Tuthankamen’s famous burial mask, on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Dec. 7, 2003 photo by Bjorn Christian Torrissen, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
NEW YORK (AP) – The “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition in Times Square has been extended by two weeks.
Organizers also say 19 new artifacts from the boy-king’s tomb were added this week. They include a miniature bronze dog and sphinx-shaped bracelet ornament. They say the Discovery Times Square Exposition show will now close Jan. 17, 2011.
The additional items come from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Last month, the Met and Egypt’s antiquities authority said the objects will be returned to Egypt and become part of the permanent King Tutankhamun collection at the Grand Egyptian Museum slated to open in 2012.
New York’s exhibition opened in April. It sheds new information about the life and death of Tutankhamun and his ancestors, based on discoveries made through DNA and CT scans. Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Tiffany Studios stained-glass window authenticated by Dr. Egon Neustadt, 72 inches by 43 inches, to be auctioned Dec. 10 at Morphy Auctions. Estimate $150,000-$250,000. Morphy Auctions image.
DENVER, Pa. – A spectacular Tiffany Studios stained-glass window created around the turn of the 20th century for a church in Duluth, Minn., has drawn a legion of admirers since being placed on display at Morphy Auctions’ Pennsylvania gallery.
It’s the star attraction among some 20 stained-glass windows, Tiffany lamps and other premier examples of art glass to be auctioned Dec. 10 – with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com – at the company’s 730-lot sale of fine and decorative art.
The rainbow-hued window measuring 72 inches by 43 inches features as its central element a cedar tree with a double-plated trunk and lower branches. Its deep-green leaves are accented by blue mottles and few streaks of blue glass. The lush garden scene includes several other trees, as well as ivy, vines and eight luxuriant red roses in full bloom around the base and up the sides of two massive columns. A stone path meanders toward an urn-topped wall, rendering depth and dimension to the eye-filling landscape.
“This window has been in the consignor’s private collection for more than 40 years, so it’s fresh to the market and will surprise many of today’s collectors of Tiffany art glass,” said Morphy Auctions’ CEO, Dan Morphy. “Needless to say, my team took every possible precaution in transporting the window to our gallery. It can be nerve-wracking when you’re entrusted with something as unique and valuable as this Tiffany window, which is unquestionably a masterpiece. It’s well documented that Tiffany considered his stained-glass windows, both ecclesiastical and landscape, to be his most important works.”
While unsigned, the window is undeniably the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). In the 1980s, after 20 years of painstaking research, Dr. Egon Neustadt – the world’s foremost authority on Tiffany – confirmed its authenticity. The late Dr. Neustadt’s letter of authenticity accompanies the window, which is estimated at $150,000-$250,000.
In addition to the selection of stained-glass windows, more than 30 Tiffany and other art-glass lamps, fine paintings, pottery, furniture and objets d’art are slated to go under the hammer at Morphy’s Dec. 10 event.
For additional information on any item in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail dan@morphyauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Tiffany Studios stained-glass window authenticated by Dr. Egon Neustadt, 72 inches by 43 inches, to be auctioned Dec. 10 at Morphy Auctions. Estimate $150,000-$250,000. Morphy Auctions image.
Inside the National Portrait Gallery, London. Oct. 24, 2008 photo taken by Herry Lawford. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
LONDON – The National Portrait Gallery in London has announced its call for entries for the BP Portrait Award 2011, one of the world’s most prestigious open competitions for portrait painting. The closing date for entries is Friday, Feb. 11, 2011.
The Portrait Award, now in its 32nd year at the National Portrait Gallery and 22nd year of sponsorship by BP, is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work.
The BP Portrait Award 2011 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from June 16 through Sept. 18, 2011, prior to a national tour.
The BP Portrait Award is open to all artists over the age of 18, and provides an important platform for portrait painters. In 2010, more than 2,000 artists submitted their work, and the exhibition, which featured 58 paintings, was seen by more than 280,000 people at the National Portrait Gallery.
A cash award of £25,000/$39,300 will go to the first prize winner and, at the judges’ discretion, the winner will also receive a commission worth £4,000/$6,300 (to be agreed between the National Portrait Gallery and the artist).
Recent National Portrait Gallery commissions by BP Portrait Award first-prize-winning artists include novelist V S Naipaul by Paul Emsley (BP Portrait Award 2007 winner), and Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh by Dean Marsh (BP Portrait Award 2005 winner). Many artists who have had their work exhibited have gained commissions as a result of the considerable interest in the BP Portrait Award and the resulting exhibition.
The prize winners and exhibition will be selected by a judging panel chaired by Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery. The winners and selected entries will be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London and subsequently will tour to two further venues. The exhibition tour is organized by the National Portrait Gallery.
All 2011 exhibitors will be eligible to submit a proposal for the BP Travel Award. The aim of the Award is to provide the opportunity for an artist to experience working in a different environment, in Britain or abroad, on a project related to portraiture that will then be shown as part of the BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition and tour in 2012-13.
Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, said: “Two-thousand-ten was another outstanding year for the quality of the entries and the range of styles. I look forward to the BP Portrait Award 2011, and thank BP for their continuing support.”
Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP, said: “This will be the 22nd year that BP has supported this vibrant competition, and we were enthused by the invention and quality of the 2010 entries yet again.”
Competition Rules:
This international competition is open to everyone aged 18 and over in recognition of the outstanding and innovative work currently being produced by artists of all ages working in portraiture. The competition is judged, on an equal and anonymous basis, from original paintings. An exhibition is then created from a selection of the entries.
The preferred method of registering an entry for the BP Portrait Award 2011 is online at www.npg.org.uk/bp.
To request a postal entry form call 011 44 20 7312 6699 or write to:
BP Portrait Award
National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin’s Place
London WC2H 0HE
U.K.
The postal entry form can also be downloaded from the website.
All entrants aged between 18 and 30 will automatically be considered for both the BP Young Artist Award and the BP Portrait Award, but an individual cannot win both.
The Colorado State Capitol in Denver. May 14, 2007 photo by Druffeler. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – On the walls of the third-floor rotunda at the Colorado State Capitol hang portraits of all 43 U.S. presidents, and in just a few months, Colorado Springs artist Sarah Boardman will have completed the 44th.
Boardman said she’s thrilled that she’ll paint President Barack Obama’s portrait for the state Capitol.
“It’s quite an honor to do this,” said Boardman.
Boardman, 63, beat out 83 other painters in January for the portrait commission, but it took a state committee nine months to raise her $10,000 fee, which comes from private donations. Boardman signed a contract Nov. 5, and started work three days later.
Jil Rosentrater, a spokeswoman for the committee that chose Boardman, said Boardman’s experience and style were important factors in the decision, but that her Colorado residency helped seal the deal.
“She’s a Colorado artist, and that meant a lot to the committee,” Rosentrater said. Boardman’s first step is to create a simple drawing of Obama, based on a handful of photos of the president. The committee will have to approve the sketch, and then she’ll begin painting. She plans to submit the drawing to the committee next week.
“A very important part of this project is to blend this in with the other portraits, to make it work with the others as a series,” Boardman explained. “I need to prove to them that this will work.”
Boardman, a British national, moved to Colorado Springs in 1993 when her husband, then a master warrant officer in the Army, was transferred back to the U.S. They met in Germany in 1982, where both were working for the Army. When they married a year later, Boardman pursued her artistic ambitions.
For four years, she studied classical realism in Germany, and has since painted in countries across the globe, including New Zealand, Australia, Italy, France, Spain, Iran, and more.
Boardman’s works have been displayed in more than a dozen galleries, including Air Force Academy Frame and Gallery. Most recently, she showed her work in Gallery 210, a downtown art dealership. She maintains a private studio where she works and teaches.
The Obama portrait is expected to be finished by April.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
MADRID (AP) – Three hooded thieves stole a truck containing 28 pieces of art including works by Picasso, Colombian artist Fernando Botero and Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida, Spanish police said Thursday.
A police statement said the truck was taken from a warehouse near the town of Getafe on Madrid’s southern outskirts last Saturday. Officers went to the warehouse after an alarm sounded and found the door of the building had been forced open. On arrival, the owner told police that the truck was missing.
A police official said security camera recordings showed the robbery was carried out by three hooded persons and that the keys had been left inside the truck. He said the truck was not armored.
The official spoke condition of anonymity in line with department rules.
Police found the vehicle empty Tuesday in the nearby area of Alcorcon, southwest of the capital.
The police statement said the stolen work included pieces by Picasso, Botero, Chillida, as well as by Spanish artists Gonzalo Gonzalez, Julio Gonzalez and Antonio Saura and Slovenia’s Cveto Marsic.
Police provided no details of the works but El Mundo daily and other media said it included a Picasso drawing, and paintings, lithographs and sculptures from the other artists.
Police estimated the value of the work to be euro2.7 million. Spanish news reports placed the value at euro5 million ($6.6 million), adding that several of the pieces were not insured.
The works belonged to six galleries in Madrid, Barcelona and Cologne, Germany. They had just come back from being exhibited in Germany.
Crisostomo, the Spanish transport company responsible for the vehicle, declined to comment on the theft.
David Fernandez director of the Juan Gris gallery in Madrid said they had a sculpture and a collage by Chillida stolen in the theft.
“It gave us a big fright because nothing like this has ever happened to us,” he told Spanish National Radio. “We’re upset because they are important pieces and irreplaceable.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
1986 gold Liberty $5 NGC PF68 ultra cameo coin. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Affiliated Auctions and Realty, a catalog auction company and real estate brokerage serving a global clientele, has announced the beginning of their three-day holiday sale beginning Dec. 3 and running through Dec. 5. The sale, the largest auction of the year for the company, is set to feature everything from rare artwork and currency to valuable jewelry, antique firearms and militaria.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
“Our holiday sale allows us to showcase some of the spectacular products we have available,” said John Whitworth, Affiliated Auctions president. “Additionally, this also gives us the opportunity to really highlight what we have to offer as a company. While we are known as one of the premier military and gun auction sites, www.affilliatedauctions.com, we also handle everything from real estate and art to jewelry – single pieces to large collections, estate and even business liquidations.”
Affiliated Auctions & Realty’s Holiday Sale will feature specifically: original artwork by Henri Toulouse Lautrec; rare artwork by Auguste Rodin; art pieces by Yankel Ginsburg, Bruce Ricker and others; valuable jewelry including an 18K yellow gold diamond ring with a 4.10-carat round brilliant cut diamond of I color and S12 clarity; a lady’s platinum two-piece wedding set consisting of a platinum stamped mounting of cathedral channel design; one princess brilliant cut diamond, 1.69 carats in weight and a clarity of IF (internally flawless) and a color grade F. Rare currency, coins and bullion; antique firearms – from swords to military rifles; and militaria including uniforms, memorabilia and gear.
“We look forward to this amazing once-a-year sale,” says Whitworth. “And to having the opportunity to not only showcase these amazing items but demonstrate why Affiliated Auctions continues to enjoy a reputation for excellence.”
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Affiliated Auctions at 850-656-5486 or e-mail Johnw@affiliatedauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAucvtioneers.com.
3.4 carat diamond heart pendant. Image courtesy Gray’s Auctioneers. CLEVELAND – Gray’s Auctioneers has announced a festive selection of auctions for the holiday month of December, starting with a Fine Jewelry & Rare Coins auction on Dec. 9, 2010. The auction will commence at 1 p.m., with Internet live bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The glittering array of fine jewelry features two stunning rings: lot 9, an 18K yellow gold and 5.18 carat diamond ring; and lot 8, a ladies platinum and 3.31 carat diamond ring. Another eye-catching jewel is lot 39, a ladies platinum and 3.4 carat diamond heart-shape pendant, which is suspended from a 14¾ inch 18K yellow gold chain.
This auction will also include rare coins and paper money. A few coin lots of note are: lot 125, an 1894-P U.S. silver dollar in very good condition; and lot 133, a 1903-S $20 gold Liberty Head coin, also in good condition. An additional numismatic highlight is lot 135, a $500 U.S. Federal Reserve Note, 1928 “Redeemable in Gold” bill.
For those who like the unusual, Gray’s will offer an Art Deco silverplate airplane smoker’s companion by Deutches Reich Gebrauchsmuster. The body of the plane forms a cigar case, with a match compartment complete with strike cover at the front. The plane has a cigar cutter propeller and two circular ashtrays as well as a detachable cigarette case wings and detachable wheeled undercarriage.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, please call Gray’s Auctioneers at 216-458-7695.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
MIAMI BEACH (AP) – South Beach is ready to host a huge art party.
Art Basel Miami Beach organizers chose about 250 galleries from more than 700 applications to show their art during the fair, which kicked off for VIPs on Wednesday. It opens for the public today, Dec. 2, 2010, and ends on Sunday.
Gallery owners at the Miami Beach Convention Center are hoping to sell works ranging from Spain’s Pablo Picasso and Colombia’s Fernando Botero to Argentina’s Mondongo group and New York-based Kehinde Wiley. Collectors from around the world walked through the booths, with some strictly browsing and others ready to buy.
Organizers have also planned for fairgoers to visit Miami art museums, talk to artists, see outdoor art projects, attend receptions and even visit artists’ studios.
“Part of the reason why Art Basel came to Miami Beach in the first place is because it is a gateway to the Latin American countries, and for many years we have been hoping that would catch on creating more opportunities for galleries to come,” said fair co-director Annette Schonholzer.
Sean Kelly, who owns a New York-based gallery, said he has already sold some of the 40 works he brought. The pieces range from $8,000 to $500,000.
“I think everybody feels it’s going to be a very strong year,” he said.
Kelly said he believes that collectors are now more willing to put money in art because they’re less confident about having financial instutitions guide their investments.
“We are benefiting from the trust being placed in us,” he said.
At the NeugerRiemschneider gallery’s booth, Tim Neuger was also hopeful he would profit from the fair. Works at the booth included nine plastic and metal sculptures by Pawel Althamer, which resembled modern versions of bandaged mummies.
“We see the fair as platforms, advertising billboards,” he said. “We focus on the greatest installation we could have.”
Fair organizers said they are expecting a better turnout than in previous years because the Art Basel fair in Switzerland in June was very strong.
“Of course, the blue chip work, the work that if you don’t buy it now you’ll never have access to again, will move, in the same way of course that some young artists will be favored,” said fair co-director Marc Spiegler. “But, I think, what we have seen in the last two years, with the economy being different, is that people are really focused as much on the midcareer artists as the young artists.”
But, in the end quality always sells, he said.
South Florida collector Norman Braman, chairman of the fair’s host committee, agreed.
“What the fair brings is excellence and collectors. We’re always looking for something that will improve our collection, that will raise our level,” he said. “I think what the recession has done is positive in one sense that it’s brought those prices down to a realistic level.”
Collector Jutta Kraus came from Munich, Germany. She collects modern German paintings, but she said she doesn’t anticipate buying anything unless the price is good and painting is appealing.
“I don’t think we will buy, but you never know,” she said.
Pat Davidson flew down from New York City “to visit the things I would like to have bought.”
_____
Online: http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Italian painted fresco fragment, transposed to a textile support, 15th century A.D., depicting the death of St. Francis. Estimate: $70,000-$95,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions. LONDON – Magnificent Swedenborg Hall in Bloomsbury is confirmed by this third Ancient Coins & Antiquities Auction as the preferred venue for TimeLine Auctions’ popular sales. But although the location is fixed, the variety of lots seems to expand with each event. Dec. 16 brings opportunities for the hammer to fall for as little as $60 up to as much as $95,000. And the 600-plus lots on offer span much of world history – from Bronze Age to Post-Medieval – so no visitor to Bloomsbury, or to the live online bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers, should return home empty-handed.
Undisputed top spot surely goes to a 15th-century Italian painted fresco fragment (lot 630) depicting St. Francis on his deathbed surrounded by four figures in conversation. The mounted and framed work measures 46 x 35 inches and its estimated hammer price is $95,000. Equally eye-catching is lot 417, a Roman bronze statuette of winged fertility god Eros, with silver inlaid eyes and a rounded, full-featured face. In very fine condition, this lovely piece is expected to reach $38,000.
With more than 60 gold finger rings from Greek to Post-Medieval cataloged in the sale, selecting a choice example proves difficult – until reaching lot 326: a double bezel gold, garnet and sapphire specimen from the Greek Hellenistic period, second or first century B.C. Set with a round cabochon sapphire, this large and impressive ring has a high bid estimate of $45,000. Another ring (lot 594) spans the Roman to late-Medieval ages with its 16th-century gold hoop and bezel set with a Roman sapphire intaglio displaying a bust of Constantius I (A.D. 250-306). A hammer price of $24,000 is anticipated.
The Anglo Saxon and Viking Ages are represented by silver bracelets, torcs, other jewelery, an array of weaponry; and by a magnificent natural gold crystal in quartz from a ninth century Viking grave. The anticipated estimate for this piece (lot 566) is $8,000. The Medieval Age offers jewelery and religious relics in gold, silver and bronze. Two eye-catching carved French limestone Madonna figurines from the 14th-15th centuries should draw bids up to $34,500.
Coin collectors will surely admire lot 143, a rare English Civil War siege piece dating from the defence, in 1644, of Scarborough Castle by Royalist forces opposing attacking Parliamentarians. The garrison’s offices cut up the castle’s silver plate to make crude coins to pay the soldiers. This is an example of the emergency money – a 5-shilling piece stamped with an image of Scarborough Castle. Presale interest suggests it might surpass its estimated $15,000 price. At the other end of the scale bidders can take a punt on lot 670: a Southeast Asian unopened and intact hoard pot dating from the 12th century. Its weight suggests it might contain more than 2,000 coins – but that will be for the winning bidder to find out. Bids of around $650 are expected.
Brett Hammond, TimeLine Auctions CEO, said, “Growth was our aim when we commenced our auctions at the Swedenborg Hall in March this year. We have gone from strength-to-strength. In fact we are now attracting so many consigned lots that the next auction, early in 2011, will spread over two days.”
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAucvtioneers.com.
For details contact Christopher Wren at +44 (0) 1708 222824.
Circa first century large bronze figure of a young winged Eros supporting a long-stemmed cornucopia. Estimate: $28,000-$38,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Medieval limestone Madonna with orb statuette, mid-14th to early 15th century, 14 3/4 inches. Estimate: $17,000-$23,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Greek Hellenistic double bezel gold, garnet and Sapphire ring, second or first century B.C. Estimate: $34,000-$45,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Stuart Scarborough siege piece, July 1644-July 1645, a uniface crown formed from a piece of flattened out domestic silver bearing a single, stamped impression of a depiction of the castle and the letters V below S (for 5 shillings). Estimate: $11,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.
Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1495-1498 A.D.), The Last Supper.
NEW YORK (AP) – A new multimedia installation in Manhattan will offer new ways to see and interpret Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
The Park Avenue Armory show reproduces the 15th century painting with a 40-minute sound-and-light show.
The “clone” painting is set within a full-scale replica of the 4,000-square-foot dining hall at Santa Maria Delle Grazie. The convent in Milan houses the original work.
“Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway” opens on Thursday.
The work by the Welsh-born filmmaker and multimedia artist fills the armory’s cavernous former drill hall.
