Gallery Report: May 2011

An oil on canvas painting by French artist Edouard Cortes, titled The Pantheon, sold for $28,750 at a Spring Estate Cataloged Auction held March 18-19 by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., in Hillsborough, N.C. Also, a Piedmont Federal walnut semi-tall chest of drawers gaveled for $5,060; a pair of paintings by North Carolina artist Elliot Dangerfield (1858-1932), titled Sunset at Blowing Rock and Allegory – hit $13,800 and $12,650, respectively; and a Federal secretary bookcase brought $1,840. Prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.

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Eugene Tung’s work stretches down Flushing Avenue, towards Navy Street.

Reading the Streets: Concrete barriers turned public art

Eugene Tung’s work stretches down Flushing Avenue, towards Navy Street.

Eugene Tung’s work stretches down Flushing Avenue, towards Navy Street.

On a bike ride recently, I was excited to find that the barrier protecting my bike lane from oncoming traffic had been painted with a series of pastel, interlocking gears. With some research, I realized I was reaping the benefits of the NYCDOT Urban Art Program, which invigorates the city’s streetscapes with temporary art installations.

The section I noticed, titled Teeth and Groove, had been completed by local artist Eugenie Tung and a group of volunteers on April 16 for Hands on New York Day. This particular barrier runs along the bike lane on Flushing Avenue, from Williamsburg West street to Navy Street. Other artists involved in the Barrier Beautification project include Julia Whitney (West 155th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, Manhattan), Taliah Lempert (Flushing Avenue, Williamsburg), and Corrine Ulman (97th Street and Centreville Street, Queens).

This is not the first public art work that Eugenie has created for DOT—she also produced fused glass windows representing the daily lives of New Yorkers for the Canarsie line’s New Lots station. She’s one of many artists taking advantage of public funding to help invigorate the streets of New York.

I love the way Eugenie’s illustrations of interlocking gears connect to the larger concept of transportation, particularly as Manhattan and the outer boroughs struggle to balance pedestrian, public transportation, bike, and vehicle traffic congestion. Although many car owners argue that the barricaded bike lanes take up precious driving and parking space, bikers love the safety the lanes provide.

It’s an especially well-timed message, since the warmer weather draws bikers (like me) out in droves. Maybe the bright illustration will help remind us all to be more sympathetic and aware of bikers, walkers, and cars as we speed towards our destinations.

It’s a perfect example of the way street art has the opportunity to speak to and draw attention to community issues in a way few other artistic mediums can.

Check out more of Eugenie’s work here: www.eugeniestudio.com/

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


Eugene Tung’s work stretches down Flushing Avenue, towards Navy Street.

Eugene Tung’s work stretches down Flushing Avenue, towards Navy Street.

The bright colors and interlocking gears catch even the fastest cycler’s eye.

The bright colors and interlocking gears catch even the fastest cycler’s eye.

A sunny day and out come the bikes.

A sunny day and out come the bikes.

EBay Inc.'s North First Street satellite office campus in San Jose, Calif., which is home to PayPal and several other eBay divisions. Photo by Coolcaesar. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

EBay first-quarter profit rises 20 percent

EBay Inc.'s North First Street satellite office campus in San Jose, Calif., which is home to PayPal and several other eBay divisions. Photo by Coolcaesar. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

EBay Inc.’s North First Street satellite office campus in San Jose, Calif., which is home to PayPal and several other eBay divisions. Photo by Coolcaesar. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – EBay Inc. on Wednesday said that its first-quarter profit rose 20 percent on reinvigorated growth at its namesake e-commerce website and further swift growth at its PayPal payment service.

Revenue from the company’s marketplace business, which is its largest and includes eBay.com, climbed 12 percent to $1.55 billion – well ahead of the single-digit growth eBay reported in the second half of 2010.

The company has been working to improve the buying and selling experience on eBay.com by cutting upfront listing fees it charges sellers, improving its search engine and revamping its home page.

The company said gross merchandise volume, which measures the value of all goods sold on eBay, excluding vehicles, rose 8 percent to $14.5 billion. Though eBay’s roots are in the online auction business, more than half of the transactions on the site these days are fixed-price sales.

In an interview, eBay CEO John Donahoe said the growth shows consumers like the changes the company has made.

For the company as a whole, net income in the January to March period was $475.9 million, or 36 cents per share. That compared with $397.7 million, or 30 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2010.

Excluding special items, eBay earned 47 cents per share – a penny more than what analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Revenue rose 16 percent to $2.5 billion, essentially in line with analyst expectations.

Revenue from PayPal, eBay’s online payment business, jumped 23 percent to $992.3 million. This business, which includes PayPal and short-term credit service Bill Me Later, has grown swiftly as merchants and consumers use it both on and off eBay. In the next few years, eBay expects the unit’s revenue to surpass that of the marketplace unit.

PayPal’s total payment volume rose 28 percent to $27.4 billion, and by the end of the quarter, the number of active users had risen 16 percent year over year to 97.7 million.

The mobile market for both PayPal and marketplaces is growing, too, as consumers are using eBay and PayPal mobile apps on smartphones and tablet computers. Donahoe reiterated a prediction he made in January, saying he expects $4 billion worth of goods to be sold through the eBay.com mobile apps in 2011, which would be double what eBay saw last year.

Consumers “like having, in essence, a store in their pocket,” he said.

He expects PayPal’s mobile apps, meanwhile, to process $2 billion worth of payments – more than double the $750 million they handled in 2010.

San Jose-based eBay also predicted that its second-quarter revenue could beat Wall Street views: It’s looking for $2.55 billion to $2.65 billion, while analysts have been expecting $2.52 billion.

EBay predicted a profit of 36 or 37 cents per share, or 45 or 46 cents excluding items. Analysts were hoping for 46 cents per share, excluding items.

EBay shares rose 7 cents to $34.10 in after-hours trading. The stock had finished regular trading up 95 cents, or 2.9 percent, at $34.03.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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University of Akron auctioning train collection

AKRON, Ohio (AP) – When the University of Akron bought Quaker Square in 2007, a valuable hoard of railroad memorabilia came with it.

Now collectors will have a chance to get their hands on some of it.

UA will auction off tens of thousands of items divided into more than 1,300 lots Saturday at the former shopping and entertainment complex in downtown Akron.

The train collection once was the heart of the complex that opened as a tourist mecca in 1975. The shops, restaurants and bars in the former oats factory were decorated with model trains and actual train equipment, plus memorabilia.

“When people come here, that’s the first thing they ask: ‘What happened to the trains?'” said Mike Szczukowski, the UA materials handling director who is overseeing the sale.

UA already has held two tag sales of Quaker Square hotel furniture, decorations and memorabilia, the last of which in June generated about $40,000, he said.

Saturday’s sale offers such one-of-a-kind items that UA decided to hold an auction.

Auctioneer Paul Wingard will sell off the items from Quaker Square’s basement via camera. As many as 1,000 bidders will watch the proceedings from first-floor cameras, Szczukowski said.

The highlight probably will be the miniature railroad buildings, people and scenery made in the 1940s and 1950s by train enthusiast Mack Lowry, who moved his Railways of America Museum on State Road in Cuyahoga Falls to Quaker Square in 1976. His collection was billed as the largest model train display in the world.

The collection was so vast that about half of it immediately went into storage in the 400,000-square-foot complex and never emerged.

Lowry’s widow eventually sold the collection to Quaker Square owner Jay Nusbaum, who in turn handed it over to UA.

The sale also will include towel bars, pipe holders and storage racks from actual trains; six real-size luggage carts, some of them loaded with old suitcases; 20 leather-backed chairs from dining cars; round brass tables from dining cars; train artwork, magazines and advertising memorabilia; two mailbags; and old railroad tools.

The auction will feature more than trains.

Wingard also will auction off models and props handmade for a miniature circus, plus two big-top tents, amusement rides and a wide variety of miscellany.

Akron rubber worker Robert W. Harned created the Greatest Little Show on Earth in the basement of his home starting in the mid-1920s, displayed it at stores and sold it to Lowry, who in turn moved it to Quaker Square.

The auction won’t spell the end of trains or the circus at Quaker Square. The university is maintaining displays of both in the museum next to the gift shop on the main floor. The auction pieces are all extra.

Nor is this the end of the UA sales. In coming months, the university will spotlight a trove of other Quaker Square memorabilia, from airplanes to stained glass to car parts, as it edges closer to turning the facility into classrooms. Part of the hotel already has been turned into a residence hall for students.

For now, the focus is on clearing out the train and circus memorabilia. Interested bidders can preview the items for two hours beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday.

Like items that will be sold as groups will be bundled together in clear plastic bags or displayed together on tables.

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Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-26-11 0150GMT

 

Like most early Coca-Cola posters, this one issued circa 1895 featured an attractive woman. It is the only one like it known to exist and is estimated to sell for $30,000. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Museum’s Coca-Cola auctions promise to be ‘delicious & refreshing’

Like most early Coca-Cola posters, this one issued circa 1895 featured an attractive woman. It is the only one like it known to exist and is estimated to sell for $30,000. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Like most early Coca-Cola posters, this one issued circa 1895 featured an attractive woman. It is the only one like it known to exist and is estimated to sell for $30,000. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (ACNI) – The biggest and arguably the best privately held collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia will be sold over a two-year period, much of it at public auctions starting as soon as mid-September.

Owners of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia in Elizabethtown have decided to disperse the collection of more than 80,000 items, which is estimated to be worth as much as $10 million.

“The response has been overwhelming. We’re just telling collectors to get signed up for updates and notices about the auctions,” said Larry Schmidt, who represents the fourth generation of the Schmidt family to be active in the Coca-Cola bottling business. He has been involved in the museum since its founding in 1977 and was president of the family owned Coca-Cola franchise in the 1990s.

Unlike his parents who assembled the Coca-Cola collection, Larry Schmidt said he is not a collector and will hold nothing back.

“Everything will be sold,” he said. “It’s a premier collection.”

“A big portion of our life has gone into collecting these wonderful, artistic pieces,” said Jan Schmidt, who, along with her late husband Bill, started the collection in 1972 when they went to an antique advertising show in Indianapolis and came home with a carload of vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia.

“That was the 1970s at the start of the Coca-Cola advertising craze. At that first show there was a huge amount of marvelous things at low prices,” said Larry Schmidt.

The Schmidt collection consists of one-of-a-kind posters, rare serving trays, early bottles, lighted signs, advertising clocks, antique delivery trucks, even the side of a barn emblazoned with “Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles.”

“With 80,000 items it will be necessary to sell some things in larger lots, but we don’t want to do anything that will harm the value. We want to sell the collection in a slow, controlled fashion that will protect the market and collectors,” said Schmidt.

“This collection is the best of the best,” said Allan Petretti, author of Petretti’s Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, who is appraising the collection and helping the family market it. “The Schmidts defined collecting. The depth and breadth of their collection is beyond incredible. They have the rarest of rare pieces. They have things from every era and from every category. You name it, and they have it,” said Petretti.

Richard Opfer Auctioneering Inc., Timonium, Md., will conduct the auctions, which will be held on-site at the museum at 100 Buffalo Creek Drive in Elizabethtown, 50 miles south of Louisville.

The museum has been closed to catalog the items and prepare for the sales.

Items of greatest interest will be sold at the live auctions. Many items with lower value will be sold through the museum’s website beginning in mid-June, said Schmidt.

Coca-Cola runs deep in the Schmidt family heritage. In 1901, Frederick Schmidt became only the fifth Coca-Cola bottler in the nation when he opened a plant in Louisville, Ky. In 1920, the franchise, which covered much of Kentucky and parts of Southern Indiana, was split into three areas with Luke Schmidt, Bill’s father, taking over the Elizabethtown operations. Larry Schmidt, Bill’s son, became the fourth-generation president when he took over in the mid-1990s. The Schmidts later sold the franchise while the museum has remained.

“It’s a historic collection and an amazing legacy my parents have created,” said Schmidt. “It’s been a part of the fabric of Elizabethtown, so this has been a difficult decision but it’s the right one. It creates an opportunity for others to own a piece of history and it allows us to give back to the community.”

The Schmidt family intends to establish a foundation where much of the funds from the sales will be used for charitable purposes.

For details and updates about the sales visit the museum website at www.schmidtmuseum.com

Copyright 2011 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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In the video below, Larry Schmidt comments on the contents of the museum.


VIDEO & ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


Like most early Coca-Cola posters, this one issued circa 1895 featured an attractive woman. It is the only one like it known to exist and is estimated to sell for $30,000. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Like most early Coca-Cola posters, this one issued circa 1895 featured an attractive woman. It is the only one like it known to exist and is estimated to sell for $30,000. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

The Schmidt museum has the only known complete collection of more than 200 styles of Coca-Cola serving trays. This is the hardest to find, dating from 1897. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

The Schmidt museum has the only known complete collection of more than 200 styles of Coca-Cola serving trays. This is the hardest to find, dating from 1897. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Larry Schmidt represents the fourth generation of his family to work in the Coca-Cola bottling business. In the background is a side of a barn painted with the Coca-Cola logo. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Larry Schmidt represents the fourth generation of his family to work in the Coca-Cola bottling business. In the background is a side of a barn painted with the Coca-Cola logo. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Bill and Jan Schmidt posed for this photo in 1983. The soda fountain, which was part of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, will be sold at the first auction. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Bill and Jan Schmidt posed for this photo in 1983. The soda fountain, which was part of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, will be sold at the first auction. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

The paper label indicates this 1920s wooden barrel of Coca-Cola syrup was delivered to a wholesale grocer in Junction City, Kans. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

The paper label indicates this 1920s wooden barrel of Coca-Cola syrup was delivered to a wholesale grocer in Junction City, Kans. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Baird Clock Co. produced one of its many advertising wall clocks for Coca-Cola in 1893. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Baird Clock Co. produced one of its many advertising wall clocks for Coca-Cola in 1893. Image courtesy of the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Collectibles.

Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Group to honor Minn. residents of US Civil War

Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Just three years into statehood, Minnesota in 1861 was anxious to prove itself.

Volunteers, the first of an estimated 24,000 state soldiers who would fight in the Civil War, rushed to sign up to preserve the Union by putting down secessionist Southern states.

They fought their first battle three months after the war began. Dozens more followed, often accompanied by heavy casualties. Late one afternoon at Gettysburg, four of every five soldiers of the First Minnesota Volunteers were killed or wounded in a heroic charge that bought crucial time for the Union army to prevail in battle and, ultimately, to win the war.

“These men were incredibly patriotic and brave and many of them made enormous sacrifices,” said Richard Moe, president emeritus of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and author of The Last Full Measure, a combat history of the First Minnesota.

At the State Capitol, battle paintings, time-worn flags, and statues of Minnesota’s military heroes of the Civil War are scattered throughout the building. And down John Ireland Boulevard, across Interstate 94, a large Civil War monument featuring Josias King, purportedly the first volunteer from the state, rises up from Summit Park, overlooking downtown St. Paul.

There, in the shadow of the Cathedral of St. Paul and a short walk from the Minnesota History Center, a large memorial focusing solely on the Minnesota soldiers who fought in the Civil War finally might be built.

For George Luskey, Bill Dalin, John Cain, Andrew Willenbring and other members of the Minnesota Boys of ’61, it can’t come too soon. As the 150th anniversary of the war unfolds, that fledgling group is launching an effort to raise $750,000 in private funds to build it.

They hope to finish the job within five years, enabling construction to start before the anniversary of the war’s end in 2015. It would join memorials on the nearby Capitol grounds for World Wars I and II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

“I think, really, to do anything less would not do them justice,” said Luskey, a retired deputy sheriff who, like the others, has long been active in Civil War re-enactments.

The idea surfaced several years ago, when Luskey and Dalin were at a Camp Ripley event honoring airborne troops. Dalin said Trudell Guerue, a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Association, asked them why they didn’t build a memorial to Minnesota’s Civil War troops.

“We kind of looked at each other, and said, `Why not?”’ said Dalin, of Lakeville, the group’s treasurer.

Fifteen months ago, they formed the Minnesota Boys of `61 as a registered nonprofit organization. There’s a board but still no formal membership list.

The proposal also is in its infancy.

The Summit Park site owned by the city was recommended to them, and early support has been secured. There are plans, not only for the memorial but also for limited parking.

David Geister, a former re-enactor, has put together renderings of what the memorial might look like, but no final decisions have been made.

Any eventual monument would recognize each Minnesota regiment, battery, battalion or independent organization.

One idea, Luskey said, is to have two-dozen individual granite pieces inscribed with the names of the outfits, along with key information about them, placed in a circle around a larger bronze sculpture.

The effort comes naturally to folks such as Luskey, 62, and Dalin, 59, who’ve been captivated by the Civil War since they were kids and who have relatives who fought or were killed in the war and the Dakota War of 1862.

Owning their own uniforms, muskets, swords and other gear, they’ve participated in countless re-enactments, had roles in Civil War movies, and now look to pass that heritage along to younger generations.

“We like to link with them,” Luskey, the group’s president, said, “so they can grow up and have some sense of history in their own state.”

We’re all walking history lessons,” Dalin said. “This memorial is an extension of that. This is what we live to do.”A week ago, the Minnesota House took a moment to recognize their project and to offer support.

“Everyone needs a sense of history – where we have been and what brought us to the point where we are today,” said Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City. “What happened in the Civil War and what happened in Minnesota in 1862 are still with us today.”

Moe, the author and former National Trust for Historic Preservation official, echoed those sentiments.

It was a different time in our nation – a critical time,” Moe said. “And the war eventually defined who we became as a nation.

The idea of recognizing these men has a lot of merit,” he added. “I hope the memorial can be done in a way that tells the story of the Civil War in a way that educates people what it was all about. War isn’t glorious. … There was nothing glorious about that war.”

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, www.twincities.com

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-28-11 1809GMT

 


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Poly Styrene (1957-2011), best known as the singer for '70s punk band X-Ray Spex. Photo by Mephisto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In Memoriam: X-Ray Spex singer Poly Styrene, 53

Poly Styrene (1957-2011), best known as the singer for '70s punk band X-Ray Spex. Photo by Mephisto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Poly Styrene (1957-2011), best known as the singer for ’70s punk band X-Ray Spex. Photo by Mephisto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

LONDON (AP) – Poly Styrene, the braces-wearing singer who belted out “Oh bondage, up yours!” with the’70s punk band X-Ray Spex, has died at the age of 53. Styrene, whose real name was Marion Elliott-Said, had been suffering from cancer.

A statement on the singer’s official website and Twitter feed said Tuesday that “the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter, won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places.”

Boy George was among those paying tribute on Twitter, writing, “Oh bless you Poly you will be missed! Legend!”

X-Ray Spex released just one album, 1978’s Germ Free Adolescents. But its aggressively catchy single Oh Bondage, Up Yours! became an enduring punk anthem.

Styrene later said the song — a gleeful nonconformist shout-out — was inspired by the iconic bondage trousers designed by Vivienne Westwood.

“Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard,” Styrene sang — before letting everyone know exactly what she thought of that idea.

Of British and Somali heritage, Styrene was born in 1957 in the London suburb of Bromley — a quiet corner backwater with a strong rock ‘n’ roll streak that was also the childhood home of David Bowie, Billy Idol and Siouxsie Sioux.

As a teenager she released a reggae single before being inspired to form a punk band after seeing the Sex Pistols play in 1976. X-Ray Spex stood out from the punk crowd during its short career, both because of its female singer and for including a saxophone player in the lineup.

Styrene’s attitude and energy inspired other female singers, and she was often cited as a precursor of the 1990s “riot grrrl” movement.

Styrene later joined the Hare Krishna movement and released several solo albums — the most recent, Generation Indigo, just last month.

She told the BBC in an interview she would like to be remembered for something spiritual, but “I know I’ll probably be remembered for ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!'”

Earlier this year she revealed she was battling breast cancer that had spread to her spine and lungs, but said she hoped to overcome the disease through a combination of conventional medicine and alternative remedies.

She is survived by her daughter, Celeste Bell-Dos Santos, who fronts the band Debutant Disco.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE & VIDEO OF NOTE


Poly Styrene (1957-2011), best known as the singer for '70s punk band X-Ray Spex. Photo by Mephisto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Poly Styrene (1957-2011), best known as the singer for ’70s punk band X-Ray Spex. Photo by Mephisto, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Montreal museum promotes ‘Indiana Jones’ archeology

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

MONTREAL – (AFP) – A museum exhibit at the Montreal Science Centre opened this week showcasing on-screen archeological discoveries of Hollywood’s fictional adventurer Indiana Jones.

Presented by the National Geographic Society with the support of Lucasfilm, “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition” takes visitors on a virtual tour of sites depicted in the series of adventure movies. It aims to shed light on such historical myths as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, sought in the films by the title character played by American actor Harrison Ford.

Showcased are a collection of props and film footage from Lucasfilm archives and ancient artifacts on loan from the National Geographic Society and the renowned University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum), including gold graveyard relics from the Ur dynasty of ancient Mesopotamia and the oldest known map of the world. The exhibition puts the spotlight not only on the vast and exclusive collection of props, models, drawings, and concept and set designs for Indiana Jones, but also on a wealth of historical and cultural facts.

“We learn a lot about archeology and at the same time it’s romantic, unbridled, which is interesting,” said Monique, 61, who attended the exhibit opening on Thursday with her grandson.

The exhibit is expected to attract thousands over the summer months, before packing up on September 18 and touring Europe and Asia.

For more information, visit the museum’s website at www.montrealsciencecentre.com.


ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Image courtesy of the Montreal Science Centre.

Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011), The Marshal, cold-painted bronze, 1970, sold by High Noon Western Americana on Jan. 20, 2007 for $19,800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and High Noon Western Americana.

In Memoriam: Western artist Harry Jackson, 87

Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011), The Marshal, cold-painted bronze, 1970, sold by High Noon Western Americana on Jan. 20, 2007 for $19,800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and High Noon Western Americana.

Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011), The Marshal, cold-painted bronze, 1970, sold by High Noon Western Americana on Jan. 20, 2007 for $19,800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and High Noon Western Americana.

CODY, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming artist Harry Jackson, whose paintings and sculptures can be found in museums and private collections around the world, has died at the age of 87.

Jackson, of Cody, died on Monday at the VA hospital in Sheridan, according to the Ballard Funeral Home in Cody.

Jackson was known both as an abstract expressionist and a Western artist although he eschewed being categorized. Some of his work depicts actor John Wayne.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody contains the largest museum collection of his work in the United States.

“Harry was a real person who managed to parlay great talent into a great life,” Bruce Eldredge, executive director and CEO of the museum, told the Casper Star-Tribune. “He was larger than life, absolutely. He was a real character, in the sense that he was very profane, very bold and very passionate about what he did and who he was.”

His art also can be found at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Denver Art Museum and others, and in collections owned by the Saudi Arabian royal family, Queen Elizabeth II and the Vatican.

Among Jackson’s most well-known pieces are the oil painting of a bar scene; his 10-foot-tall painted bronze of Sacagawea; a monument to John Wayne in Beverly Hills, Calif.; and “Stampede” and “Range Burial,” the story of life and death in two bronzes and two large oil paintings, which Eldredge called seminal images of the American West.

Jackson was born in Chicago in 1924 but made his way to Wyoming in his early teens to work on a ranch. He was a combat artist in the Marine Corps during World War II.

He is survived by five children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Jackson had been at the Sheridan VA hospital since October and seemed to do well for a while until he caught a cold in January, said Matthew Jackson, one of Jackson’s sons.

“He was at a point, he was done fighting and just refused food and drink,” he said. “He’s always been one who wants to be in control … things get done his way and that was the most important part of it. It certainly was in keeping with the experience of his life.”

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Information from: Casper Star-Tribune – Casper, www.trib.com

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-28-11 0053GMT

 


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011), The Marshal, cold-painted bronze, 1970, sold by High Noon Western Americana on Jan. 20, 2007 for $19,800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and High Noon Western Americana.

Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011), The Marshal, cold-painted bronze, 1970, sold by High Noon Western Americana on Jan. 20, 2007 for $19,800. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and High Noon Western Americana.

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1801 through March 4, 1809.

Monticello acquires Jefferson-related artifacts

 Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1801 through March 4, 1809.

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1801 through March 4, 1809.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The foundation that operates Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop home at Monticello has received more than 200 artifacts related to the third president, including centuries-old London newspapers that addressed Jefferson’s political denunciation of England’s King George III.

Officials at the Jefferson Foundation in Charlottesville said Wednesday that collector Douglas Kelley donated newspapers, pamphlets, books, art and other decorative objects to Monticello, which will make them available for research and display.

Two November 1774 issues of the London Chronicle feature front-page writings devoted to Jefferson’s just-released political pamphlet “A Summary View of the Rights of British America,” addressing the British monarch’s relationship with the American colonies and warning that “the present contentions with America, if not soon happily terminated, must end in such scenes of trouble, bloodshed and devastation, which in contemplation alone, shocks us with horror.”

Jefferson Foundation librarian Jack Robertson says the Chronicle editor doesn’t condemn Jefferson’s writings, but mistakenly refers to him as a “respectable merchant” from Maryland.

Other newspapers in the collection include an 1828 edition of Philadelphia’s National Gazette and Literary Register, which published a letter from Army Gen. Andrew Jackson thanking a “Doctor Thomas G. Watkins” for sending him “a breastpin with the lock of the hair of the venerated Jefferson.” Jackson was elected the nation’s seventh president later that year.

A June, 29, 1827, edition of the Richmond Enquirer displays a for-sale advertisement for “The Poplar Forest, Home Tract or all that part of the estate attached to the mansion house. … On the plantation, beside other improvement there is a large barn and there is a wheat threshing machine. The mansion house is roomy, convenient, handsome and situated on an eminence commanding nearly the whole arable land of the farm.”

The ad was placed by Jefferson grandson Francis Eppes, who inherited the Bedford County estate from Jefferson, who died the previous year. Notably, the text makes no reference to Jefferson’s design and ownership of Poplar Forest, his cherished post-presidency retreat from the better-known Monticello. Eppes sold the house and 1,000 acres in 1828 and moved to Florida.

Kelley, of Ann Arbor, Mich., also donated several portraits and graphic depictions of Jefferson, some used for political messages, including a June 8, 1861, cartoon in which Lady Liberty and the spirit of Jefferson, standing behind her, condemn and attack a figure representing the “Treason of Secession,” Robertson said. Another item is a graphic design that superimposes Jefferson’s image on a Confederate flag.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


 Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1801 through March 4, 1809.

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in office from March 4, 1801 through March 4, 1809.

Monticello as seen from the West Lawn, photo taken Oct. 29, 2010 by YF12s. Licensed under the Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Monticello as seen from the West Lawn, photo taken Oct. 29, 2010 by YF12s. Licensed under the Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.