Danh Vo exhibition opens March 15 at the Guggenheim

'Objects from the Collection of Martin Wong,' Photo by Heinz Peter Knew. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.
'Objects from the Collection of Martin Wong,' Photo by Heinz Peter Knew. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.
‘Objects from the Collection of Martin Wong,’ Photo by Heinz Peter Knew. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.

NEW YORK – An exhibition of the work of artist Danh Vo (b. 1975, Bà Rịa, Vietnam), winner of the Hugo Boss Prize 2012, will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, March 15 through May 27. Vo, whose work illuminates the entwined strands of private experience and collective history that shape our sense of self, is the ninth artist to win the prestigious biennial award, established in 1996 by Hugo Boss and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Emerging from a process of research, chance encounters and delicate personal negotiations, Vo’s installations unearth the latent connotations and memories embedded in familiar forms. The title of his Guggenheim exhibition, I M U U R 2, is derived from a formulation used by the artist Martin Wong (1946–1999) on his business cards and stamps. Vo has long been fascinated by the life and work of Wong, a visionary painter and beloved figure of New York’s downtown art scene of the 1980s and ’90s. After acquiring one of Wong’s works, he struck up a correspondence with the artist’s mother, Florence Wong Fie, and eventually visited her home in San Francisco. There, he discovered a remarkable collection of objects ranging from curios and tourist souvenirs to rare antique ceramics and scrolls of calligraphy, interspersed with numerous examples of Wong’s paintings and works on paper.

An obsessive collector with an astute eye for overlooked finds, Wong had collaborated with his mother since childhood to assemble an evolving constellation of artifacts – a project that culminated during the last five years of his life, when he returned to his family home to undergo treatment for an AIDS-related illness. Giving equal weight to the rarified and the disposable, the collection expresses Wong’s omnivorous desire to absorb and understand his cultural environment. Much of the collection focuses on exuberant Americana and sentimental keepsakes, but Wong also examined the problematic aspects of American popular history, creating clusters of objects that depict racist caricatures. At the time of his death in 1999, the collection had grown to cover almost every surface in the house, where it has been carefully preserved by Florence Wong Fie ever since. In this installation, Vo has configured a selection of objects drawn from the Wong collection. Elucidating the affinities between the two artists, the gesture merges their individual processes through a creative exchange that transcends historical circumstances and challenges the traditional notion of the stable, authored artwork.

In November 2012, a jury selected Vo from a group of six short-listed artists, including Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Qiu Zhijie, Monika Sosnowska and Tris Vonna-Michell. The award is given to an artist whose work represents a significant development in contemporary art and sets no restrictions in terms of age, gender, race, nationality or medium.

In the official award statement, the jury remarked: “We have chosen to award the Hugo Boss Prize 2012 to Danh Vo in recognition of the vivid and influential impact he has made on the currents of contemporary art making. Vo’s assured and subtle work expresses a number of urgent concerns related to cultural identity, politics, and history, evoking these themes through shifting, poetic forms that traverse time and geography.”

“The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo” is organized by Katherine Brinson, associate curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

'Objects from the Collection of Martin Wong,' Photo by Heinz Peter Knew. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.
‘Objects from the Collection of Martin Wong,’ Photo by Heinz Peter Knew. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.

Il mercato dell’arte in Italia: Le aste di primavera

Lotto 89, Sebastian Matta, Tropete Vino Vino Venus, Olio su tela, 74 x 82 cm, Stima €40.000-50.000, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.
Lotto 89, Sebastian Matta, Tropete Vino Vino Venus, Olio su tela, 74 x 82 cm, Stima €40.000-50.000, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.
Lotto 89, Sebastian Matta, Tropete Vino Vino Venus, Olio su tela, 74 x 82 cm, Stima €40.000-50.000, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.

Con il mese di marzo ricomincia la stagione degli incanti primaverili e il calendario delle aste si infittisce di appuntamenti.

Si inizia il 5 e il 6 marzo con l’arte moderna e contemporanea da Capitolium a Brescia. “Organizziamo due tipi di aste”, ci dice il direttore del dipartimento Gherardo Rusconi, “da un lato quelle esclusivamente online in cui offriamo lotti minori, da una base di 10 euro che sale fino a 2mila-3mila euro. Dall’altra allestiamo aste serali con i lotti più importanti, che sia a livello di orari, che di offerta si rivolgono al pubblico anche americano. Per esempio cerchiamo artisti internazionali che siano interessanti per il pubblico negli Stati Uniti, ma anche nel Regno Unito e nel resto d’Europa”.

La prossima asta serale del 6 marzo offrirà, per esempio, un lotto come ” Tropete Vino Vino Venus” del cileno Sebastian Matta. Si tratta di un’opera tarda (del 1979), quindi accessibile anche a livello di prezzo (stima 40mila-50mila euro), ma di qualità e rappresentante per un artista importante che è stato tra i primi surrealisti. È registrata nell’archivio Matta.

Poi ci sarà un’opera più contemporanea dell’artista ceco Jan Knap (stima 9mila-10mila euro), un’opera grafica di Kusama, diverse fotografie erotiche in bianco e nero dell’americano Ralph Gibson e due quadri di Boris Georgiev, un importante pittore bulgaro che è morto in Italia (6mila-8mila euro).

Tra gli italiani, invece, ci sarà un importante opera di Massimo Campigli di grandi dimensioni (stima 100mila-120mila euro). Attualmente il figlio di Campigli sta lavorando al catalogo ragionato che uscirà l’anno prossimo.

Da Cambi a Genova, invece, il primo appuntamento dell’anno è con l’Antiquariato, dal 13 al 15 Marzo. La casa d’aste offrirà un’importante collezione di arredi provenienti da una raffinata dimora genovese e da una villa in Toscana, parte dell’eredità di Emilio Bruzzone, membro di una nota famiglia di imprenditori genovesi. Oltre agli arredi ci saranno anche oggetti d’arte, argenti, ceramiche e dipinti dal XVII al XX secolo.

Tra gli arredi spicca un importante trumeau Luigi XV interamente lastronato in bois de rose e bois de violette del XVIII secolo (stima 80.000-100.000 euro) mentre fra i dipinti possiamo evidenziare una coppia di olii su tela raffiguranti “L’Estate” e “L’Inverno” di Jan Pieter van Bredael il Giovane (1683-1735) (stima 20.000-25.000 euro). Fra gli argenti emerge una zuppiera datata 1792 dell’argentiere James Young di Londra (stima 8.000-9.000 euro), mentre tra gli oggetti curiosi un presepe in corallo entro teca in legno intagliato e dorato proveniente dalla Sicilia del XVIII secolo. Si tratta di una composizione particolarissima, animata da numerosi pastori e angeli, alcuni dei quali in argento (stima 8.000-12.000).

Oltre a questo nucleo vengono proposti altri arredi e oggetti d’arte e una piccola sezione di oggetti di arte orientale, un segmento che presso Cambi ha grande successo e che ha portato l’anno scorso ad alcuni record a livello nazionale.

A Roma Minerva Auctions terrà il 12 marzo l’Asta di Primavera. L’incanto includerà lotti da tutti i dipartimento tranne i libri antichi, a cui è dedicata un’asta specifica alla fine del mese.

Tra gli highlight all’asta ci sarà un dipinto del 1630 di un Caravaggesco rappresentante “Salomè che riceve la testa del Battista”. È un’opera particolare per le dimensioni molto grandi e per l’elevata espressività. Le figure principali non sono al centro, ma stanno in piedi ai due lati del dipinto e si guardano negli occhi. La stima è 15mila-20mila euro.

Un altro dipinto importante offerto sarà un paesaggio di Lorenzo Delleani del 1886 che è stato esposto alla Biennale di Venezia nel 1907 (stima 6mila-8mila euro).

Tra le opere moderne e contemporanee ci sarà un’opera dell’artista siciliano Renato Guttuso del 1965 che è un omaggio ad un altro grande artista italiano, Giorgio Morandi. Il dipinto rappresenta il tipico motivo di Morandi, la natura morta con bottiglie, interpretata dall’artista palermitano. La stima è 4mila-6mila euro.

Negli stessi giorni avverrà a Torino l’asta di Antiquariato Dipinti, Orologi, Gioielli e Vini presso San Carlo Aste (14 marzo). Tra gli highlight c’è un’opera di Carol Rama, un’artista che è stata scoperta molto tardi e adesso sta avendo un grande successo sul mercato. L’opera si chiama “Luogo e Segni”, del 1976, ed è stimata 70mila-90mila euro.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Lotto 252, Presepe in corallo entro teca in legno intagliato e dorato, Sicilia XVIII secolo, cm 60 x 38 x 80, stima €10.000-12.000, Courtesy Cambi Aste Genova.
Lotto 252, Presepe in corallo entro teca in legno intagliato e dorato, Sicilia XVIII secolo, cm 60 x 38 x 80, stima €10.000-12.000, Courtesy Cambi Aste Genova.
Lotto 53, Pittore caravaggesco francese o fiammingo attivo a Napoli, entro il 1630, Salomè riceve la testa del Battista, olio su tela, senza cornice, cm 116 x 193, Stima €15.000-20.000, Courtesy Minerva Auctions.
Lotto 53, Pittore caravaggesco francese o fiammingo attivo a Napoli, entro il 1630, Salomè riceve la testa del Battista, olio su tela, senza cornice, cm 116 x 193, Stima €15.000-20.000, Courtesy Minerva Auctions.
Lot 130, Carol Rama, 'Luogo e Segni,' 1976, 69.5 x 49 cm. Estimate: 70,000-90,000 euros. Courtesy San Carlo Aste.
Lot 130, Carol Rama, ‘Luogo e Segni,’ 1976, 69.5 x 49 cm. Estimate: 70,000-90,000 euros. Courtesy San Carlo Aste.

Art Market Italy: Spring auction season is starting

Lotto 89, Sebastian Matta, Tropete Vino Vino Venus, Olio su tela, 74 x 82 cm, Stima €40.000-50.000, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.
Lot 89, Sebastian Matta, ‘Tropete Vino Vino Venus,’ oil on canvas, 74 x 82 cm. Estimate 40,000-50,000 euros, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.
Lot 89, Sebastian Matta, ‘Tropete Vino Vino Venus,’ oil on canvas, 74 x 82 cm. Estimate 40,000-50,000 euros, Courtesy Capitolium Art Brescia.

In March the Spring auction season starts again and the auction calendar again becomes crowded with events.

The start is on March 5-6 it with modern and contemporary art at Capitolium in Brescia. “We organize two kinds of auctions,” explains Gherardo Rusconi, director of the department. “On one side those exclusively online, in which we offer minor lots with a starting price of 10 euros which arrive at 2,000-3,000 euros. On the other side we organize evening sales with more important lots. Both in time and offer these auctions are oriented to an international public, also American. For example, we look for artists who are interesting for the American public, but also for clients in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.”

The next evening auction on March 6, for example, will present a lot like Tropete Vino Vino Venus by Chilean artist Sebastian Matta. It is a late work, from 1979, which means that the price is accessible (estimate 40,000-50,000 euros), but the quality is good and the work is representative for an important artist who has been one of the first Surrealists. It is registered in the Matta archive.

There will be also a more contemporary work by Czech artist Jan Knap (estimate 9,000-10,000 euros), a graphic work by Kusama, various erotic black and white photographs by Ralph Gibson, and two paintings by Bors Georgiev, an important Bulgarian artist who died in Italy (estimate 6,000-8,000 euros).

Among the Italian artists there will be an important work of large dimensions by Massimo Campigli (estimate 100,000-120,000 euros). Currently Campigli’s son in working on the artist’s catalogue raisonné, which will be published next year.

At Cambi Auction house in Genoa, the first appointment of the year is with Antiques, on March 13-15. The auction house will offer an important collection of antique furniture that comes from a refined Genoese dwelling and from a villa in Tuscany, part of Emilio Bruzzone’ estate, member of a well-known family of entrepreneurs from Genoa. Besides the furniture, there will be objects of art, silverware, ceramics, and paintings from the 17th to the 20th century.

Among the furniture pieces, there will be an important Louis XV trumeau in bois de rose e bois de violette from the 18th century (estimate 80,000-100,000 euros), while among the paintings there will be a couple of oil on canvas by Jan Pieter van Bredael II (1683-1735), representing the Summer and the Winter (estimate 20,000-25,000 euros). One of the highlights among the silverware is a soup tureen from 1792 by James Young, silversmith from London (estimate 8,000-9,000 euros. A curiosity will be the nativity scene in coral from the 18th century, preserved in a golden wood cabinet and coming from Sicily. It is a very particular composition animated by numerous shepherds and angels, some of which in silver (estimate 8,000-12,000 euros).

Besides this nucleus, there will be other furniture and objects of art and a small selection of Oriental art objects, a segment which is particularly successful at Cambi and brought last year some records for Oriental art in Italy.

In Rome Minerva Auctions will hold its Spring auction on March 12. The auction will include lots from all departments but antique books, for which there will be a dedicated auction at the end of the month.

Among the highlights of the auction there will be a painting from 1630 by a Caravaggio follower. The work represents Salome receiving the head of John the Baptist. It is particular for being of very large dimensions and high expressivity. The main figures of the painting are not in the center. They stand on the two sides of the painting and look each other in the eyes. The estimate is 15,000-20,000 euros.

Another important painting on offer will be a landscape by Lorenzo Delleani, from 1886, which was exhibited at the seventh Biennale in Venice in 1907 (estimate 6,000-8,000 euros).

Among the modern and contemporary works there will be a work by Sicilian artist Renato Guttuso from 1965 that is an homage to another great Italian artist, Giorgio Morandi. The painting represents the typical motif by Morandi, a still life with bottles, interpreted by the Palermitan. The estimate is 4,000-6,000 euros.

And on March 14 there will be in Turin an auction of Antiques, Paintings, Jewelry, Watches, and Wines at San Carlo Aste. Among the highlights there will be a work by Carol Rama, an artist who has been discovered very late and is now doing very well on the market. The work is called Luogo e Segni” from 1976, and it is estimated 70,000-90,000 euros.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Lot 252, nativity scene in coral inside a golden wood cabinet, Sicily 18th century, cm 60 x 38 x 80. Estimate 10,000-12,000 euros. Courtesy Cambi Aste Genova.
Lot 252, nativity scene in coral inside a golden wood cabinet, Sicily 18th century, cm 60 x 38 x 80. Estimate 10,000-12,000 euros. Courtesy Cambi Aste Genova.
Lot 53, Caravaggesque french or flemish artist, active in Naples, within 1630, ‘Salome with the Baptist’s Head,’ oil on canvas, without frame, 116 x 193 cm, estimate 15,000-20,000 euros. Courtesy Minerva Auctions.
Lot 53, Caravaggesque french or flemish artist, active in Naples, within 1630, ‘Salome with the Baptist’s Head,’ oil on canvas, without frame, 116 x 193 cm, estimate 15,000-20,000 euros. Courtesy Minerva Auctions.
Lot 130, Carol Rama, 'Luogo e Segni,' 1976, 69.5 x 49 cm. Estimate: 70,000-90,000 euros. Courtesy San Carlo Aste.
Lot 130, Carol Rama, ‘Luogo e Segni,’ 1976, 69.5 x 49 cm. Estimate: 70,000-90,000 euros. Courtesy San Carlo Aste.

Kovels Antiques & Collecting: Week of March 4, 2013

This three-part teak coffee table was designed by Peter Hvidt for France and Son of Denmark in the 1960s. It is 17 inches high and, when put together, 51 inches in diameter. Rago Arts and Auction Center of Lambertville, N.J., sold it for $4,000.
This three-part teak coffee table was designed by Peter Hvidt for France and Son of Denmark in the 1960s. It is 17 inches high and, when put together, 51 inches in diameter. Rago Arts and Auction Center of Lambertville, N.J., sold it for $4,000.
This three-part teak coffee table was designed by Peter Hvidt for France and Son of Denmark in the 1960s. It is 17 inches high and, when put together, 51 inches in diameter. Rago Arts and Auction Center of Lambertville, N.J., sold it for $4,000.

Small rooms need small furniture, but large families need large tables. This problem has been solved in a variety of ways since the 17th century. Homes with long center halls, which were needed to keep the house cool filled the space with several tables that could fit together to form one large table.

A favorite style was a four-legged center table and two end tables with curved leaves that could be raised to be level with the center table or dropped to hang at the side. By Victorian times, the table could be on a center pedestal with sides that pulled out so leaves could be added. By the late 1890s, patented slides and hardware made it possible to pull both ends of a table out, then to fill the vacant space with leaves that matched the tabletop. And by the 1900s, some tables had self-storing leaves that popped into place from under the tabletop when the top was turned or pulled out. But the most interesting and rarest are round tables made larger by the addition of wedge-shaped pieces, or a group of tables that could be made into one round table.

Peter Hvidt (1916-1986) was an architect and furniture designer in Copenhagen, Denmark. He made furniture, usually of teak and steel, in the 1960s. Pieces were very streamlined in the prevailing Danish style – thin legs and arms, no fancy trim, very little upholstery. The unique table was made of three curved shapes that could be put together in different ways. There could be one large, round table, a middle-size table or a small table for one. Rago Arts and Auction Center in New Jersey sold one recently for $3,750.

Q: I have some plates marked “Edelstein, Bavaria, Maria Theresia.” There’s also a number I can’t read on the bottom. The plates have a plain center and a slightly scalloped edge trimmed in gold, gold leaves and gold flowers. Can you tell me who made them?

A: The Edelstein Porcelain Factory was located in Kups, Bavaria, Germany, from about 1934 until a few years ago. Dishes marked “Maria Theresia” can be found with several different decorations, so it may be the shape’s name. The number is a pattern number. Maria Theresia dishes are part of an inexpensive line. A plate is worth less than $10.

Q: I recently acquired a Mobo pressed-metal child’s riding horse. The label on the front reads “It steers!” and “Sebel Products Ltd., New York.” It’s in good condition, with little paint loss. Can you tell me when it was made and its approximate value?

A: D. Sebel & Co. was founded in East London in 1921 and made various metal products. It made metal furniture and toys beginning in the 1940s. The Mobo Bronco riding toy, the company’s best-known toy, was made from 1947 to 1972. When the rider pushed on the stirrups, the horse moved forward. The mechanism was patented in 1942, but production didn’t begin until 1947. Several different models of the horse were made. “Magic Steering” was added in 1950. The horse could be made to turn by pushing on one stirrup. The company opened a factory in Erith, Kent, England, in 1947 and a subsidiary in New York City in 1948. A Mobo horse probably would sell at auction for $100 to $325. The better the condition, the higher the price.

Q: Does old sheet music have any value? We have some that was published between 1880 and the 1940s. We’re trying to raise money for a local charity, and thought we could frame some of the more colorful ones and see if they would sell. We don’t know what to charge for them. Can you tell us?

A: A piece of sheet music published in the 20th century usually sells for about $5. Earlier sheet music may sell for more, especially if the cover is interesting, colorful or appeals to collectors. Most collectors want sheet music that’s complete, untrimmed, unframed and in good condition. Start at $5 to $30 for unframed examples. Ask more if they’re very unusual.

Q: I have a John F. Kennedy “friendship spoon.” One side of the handle is marked with the year “1961.” The other side just has the number “19,” because the last two numbers of the year are missing. I saw one online that had all four numbers on each side. Why would two numbers be missing? What is the value of this spoon?

A: Wm. Rogers Manufacturing Co. made souvenir spoons honoring the 1962 flight of Friendship 7 in both silver plate and gold plate. Piloted by astronaut John Glenn, it was the first manned orbital flight launched by the United States. In 1961, President Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Seven astronauts were chosen, and a tradition of letting the astronauts choose the name of their space capsules began with the first flight. John Glenn’s children chose the name “Friendship,” and the number “7” was added in honor of the original group of astronauts. Most of the Rogers spoons found online have “1961” and “1963” underneath a bust of President Kennedy, and obviously were made after he was assassinated in 1963, but we found one pictured that had only the number “19” on the right side of his bust. It was listed as being made in 1962. Value: about $10.

Tip: Decorated glasses given as promotions at fast-food restaurants often fade in sunlight.

Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

CURRENT PRICES

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

  • Camark vase, light overflow, gray, black, paper label, 5 inches, $17.
  • Paperweight, Sheffield Milk, dairy cows, trees, glass, round, 1 3/8 x 3 inches, $145.
  • Jigsaw puzzle, Yellow Kid, box, 1890s, 13 3/4 x 14 inches, $150.
  • Sugar basket, silver plate, oval, upswept ends, gadrooned, flower band, beaded swing handle, c. 1885, 4 1/4 inches, $155.
  • Shaving mug, occupational, blacksmith, working on metal, Xirola Roselli, 1913, 3 3/4 inches, $180.
  • Sandwich glass curtain tiebacks, opalescent rosette, 1800s, 8 pieces, $235.
  • Candle stand, mahogany, round, beaded edge, twist-turned baluster column, turned base, c. 1850, 27 inches, $245.
  • Moulton bicycle, folding, front suspension, white, 1960, $375.
  • Tole tray, “Le Serment de Horaces” (Oath of the Horatii), Jacques-Louis David, pierced handles, c. 1810, 29 x 22 inches, $1,340.
  • Weather vane, rooster, cast sheet iron, Rochester Ironworks, Rochester, N.H., c. 1880, 24 x 23 inches, $2,480.

Available now. The best book to own if you want to buy, sell or collect – and if you order now, you’ll receive a copy with the author’s autograph. The new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2013, 45th edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and 40,000 up-to-date prices for more than 775 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks, a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

© 2013 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

This three-part teak coffee table was designed by Peter Hvidt for France and Son of Denmark in the 1960s. It is 17 inches high and, when put together, 51 inches in diameter. Rago Arts and Auction Center of Lambertville, N.J., sold it for $4,000.
This three-part teak coffee table was designed by Peter Hvidt for France and Son of Denmark in the 1960s. It is 17 inches high and, when put together, 51 inches in diameter. Rago Arts and Auction Center of Lambertville, N.J., sold it for $4,000.

San Francisco’s Bay Bridge becomes shining artwork

The standard lighted bridge under fog as seen from Treasure Island. Image by Nitesh Aggerwal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The standard lighted bridge under fog as seen from Treasure Island. Image by Nitesh Aggerwal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The standard lighted bridge under fog as seen from Treasure Island. Image by Nitesh Aggerwal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – After more than 75 years in the shadow of its glamorous cousin, San Francisco’s “other” bridge is getting a chance to shine.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest – and by far the biggest – backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span’s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world’s largest illuminated sculpture.

Villareal, 46, whose previous installations have included an underground walkway at the National Gallery of Art and the Bleecker Street subway station in Manhattan, is scheduled to flip the switch on The Bay Lights with a click of his laptop computer on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Donors attending a private waterfront reception will see it set to music, but the work, which uses sequences of shifting light to produce an almost-infinite array of abstract patterns, will be visible to anyone with a view of the western half of the bridge for at least the next two years.

“People are attracted to light and they will respond in a variety of ways, even if they don’t know anything about art, programming or technology,” he said one evening late last month while fine-tuning the shimmering display from a pier next to San Francisco’s Ferry Building. “It’s really a wonderful piece of public art.”

For Ben Davis, a San Francisco public relations and communications professional who conceived of the idea of turning the busy Bay Bridge into a 1.8-mile-long canvas, the $8 million project represents a long-overdue celebration of a conduit that has been eclipsed by the Golden Gate Bridge almost from the time its concrete set. It opened to great acclaim in November 1936 – at the time it was the world’s longest and most expensive bridge – but lost the limelight with the opening of the majestic Golden Gate five months later.

“Those bridges are sort of like twins, one very beautiful, one very hard-working,” said Davis, whose interest in the Bay Bridge was sparked by his firm’s work promoting the soon-to-be-completed rebuilding of the bridge’s earthquake-damaged eastern span. “For 75 years, the Bay Bridge has had this pleasure of being able to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, we are giving its sister something really beautiful to look at for a while.”

Villareal, who studied sculpture at Yale and completed a graduate program in interactive telecommunications at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bay Lights has represented a sort of homecoming. After graduate school, he spent three years at Interval Research, a Silicon Valley think tank spearheaded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen.

But it was at Burning Man, the annual art and music festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, that the artist found his medium. In 1997, he built a light sculpture as homecoming beacon for his tribe’s campsite. In the years since, his creations have been featured in galleries and museums around the world, although he still sits on the festival’s board and attends every summer.

“People focus a lot on the lights, but in a way the most interesting thing about his work is that it’s really dealing with algorithms, it’s really about emerging software, unpredictable software,” said Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation and a longtime friend of Villareal’s. “Because of technology and software really being so central to the Bay Area, to have its great epic urban art project be fundamentally all about code, it’s just pretty a much a marriage made in heaven.”

Like many artists, Villareal is hesitant to delve too deeply into his creative process, preferring to let his audiences draw their own conclusions.

He said he drew inspiration from the bridge’s surroundings, such as the bay waters that flow under it and the birds that soar above it, as well as from mathematical formulas and physics principles.

The finished product, he said, is something like the song-shuffling program on a mp3 player, only the “songs” – his light sequences – do not begin and end at the same point every time.

“It’s been very painterly, really, a process of adding light and taking it away,” he said. “My goal is for people not to worry about what they missed, but to really be with it and experience it.”

Spectators who have seen Villareal working on the lights with his laptop in recent months already have been inspired to set their brief previews to music and post the results on YouTube.

Bay Lights is scheduled to be exhibited from dusk until 2 a.m. until March 2015. Organizers say they have raised $6 million of the $8 million for the project from private funding sources.

To raise money to keep the lights on, Davis has created a program that allows people to sponsor or name a light for $50 each. One family bought a series of them in honor of a relative who had worked as an engineer on the bridge for 15 years.

___

Follow Lisa Leff at http://twitter.com/scoopscout

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-03-03-13 1617GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The standard lighted bridge under fog as seen from Treasure Island. Image by Nitesh Aggerwal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The standard lighted bridge under fog as seen from Treasure Island. Image by Nitesh Aggerwal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Demolition of Gettysburg Cyclorama building begins

Critics contend the Cyclorama Building blocks views showing the expanse of the Gettysburg battlefield. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Critics contend the Cyclorama Building blocks views showing the expanse of the Gettysburg battlefield. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Critics contend the Cyclorama Building blocks views showing the expanse of the Gettysburg battlefield. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Demolition work has begun on the Cyclorama building at the Gettysburg National Military Park that used to house the 377-foot painting depicting a pivotal moment in the Civil War battle.

The (Hanover) Evening Sun says workers began tearing down the building last week. Park superintendent Bob Kirby said the demolition is scheduled to be completed by the end of April.

The park service has planned to tear down the building since 1999 but the architect’s son and a preservation group opposed the decision, and a long court battle ensued. A court-ordered study last year concluded that demolition was the best course of action.

The building was constructed in 1962 to house Paul Philippoteaux’s 360-degree painting of Pickett’s Charge, which was moved to a new visitor’s center in 2008.

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Information from: The Evening Sun, http://www.eveningsun.com

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-03-03-13 1449GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Critics contend the Cyclorama Building blocks views showing the expanse of the Gettysburg battlefield. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Critics contend the Cyclorama Building blocks views showing the expanse of the Gettysburg battlefield. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Dutch police arrest Romanian woman over art heist

'Self-Portrait' by Meijer de Haan (circa 1889-’91). Rotterdam Police image.
'Self-Portrait' by Meijer de Haan (circa 1889-’91) is one of the missing paintings. Rotterdam Police image.
‘Self-Portrait’ by Meijer de Haan (circa 1889-’91) is one of the missing paintings. Rotterdam Police image.

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Dutch police on Monday arrested a young Romanian woman in Rotterdam on suspicion of helping get a haul of masterpieces stolen from the city’s Kunsthal museum out of the country, police said on Monday.

“Detectives investigating the art heist at the Kunsthal on Monday afternoon arrested a 19-year-old Romanian woman who is suspected of being involved in the handling of the seven stolen paintings,” Rotterdam police said in a statement.

The woman is the girlfriend of one of three suspects being held in Romania for alleged involvement in October’s swiftly executed theft of works by Picasso, Monet and Gauguin, among others.

The heist gripped the Netherlands and the art world as police apparently struggled to piece the crime together, despite putting 25 officers on the case.

Experts put the paintings’ value at between 100 and 200 million euros.

Police said it appeared the paintings had been taken to a home in Rotterdam immediately after being stolen.

“There the frames were apparently removed from the paintings and later taken to Romania,” police said.

The 19-year-old was one of several people living in the house at the time.

Dutch police last year released grainy security camera footage of the theft, which took place around 3 a.m.

The footage showed two apparently young males entering and leaving the museum in central Rotterdam within barely 90 seconds.

The works stolen include Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Monet’s Waterloo Bridge and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

'Self-Portrait' by Meijer de Haan (circa 1889-’91) is one of the missing paintings. Rotterdam Police image.
‘Self-Portrait’ by Meijer de Haan (circa 1889-’91) is one of the missing paintings. Rotterdam Police image.

Overlooked portrait of Queen Elizabeth I turning heads

Artist unknown, but long attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (ca. 1561/62-1636). Elizabeth I (1533-1603), oil on oak panels, ca. 1593. Courtesy of the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, N.C. Courtesy of The Elizabethan Gardens, Ray Matthews; Photographer.
Artist unknown, but long attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (ca. 1561/62-1636). Elizabeth I (1533-1603), oil on oak panels, ca. 1593. Courtesy of the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, N.C. Courtesy of The Elizabethan Gardens, Ray Matthews; Photographer.
Artist unknown, but long attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (ca. 1561/62-1636). Elizabeth I (1533-1603), oil on oak panels, ca. 1593. Courtesy of the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, N.C. Courtesy of The Elizabethan Gardens, Ray Matthews; Photographer.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – For decades, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I hung in a small garden gift shop on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Legend had it that the piece was rare – it depicted the monarch as an old woman – but some art experts disagreed.

That all changed in 2010, when East Carolina University’s conservator analyzed the portrait and dated it to 1592, when Elizabeth would have been about 60 years old.

Now, the portrait has made its way to Washington, D.C., for its first exhibit since benefactor Ruth Coltrane Cannon donated it to the Elizabethan Gardens in the 1950s.

All the attention has Carl Curnutte, the gardens’ executive director, considering the portrait in a whole new light.

“The gardens respected it just as we respect all of our furnishings,” he said. “It was just seen as a part of the whole facility. And now it’s totally different. I react to it differently.”

The oil-on-oak painting is part of “Nobility and Newcomers in Renaissance Ireland” at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The artist is unknown, but the painting has long been attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, an artist of the Tudor court.

It is one of maybe just two large portraits that show Elizabeth as an older woman, said Anna Riehl Bertolet, author of The Face of Queenship: Early Modern Representations of Elizabeth I. The other is in the Burghley House Collection in England and also is attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.

Bertolet said Elizabeth protected her image not because of vanity, but because a painting of an aging queen could undermine her power and worry her subjects since she had no husband, no children and no named successor.

“So she really didn’t perpetuate the image of a very realistic Elizabeth,” said Bertolet, an associate professor of English at Auburn University.

But in the portrait from North Carolina, Bertolet said, Elizabeth “looks very calm and philosophical. She’s old, but she owns it. She doesn’t look like she’s embarrassed at being old. She’s a woman in power who has aged.”

Cannon bought the portrait from a New York City art gallery. Once it was placed at the Elizabethan Gardens, board Chairwoman Marie Odom tried at least a few times to determine its value, her daughter remembered. Odom was president of the North Carolina Garden Club, which founded the period gardens as a memorial to the area’s colonists.

“She thought it was valuable, and they told her it wasn’t,” Lisa Odom said of her mother, who died in 2003. “Bless her heart. … I think she would be thrilled. She gave her soul to that garden.”

The portrait eventually made its way from the gardens to the walls of the Folger through the work of two ECU teachers: history professor Larry Tise, and Thomas Herron, associate professor of English and co-curator of the Folger show.

When Tise was director of the state Office of Archives and History, he visited the gardens often. Each time, he would ask about the portrait and get the same answer: It was from the 16th century and it was hanging there because that’s where Mrs. Cannon wanted it.

He left North Carolina in the early 1980s and returned in the late 1990s. “And there was that danged portrait in the gift shop,” he said.

Eventually, ECU hired a conservator, who studied the portrait in 2010 and concluded it really was painted in the late 16th century. “By this point, it had so much interest, it had to go into a vault,” Tise said.

Enter Herron, who wanted to include a portrait of Elizabeth in the Folger exhibition because she ruled Ireland. The Elizabethan Gardens’ portrait was a good choice – likely to attract attention because most people didn’t know it existed, he said.

“Everybody’s got this Antiques Roadshow mindset so if you find something like that, it’s kind of neat,” he said.

The portrait is the subject of an episode of CNBC’s Treasure Detectives. On the show, a team helps collectors learn more about the authenticity of their pieces. Curnutte said it should air in March or April, and he hopes to learn more about the painting – who painted it, how much it’s worth – from the show.

“It’s part of our history, part of the history of the gardens, part of Mrs. Cannon’s legacy,” he said. “For me, the toughest question is going to be, if it’s worth something, parting with it. If it’s worth a lot of money, can the gardens keep up with it, insure it, keep it in a safe place? The gardens are not designed to take care of a picture of that worth.”

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Online:

http://elizabethangardens.org/

http://www.folger.edu/

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Martha Waggoner can be reached at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-03-02-13 1608GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Artist unknown, but long attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (ca. 1561/62-1636). Elizabeth I (1533-1603), oil on oak panels, ca. 1593. Courtesy of the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, N.C. Courtesy of The Elizabethan Gardens, Ray Matthews; Photographer.
Artist unknown, but long attributed to the school of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (ca. 1561/62-1636). Elizabeth I (1533-1603), oil on oak panels, ca. 1593. Courtesy of the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, N.C. Courtesy of The Elizabethan Gardens, Ray Matthews; Photographer.
A more famous portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, 'the Ditchley portrait,' by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, circa 1592. National Portrait Gallery, bequest of Harold Lee-Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon, 1932. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
A more famous portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, ‘the Ditchley portrait,’ by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, circa 1592. National Portrait Gallery, bequest of Harold Lee-Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon, 1932. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.