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Weekend at Bernie's: The AP looks inside the Madoff beach house
AP / September 2nd, 2009
A court-appointed trustee is dispersing of Bernie Madoff's assets in order to pay back investors a portion of their losses. Among the three homes of the fallen Ponzi schemer is a Montauk, New York, beach bungalow listed by The Corcoran Group for $8.75 million. The Madoffs' collections catalogued ...
Channeling Artists: Funnyman Fallon imagines the voice of Georgia O'Keeffe
UnBeige Mediabistro / September 2nd, 2009
With Georgia O'Keeffe-mania sweeping the nation, actress Joan Allen, who plays the artist in the late September Lifetime biopic, was the lead guest on Tuesday's episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon admitted to not knowing much about the artist, including how she acted or spoke. "I ...
Quilts come in from the cold, with V&A collection as an art show
London Times / September 2nd, 2009
It is one of the common threads that runs through the great art collections of the world — among the masterpieces of Velázquez and Manet, Rennaissance frescoes, and the Venus de Milo, you are unlikely ever to come across a quilt. Now, though, the craft once disparaged as a pastime for bored women ...
Indian Art: "Everything is sensuality, luxury and ease" in the royal paintings of Jodhpur
Financial Times / September 2nd, 2009
The British Museum has decided to extend its superb exhibition of Indian paintings from the palace at Jodhpur into October. Three rulers of Marwar, each with their very different interests and temperaments, commissioned these works from the 17th to 19th centirues. One of these warrior maharajas, ...
Up Close with Chuck Close: The contemporary art legend is feted at Akron Art Museum
Cleveland Plain Dealer / September 2nd, 2009
Chuck Close took the first step toward becoming one of America's most famous contemporary artists in 1967 by throwing away his brushes. Limiting himself to an airbrush and a few spoonfuls of acrylic paint, Close launched an extensive series of photo-based portraits that have been collected avidly ...
Chinese Stamp Rarity; Philatelic flub may bring auction record
Reuters / August 31st, 2009
Hong Kong - More than 1,500 lots of rare Asian stamps with an estimated value of over $HK12 million ($1.55 million) will be auctioned by Zurich Asia, Sept. 18-19. The star lot is the 1897 Three Cents Red Revenue stamp, showing the value overprinted to one dollar with tiny Chinese characters. One ...
Woes at Ritchie's: Canada's biggest auction house is struggling within
Toronto Star / August 31st, 2009
When Sotheby's dropped Ritchie's as an auction partner this summer, the talk was that the ailing auction house would soon close. But the saga continues. Stephen Ranger, the firm's expert on Persian rugs, eventually its president and, this summer, on the losing side of a power struggle that has ...
Art Market Comeback?; Fall sales will confirm or deny recovery
Luxist / August 31st, 2009
The Art Price Global Index suggests that the art market started to turn at the middle of the year, but it's going to take the autumn art season to confirm whether this is a false positive or the start of a new trend. Art prices increased by 4.97 percent at the end of the second quarter, according ...
Old Style Syria Made New; Historic preservation versus the bottom line
CS Monitor / August 31st, 2009
Damascus is rediscovering its architectural gems, but hasty restoration puts history at risk. Layers of civilization are slowly peeled back to reveal such historic treasures as colonnaded Roman roads and late-Ottoman era houses, three of which are being restored as a boutique hotel for $20 ...
Naked Man Wins; Art Of Photography Show judged by Charlotte Cotton
NPR 1 / August 31st, 2009
Charlotte Cotton (shown here), head curator of the photography department at the Los Angeles County Museum, was the sole judge of the Art of Photography Show held in San Diego last weekend. She chose an image of a 53-year-old naked man, hunched on a child's chair, for first place. The work beat ...
17th c. Hidden Pig: Restorer finds painted-over swine with connections
Chicago Tribune / August 31st, 2009
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Chicago art conservator Barry Bauman discovered a hidden image of a butchered pig in a 17th century Dutch painting from the collection of Michigan's Calvin College. While he cleaned "Barn Interior" by Egbert van der Poel ...
Amazing Million-dollar Discovery; Declaration of Independence copy found at flea market
Philly.com / August 31st, 2009
A Philadelphia financial analyst was browsing an Adamstown, Pennsylvania, antique market when he spotted a painting he liked for its frame. He invested $4 in it. When he took the frame off, an original edition of the Declaration of Independence was hidden underneath, in a clean and well-preserved ...
Michael Mazur Dies; Yale-educated artist, prominent printmaker
Cape Cod Online / August 30th, 2009
Abstract painter and printmaker Michael Mazur, of Provincetown and Cambridge, Massachusetts, died last Tuesday at age 73. He was married to poet Gail Mazur. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held a retrospective exhibition of his work in 2000. His work has also been exhibited at The Museum of ...
Museum News Round-Up; Salary surprises, banks as curators, hot dog vendors not welcome
UnBeige Mediabistro / August 28th, 2009
First, the news outlets continue to fixate on museum officials' salaries. The focus lately is Ellen Futter of the American Museum of Natural History in New York who reels in about $1 million. Second, with museums across the country in financial straits, the NY Times reports that massive financial ...
Grand Theft of Granville Redmond; Sticky-fingered Florida man wanted for gallery robbery
KTLA News / August 30th, 2009
Los Angeles - The Los Angeles Police Dept. is looking for Vero Beach, Florida, resident Matthew Taylor, a man they say stole a work by California impressionist Granville Redmond from the L.A. Fine Art Gallery. He then sold the painting to art dealer William Karges for $85,000, saying the artwork ...
Prized Pennsylvania Decoy Discovered; Rare 19th c. goose carving emerges from Argentina
AP / August 30th, 2009
Christie's experts got a surprising e-mail from a man in Argentina. He wondered if the hand-carved Canada Goose that sat on his parents' mantel for decades had any value. Turns out the piece was part of a rare 19th-century working rig that once plied Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River before being ...
Life Can't Imitate Art; Model arrested for nudity at the Met
Guardian / August 30th, 2009
New York - Apparently, nudes can be viewed in oils or bronze, but not in the flesh, dancing in the arms & armor department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Model Kathleen "KC" Neill, 26, was nabbed by police last week and charged with public lewdness after posing naked in the museum for ...
Lester Glassner Passes Away; Major collector of dimestore delights and pop culture
LA Times / August 30th, 2009
In the early 1960s, Lester Glassner, of New York, picked up a Mickey Mouse lamp at a junk shop and was on his way to forming a massive collection. From his first Disney character, Glassner moved onto a diverse range of objects: vintage movie memorabilia (250,000 movie stills), rare celluloid ...
What Saatchi Says Sticks; The contemporary art tastemaker talks
Guardian / August 30th, 2009
London art collector and dealer Charles Saatchi acknowledges that young, contemporary artists need collectors like him. Saatchi also tells U.K.'s Guardian, "Art collectors are pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. What matters and survives is the art." Yet, Saatchi's influence is ...
Behold the Barbarians' Loot: £1m Viking hoard exhibited for first time
London Times / August 27th, 2009
The largest and most important Viking hoard of jewels and coins found in Britain for over 150 years has gone on display for the first time. Unearthed by a father and son team of treasure hunters in a field, their 2007 find of 617 coins and gilt goodies is dated at more than 1,000 years old. The ...