August 2011 - Page 17 of 20 - Auction Central News

Teplitz amphora portrait vase depicting a woman, made circa 1899-1905 (est. $4,000-$6,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

Elite Decorative Arts brings big names to auction, Aug. 27

August 4, 2011/in Upcoming Auctions/by Tom Hoepf

Teplitz amphora portrait vase depicting a woman, made circa 1899-1905 (est. $4,000-$6,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

BOYTON BEACH, Fla. – Hundreds of quality lots of fine porcelain, original artwork and estate jewelry will cross the block in an estates sale planned for Saturday, Aug. 27, by Elite Decorative Arts, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. The event will be held in the Elite Decorative Arts gallery, located at 1034 Gateway Blvd., Suite 106, in Boynton Beach.

Online bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com.

Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Previews will be held on Friday, Aug. 26, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, Aug. 27, the date of sale, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Porcelains will include examples by Meissen, Sevres, Dresden, Royal Vienna, Wagner and more. The name Tiffany will also be chanted frequently.

One lot is expected to bring $80,000-$100,000 or more. It is a pair of large bronze and ivory Continental figures, one depicting a warrior wearing a crown with a sword to the hip and the other depicting a warrior wearing a bearskin headdress and scaled armor. The figures, each one 18 inches in height on a 3 1/4-inch-round wooden base, were made circa 18th or 19th century.

Tiffany pieces will feature a stunning linenfold double-shade student desk lamp with a great brown patina to bronze and marked on both the base and shade (est. $15,000-$20,000); a pair of impressive bronze and Favrile glass picture frames with grapevine design, circa 1900 (est. $6,000-$8,000); and a sterling silver Revival snake urn, 54.265 troy ounces (est. $4,000-$6,000).

Also from Tiffany will be a magnificent ribbed Favrile art glass vase with ribbed design and yellow iridescent color, circa 1900 (est. $2,000-$3,000); an iridescent Favrile ribbed art glass vase in a beautiful yellow and purple color, circa 1900 (est. $800-$1,200); and a sterling silver cut crystal pitcher and sterling silver spoon, both in the Chrysanthemum pattern (est. $300-$500).

Meissen pieces—the German-made antique porcelain—will be just as ubiquitous and impressive. Star lots will include a hand-painted oval-covered dresser box with a reticulated design (est. $2,000-$3,000); an antique figural group candlestick with four-arm candelabra insert (est. $600-$800); and a pair of hand-painted figural candlesticks with cherubs (est. $600-$800).

Still more Meissen will feature an antique figurine of a fishing goddess, showing a nude female sitting on rocks with a serpent at her feet, circa 19th century (est. $300-$400); a figural group of five cherubs dancing, playing music and eating fruit, circa 19th century (est. $300-$500); and a hand-painted covered teacup and saucer snowball blossom cup (est. $200-$300).

One of the top achievers in the original artwork category is expected to be an oil on canvas depiction of a nude female by Russian/American artist Raphael Soyer (1899-1987). The matted and framed work measures 20 inches by 16 inches and is estimated to bring $6,000-$8,000. Soyer was not only a renowned painter of urban subjects but also a noted author.

Other artworks of note will feature an original oil on canvas rendering of a young child by Hugo Oehmichen (German, 1843-1932), matted and framed and measuring 10 inches by 14 inches (est. $4,000-$6,000); and an original oil on canvas still life by P. Dufour of a dinner table with fruit and other items, signed lower right and 24 1/2 inches by 30 inches (est. $3,000-$5,000).

Two portrait vases are expected to do well. One is an antique Riessner, Stellmacher & Kessel amphora Trnovany Bohemia hand-painted vase depicting a woman wearing a tiara, in beautiful purples and turquoise (est. $4,000-$6,000). The other is a 19th-century French porcelain Paris Exposition vase depicting three cherubs holding up a bouquet wrap (est. $800-$1,200).

A pair of finely painted late 19th-century German portrait plates by Wagner, one depicting Napoleon Bonaparte and the other Madame de Parabere, are each expected to fetch $500-$700. Both boast stunning gilt work and an exquisite wreath design and red and green enameling to the outer rim. These fine quality plates measure 9 1/2 inches in diameter and are marked at the bottom.

Rounding out just some of the day’s expected top lots: a KPM porcelain portrait plaque depicting the bust of a young woman (Berlin, circa 1900, est. $4,000-$6,000); a Royal Vienna hand-painted porcelain lidded stein titled The Dancing Graces (est. $1,500-$2,000); and a bronze figure of a drunk woman by Nam Greb (Franz Bergmann, Austrian, 1838-1894, est. $400-$600).

Elite Decorative Arts is an established, third-generation, full-service antique and auction gallery, specializing in fine decorative arts, paintings, estate jewelry and more. The gallery is located in the Quantum Town Center, located at 1034 Gateway Blvd. A full-time, knowledgeable staff is on hand Monday-Friday, from 10-6.

Elite Decorative Arts is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. To consign a single piece, an entire estate or a collection, you may call them at either 561-200-0893, or toll-free, at 800-991-3340; or, you can e-mail them at info@eliteauction. To learn more about Elite Decorative Arts and the Aug. 27 sale, log on to www.eliteauction.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.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9565128 Pair of large Continental ivory and bronze warriors (est. $80,000-$100,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

Hand-painted KPM porcelain portrait plaque, made in Berlin circa 1900 (est. $4,000-$6,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

Antique German Meissen porcelain hand-painted oval covered dresser box (est. $2,000-$3,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

Stunning Tiffany linenfold double-shade student desk lamp, marked (est. $15,000-$20,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

Original oil on canvas painting by Raphael Soyer (1899-1987), framed (est. $6,000-$8,000). Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts.

A Richard Neutra design, this is the Lovell House at 4616 Dundee Dr., Los Angeles, built in 1971. It is believed to be the first steel-frame house built in the United States and also is an early example of the use of gunite (sprayed-on concrete). Image by Los Angeles, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Dispute prompts Beverly Hills to rethink preservation

August 4, 2011/in Art, Design & Architecture/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

A Richard Neutra design, this is the Lovell House at 4616 Dundee Dr., Los Angeles, built in 1971. It is believed to be the first steel-frame house built in the United States and also is an early example of the use of gunite (sprayed-on concrete). Image by Los Angeles, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The streets of Beverly Hills are graced with homes by such 20th-century architectural luminaries as Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Paul Williams for a simple reason: The affluent enclave’s residents of decades past could afford to build them.

But with those structures in increasing jeopardy as preferences turn more toward larger homes, the city is poised to reconsider its laissez-faire approach toward properties with claims to cultural importance.

Beverly Hills City Council members plan to discuss a potential plan Tuesday to halt the demolition of potentially significant structures until its planning department can come up with guidelines for a preservation ordinance, which – unlike many of its Southern California neighbors – it doesn’t now have.

The panel could vote to hold a meeting in the coming days to take action on the proposed moratorium, which would grant a reprieve to a 1954 Neutra-designed home known as the Kronish House that’s being eyed for demolition.

“We need to button down some sort of ordinance that addresses preservation needs,” Beverly Hills Mayor Barry Brucker said. “There is something wrong with having a historically important building and you take out a demolition permit and 10 days later you can take a sledgehammer to it.”

Brucker said the city hasn’t needed a preservation ordinance in the past because its wealthy residents had traditionally been eager to restore and live in its architectural gems.

But many recent property buyers are more interested in razing the often modest-sized, architecturally significant homes so larger structures can be built, he said. The average size of a new single-family home in Beverly Hills increased from less than 4,200 square feet over the 1970s to more than 7,300 square feet over the 2000s, according to San Diego-based tracking firm DataQuick.

The city’s bout of architectural soul searching was prompted by an apparent plan by the current owner of the Kronish House to secure a demolition permit for the property, which at some 6,900 square feet is already among the largest of its architecturally pedigreed peers.

A firm called Soda Partners LLC bought the home that sits on two acres for $5.8 million at a foreclosure auction in January. Months later, it put the property back on the market as a teardown for $14 million, not even mentioning in its listing that it included a home by the famed architect until it was pressured to do so by preservationists.

Jeffrey Soza, who is named in business records as Soda Partners’ agent of service, did not return a call seeking comment.

The Kronish House is not visible from the street, but real estate agent Mike Deasy, who specializes in architecturally significant properties, characterized it as dilapidated but salvageable.

Los Angeles Conservancy advocacy director Adrian Scott Fine said the flat-roofed home with sliding glass doors that open up on a swimming pool area is an important example of Neutra’s signature “pinwheel” design style that places a house’s living room at its center.

Fine lamented Beverly Hills’ record of allowing property owners to demolish homes by famous architects, such as Lautner’s 1951 Shusett House, a 3,000 square-foot home that is in the process of being replaced with a structure some three times larger.

He also criticized Beverly Hills for allowing the demolition of homes with cultural significance beyond their architectural importance, such as the Mediterranean-style structure that was home to George Gershwin in the 1930s and was later owned by singer Rosemary Clooney. It was torn down in 2005.

“There’s a need for growth and development in every community but there’s also a need for preservation,” Fine said.

Brucker said the Beverly Hills council hopes to devise a new ordinance to take that need into account, while it works on other new legislation that gives tax breaks to homeowners who maintain architecturally or historically significant features of their properties.

He said the city’s prospective historic preservation ordinance wouldn’t try to scuttle demolitions altogether, but might delay them long enough to come to some accommodation between property owners and preservationists, even if it means actually having important structures physically relocated.

But Brucker said Beverly Hills’ special challenge is to weed out the structures that require protection from the city’s copious selection of those that have more tenuous connections to the rich, famous and architecturally talented.

“You have homes that various famous lived in, but does that make them historic? You have famous architects but they may not be the architect’s most famous work,” he said. “So I really want to send things off to the planning commission so we’re not all over the map and protecting a home that Ozzy Osbourne lived in or Beckham lived in just because they were famous.”

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Follow Jacob Adelman at http://twitter.com/jacobadelman

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

A Richard Neutra design, this is the Lovell House at 4616 Dundee Dr., Los Angeles, built in 1971. It is believed to be the first steel-frame house built in the United States and also is an early example of the use of gunite (sprayed-on concrete). Image by Los Angeles, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

U.S. $2 1/2 gold coin, 1911-D, AU. Estimate: $3,000-$5,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Treasure trove of coins to sell at Michaan’s, Aug. 8

August 4, 2011/in Upcoming Auctions/by Tom Hoepf

U.S. $2 1/2 gold coin, 1911-D, AU. Estimate: $3,000-$5,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Michaan’s Auctions will present its Fine Stamp and Coin Sale featuring an exceptional collection from the estate of Richard Smith. Michaan’s will offer his entire collection in the sale on Monday, Aug. 8, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Smith was an avid coin collector and long-standing member of the American Numismatic Association and compiling a comprehensive collection during his lifetime.

His collection includes numerous rare issues, U.S. and international gold and silver coins, U.S. Civil War era tokens and a vast accumulation of ancient coins and German porcelain coins. Particularly noteworthy are eight U.S. $20 gold coins, all from the early 20th century. Each coin is in excellent, almost uncirculated condition and is being offered in eight individual lots, each estimated at $1,500-$1,800.

There are coins minted in limited quantities and there are the truly scarce and rare. The following fall into the latter category and are almost sure to pique feverish collector interest. On the auction block is a U.S. Saint-Gaudens gold coin, 1924, AU (lot 1042, $1,500-$1,800); a U.S. $1 gold coin, 1851-C, AU (lot 1026, $1,000-1,200); a U.S. $2 1/2 gold coin, 1911-D, AU (lot 1033, $3,000-$5,000); a Russian 3 rubles platinum coin, 1844, AU (lot 1051, $2,000-$3,000); and a Philippine silver coin, 1906-S, XF, 1 peso (lot 1157, $1,200-$1,500).

All of the pieces as well as a plethora of other coins and stamps will be auctioned at Michaan’s main gallery at 2751 Todd St. Alameda, CA 94501.

For details log on to Michaan’s website: www.michaans.com or phone 510-740-0220.

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.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

U.S. Saint-Gaudens gold coin, 1924, AU. Estimate: $1,500-$1,800. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

U.S. $1 gold coin, 1851-C, AU. Estimate: $1,000-$1,200. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Russian 3 rubles platinum coin, 1844, AU. Estimate: $2,000-$3,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Philippine silver coin, 1906-S, 1 peso. Estimate: $1,200-$1,500. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Original poster artwork for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (Columbia, 1994). Giclée print by Drew Struzan. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Profiles in History.

Storm damages oak from ‘Shawshank Redemption’

August 4, 2011/in General Interest/by Tom Hoepf

Original poster artwork for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (Columbia, 1994). Giclée print by Drew Struzan. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Profiles in History.

MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) – A large oak tree that played a key role near the end of The Shawshank Redemption was heavily damaged during a storm last week.

The 1994 movie was filmed in and around the former Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield in north-central Ohio. The tree is where Morgan Freeman’s character finds money and a note left by Tim Robbins’ character.

The tree was hit Friday by straight-line winds that split it down its rotted middle and took out one side, Malabar Farm State Park manager Louis Andres told the News Journal of Mansfield.

The tree near the state park is popular with tourists and is part of the local convention and visitors bureau’s “Shawshank Trail” that also includes the former reformatory that closed in 1990 and is now a museum. The trail leads travelers to 12 sites where the movie was filmed.

Lee Tasseff, president of the Mansfield-Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau, called the damage to the tree “tragic.”

“It’s a very sentimental part of the trail,” he said.

Trail travelers can look to the left just past the state park entrance and see the site where Freeman’s character walked along a hayfield and removed stones from a rock wall where the money was buried. The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best actor for Freeman and best picture.

“There’s all kinds of people who have taken pictures at the tree,” Tasseff said.

He said some people had asked if they could propose under the tree or have a picnic under it, but that isn’t allowed because the tree is on private farmland.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the damaged tree would have to be cut down, the News Journal reported.

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Information from: News Journal, http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com

AP-WF-08-02-11 2218GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Original poster artwork for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (Columbia, 1994). Giclée print by Drew Struzan. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Profiles in History.

El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

El Museo del Barrio names Margarita Aguilar director

August 4, 2011/in Museums/by Tom Hoepf

El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEW YORK (AP) – El Museo del Barrio has named a new director. The museum says Margarita Aguilar will take up the position starting in September.

Aguilar worked as a curator at the Manhattan museum from 1998 to 2006 and is currently vice president and senior specialist in Latin American art at Christie’s. She succeeds Julian Zugazagoitia, who left to become the director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo.

El Museo focuses on Latino, Caribbean and Latin American art.

Aguilar is of Cuban descent. She has received degrees from New York University and Hunter College, and is currently a doctoral student in art history.

El Museo says it has about 250,000 visitors annually.

AP-WF-08-02-11 2118GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Duke Ellington performed at the Coliseum Ballroom in the 1940s. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Fire destroys historic Illinois ballroom

August 4, 2011/in General Interest/by Tom Hoepf

Duke Ellington performed at the Coliseum Ballroom in the 1940s. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

BENLD, Ill. (AP) – A decades-old auditorium in the town of Benld that once hosted musicians like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington has burned down.

The Telegraph newspaper in Alton, Ill., reported that the Coliseum Ballroom on Illinois Route 4 burned on Saturday night.

Building manager Kelly Swanson said a local band was playing when members saw the fire and asked the audience to exit. Swanson says between 60 and 80 people were at the concert.

The ballroom, built in 1924, was said to have the largest dance floor between St. Louis and Chicago.

Smoke rose Sunday from where the stage had been in the 10,000-square-foot building.

Benld, a town of about 1,500, is on an older alignment of the famous Route 66.

Part of the building had been made into an antique mall, which housed the merchandise of more than a dozen dealers.

The Telegraph reported that during the Big Band era Duke Ellington, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Lawrence Welk performed at the Coliseum Ballroom. Guy Lombardo, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry appeared there in the in the 1950s, followed by Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley and Johnny Rivers in the 1960s, and Bob Seger, Styx, Foghat and Head East in the 1970s, and Heart, Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Mama’s Pride in the 1980s.

Swanson said Benld fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze.

AP-WF-08-01-11 2022GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Duke Ellington performed at the Coliseum Ballroom in the 1940s. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Advertising abounds at Showtime’s sale Sept. 30-Oct. 2

August 3, 2011/in Upcoming Auctions/by Tom Hoepf

1880s cigar store Indian attributed to Thomas Brooks, with some original paint, estimate: $35,000-$65,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The lifetime country store, advertising and toy collection of Mike and Colleen Empey will headline a major auction slated for the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 2 by Showtime Auctions.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding for the second and third days of the auction, which will be held at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds. Hundreds of additional, fresh-to-the-market items from other consignors will also be sold.

In addition to country store and advertising, the sale will also include barber shop, coin-op, gambling, folk art, toys, banks, Coca-Cola and other soda, gum, candy, firearms and gunpowder, tobacciana, coffee, salesmen’s samples, whiskey, breweriana, petroliana, automobilia, match safes and pedal cars.

The auction will also feature Western and Native American Indian, traditional cowboy, Hollywood cowboy, pottery, music, black Americana, furniture, displays and showcases. The first day of the sale, Friday, Sept. 30, will be reserved for live bidding only, at the event. On Oct. 1-2, Internet, phone and absentee bids will also be taken.

Flyers will be mailed around Aug. 15, and full-color catalogs will be available Sept. 10. To order a catalog, send $35 ($50 for Canada) to Showtime Auctions, 1537 Caddy, Wichita, KS 67212; or call Carol at 316-721-5236.

A preview will be held Friday, Sept. 30, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1-2, from 8-9 a.m. (with auction hours from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.). The Friday live-only auction will be held from 2-6 p.m. A complimentary lunch will be served that day. The preferred hotel is Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor (www.webersinn.com). To make a reservation, call 734-769-2500.

The anticipated top lot of the auction is an authentic 1880s Cigar Store Indian attributed to Thomas Brooks, in excellent condition and with most of the original paint intact. It is expected to fetch $35,000-$65,000. Another star lot should be the Mills 25-cent “One Armed Bandit” Frank Polk figure slot machine, in excellent condition, made circa 1950s (est. $15,000-$25,000).

A 1926 Model T turtleback roadster, fully restored and in excellent running condition, should bring $10,000-$20,000.

A handmade miniature train locomotive and tender manufactured in the 1930s by a longtime employee of the Rock Island Railroad and a faithful representation of the real thing carries a $5,000-$10,000 estimate.

Vintage signs will abound in this sale. Examples will include a reverse glass sign for Rye Whiskey, in remarkable condition (est. $10,000-$25,000); a desirable DeLaval Cream Separator tin sign, also in great shape (est. $2,000-$4,000); and a pair of 1920s tin litho die-cut store display signs for kids’ “Koveralls,” possibly the only ones in existence (est. $4,000-$8,000).

Gas signs will feature a Chevron Oil Co. porcelain and neon sign in great condition (est. $2,500-$5,000); and a porcelain and neon sign saying “Gas” in fine condition (est. $2,500-$5,000). Toy cars will include a Garton 1938 Lincoln Zephyr pedal car in all-original condition, one of only a few made (est. $1,000-$4,000); and a tin toy racecar in mint shape.

Two intriguing lots with identical estimates of $2,000-$4,000 are the largest counter-top cash register ever made by the National Cash Register Co. (the Model 562-4-C with a rare waterfall receipt cage, beautifully restored to working condition); and an Austen Kern oak round-seat barber chair with genuine leather upholstery, also restored to its original glory.

Other featured lots will include a 1908 popcorn and peanut street vendor cart made by R.O. Stutsman (“The Ideal”), fully restored (est. $5,000-$10,000), an original-condition National Coffee Grinder (est. $3,000-$5,000); a 1909 Hilda Clark Coca-Cola tray in mint condition (est. $1,000-$3,000); and a rare Steelcraft trimotor U.S. Mail toy airplane (est. $2,000-$5,000).

Showtime Auctions is based in Woodhaven, Mich. The firm is always accepting quality items for future sales. To learn more about Showtime Auctions and the Sept. 30-Oct. 2 sale, log on to www.ShowtimeAuctions.com or call Michael Eckles at 951-453-2415.

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.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

1926 Model T turtleback roadster in excellent restored condition, estimate: $10,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

Rare Alkazar 'fifties' cigar tin, circa 1900, in mint condition, estimate: $500-$2,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

Rare Alcazar ‘fifties’ cigar tin, circa 1900, in mint condition, estimate: $500-$2,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

1926 Packard 6 pedal car in all-original condition, estimate:$12,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

R.O. Stutsman ‘Ideal’ popcorn and peanut street vendor, circa 1908, estimate: $5,000-$10,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

Neon and porcelain Chevron sign in excellent condition, estimate: $2,500-$5,000. Image courtesy of Showtime Auctions.

Head of Christ, c. 1648-1650 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Oil on oak panel 9 13/16 x 8 7/16 inches (25 x 21.5 cm) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, GERMANY

Philadelphia museum reveals Rembrandt’s vision of Christ

August 3, 2011/in Museums/by Tom Hoepf

Head of Christ, c. 1648-1650 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Oil on oak panel 9 13/16 x 8 7/16 inches (25 x 21.5 cm) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, GERMANY

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Musée du Louvre in Paris have organized “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus,” an exhibition that examines this remarkable change through some 22 paintings, 17 drawings, and nine prints assembled from public and private collections in Europe and the United States. The exhibition opened Wednesday and will run through Oct. 20.

For Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), the greatest painter, draftsman and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age, the portrayal of biblical themes was a central preoccupation and one to which the artist introduced challenging innovations. The boldest of these came in mid-career, when Rembrandt introduced a radical shift in the treatment of Jesus, whose image had been based on conventions that had been in place for over a millennium.

Included in the exhibition is a series of painted heads of Christ found in Rembrandt’s home and studio, reunited for the first time, and the newly restored Supper at Emmaus (Musée du Louvre, 1648), a mid-career masterwork which has not been seen in the United States since 1936. The National Gallery in London will also send to the United States for the first time the major painting, Christ and the Woman Taken into Adultery (1644). In addition, many selected drawings that will be coming to Philadelphia have rarely been exhibited or loaned.

“Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” will be on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Nov.20- Feb. 12, 2012.

In Philadelphia, it is organized into three sections that include a prologue; a focus on the series of painted heads of Christ, accompanied by related works; and an epilogue, in which Rembrandt’s new image of Christ continues within his own works and those of his studio and his students. As “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” emphasizes, Rembrandt began at the outset of his career by using the traditional head of Christ, aiming for unprecedented levels of drama, emotion and realism in his work. By the later 1640s, however, Rembrandt achieved a greater spiritual resonance in his work, evidenced by the Louvre’s Supper at Emmaus, to which the series of portraits are so closely connected. The new model of Jesus, sympathetic, yet piercing, remains throughout Rembrandt’s great late period.

Painted on wood, the series of heads depict a single model representing Jesus. Three of the heads were mentioned in an inventory of Rembrandt’s home and studio (July 1656). These included two paintings, each called Head of Christ by Rembrandt, and a third, Head of Christ, from life, which was found in a bin in the studio awaiting use as a model for a New Testament composition. A group of original works created by Rembrandt and his pupils will be reunited for the first time. This exhibition examines the significance of these bust-length portraits, which feature a Jewish model. It explores how the subject figures in Rembrandt’s other works, while also considering issues of attribution in relation to the artist’s collaboration with students and apprentices in his workshop.

“Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” marks the first time that an exhibition including a substantial group of paintings by Rembrandt will be seen in Philadelphia,” said Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “It provides an opportunity for our visitors to appreciate the loan of exceptionally rare works by the Dutch master, thanks both to our lenders and to our collaboration with esteemed colleagues at the Musée du Louvre and the Detroit Institute of Arts. At the same time, it offers an important reconsideration of the genesis of Philadelphia’s Head of Christ, a subject of fascinating scholarly debate over the years, which can now be seen for the first time in its most illuminating context, thanks to an exceptional team of scholars and conservators.”

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Head of Christ, c. 1648-1650 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Oil on oak panel 9 13/16 x 8 7/16 inches (25 x 21.5 cm) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, GERMANY

The Supper at Emmaus, 1648 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Oil on mahogany panel 26 3/4 x 25 9/16 inches (68 x 65 cm) Musée du Louvre, Paris, FRANCE

Christ Preaching, c. 1643 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Pen and brown ink on paper 7 13/16 x 9 1/16 inches (19.8 x 23 cm) Musée du Louvre, Paris, FRANCE

Raising of Lazarus: The Larger Plate, c. 1632 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Engraving and etching on paper Plate: 14 1/2 x 10 1/16 inches (36.8 x 25.5 cm) Sheet: 14 5/8 x 10 3/16 inches (37.2 x 25.9 cm) Framed: 21 x 16 inches (53.3 x 40.6 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry Walters, 1917 (17.37.195)

The Harrisburg Covered Bridge near Sevierville, Tenn. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Historic Tenn. covered bridge damaged by high load

August 3, 2011/in General Interest/by Tom Hoepf

The Harrisburg Covered Bridge near Sevierville, Tenn. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A covered bridge in the Smoky Mountains foothills has been damaged.

The Harrisburg Covered Bridge is the only historic bridge open to traffic and a beam inside it was broken over the weekend, apparently when a truck hauling a backhoe tried to cross it, according to The Mountain Press.

Sevier County Highways Superintendent Jonas Smelcer says he believes the roof beam that was broken is original to the 1875 span and could be difficult to replace. The bridge remains open and has been deemed structurally sound.

Local artist Robert Tino has popularized the bridge, painting two seasonal views of it and also putting it on Christmas cards.

Neighbors said they heard a noise Saturday night and when they checked, the bridge was damaged and no one was there.

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Information from: The Mountain Press, http://www.themountainpress.com

AP-WF-08-02-11 1543GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The Harrisburg Covered Bridge near Sevierville, Tenn. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

The Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Brooklyn. Image by Postdlof. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Brooklyn’s Bushwick becomes budding artists’ gateway

August 3, 2011/in Art, Design & Architecture/by Tom Hoepf

The Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Brooklyn. Image by Postdlof. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEW YORK (AP) – Brooklyn’s old Bushwick neighborhood has quickly become a new world-class arts mecca—with music, dance, sculpture and theater bursting from defunct warehouses and desolate streets where gangs still roam.

That hasn’t kept artists away from the affordable, industrial spaces—ever more rare in a pricey city.

“This was a ghost town, with tumbleweeds blowing down the street five years ago,” says Jay Leritz, co-owner of Yummus Hummus, a Middle Eastern-style cafe on a street filled with musician rehearsal and recording spaces.

“The streets were empty,” says Leritz, “and that was the big attraction—the lack of rules, like your parents went away for the weekend and it’s a free-for-all.”

Born-in-Bushwick creations have reached Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other top venues in the United States and abroad—even the tallest building on earth, the 160-story Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

That’s where four canvases of Bushwick artist Kevork Mourad now hang.

The son of Armenian refugees in Syria is pioneering a special technique—a counterpoint of art and music he’s performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma: Squeezing a tube of paint between thumb and forefinger, Mourad swipes his pinky lightning-fast across paper to improvise images to sounds, projected on a screen. Then a computer unleashes his hand-painted animation, turning the visuals into yet newer forms.

Bushwick is “very private, and you can go into your bubble, your world, here without being interrupted by the fast stream of New York City,” says the artist, whose abstract self-portrait sold for $20,000 in April at a Christie’s auction, topping an estimate of up to $8,000.

His favorite sidekick is 4-year-old daughter Cirene, who occasionally pops up in his Bushwick studio, dancing, singing and painting. “She’s the boss; she has her own style,” says her dad.

She’s watched him paint with greats like Ma, playing Bach. Mourad also teamed up with French guitarist Stephane Wrembel, who tosses off riffs in gypsy jazz style with off-the-cuff virtuosity. Wrembel, whose music is featured in Woody Allen’s film Midnight in Paris, showed up at Mourad’s studio to jam with singer/songwriter John Presnell and guitarist Spencer Katzman.

In the heat of a July night, their smoldering sounds filled the third-floor space on Meadow Street. The audience of several dozen people, sitting on a hand-woven Armenian carpet, was riveted.

“This is so cool!” said Quincy McQ, a Nigerian-born British music promoter.

Several blocks away is residential Bushwick, where families live in neatly kept homes or rowhouses. Enticing smoke from barbecues fills the air in a part of New York that is slowly being resurrected from decades of burned-out destruction.

A dozen years ago, this urban turf still struggled with crime and poverty. There were few banks, schools or social services—never mind the arts.

Then came help in the form of city money. Bushwick started to recover.

It’s the perfect place for income-poor, up-and-coming artists. They’re spreading their raw vibes through the debris-strewn streets and converted warehouses of the area’s non-residential industrial zone. On Saturday nights here, “underground” parties come alive with high-tech lighting and unlicensed bars.

A pizza joint, Roberta’s, is packed at night, with an Internet-only radio station housed in two converted metal shipping containers offering talk about natural foods sprinkled with hip music.

“There’s so much happening here that it’s just unbelievable,” says Mourad.

Earlier in July, Presnell, the songwriter, appeared in a double-height warehouse space two blocks from Mourad’s studio. Singing in a rich, plaintive voice, Presnell played the brief Kafkaesque part of a lovelorn New York cockroach in an otherwise cheesy, sex-fueled musical featuring aerial acrobats. In the audience was Darren Aronofsky, who directed the Oscar-nominated film Black Swan.

After the show, the director made a beeline for Presnell, while another performer told the songwriter he had “a new fan.” Perhaps someday, Presnell might be what Aronofsky—or some other high-powered, artsy type—can use.

In the annals of art neighborhoods, Bushwick harkens back to New York’s bohemian Greenwich Village in the 1950s and ’60s, when real estate there was affordable, accompanied by drugs that brought murders and muggings to Manhattan’s East Village.

When prices climbed, artists discovered nearby SoHo. And by the 1990s, Manhattan was off-limits to all but the already successful ones. The rest crossed the East River to Brooklyn’s Williamsburg.

Now, it too is populated by “hipsters with a trust fund,” jokes Adam Johnson, who chisels inspired, artistic furniture at the 3rd Ward, a 20,000-square-foot Bushwick building teeming with activity around the corner from Mourad’s Meadow Street.

The former warehouse is ringed by parked bicycles belonging to mostly youngish adventurers generating a whirlwind of activity amid weathered walls that house everything from fashion classes to high-end sculpture in chocolate taught by Mehdi Chellaoui, a former chef for rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

One neighborhood over is East New York, the city’s most violent and hardly a magnet for artists.

Even in Bushwick, pedestrians stay alert for teenage members of the Latin Kings and Crips gangs. One evening, a police cruiser stopped, beaming a flashlight into the faces of a group of friends walking past abandoned buildings with blown-out windows.

Mourad plans to take his art to these streets soon, with Lil Buck, a brilliant young Los Angeles break dancer who also has performed with Ma. He and the cellist have drawn almost 1.4 million YouTube views for their rendition of Camille Saint-Saens’ dying-swan song in a Spike Jonze-produced video.

There’s something else on Buskwick streets that’s of no use to anyone but attractive to some artists: trash.

In the 3rd Ward, sculptor Luke Schumacher melts copper he retrieves from throwaway electric wiring to his dramatic welded sculptures—their rough-hewn twists inspired by his childhood in California’s Mojave Desert.

“This is like a fossil, from the time of the dinosaurs,” he adds with a laugh, cradling one piece.

Two floors up in the 3rd Ward, “Drink N’ Draw” is the droll name of a sketching session offered each Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.—complete with a nude model and unlimited beer, for $10 if you come with a friend, $15 if alone.

Anyone can bring a pad and pencil and practice the skill of tracing human anatomy.

“For young artists coming to make it here, Bushwick is the gateway to New York City,” says Johnson, the furniture designer, eyeing a woodworking shop where he turns fallen city trees and discarded water towers into creative pieces. “They might have been big talents in small towns, but here they’re just one of many; it’s a real test.”

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Online:

Mourad with Yo-Yo Ma: http://vimeo.com/3012288

Stephane Wrembel: www.stephanewrembel.com

John Presnell: www.johnpresnell.com

AP-WF-07-31-11 1946GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Brooklyn. Image by Postdlof. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.