View of the Kanawha River, downtown Charleston, W. Va. Photo by Marduk.

Pier project honors W.Va. sesquicentennial

View of the Kanawha River, downtown Charleston, W. Va. Photo by Marduk.

View of the Kanawha River, downtown Charleston, W. Va. Photo by Marduk.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – When it was announced the theme of this year’s Peer to Pier project was celebrating the state’s 150th birthday, Chris Nelson knew he had to participate.

A recent hot afternoon found him, paintbrush in hand, perched on a scaffold working on his concrete canvas. The pier, which supports a stretch of Interstate 64, stands on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue South and Virginia Street.

It’s a good spot, as motorists waiting at the traffic signal on Virginia Street can get a long look at the painting he’s already worked on for more than 100 hours. It highlights his love of the state’s history.

A Confederate soldier sits atop a black horse with his sword at the ready to face off against a Union soldier standing with his pistol drawn. Two flags, the traditional U.S. flag and the Confederate national flag, are crossed behind them with a blue West Virginia and gray Virginia between them.

“West Virginia is really unique in that it was the only state formed out of another state in the War Between the States,” said Nelson, 43. “It was literally brother against brother out there. So these are my two brothers.”

The men both have brown hair, but their faces will not bear any distinct features, leaving them open to interpretation as any two brothers, he said.

A pensive President Abraham Lincoln is seen on the other side of the pier and behind him Presidential Proclamation 100, which he signed to grant West Virginia’s entry into the Union as a state. Nelson said he planned to paint the proclamation on the pier in its entirety so that it could be read.

Growing up in Raleigh County, one of his favorite classes had been eighth grade West Virginia history. He’d always enjoyed drawing but didn’t really get into painting until an art class at Independence High School, where his teacher helped him along. Even now, Nelson doesn’t consider himself an artist, though he will tell you he’s a bit of a painter.

This latest project, “House Divided,” is one he thinks both his eighth grade history and high school art teachers could be proud of. It’s also one he hopes school children and state residents will learn from.

Nelson submitted his proposal for the pier to Charleston City Council’s Strong Neighborhoods Task Force, which oversees the project, and was selected in May. Artists could begin on June 1 and were to be finished by July 31, though Nelson doesn’t think he’ll be done by then.

Other murals included Jeff Pierson’s detailed work on the “Fathers of West Virginia,” including Lincoln, and Charly Jupiter Hamilton’s colorful take “Battle of Charleston,” according to FestivALL Charleston’s website.

Nelson is familiar with the process, having painted a pier in the first phase of the public art project. His stylized sternwheeler can be seen along Washington Street.

He said his boss pushed him to participate in the project after he did a cartoon caricature of her, calling it the “Molly Llama.” She liked the picture, and after reading about the pier project in newspapers, she urged him submit a proposal for the Charleston project.

The imagined design took shape with the help of photos of Civil War re-enactors and a grid. He drew and colored the design on a grid and then used it as a guide on the pillar, a common method used by the project’s artists.

Nelson took the week of June 20 off from the state Department of Health and Human Resources, where he works as the director of the office of the inspector general, to work on the project. He worked 10 hours each day that week sketching the soldiers, cannons, flags and President Lincoln onto the concrete.

Since then, he’s worked weekends and evenings, weather permitting, on the painting. He said he enjoys working outside and that people often stop to talk to him about the painting. Most of the comments he said have been positive.

“Somebody stopped dead in the middle of the road last night,” Nelson said, gesturing over to Virginia Street. “It was a gold colored Pontiac. He yelled, ‘Hey man, that’s awesome.’ “

He said the work is moving along quickly now. He has detail work to finish and still has to put the script on the proclamation with Lincoln.

Nelson estimated his pier would be completed by the second week of August.

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Information from: Charleston Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.com

 


ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


View of the Kanawha River, downtown Charleston, W. Va. Photo by Marduk.

View of the Kanawha River, downtown Charleston, W. Va. Photo by Marduk.

Ernest Lawson oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

William Jenack presents fine art and antiques auction, Aug. 11

Ernest Lawson oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

Ernest Lawson oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

CHESTER, N.Y. – William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers will conduct a Fine Art & Antique auction to be held at the Jenack gallery, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. The Sunday, August 11, 2013 event will commence at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.

The sale is set to include collection of Chinese art, Wedgwood, Murano, Victorian and art glass, French copper cookware, oils, etchings, furniture, carpets, bronzes, lithographs and more decorative accessories.

The category of glass will feature a signed Durand threaded vase, Kosta Boda artist series vase, selection of signed Murano glass including abstract mother and child, latticino glass bowls, Victorian crackle glass compote glass with hand form stem, Victorian epergne with hanging baskets, collection of Tiffany style favrile glass, Steuben, Waterford and much more.

Heading the artwork area will be a winter landscape by Ernest Lawson, a canvas titled “Northern Lights” by Rod Charlesworth, a lithograph by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, a gouache of a nude by Katherine Woolf-Kuh, an autumn pond scene by Wayne Beam Morrell, a lithograph by Al Hirchfeld, a watercolor and gouache stormy Kentucky landscape by Robert Burns Wilson, and approximately 50 other works of art.

Furniture will include a Chinese mother-of-pearl inlaid dressing table and mirror and an étagère, several piece of German Art Deco furniture made of rosewood and birch, cerused oak bar cabinet, set of six wrought-iron branch/twig work barstools with pine cones, Designer Modern conference or dining table, set of four Art Deco dining chairs, display pedestals, Anglo-Indian campaign trunk, teak six-panel fretwork screen.

Decorative items include several lots of Cybis and Lladro figures, Edwardian photo albums featuring images of babies and children, vintage santos figures, art pottery, and bronzes of a giraffe and stag signed “Deur Loo.” There are hundreds of other quality lots in the sale that warrant a thorough look through the online catalog.

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 IMAGES OF NOTE


Ernest Lawson oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

Ernest Lawson oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

Durand threaded glass vase. William Jenack image.

Durand threaded glass vase. William Jenack image.

Set of six patinated wrought-iron barstools. William Jenack image.

Set of six patinated wrought-iron barstools. William Jenack image.

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre lithograph. William Jenack image.

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre lithograph. William Jenack image.

Rod Charlesworth oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

Rod Charlesworth oil on canvas. William Jenack image.

London-based Raku Sile, curator of the exhibition of recent work by Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street. Image: Auction Central News.

London Eye: July 2013

London-based Raku Sile, curator of the exhibition of recent work by Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street. Image: Auction Central News.

London-based Raku Sile, curator of the exhibition of recent work by Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street. Image: Auction Central News.

LONDON – London is constantly abuzz with industry chatter about ‘emerging markets’ and how the global art economy is undergoing deep structural change thanks to unprecedented wealth generation in the so-called ‘BRIC’ nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The impact of these changes is keenly felt here, for London, despite the booming growth of Beijing, is still a major hub of international art commerce.

However, while the London trade is absorbing the seismic vibrations in the global art market, the UK’s regional auction houses, with a few notable exceptions, seem happy to continue as though nothing is happening. At least that was the impression one took from an event staged by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) at its grand Parliament Square premises last week. Representatives from a number of China’s leading fine art auction houses had been invited to London to present their businesses to their UK counterparts. Sadly, hardly any UK regional auction houses bothered to make the trip to London to welcome them. This seemed like something of a missed opportunity given that the RICS initiative — arranged in partnership with the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) of London University — was a constructive attempt to forge deeper ties with China and to promote best practice in the disciplines of fine art appraisal.

Members of the Chinese Auctioneers Association presenting to their UK counterparts at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London on July 24. Image: Auction Central News.

Members of the Chinese Auctioneers Association presenting to their UK counterparts at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London on July 24. Image: Auction Central News.

The RICS’s effort to deepen Sino-British auctioneering relations nevertheless proved an eye-opening event. One of the most interesting presentations was given by the deputy director of Beijing’s Poly International Auction Co., Ltd.

Ken Creighton, Director of Professional Standards at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), welcomes Chinese fine art auctioneers to London at the RICS’s recent reception to promote best practice in the industry.  

Ken Creighton, Director of Professional Standards at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), welcomes Chinese fine art auctioneers to London at the RICS’s recent reception to promote best practice in the industry.

The Chinese government-controlled Poly International is now the third largest auction house in the world, with reported sales in 2012 of €732 million ($971m) according to the TEFAF Annual Art Market Report (although that figure was half the 2011 total of €1.4 billion). Auction Central News asked the Poly representative whether the firm would ever emerge as an autonomous entity free of party control. The question elicited wide smiles and a courteously evasive response.

 

Other presentations drew attention to the sort of eye-watering hammer prices that are becoming the norm at high-ticket auctions in China. The Poly representative told of the 436.8 million RMB ($71.2m) that changed hands for a calligraphic scroll by Huang Tingjian – the sort of price normally associated with blue-chip artists like Picasso or Warhol — and this after just 20 years of fine art auctions in China. The pace of growth has been head-spinningly rapid.

 

It is not beyond the bounds of probability that a UK auction house might one day uncover a similarly important object languishing in a British private collection. Closer relations between UK auction houses and their Chinese counterparts might help in the processes of appraisal and dispersal. While most UK auction houses now use the internet to expand their buyer-side client base, relatively few seem to be reaching out to grow their influence among collectors and art businesses further afield. A notable exception is the new enterprise known as ‘Triple A’ (the Association of Accredited Auctioneers), which recently made forays into China with its inaugural auction of UK-sourced European antiques and fine art. Triple-A’s helmsman, Woking-based auctioneer Chris Ewbank, told Auction Central News that a second venture is now in the pipeline, once again in partnership with Chinese internet firm EpaiLive.

Surrey auctioneer Chris Ewbank of 'Triple A' and Dr QiQi Jiang, founder of China’s EpaiLive internet company. The Triple A/EpaiLive alliance is now planning its second collaborative venture into the booming Chinese art market. Image courtesy of the Association of Accredited Auctioneers.

Surrey auctioneer Chris Ewbank of ‘Triple A’ and Dr QiQi Jiang, founder of China’s EpaiLive internet company. The Triple A/EpaiLive alliance is now planning its second collaborative venture into the booming Chinese art market. Image courtesy of the Association of Accredited Auctioneers.

We will watch those developments with interest.

 

On the subject of emerging economies, when will Africa step forward to assert itself on the global art market stage? Tentative signs are already emerging in London that interest in African art — and particularly African contemporary art — is growing. A few days ago, collectors and enthusiasts assembled for the private view of an exhibition of works by Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof (born 1950) to mark the official launch of The Gallery of African Art in London’s famous Cork Street.

Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof, whose first London solo exhibition in 10 years opened at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street on July 25. Image courtesy the Gallery of African Art.

Ethiopian painter Wosene Kosrof, whose first London solo exhibition in 10 years opened at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street on July 25. Image courtesy the Gallery of African Art.

Curated by young London-based curator Raku Sile, the show was the artist’s first solo show in London for more than 10 years and offered a chance to see his recent works inspired by dynamic calligraphic motifs drawn from his native tongue of Amharic. Visitors remarked on his vibrant use of colour and bold, gestural compositions. Among those attending were London-based music DJ and active community worker Jerry Nicholas and his friends, who expressed enthusiasm for Kosrof’s approach and indeed for the broader social aspects of the London gallery scene. “Evenings like this bring together people from diverse backgrounds,” said Mr Nicholas. “Look around you! Everybody is smiling and enjoying themselves!” Champagne, it must be said, is the perfect ice-breaking accompaniment when viewing contemporary art.

London music DJ Jerry Nicholas (center) with friends Gary Samuels (left) and Makonnen Wodajeneh at the inaugural exhibition of works by Wosene Kosrof at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street on 25 July. Image: Auction Central News.

London music DJ Jerry Nicholas (center) with friends Gary Samuels (left) and Makonnen Wodajeneh at the inaugural exhibition of works by Wosene Kosrof at the Gallery of African Art in Cork Street on 25 July. Image: Auction Central News.

One suspects the champagne was also flowing at Bonhams’ auction of classic cars at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month. The most glamorous lot on offer was a very smart, bright blue Ferrari 330GT 2+2 Coupé sports car, which carried an estimate of £180,000-£220,00 ($275,000-$335,500), chiefly on account of the celebrity of one of its former owners — Beatle John Lennon.

It is said that following the success of their UK and US chart-topping single ‘Ticket to Ride’ the Fab Four’s fame and fortune was such that the swankier motor car brands assembled outside Lennon’s Surrey home with their latest models in the hope of snagging a major celebrity endorsement. Ferrari were the lucky winners when Lennon — who had only just passed his driving test — came out and selected the Ferrari, then priced at £6,500. At the time, that was an expensive ticket to ride. It appeared at Bonhams’ Goodwood sale complete with a folder of documents testifying to its provenance and restoration history – a crucial detail that powered the bidding up to a winning £359,900 ($543,750).

 

On the gallery front, interest in sculpture of all periods has exploded in London in recent years, perhaps because it represents a solid, material store of value for investors, but also because London is particularly rich in sculptural talent. The buoyancy of the market has prompted specialist London sculpture dealer Robert Bowman to open a smart new gallery in Duke Street, St James’s. Bowman has forged a significant international reputation for his expertise in the work of Rodin and Modernists like Henry Moore, but he is also among the most active promoters of contemporary artists such as Helaine Blumenfeld. Now he has turned his attention to the acclaimed Bavarian-born British sculptor Johannes von Stumm, a former president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

 

Bowman’s one-man solo exhibition of works by von Stumm, which opens at the Duke Street gallery on September 19 (until November 8), will showcase von Stumm’s remarkable ability to elegantly combine glass, steel, granite and wood in a single work. Having mastered all the craft disciplines required to blow glass, carve wood and stone, and weld steel, von Stumm’s works are beautifully compact essays in the compatibility of seemingly incompatible materials. The exhibition at Bowman’s new gallery will deservedly bring von Stumm’s work to the attention of a much wider constituency of sculpture collectors.

'Sphere,' a work in wood, steel, glass and granite, by the Bavarian-born British sculptor Johannes von Stumm, whose first solo exhibition with London dealer Robert Bowman opens at Bowman’s new Duke Street gallery on September 19. Image courtesy Robert Bowman.

‘Sphere,’ a work in wood, steel, glass and granite, by the Bavarian-born British sculptor Johannes von Stumm, whose first solo exhibition with London dealer Robert Bowman opens at Bowman’s new Duke Street gallery on September 19. Image courtesy Robert Bowman.

This work, titled 'Six,' by the British sculptor Johannes von Stumm, will be on exhibition at the artist’s first solo exhibition at Robert Bowman’s new Duke Street gallery on September 19. Image courtesy Robert Bowman.

This work, titled ‘Six,’ by the British sculptor Johannes von Stumm, will be on exhibition at the artist’s first solo exhibition at Robert Bowman’s new Duke Street gallery on September 19. Image courtesy Robert Bowman.

An opportunity to marvel at a more historical aspect of the glassblower’s art can be found at London’s Courtauld Gallery until October 14. The fourth display in the gallery’s ‘Illuminating Objects’ program is devoted to two supreme examples of filigree glass, a technique that originated in the thirteenth century and which is traditionally associated with the Venetian island of Murano, but which migrated to northern Europe in the sixteenth century. The exquisite ‘façon de Venise’ goblet on display may have been made in Antwerp or Amsterdam in the sixteenth century, while the spiral ‘air-twist’ wine glass is typical of the sort of fashionable drinking glass made in Georgian England.

 This mold-blown, filigree glass goblet, either Venetian or Venetian style, perhaps made in Amsterdam or Antwerp, circa 1550-1625, is on display at the Courtauld Gallery’s 'Illuminating Objects' exhibition until October 14. Image courtesy Courtauld Gallery, (Samuel Courtauld Trust: Gambier Parry Bequest, 1966).

This mold-blown, filigree glass goblet, either Venetian or Venetian style, perhaps made in Amsterdam or Antwerp, circa 1550-1625, is on display at the Courtauld Gallery’s ‘Illuminating Objects’ exhibition until October 14. Image courtesy Courtauld Gallery, (Samuel Courtauld Trust: Gambier Parry Bequest, 1966).

An English lead glass wine glass with opaque filigree air-twist, probably London, circa 1770, which can be seen at the Courtauld Gallery’s 'Illuminating Objects' exhibition until October 14. Image courtesy Courtauld Gallery, (Samuel Courtauld Trust: Wilfred Buckley Bequest, 1934).

An English lead glass wine glass with opaque filigree air-twist, probably London, circa 1770, which can be seen at the Courtauld Gallery’s ‘Illuminating Objects’ exhibition until October 14. Image courtesy Courtauld Gallery, (Samuel Courtauld Trust: Wilfred Buckley Bequest, 1934).

Those lovely air-twist wines used to be a staple commodity at regional UK auction rooms but are now very rare and thus highly collectible.

 

One of the most encouraging aspects of the Courtauld display is that it was researched by an intern. It is often said that the London art world is now run by interns, but when the results are as imaginative and educational as this it says a great deal about the value of internships when the student in question puts her mind to it. Victoria Druce, the clever intern who put the Courtauld’s tightly-focused exhibition together, is currently completing an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial College, London, having trained as a chemist. She is interested in the materials involved in the making of glass and the various changes in glass composition from country to country. The Courtauld display will encourage close examination of these two precious examples of the glassmaker’s art. The glasses will be exhibited alongside the Courtauld Gallery’s collection of eighteenth-century century British and Italian paintings and English silver. Bravo, Victoria Druce.

 

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Karen Rene Johnson. Photo provided by the Johnson family.

President of antique car club killed in Model T wreck

Karen Rene Johnson. Photo provided by the Johnson family.

Karen Rene Johnson. Photo provided by the Johnson family.

SPRINGDALE, Utah – The victim of a crash involving at 1915 Model T outside Utah’s Zion National Park has been identified as the president of a Minnesota antique car club.

Karen Rene Johnson, 51, of Owatonna, Minn., was killed in the wreck Friday that sent three other people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jalaine Hawkes said Saturday.

The names of the injured weren’t being released, but they also are from the Owatonna area, Hawkes said.

The other two passengers were Johnson’s son and her 12-year-old granddaughter, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported.

The 19-year-old male driver pulled off state Route 9 to let faster traffic pass when the right front wheel’s wooden spokes apparently collapsed on the edge of the pavement and the car rolled over, according to investigators.

All four occupants were ejected as the car was not equipped with seat belts and had its top down, Hawkes said. Model T’s typically travel at no more than 30 mph, and speed was not a factor.

“There was nothing to keep them inside the car. It’s kind of a freak accident for sure,” Hawkes said.

Johnson, president of the T-Totalers of Minnesota car club, was on an annual tour in the Southwest with other Model T Ford Club International members and her family. Her husband, Tim, was in another car that was following behind when the wreck happened, Hawkes said.

Tour chairman Russ Furstnow told the Star Tribune in Minneapolis that the event involved 170 cars and more than 400 people. Motorists drive at their own pace, he said, and cover from 80 to 160 miles a day.

Karen Johnson was “outgoing, caring, just a wonderful lady — a definite sparkplug,” Furstnow told the newspaper.

The Johnsons are involved in farming and have five children. Their passion for antique cars has spanned several generations.

The funeral service for Karen Johnson will be held on Aug. 1, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Owatonna. The family requests donations to charity in lieu of flowers.

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

Saddam Hussein in a photo taken shortly after his capture. U.S. Military/Dept. of Defense photo, December 14, 2003.

US returns stolen Saddam Hussein sword to Iraq

Saddam Hussein in a photo taken shortly after his capture. U.S. Military/Dept. of Defense photo, December 14, 2003.

Saddam Hussein in a photo taken shortly after his capture. U.S. Military/Dept. of Defense photo, December 14, 2003.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A gold-laden sword looted from ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s personal office in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has been returned to Iraqi authorities.

The Homeland Security Department on Monday returned the 43-inch (110-centimeter) sword with an embellished blade and sheath with gold inlaid Arabic writing to the Iraqi ambassador. The sword was seized by the U.S. government in January 2012 after it was found for sale at an auction in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The auction company, which sold the sword for $15,000 before it was seized, said it was brought to the United States by an American combat historian. The department says the sword, a gift to Saddam, is not a modern battlefield weapon and could not be considered a war trophy.

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

 

 

 

Retouched daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849), taken by Edwin H. Manchester, Providence, Rhode Island, on Nov. 9, 1848.

Handwritten poem by Poe sells for $300K at auction

Retouched daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849), taken by Edwin H. Manchester, Providence, Rhode Island, on Nov. 9, 1848.

Retouched daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849), taken by Edwin H. Manchester, Providence, Rhode Island, on Nov. 9, 1848.

MARION, Mass. (AP) – An original manuscript of a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe has sold for $300,000 at an auction in Massachusetts.

The Standard Times of New Bedford reports that the handwritten poem, with Poe’s signature, was purchased Saturday at Marion Antique Auctions by a collector who was given 10 days to verify its authenticity.

The item had been owned by a Rhode Island family since the 1920s.

The poem, “The Conqueror Worm,” is believed to have been written in the 1830s and is among more than 100 published by the famed author.

Chris Semtner, the curator at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Va., said the original manuscript of the poem was thought to have been lost.

Auctioneers had expected the item to fetch no more than $20,000.

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Information from: The (New Bedford, Mass.) Standard-Times, http://www.southcoasttoday.com.

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


ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


Retouched daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849), taken by Edwin H. Manchester, Providence, Rhode Island, on Nov. 9, 1848.

Retouched daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849), taken by Edwin H. Manchester, Providence, Rhode Island, on Nov. 9, 1848.

 Edgar Allan Poe original handwritten manuscript for the poem 'The Conqueror Worm.' Image courtesy of Marion Antique Auctions.

Edgar Allan Poe original handwritten manuscript for the poem ‘The Conqueror Worm.’ Image courtesy of Marion Antique Auctions.

Example of a rare, 1703 Antonio Stradivari violin, unrelated to the stolen violin referenced in this article. The violin depicted here was displayed at Musikinstrumenten Museum in Berlin, Germany. Photo taken by Husky on August 8, 2006, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

UK police recover stolen Stradivarius violin

Example of a rare, 1703 Antonio Stradivari violin, unrelated to the stolen violin referenced in this article. The violin depicted here was displayed at Musikinstrumenten Museum in Berlin, Germany. Photo taken by Husky on August 8, 2006, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Example of a rare, 1703 Antonio Stradivari violin, unrelated to the stolen violin referenced in this article. The violin depicted here was displayed at Musikinstrumenten Museum in Berlin, Germany. Photo taken by Husky on August 8, 2006, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

LONDON (AP) – British police say they have recovered a 1.2 million pound ($1.84 million) antique violin that was stolen from an acclaimed musician in 2010 when she stopped for a snack in London.

South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating inside a sandwich shop in November 2010 when she noticed that her black violin case containing the 300-year-old Stradivarius was missing.

The violin, made in 1696, is one of only around 400 in the world. It was stolen along with two bows, valued at more than 67,000 pounds.

British Transport Police said Tuesday that officers recovered the instrument intact with minor damage in its case along with the bows at a property in central England last week.

Two people have been jailed over the theft.

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

This superb, circa-1970 bronze and metal cocktail table with sculpted top by Ado Chale is an inspiration to contemporary furniture designers. It sold for $50,000 plus buyer's premium at Palm Beach Modern Auctions on March 30, 2013. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

Right at Home: Metals glow in fall decor

This superb, circa-1970 bronze and metal cocktail table with sculpted top by Ado Chale is an inspiration to contemporary furniture designers. It sold for $50,000 plus buyer's premium at Palm Beach Modern Auctions on March 30, 2013. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

This superb, circa-1970 bronze and metal cocktail table with sculpted top by Ado Chale is an inspiration to contemporary furniture designers. It sold for $50,000 plus buyer’s premium at Palm Beach Modern Auctions on March 30, 2013. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

Never been a heavy metal fan? The new look of brass, copper, bronze and nickel in this fall’s decor might change your mind

The finishes are warm, without the kitschy clash of some previous go-rounds. You’ll see these softer, richer-looking metals — joining gold and silver on the decor stage — as accents on accessories, as furniture embellishment and as a brushed finish on textiles.

It’s a classic look that can work in both traditional and contemporary spaces.

A simple bronze, steel or iron table is one of the season’s hot accent pieces. Nate Berkus has done a side table for Target in brass with an antiqued mirror top, and Pottery Barn’s got a collection of blackened iron ones with a polished industrial vibe. West Elm’s Element iron coffee table has an acid-washed, sandblasted trim. (www.westelm.com; www.target.com; www.potterybarn.com)

At the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, bronze tables made by Nick Davis in his foundry studio in Bedfordshire, England, drew crowds. Their intriguing surfaces were embossed with skulls, rain scenes and other edgy elements. (www.nickdavisart.com)

Made Goods’ ceramic angular or bulleted stools with crackled gold finishes can do double duty as swanky side tables. And the studio’s Delancy bistro side table has a hammered base available in antiqued black, silver or gold on which you can add a customized top. The Arron lamp, with a base made of metalized stones coated with gold or silver, is an unusual and elegant accessory. (www.shopcandelabra.com)

Burnished silver, gold or copper bowls and vases are being offered by many retailers, some crafted in metal, some in stoneware or a sustainable wood, and washed with metallic paint. Crate & Barrel’s Loki and Ophelia silvery free-form bowls are light and luminous. (www.crateandbarrel.com)

The Eiffel Tower is rendered in brass-finished aluminum in a stylish table lamp at www.worldmarket.com. The site also has 1930s-style Pharmacy lamps in bronze or rust finishes.

At stores like West Elm and Target, you’ll see smart throw pillows with a light brush of metallic paint, some metallic thread or applied bits of metal.

If you’re more attracted to the shinier side of metals, check out Tom Dixon’s reflective ball lighting. Crafted in mirrored silver, copper or bronze finishes, the fixtures have a spacey yet sophisticated look. (www.ylighting.com )

Aerin Lauder, Estee’s granddaughter and founder of a high-end lifestyles brand, has designed a collection of luxe porcelain tabletop items including vases, bowls and nesting trays that are hand-dipped or painted with 18-karat gold. She’s got an elegant collection of cowry, nautilus and snail shells dipped in gold as well. (www.aerin.com )

New York studio Koket’s sexy furniture collection includes sensuous table bases formed out of gold-tinged metal swirls and nets. The brass-circled base with a cobra printed top that makes up the Burlesque console is a saucy mix of flash and dash. (www.bykoket.com.).

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


ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE


This superb, circa-1970 bronze and metal cocktail table with sculpted top by Ado Chale is an inspiration to contemporary furniture designers. It sold for $50,000 plus buyer's premium at Palm Beach Modern Auctions on March 30, 2013. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

This superb, circa-1970 bronze and metal cocktail table with sculpted top by Ado Chale is an inspiration to contemporary furniture designers. It sold for $50,000 plus buyer’s premium at Palm Beach Modern Auctions on March 30, 2013. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

Overhead view of Ado Chale table reveals the artistry involved in sculpting the top. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

Overhead view of Ado Chale table reveals the artistry involved in sculpting the top. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Palm Beach Modern Auctions.

Damien Hirst by Jonathan Yeo. Copyright Jonathan Yeo.

New Damien Hirst portrait featured in Jonathan Yeo exhibit

Damien Hirst by Jonathan Yeo. Copyright Jonathan Yeo.

Damien Hirst by Jonathan Yeo. Copyright Jonathan Yeo.

LONDON – A major new portrait of contemporary artist Damien Hirst will feature in a headline display of artwork by Jonathan Yeo at the National Portrait Gallery in September, it was announced today. The exhibit will feature several new and previously unseen artworks, including the striking, six-foot-high oil-on-canvas portrait of Hirst.

The portrait shows Hirst sitting in a chair, dressed in a chemical dry suit and holding a mask: an outfit chosen to reflect the tools of his trade. Yeo and Hirst worked together when discussing the composition of the portrait, and Hirst’s commanding pose was chosen as an ironic reflection upon his perceived position within today’s art world.

Jonathan Yeo commented: “Essentially it is a portrait by an artist of another artist known for doing completely different work. Damien is probably best known for his avant-garde sculptures, and I, for my portraits. People assume we have completely contrary positions – of tradition and modernity, painting and the physical – however, artists are always interested in other artists, and how and what they achieve in their work. Damien, and his undeniable ongoing impact on the art world, is endlessly fascinating.’

“I wanted to reference elements of both who Damien is and what he has done,” Yeo continued. “The mask in his hand helps create an ambiguity, suggesting possible military connotations, that he might be diving or confronting a riot. Even when we realize it’s a chemical dry suit, which he uses to make his formaldehyde works, it’s not entirely clear if he is making something or whether he is being pickled in one of his own tanks. This power balance is something of which we were both conscious through the creation of the portrait.”

Yeo said the pose was intended to reflect, ironically, Hirst’s supposed status as dark overlord of the contemporary art scene. “Hopefully some observers will be reminded of Velasquez’s and Bacon’s Popes. Ultimately his faint smirk is the giveaway, both that he was a knowing collaborator in the choice of composition, and that his mischievous sense of humour is never far from anything he does,” Yeo said.

Damien Hirst observed: “Like Turner strapping himself to the ship’s mast in order to create a true likeness of a storm, Yeo time and time again achieves what should be impossible: creating a true picture, an image or a glimpse, of people we think we know and of those we’ve never met.”

Jonathan Yeo Portraits, the National Portrait Gallery’s first display dedicated to the artist’s work, will include innovative portraits – all produced from life – of some of today’s leading cultural, media and political figures, many of whom sat for portraits for the first time with Yeo. The display will present an overview of the artist’s work to date, beginning with the drawings he made of the party leaders on the 2001 general election campaign trail, and including private studies of his family and portraits of well known figures such as media mogul Rupert Murdoch, model Erin O’Connor, artist Grayson Perry and actress Sienna Miller.

Jonathan Yeo is one of the most highly-regarded portrait painters working in Britain today. A regular exhibitor in its BP Portrait Award, in 2010 the National Portrait Gallery commissioned Yeo to paint a portrait of broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson.

Jonathan Yeo Portraits is curated by the National Portrait Gallery’s Contemporary Curator, Sarah Howgate, whose exhibitions include the highly successful Lucian Freud Portraits (2012) and David Hockney Portraits (2006). The exhibition, supported by the David Ross Foundation, The Tony Banks Memorial Trust Ltd, and ICAP Charity Day, is in the Contemporary Collection displays on the Ground Floor Lerner Galleries, National Portrait Gallery, London, Sept. 11, 2013 through Jan. 5, 2014. Admission free.

Publication:

A new, fully illustrated book titled The Many Faces Of Jonathan Yeo with texts by Martin Gayford and Sarah Howgate, will be published by Art / Books in Oct 2013. With contributions from Alastair Sooke, Tim Marlow, Philip Mould, Giles Coren, Shebah Ronay and Michael Parkinson it is available at £24.95 hardback.

Visit the National Portrait Gallery online at www.npg.org.uk.

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Large Doucai jardiniere, mark of Qianlong. Archive Auctions image.

Archive Auctions to offer premier Asian antiques online, Aug. 4

Large Doucai jardiniere, mark of Qianlong. Archive Auctions image.

Large Doucai jardiniere, mark of Qianlong. Archive Auctions image.

NEW YORK – Archive Auctions has scheduled a major 100-lot online auction of authentic and highly important Asian antiques for August 4th, 2013, beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific Time/2 p.m. Eastern Time. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

The auction includes a remarkable selection of fine art, bowls, cups, scrolls, figures, panels, porcelain, enamel and cloisonné vases; and more.

Featured highlights include:

Lot #24 – Large Chinese Paper Scroll Painting: Tadpoles – 1978

The ink and wash design depicting tadpoles swimming in a stream upwards is signed and with seals by Kwo Da-Wei [David Kwo] (1919-2003); 53″ x 27 1/4″; Provenance: Sotheby Parke Bernet #665.

Lot # 29 – Pair of Chinese Cloisonné Vases – Qing Dynasty

Ming Dynasty-style vase, made in Qing Dynasty. 17.5 inches in height, pre 1900.

Lot # 31 – A Large Doucai Jardiniere

(Mark of Qianlong) The deep, thickly potted sides tapering towards the base and decorated with five composite foliate roundels are framed and separated by interlocking leafy foliate scrolls, between borders of petal lappets below and ruyi heads above, with a band of linked quatrefoil panels enclosing flower sprays reserved on a blue ground below the slightly lipped rim. 9 1/4” high, 13 1/4” dia., pre 1800.

Lot #38 – Chinese Cloisonné Box and Jadeite Bangle

The box is of rounded shape, worked with double dragons on the lid; the interior lined with silk and fitted for the celadon bangle, stone with apple green inclusions, base of box with Qianlong four-character mark; 4” dia., pre 1900.

Lot# 40- Chinese Blue & White Porcelain Inlaid Wood Six-Panel Screen

Each vertical panel is inset with five blue and white plaques delicately painted with figures in various landscapes. The surrounding frame is pierced with double gourds hanging from leafy vines. Measurements: 6 feet 8 inches high, 8 feet 6 inches wide, 19th century.

Lot# 67- Blue and White Antique Underglaze Red Dragon Dish

Antique Chinese porcelain dragon dish; centering a copper-red five-clawed dragon amid underglazed blue clouds, framed by a honeycomb-patterned blue band to the everted rim; and cobalt blue glaze to verso; Xuande seal mark; 11 3/8″ dia. Provenance: Christie’s, July 2003, Lot 244.

Lot # 85 – Fine Stoneware Figure of Bodhidharma

Chinese, Ming Dynasty. Fanciful and bold depiction of the immortal with pronounced facial features, in flowing robes and carrying a satchel. Size: 18″ high. Provenance: From the private collection of the grand-niece of the last Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty and granddaughter of crown Prince Pujun. Pre 1900.

Lot# 101 – Asian Enamel/Jewel/Jade Bangle Covered Box

Enamel/jewel/jade bangle covered with tourmaline, jade, amethyst, garnet, enamel and jade bangle. 4 1/2″ high, 19th century.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Archive Auctions at 1-800-745-1107 or email info@archiveauctions.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet on auction day 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


Large Doucai jardiniere, mark of Qianlong. Archive Auctions image.

Large Doucai jardiniere, mark of Qianlong. Archive Auctions image.

Fine stoneware figure of Bodhidharma, Chinese, Ming Dynasty. Archive Auctions image.

Fine stoneware figure of Bodhidharma, Chinese, Ming Dynasty. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese blue and white antique underglaze red dragon dish. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese blue and white antique underglaze red dragon dish. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese blue and white porcelain inlaid wood six-panel screen. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese blue and white porcelain inlaid wood six-panel screen. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese cloisonne box and jadeite bangle. Archive Auctions image.

Chinese cloisonne box and jadeite bangle. Archive Auctions image.

Pair of Chinese cloisonne vases, Qing Dynasty. Archive Auctions image.

Pair of Chinese cloisonne vases, Qing Dynasty. Archive Auctions image.