Czech police recover stolen surrealistic painting by Toyen

PRAGUE (AP) – Police have recovered a painting by Czech surrealistic Toyen that was stolen 17 years ago from a private owner.

Spokesman Roman Skrepek says police recovered the painting Northern Landscape on Tuesday after two unidentified suspects tried to sell it.

The painting is considered one of Toyen’s most important works, and could be worth more than its previous estimated value of 6 million koruna ($305,000). Another painting by the Czech artist, The Sleeper, sold for 20 million koruna ($1 million) at an auction last month.

Toyen, whose real name was Marie Cerminova, worked with surrealist artists including France’s Andre Breton before her death in Paris in 1980.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-CS-04-07-09 1152EDT

LiveAuctioneers wraps 1st quarter 2009 with 800+ auction-house clients

LiveAuctioneers LLC

LiveAuctioneers LLC

NEW YORK – In its first quarter of operation as a stand-alone platform, LiveAuctioneers.com has recorded a 164 percent increase in site visits over the comparable quarter of 2008, with its 800th auction-house client added to the company’s roster in late March.

Since eBay’s Dec. 31, 2008 closure of its Live Auctions division – with which LiveAuctioneers had enjoyed a six-year marketing relationship – Manhattan-based LiveAuctioneers has operated as an independent entity with its own live-bidding platform. “The results have been nothing short of remarkable,” said LiveAuctioneers’ CEO, Julian R. Ellison. “We’ve signed 45 additional auction houses, and new bidder signups have been coming in at a rate of approximately 4,000 per week.”

“During the first three months of this year, we’ve recorded more than 2.6 million site visits, as compared to 984,982 visits in Q1 2008, when we were in partnership with eBay Live,” Ellison continued.

Statistics are equally compelling with respect to page views – 20.2 million in first-quarter 2009 as compared to 10.8 million in Q1 2008 – an increase of 87.04 percent. The number of unique visitors to LiveAuctioneers’ Web site jumped from 504,679 in Q1 2008 to 1,675,102 in the comparable quarter of 2009.

The most dramatic increase noted was in traffic referred from search engines, which rose from 205,806 in Q1 2008 to 1.7 million in Q1 2009.

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Lichtenstein work that survived 9/11 a gift to Smithsonian

Modern Head, 1974/1990, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Jeffrey H. Loria in loving memory of his sister, Harriet Loria Popowitz 2008. Image courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Modern Head, 1974/1990, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Jeffrey H. Loria in loving memory of his sister, Harriet Loria Popowitz 2008. Image courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Modern Head, 1974/1990, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Jeffrey H. Loria in loving memory of his sister, Harriet Loria Popowitz 2008. Image courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A 31-foot sculpture by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein that survived the 9/11 terrorist attacks will become part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington.

The giant blue Modern Head sculpture stands outside the museum in downtown Washington. It has been on loan since last year.

On Monday, the Smithsonian Board of Regents approved a gift by Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria to keep the sculpture at the museum permanently.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough says it’s likely the most significant gift of art to the Smithsonian, in terms of the artwork’s value.

The sculpture, created in 1989, was near the World Trade Center on 9/11. Millions of dollars worth of American artwork was damaged or destroyed at the site.

 

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