July 2012 - Page 5 of 18 - Auction Central News

Art Market Italy: Milan Historic House Museums Network

Veranda di Villa Necchi Campiglio. Fotografia di Giorgio Majno, courtesy Villa Necchi Campiglio.

Veranda of Villa Necchi Campiglio. Photo by Giorgio Majno, courtesy Villa Necchi Campiglio.

According to legend, Angelo Campiglio and the Necchi sisters discovered the piece of land in the center of Milan where they later would build their Villa Necchi Campiglio by accident. Originally from the Lombard small town of Pavia and members of the new industrial aristocracy, Angelo Campiglio, Nedda, and Gigina Necchi, Angelo’s wife, loved the elegant and fancy life of Milan in the 1930s. One evening they were coming back from the theater, when their driver lost his way and, wandering through the winding and densely grown area, they came to find the plot of land for sale.

They bought it and had their mansion built by a leading architect of the period, Piero Portaluppi, between 1932 and 1935. Portaluppi built a modern and confortable house with spacious rooms, high ceilings, precious materials and geometrical patterns. It was the first house in town with a private swimming pool and a tennis court.

Today the entire residential complex is part of Milan’s Network of Historic House Museums, a group of four fascinating houses, all situated in the center of Milan, that were bequeathed by their owners to the city and are now open to the public. Visiting them allows one to not only to learn the personal stories and tastes of the owners, but also to observe the evolution and transformation of Milanese art and society.

Villa Necchi Campiglio, with its modernity and elegance, reflects the energy and industriousness of Milan in the decades between the end of the 1920s and the war. Portaluppi was an innovative architect, aware of history, but capable to mix it with the modernity of the present. Besides the already mentioned innovations like the swimming pool and the tennis court, the modernity of the residence can be found in the geometric purity, the linearity of the surfaces, the large glass panels of the veranda, and in the round and star-shape windows of the bathrooms—which are a must-see in the tour of the house.

After the war the house was renovated by architect Tommaso Buzzi, who impressed a much more decorative and elaborate style to some rooms, inspired by the 18th century taste.

Today the home also hosts two art collections: one is the art collection of Milanese art dealer and collector Claudia Gian Ferrari, daughter of the influent art dealer Ettore Gian Ferrari, who donated her artworks to Villa Necchi Campiglio before her death in 2010. The collection includes 44 paintings by Italian masters of the first half of the 20th century like Arturo Martini, Giorgio de Chirico and Mario Sironi, which perfectly integrate in the 1930s atmosphere of the house. The other collection consists of the furnishings and works of art from the 18th century of Alighiero de’ Micheli and his wife, Emilietta, preserved in the room where Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia, a dear family friend, used to sleep when she visited the Necchi Campiglios.

Piero Portaluppi was the architect of another house museum included in the Milanese network: Casa Museo Boschi di Stefano. Antonio Boschi was a brilliant engineer working at Pirelli, while his wife Marieda Di Stefano was a ceramist. Together they were passionate art collectors. “This was a joint venture in every sense,” Antonio Boschi said after his wife died, “in the material sense, as it implied decision-making, commitment, and financial sacrifices entailing hardships in other fields; and in the artistic sense, through a sharing of taste, objectives and choices.” The Boschi di Stefanos collected over 2,000 works dating from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s. When the couple were alive, every corner of the house was covered with artworks. Today only 300 of them are displayed in chronological order in the 10 rooms of the home. Among the artists included in the collection are Mario Sironi, Carlo Carrà, Filippo De Pisis and Giorgio Morandi. One room is entirely dedicated to Lucio Fontana, of whom the collectors were keen supporters. The “Fontana room” contains 23 works by the Italian master, who is today sought-after at the international level.

The furnishing of the house was later added by the Museum Foundation to match the style of the works on show, and includes a rich collection of Murrina chandeliers.

The other two house museums in the network go back to an older age: Museo Bagatti Valsecchi was the residence of Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi, two aristocratic brothers who lived at the end of the 19th century. Renovation of the Bagatti Valsecchis home was inspired by the Renaissance style. The brothers were personally involved in the planning of the house and acquired artworks and objects coherently with the architectural style. Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli was of a generation older than the two brothers. His house was opened to the public two years after his death in 1879. Poldi Pezzoli was one of the most enlightened art collectors of his days. His house was a successful example of historicism in Europe. Each room was inspired by a style from the past and hosted an exceptional selection of antique and decorative art. Part of the decoration was destroyed during the war, but the surviving rooms can still be visited, together with the new armory, designed by Arnaldo Pomodoro.

About Silvia Anna Barrilà:

Silvia Anna Barrilà is an Italian fine arts journalist and regular contributor to the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE (ArtEconomy24). She also writes about art, design, lifestyle and society for a number of Italian and international magazines, including DAMn Magazine and ICON (Mondadori). She is based in Milan and Berlin.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

The library of Villa Necchi Campiglio with ‘Busto di fanciulla’ by Arturo Martini. Photo by Giorgio Majno, courtesy Villa Necchi Campiglio.

The hall of Villa Necchi Campiglio. Photo by Giorgio Majno, courtesy Villa Necchi Campiglio.

Villa Necchi Campiglio. Photo by Giorgio Majno, courtesy Villa Necchi Campiglio.

European Art Gallery to auction paintings, antiques July 27

‘Horse II,’ Sandor Pankotai. Estimate: $1,975. European Art Gallery image.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – European Art Gallery, a subsidiary of S&M Economix Inc., has acquired original oil paintings by various European artists as well as beautiful antique furniture and collectibles for their new location in Carlsbad. These choice items will sell at auction on Friday, July 27, beginning at 3 p.m. PDT. LiveAucitoneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

European Art Gallery has chosen these paintings depicting still lifes, landscapes, interiors and animals as an introduction to their new space. The antiques are shipped directly from Europe.

Highlighted pieces are Horse II by Sando Pankotai, estimated at $1,975; Mediterranean Beach by I. Kovacs (1927-), estimated at $2,900; a Murano glass pink vase, estimated at $850; a NeoBaroque cupboard-buffet, estimated at $4,900; and a NeoBaroque English six-piece salon set, estimated at $11,000.

Hungarian by birth, the owner of European Art Gallery, an artist himself, travels back to Hungary regularly to acquire new art as well as stunning European antiques. His focus is on original oil paintings and classic 18th-19th century antiques.

“I love beautiful and collectible pieces, and it is rewarding to have a clientele that appreciates the beauty of these items. Art and antiques need to be an inspiration for collectors around the world. I chose these pieces because they bring a strong sense of beauty and sereneness to their environment. Art collectors and professionals want to see that the pieces look great, but they also want to get a feel for who the artist is or where the pieces originate,” he said.

For further information about European Art Gallery, including their online auctions, contact the company at 760-730-3517.

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

‘Mediterranean Beach,’ I. Kovacs (1927-) Estimate $2,900. European Art Gallery image.

Murano glass vase. Estimate: $850. European Art Gallery image.

NeoBaroque cupboard-buffet. Estimate: $4,900. European Art Gallery image.

NeoBaroque English six-piece salon set. Estimate: $11,000. European Art Gallery image.

July 28 Ancient Resource sale spans Babylonian to Greek, Roman art

2nd century AD Roman marble head of Medusa, a superb copy of a Greek original. Ancient Resource image.

LOS ANGELES – Ancient Resource Auctions is proud to present an exciting array of ancient art in its July 28th auction, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. The auction contains more than 260 lots of well-provenanced goods representing a range of cultures, from the exceptionally rare Babylonian through Egyptian Greek and Roman, to all of the diverse peoples of the New World.

The market for antiquities continues to soar as better pieces enter the realm of tangible assets. Many view antiquities as a viable hedge against inflation and the declining dollar. Provenance is important in this category, and the bulk of Ancient Resource’s July 28 selection comes from select US estates and English collections assembled at the end of the Grand Tour period. Of particular note is a group of cylinder and stamp seals from the personal collection of Edgar Banks. Elements of the Banks collection are found in many major American museum’s. His life story formed the basis of the Indiana Jones series.

Auction highlights include:

Lot 72 – A 2nd century AD Roman marble head of Medusa. This wonderful piece is a copy of a Greek original. From a larger composition, the head’s features are elegantly rendered, the hair styled back and terminating in serpent heads, a few of them attempting to bite the hero’s hand that grasps them. This is an extremely rare piece that one would expect to find only in a first-class museum.

Lot 94 – A beautiful Eastern Mediterranean terracotta relief, Mycenaean, circa 1200-1000 BC. This is a magnificent piece of art. It depicts a charioteer drawn by a pair of horses, a hound below and a hare and bird ahead of them, a thunderbolt to the far right. Behind, a sphinx sits facing right within a geometric border. This is an example of the finest Greek pottery.

Lot13 – A very large Etrusco-Corinthian alabastron, 575 – 550 BC. With a 9-inch-tall piniform body, this is one of the largest Ancient Resource’s owner Gabriel Vandervort has ever seen. It has an everted rim, below which is attached a pinched handle with a string hole. The vessel is decorated with two figural zones around the body, each with red and black bands between, the top with two birds and the lower containing a bird and two panthers; each with incised details and rosettes divided into four sections. Around the neck is a tongue pattern with plain rim. The quality is such that it is most likely the work of a named painter, the discovery of which would significantly raise the value.

“Bidders from over 125 countries have all ready signed up for this auction,” said Vandervort. “We expect a very successful outcome.”

For additional information on any item in the auction call 818-425-9633 or e-mail gabriel@ancientresource.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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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

Glass museum to host mid-century modern symposium

Blenko Glass Co. no. 366-S beaker vase in tangerine. Museum of American Glass image.

WESTON, W.VA. – The Museum of American Glass is sponsoring a “double-barrel” event focusing on mid-century modern American glass the last weekend in September. The “barrel” for current glass collectors includes a symposium, discussions and display. The second “barrel” for the public includes an auction, glass identification and a show and sale.

The term mid-century modern was used to describe furniture styles as early as the mid-1950s and is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement. Yet in glass collecting circles, the glass design knowledge base has been stalled in the “Depression era” that became wildly popular in the mid-1960s and early 1970s.

The time has come to move the glass knowledge base forward and build a wider appreciation for glass made in the 1945 to 1970 era. Hence the goal of this event is to network, share and work collaboratively with individuals and clubs to craft a movement that studies and chronicles the American-made glass of the mid-century period.

Glass produced after World War II dramatically changed in style, use and design and was made by such companies as Blenko, Canton Casual, Fenton Mid-Century Modern, Morgantown, Smith and Viking. Beautiful one-of-a-kind signed designer glass was also made in the postwar period and will be considered in the weekend discussions.

The symposium, for registered attendees, begins Thursday evening, Sept. 27, with an open house at the museum. It continues on Friday with presentations and table exhibits which will compete for prizes.

Registration for the event including three meals is just $76 for MAG members and $84 for others.

The public is invited to the Friday evening auction to which symposium participants may consign up to three pieces. The auctioneer, well-known Blenko collector Rock Wilson, will provide an additional number of pieces to guarantee 100 lots of glass. MAG will retain 20 percent of all hammer prices with no other commissions.

The public is also invited to a show and sale on Saturday with free admission from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a charge of $5 for early admission from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. From 11 a.m. until noon there will be free glass identification with a written report, no appraisals, for up to four pieces of glass per person.

For details or to register contact the museum at 304-269-5006 or at www.magwv.com.

The Museum of American Glass is open daily Memorial Day through Labor Day noon to 4 p.m. The balance of the year the museum is open daily noon to 4 p.m. and closed on Wednesday and Sunday. Admission is free. The museum is easily accessible off I-79 exit 99 onto U.S. 33 West for two miles to Main Avenue. A left turn onto Main and the museum is on the left at 230 Main Avenue. Begun in 1992, the museum occupies 12,000 square feet with over 12,000 pieces of glass on permanent display. The museum is home to the National Marble Museum and the American Flint Glass Workers Union Archives. The museum holds an annual marble festival and special exhibits throughout the year. More information can be found at http://magwv.com/.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Viking Glass Co. no. 1192 Epic Taperglow in Blunique. Museum of American Glass image.

L E Smith Glass Co. no. 3703 Simplicity swung vase in Bittersweet. Museum of American Glass image.

Blenko Glass Co. no 667-S pitcher in tangerine with wheat handle. Museum of American Glass image.

Britain’s Royal Mail to issue Olympic champ stamps

LONDON (AP) – The Royal Mail is planning a tribute to Britain’s Olympians that really sticks – a set of gold medal stamps.

The postal service says it will issue a stamp honoring every member of the British Olympic team who wins a gold medal during the games. It is promising to have them on sale within 24 hours of the athlete’s victory.

The Royal Mail on Monday unveiled a separate series of Olympic stamps featuring athletes from four of the most popular events alongside London landmarks.

They show a cyclist, fencer, diver and runners beside the Tate Modern museum, Tower Bridge, the Olympic Stadium and the London Eye ferris wheel.

The stamps go on sale Friday, the opening day of the games. The Olympics run through Aug. 12.

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Concrete horseshoe crab sculpture to be NJ’s new reef

Scuba instructor and marine biologist Chris Wojcik stands atop a concrete horseshoe crab he created that will be installed as an artificial reef on July 25, 2012. Photo courtesy of NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife

MANTOLOKING, N.J. (AP) – Officials hope a 47-foot-long, 25,000-pound concrete sculpture of a horseshoe crab can attract fish off New Jersey’s shore.

The sculpture will become part of an artificial reef two miles off the Mantoloking coast when it’s put into place on Wednesday. The reef will provide habitat for more than 150 species of marine life and serve as a fishing ground for anglers and a unique area for scuba divers to explore.

The immense structure, once deployed, will also be recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest underwater sculpture in the world.

The horseshoe crab was created by Christopher Wojcik. The Point Pleasant, N.J., resident tells The Press of Atlantic City that he raised the $96,000 that it cost to build the sculpture.

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Information from: The Press of Atlantic City. Auction Central News also contributed to this report.

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Artists’ group says Syrian sculptor was tortured to death

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – Renowned Syrian sculptor Wael Qastun has been tortured to death in the flashpoint central of city of Homs, an artists’ association said on Tuesday.

A statement released by the Syrian Coalition of Artists for Freedom said Qastun “died under torture…He was transferred to the Homs military hospital, and his family was informed of his martyrdom.”

A “large crowd of people” attended Qastun’s funeral, the statement added.

Qastun was a father of two, and his sculpture focused mainly on women.

Several other artists have suffered violence at the hands of government forces since an uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.

Ibrahim Qashush, a protest songwriter from the central city of Hama, was killed in July last year, and activists reported he had his voicebox removed. He was famous for performing an iconic protest song called “Yalla irhal ya Bashar” (Come on leave, O Bashar) last year.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch charged that Syria was holding tens of thousands of detainees in a “torture archipelago” in which they were subjected to beatings, electric shocks and other abuse.

The New York-based rights group documented 27 detention facilities across the country it said were used to hold people swept up in the government’s deadly crackdown on a 16-month uprising.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says tens of thousands of people have been detained and more than 19,000 killed.

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Virginia’s Valentine Richmond History Center to get makeover

William James Hubard's (1807-1862) oil on canvas titled 'Mann S. Valentine and the Artist' is an 1852 depiction of the founder of the Valentine Richmond History Center, a museum devoted to collecting, preserving and interpreting the history of Richmond, Virginia. The painting is held in the collection of the Valentine Museum.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The Valentine Richmond History Center is planning a $3 million project to redevelop its exhibits and reconfigure the building’s interface with the outside street.

The project will open sight lines in the museum to give entering visitors a view of the restored Wickham House, built in 1812.

The Valentine plans to close its galleries near the end of 2013 for four to six months while crews move walls, uncover windows and reconfigure exhibits.

Museum director William Martin tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the renovations will allow visitors to have a view of activity on the streets, and people outside will be able to see inside the galleries.

The museum has raised about $2.3 million toward the project, which is part of a $20 million long-range plan.

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Italian archaeologists close in on real ‘Mona Lisa’

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519), Mona Lisa, also known as La Giaconda, painted between 1503 and 1506. Permanently held in The Louvre Museum, Paris.

FLORENCE, Italy (AFP) – Archaeologists on Tuesday unearthed a skeleton in a rare state of preservation in Florence in a crucial step toward unravelling the mystery of the identity of the woman with the most enigmatic smile in the world.

Several bodies have been discovered in the hunt to find the mortal remains of Lisa Gherardini, the Florentine noblewoman widely believed to have served as the muse for Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

Silvano Vinceti, who heads up the team of Italian archaeologists, said this latest discovery in an abandoned convent was particularly exciting, although tests would still have to be carried out to ascertain the identity of the remains.

“I’d say that we’ve got to the really exciting part for researchers,” said Vinceti, who specialize in resolving art mysteries.

“The culmination of all our work where we’re getting close to answering the key question, ‘will we or will we not find Lisa Gherardini’s remains?'”

“Today we opened another tomb, with a complete skeleton which is very important because in the first phase of the research we did not find human remains, they had been moved to another location,” he said.

The team began digging up the convent’s new cement floor last year, after fresh documents confirmed that Gherardini, the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, had lived in the convent after her husband died and was looked after by her two daughters who were nuns.

She was eventually interred there.

Del Giocondo is thought to have commissioned the portrait from the Renaissance artist, and though there is little proof, most art historians agree that Lisa Gherardini served as the primary model for the bewitching painting.

It was composed between 1503 and 1506 and now hangs in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Although the researchers had previously discovered bits of bones and two sets of remains in the convent, the latest skeleton to be unearthed is the best preserved, crucially, with the skull intact.

It also lies close to the tiny nunnery’s Franciscan altar, thereby placing the grave in the right historic period.

The researchers will now send the remains off for a series of tests to confirm they belong to Gherardini, and hope to then reconstruct her face and compare it with the facial features in the painting.

“Carbon-14 dating allows us to date the period, and we have to find out whether the remains date to the middle of the 16th century. We will then do tests to prove the age of the person when they died: we know Gherardini died between the age of 62 and 63,” said Vinceti, who is also chairman of the Italian national committee for cultural heritage.

“Then comes the biggest test, the DNA, because we have the mortal remains of her children… and if it corresponds, we’ll know these remains belong to Mona Lisa’s model,” he said.

Her children are buried at the Santissima Annunziata convent.

Once her identity has been confirmed, the researchers will begin the two-month process of reconstructing the skeleton’s face.

“The fundamental features will be clear. We have already tried it out with Dante Alighieri, whose face we reconstructed. We’ll be able to leave hypothesis behind and really compare the reconstructed face of the ‘Mona Lisa’ muse and the face and the painting in the Louvre,” he added.

The true identity of “Mona Lisa” and her intriguing smile have intrigued art lovers around the world for centuries, and the archaeologists working on the digs say it is incredible to be this close to revealing one of the world’s best kept secrets.

“It’s a great feeling, particularly because here we’re working on a really well-known character — an icon. It’s a fantastic sensation to know I’m working on something which will go down in history,” said Giovanni Roncaglia, one of the team’s assistant archaeologists.

Vinceti has studied the portrait for years and recently claimed to have found symbols hidden in the portrait. He believes that the Florence-born Renaissance artist’s male apprentice and possible lover Salai was one of the inspirations for the picture, but that Gherardini is the main star.

With this latest discovery, he hopes to have finally revealed the truth.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Cartier, Rolex, diamonds and gold in Govt. Auction July 29 sale

Princess-cut diamond gemstone, 6.40 carats, est. $79,203-$158,405. Government Auction image.

TEHACHAPI, Calif. – This Sunday, July 29th, Government Auction will present to bidders a cache of luxury and designer goods that includes coveted Cartier watches, diamond jewelry and rare gold coins. Many items are expected to sell for prices far below their retail value.

The event is structured as an absentee, phone and Internet auction, with online absentee or live bidding available through LiveAuctioneers.com. The first lot will cross the auction block at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time (6:30 a.m. local Pacific time).

Headliners in this sale were selected for their enduring and intrinsic values, with additional choice selections to suit every budget. The luxury merchandise on offer is in pristine condition, and some of the exclusive pre-owned timepieces are “satisfaction guaranteed.”

A large collection of diamond jewelry and loose diamond gemstones will be featured in this auction. The top diamond lot is a gorgeous 6.40-carat princess-cut diamond gemstone. The hefty stone is multifaceted with a cut grade of 9-excellent and has an estimated retail replacement value of $158,405.

“A loose diamond of this cut, clarity and size is a rare find in the retail environment,” said auctioneer Jeff Moore. The diamond has been cataloged with a presale estimate of $79,203-$158,405.

A pre-owned classic women’s Cartier Panthere, circa 2000, is one of many deluxe Cartiers and Rolexes in Sunday’s auction. The watch is stainless steel with a white square face and smart Roman numerals. It is expected to sell for $2,250-$4,500.

Other quality timepieces include a men’s yellow gold Rolex Perpetual Datejust President watch. This stunning example of Rolex’s flawless design aesthetic features a gold face and band, and is estimated at $27,000-$54,000.

In addition to the plentiful array of luxury items, Government Auction has included an outstanding collection of gold coins. A 1908 $20 US Saint-Gaudens gold coin is also known as a “Double Eagle.” These rare coins were created by the famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens under commission from President Theodore Roosevelt. The President wanted a coin that would be reminiscent of those used in Ancient Greece. The resulting Double Eagles were minted between 1907 and 1933, and are among the most collectible of all American coins. Government Auction has placed an estimate of $5,010-$10,020 on their example. Another gold coin to watch for is the 1875-CC $10 Liberty, PCGS genuine, cleaned, which is estimated at $14,100-$28,200.

For sports enthusiasts, a rare item of baseball memorabilia is going to be available: a 1966 Topps #50 Mickey Mantle baseball card. A legendary Hall of Famer, Mantle (1931-1995) is regarded as one of the most talented switch-hitters and greatest players in baseball history. He played in 20 All-Star games and 12 World Series. The card in Government Auction’s sale is graded PSM excellent-mint 6.5 and is estimated at $675-$1,350.

Additional auction highlights include a fully restored ‘Chrysler Plymouth’ pressed-steel kiddie pedal car, est. $2,250-$4,500, a circa-1931 Mills 5-cent War Eagle slot machine with keys, est. $5,100-$10,200; elegant Coach purses and more.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Debbie on 661-823-1543 or e-mail info@governmentauction.com.

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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

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