The Best of ART HK 2012by Madeleine O'DeaPublished: May 18, 2012HONG KONG — We’re at the half-way mark of ART HK 2012 and the rain has set in. Unlike sales, which are patchy, the showers are heavy and show no signs of letting up, but the fairgoers are turning out in droves and keeping things busy for the galleries between sales. Meanwhile here at ARTINFO Hong Kong it's time for us to give our verdict on this year's fair. — Best Booth: Galerie Gmurzynska called in Zaha Hadid to design their booth, thus blowing all opposition out of the water. That they went on to fill it with the fascinating work of Cubist-cum-Surrealist Wilfredo Lam is icing on the cake. — Best Alley: Last year ART HK’s ASIA ONE section, devoted to emerging galleries from the region, was tucked away on a separate floor from the main exhibition space. This time around, the booths are at the center of the action, running straight down the middle of the fair on both its two floors. These Asian alleys provide an exhilarating tour, from the strange evolving cityscapes of Jane Dyer at China Art Projects to Tsuyoshi Ozawa’s ladies toting vegetable weapons at Misa Shin Gallery to the sublime simplicity of Song Hyun-Sook's paintings at Edouard Malingue Gallery. — Best Fix for Abstraction Junkies: This is a tie between the Hans Hartung canvases at Cheim & Read and two major works by Joan Mitchell, one to be found at Acquavella and the other at Hauser & Wirth. These are ravishing works, unmissable. — Best Display of Focus: The curated presentation of 20th-century German painting at Michael Werner provides a model in focus. In collaboration with Dr. Dimitri Ozerkov, the director of the contemporary art department at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the gallery provides a window on German modernism through key works from artists such as Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Markus Lupertz, and Georg Baselitz. — Best Way to Brighten Up a Corner: When asked by his gallery Eslite to create a work especially for their booth in Hong Kong, Taiwanese artist Michael Lin asked them for a corner. The resulting work is a joyous example of Lin’s dedication to the celebration of the indigenous designs of his home, the “other China,” Taiwan. — Best Introduction to Chinese Contemporary Art: There are a number of significant galleries attending from China this year, from Platform China to Beijing Commune to Chambers Fine Art, but perhaps the best sense of the maturity of the Chinese contemporary art scene can be experienced by visiting the booth of pioneer gallery ShanghART. From the canvases of Li Shan, Yu Youhan, and Zhang Enli to the installations by Madein and Zhou Tiehai, this booth shows the weight of talent in the Chinese scene. — Creepiest Work of Art: This was easily won by Chinese conceptual artist Shen Shaomin for his contribution to the ART HK Projects section of the fair, entitled “I Sleep on Top of Myself.” This installation of life-size domestic animals, minus their fur or feathers, rendered in spooky silica gel and lying on a bed of salt is alarming enough, but the added touch of tiny concealed motors that make these hairless horrors "breathe" is something that quickly outstays its welcome in one's memory.  — Best Offsite Fun: Here we also declare a tie between the cluster of leading galleries at the historic Pedder Building in Hong Kong’s Central — Ben Brown, Gagosian, Hanart TZ, Pearl Lam and Simon Lee — and Sotheby’s new gallery space at their headquarters at 1 Pacific Place. The latter has given itself over to an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama with a gusto which has included inviting the artist’s studio to deck out their lifts, floors, and signage in trademark dots. ART HK continues at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre through Sunday May 20. Click on our slide show for some images from the fair. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ by Madeleine O'Dea,Art Fairs,Art Fairs Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Slideshow: The Best of ART HK 2012
18/05/2012
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Street Art Star Gets Macy's Parade Balloon, Invisible Art Spotlighted in London, and More Must-Read Art News
18/05/2012
Street Art Star Gets Macy's Parade Balloon, Invisible Art Spotlighted in London, and More Must-Read Art News Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by ARTINFOPublished: May 18, 2012— KAWS Keeps Rising: Brooklyn-based street artist-turned-gallery star Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, will join Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami in the exclusive hundred-feet-high club for artists whose work has floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In November his figure "Companion" — a grayscale giant with cartoonish gloved hands covering its face — will become the latest (and perhaps the saddest) artist-designed balloon to float in the popular parade. "I kept imagining myself in front of that many people," KAWS said. "He’s shy, a bit out of place, not proudly posing like a Superman character." [NYT] — Hayward Gallery Shines a Light on Invisible Art: On June 12, London's Hayward Gallery will open an unusually sparse group exhibition, "Invisible: Art about the Unseen 1957-2012," including Andy Warhol's "Invisible Sculpture" (1985), documents and paintings by Yves Klein, Yoko Ono's instructions for a performance, and an empty space that a which is said to have been cursed by Tom Friedman. "This exhibition highlights that art isn't about material objects, it's about setting our imaginations alight, and that's what the artists in this show do in many varied ways," says Hayward director Ralph Rugoff. (James Franco's recent forays into the genre, sadly, are not included.) [Press Association] — Sexy Science Show Excites Canadian Minister: James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, is not turned on by a new show at Ottawa's Canada Science and Technology Museum called "Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition," which opened yesterday and aims above all to educate adolescents about sex and sexuality. "The Canada Science and Technology Museum's mandate is to promote scientific and technological culture in Canada," said Moore spokesperson Sébastien Gariépy. "It's clear that this exhibition does not conform with this mandate; its contents is indefensible, and insulting to taxpayers." [La Presse] — Art N.E.R.D.: The rapper and producer Pharrell Williams has been known to dabble in furniture design, but he has discerning taste in art too — sort of. Pressed to name his top five contemporary artists, he admits that his favorites are fairly conventional, praising Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, JR, and KAWS. "I don’t have the most eclectic in taste buds for art. I like what I like," he said. "With KAWS, I felt like he had this very interesting take on pop culture." [WSJ] — Brooklyn Museum Crowdsources Another Exhibition: The Brooklyn Museum continues to explore populist exhibition approaches — from 2002 "Star Wars" exhibition and 2008's Takashi Murakami retrospective, to 2009's online voting-curated photography exhibition "Click!" and its solo shows by "Work of Art" winners — but its latest more firmly ties Internet polling to the local art scene. In "GO: a community-curated open studio project," December 1-February 24, 2013, museum curators will visit the studios of artists nominated on the exhibition's Web site to select works for exhibition. [Press Release] — D.C. Museum Offers Tours for Alzheimer's Sufferers: The Kreeger Museum has begun offering tours of its Philip Johnson-designed house-turned-gallery for visitors afflicted with Alzheimer's. The program, the first of its kind, pairs seniors with the neurological disease and students from two local middle schools — plus the seniors' caregivers — who discuss works from the collection like Claude Monet's "Sunset at Pourville," a melancholy seascape painting in which two figures walk along the beach together. [NPR] — China's Booming Market Inwardly Focused: China may have overtaken Europe and the United States to take the largest segment of the global market, but Chinese collectors' international dominance is largely the result of a fervor for domestic artworks. Chinese collectors have focused mostly on the country's ancient artifacts and, increasigly, the paintings of its proven contemporary art stars like Yue Minjun and Zeng Fanzhi. According to Kate Bryan of London’s Fine Art Society, formerly of Cat Street Gallery in Hong Kong: "Western art galleries are deluded in thinking how much they can persuade Chinese buyers to take an interest in Western art right now." [TAN] — President's Portrait Censored in South Africa: A painting of South African president Jacob Zuma by the artist Brett Murray was removed from his exhibition at Johannesburg's Goodman Gallery (and the gallery's website) following pressure from the country's ruling ANC party. The portrait, titled "The Spear" and priced at 120,000 rand ($14,000), depicts the president wearing a suit and what looks like a codpiece. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the black, yellow, and red acrylic painting was an "abuse of freedom of artistic expression." [Guardian] — Lisa Hostetler Leaves Milwaukee for D.C.: The Milwaukee Art Museum will lose its curator of photographs Lisa Hostetler in July, when she relocates to Washington, D.C. to become the Smithsonian American Art Museum's photography curator. Hostetler, who arrived at the Wisconsin institution seven years ago after a stint at the Metropolitan Museum, most recently organized the MAM's Taryn Simon retrospective. [Journal Sentinel] — Baltimore Museum Gets Major Morris Louis Gift: The widow of the Baltimore-born artist Morris Louis (who died in 1962), Marcella Louis Brenner, has given the Baltimore Museum of Art more than 20 works by the early adopter of Color Field painting. The gift includes 19 drawings and the major paintings "Silver III" (1953) and "Untitled 5-76" (1956), one of which will make its BMA debut when the museum reopens its renovated Contemporary Wing. [Press Release] ALSO ON ARTINFO — "Showing is Proving and Proving is Nothing But Fear": A Q&A With Rocker and Painter John Mellencamp — ARTINFO Ranks the Top 10 Best Museum Web Sites, From the Hirshhorn to the Aspen Art Museum — MOCA Cleveland's New $27-Million Building Relaunches the Institution as a Cutting-Edge Kunsthalle — The Curious Case of the Latin American Art Market: Low Volatility, Undervalued Stars, and Tenacious Collectors — Architects Versus Economists: The Battle for the Future of Urbanism, From Honduras to Upstate New York Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ The Daily Checklist, Hayward Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, Kreeger Museum, Pharrell Williams, Milwaukee Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Slideshow: Edward Burtynsky's work at the Photographers' Gallery in Soho
18/05/2012
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