Yuko Shimizu at DUMBO Walls. Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
NEW YORK – DUMBO in Brooklyn may be a fast-growing neighborhood, teeming with tech companies and condos, but the gentrification memo hasn’t quite reached the area on York and Jay streets, underneath the BQE. The DUMBO Improvement District and Two Trees Management Co., in collaboration with the NYC Department of Transportation and the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, decided to breathe some life and color on a dark street.
The result is DUMBO Walls, a series of eight murals in four blocks under the BQE, near York and Jay streets. Shepard Fairey contributed a mural in an otherwise empty lot behind the York Street train station. Fairey’s piece is in shades of pale yellow and red, and features a few Fairey trademarks, including OBEY Andre the Giant keeping watch in the middle of a floral composition. A woman with curly blond hair holds up said composition, looking like a female Charles Atlas holding the world in her arms. One side of the mural says peace, the other justice. Perhaps she’s responsible for both.
Another surprise favorite is Yuko Shimizu’s piece, whose enthusiasm approached me on the way to the F train. On one wall, a neon pink octopus forms the word “YES” in cursive, with an exclamation point. I didn’t realize octopi were so full of positivity, but something about the shade, and the conviction of the painting is impossible to resist.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Yuko Shimizu at DUMBO Walls. Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.Yuko Shimizu at DUMBO Walls. Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.Shephard Fairey at DUMBO Walls. Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.Shephard Fairey at DUMBO Walls. Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
Antique French hand-painted porcelain urn having dore gilt bronze frame and stand (est. $12,000-$18,000). Elite Decorative Arts image. BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Seven original works by renowned African-American artist and printmaker Dox Thrash (1893-1965) will headline a 349-lot estates auction scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5, by Elite Decorative Arts beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Fine art by other listed artists will also be offered, but the auction will also feature a magnificent array of French and German porcelains, Chinese antiques, Sevres and Meissen, bronzes, silver, crystal, clocks, designer purses and more.
The Dox Thrash artworks are from the extensive art collection of Samuel and Sally Nowak, patrons of the arts who began their collection in 1945 and gathered numerous important works by artists such as Sloan, Lux, Prendergast, Henri and Avery. But they also acquired many works by iconic artists like Picasso, Cassatt, Roualt, Matisse, Rivera, Mailloi, Rodin and Dufy.
“We are proud to have been selected by the Nowak estate to be the exclusive agent to market and sell these select works by Dox Thrash,” said an officer at Elite Decorative Arts. “The Nowaks were greatly influenced by their neighbors in Philadelphia, Albert Barnes and his wife, avid art collectors whose Barnes Foundation houses one of the finest collections of Impressionist art masterpieces in the world. The Barneses imparted their discerning eye for art to the Nowaks.”
The Nowaks met Dox Thrash in 1945, at an exhibit of Thrash’s work in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. By then, Thrash was already well known for his work on the Federal Art Project (part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA jobs program). He also had invented a new printmaking technique called carborundum mezzotint. The Nowaks befriended Thrash and purchased many of his artworks.
Seven of those will be featured in the Oct. 5 auction. They include a gouache portrait of a black man, 10 1/2 inches by 6 3/4 inches (est. $7,000-$10,000); a graphite and ink depiction of an Egyptian god figure, circa 1941-1945, 9 1/4 inches by 7 1/4 inches (est. $5,000-$7,000); and an oil painting on board work titled The Scientist, 20 inches by 16 inches (est. $12,000-$18,000).
All seven works by Thrash have been authenticated by the Philadelphia Museum of Art by John Ittmann, curator and author of the book Dox Thrash – An African-American Printmaker Rediscovered. Additional works by Thrash, plus other listed artists in the Nowaks’ massive art collection, will be sold at future auctions. These seven works by Thrash are the first installment.
Dox Thrash was born in Griffin, Ga., and died in Philadelphia. He worked in a circus, in vaudeville and as an elevator operator and studied art at night at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He served in World War I in the legendary brigade of black soldiers known as the Buffalo Soldiers. His works are realistic depictions of African-American life in the 20th century.
Other art in the sale will include an oil on canvas by Marcel Mouly (French, 1918-2008), of a harbor scene with gray skies, signed lower left, dated 1982, and measuring 30 inches by 24 inches (est. $8,000-$10,000); and a colagem collage by Brazilian artist Romero Britto (b. 1965), constructed of many of his works ripped into pieces and attached together (est. $6,000-$8,000).
Several fine Sevres pieces will change hands throughout the course of the day. One of the expected top earners is a large and impressive mid-18th century French porcelain ormolu gilt bronze mounted centerpiece, having figural winged female busts and a body with a hand-painted scene of a bachelor with two women in a garden, on a bench (est. $10,000-$15,000).
Two other noteworthy Sevres lots include an exquisite pair of 18th century ormolu gilt bronze candelabra, each having seven arms and a figural standing cherub design and both 29 3/4 inches in height (est. $6,000-$8,000); and a circa-1754 French porcelain box showing cherubs in forest scenes with flowers, signed “G.A. Shulz,” 6 inches tall, 10 inches long (est. $6,000-$8,000).
One other French porcelain piece that must be singled out here, too, is an antique hand-painted urn, signed “E. Fuchs,” for the Austrian artist Emile Fuchs, 1866-1929. The urn boasts a dore gilt bronze frame and stand and the body shows a nymph scene with cherubs drinking wine. Made around 1900 and standing 58 1/2 inches tall, the piece is expected to hit $12,000-$18,000.
Gorgeous plaques will also come up for bid. They include a Russian hand-painted lacquer plaque depicting a scene of the Archangel Michael trampling Satan, circa 18th or 19th century, 38 3/4 inches by 30 1/2 inches (est. $12,000-$15,000); and a large 19th century French hand-painted enameled porcelain rectangular form plaque depicting two seated cherubs (est. $6,000-$8,000).
Also set to cross the auction block Oct. 5 will be a 19th century German Sitzendorf porcelain figural mantel clock, with a man and woman standing to each side of the movement (est. $5,000-$7,000); and a pair of German Sitzendorf circa-1887 porcelain figural candlesticks, each one 10 1/4 inches tall, with cherubs, garlands and a messenger bird (est. $3,500-$5,500).
For details about Elite Decorative Arts’ Oct. 5 auction call them at 561-200-0893 or send an e-mail inquiry to info@eliteauction.com.
Antique French hand-painted porcelain urn having dore gilt bronze frame and stand (est. $12,000-$18,000). Elite Decorative Arts image.
Seven works by Dox Thrash (American, 1893-1965), including this one titled ‘The Scientist’ (est. $12,000-$18,000), will be sold Oct. 5. Elite Decorative Arts image.
Oil on canvas by Marcel Mouly (French, 1918-2008) of a woman in home interior scene (est. $8,000-$10,000). Elite Decorative Arts image.
Large Sevres French porcelain ormolu gilt bronze mounted centerpiece, made circa 1763 (est. $10,000-$15,000). Elite Decorative Arts image.
Russian hand-painted lacquer plaque depicting the Archangel Michael trampling Satan (est. $12,000-$15,000). Elite Decorative Arts image.
Sitzendorf German porcelain figural mantle clock with Lenzkirch movement, made circa 1865 (est. $5,000-$7,000).
Gio Ponti, Paire de chauffeuses, teak e tessuto, provenienza: transatlantico Augustus, 1950, cm 74 x 72 x 70,5, €20.000-€30.000, foto: PIASA rive gauche.
PARIS – La casa d’aste parigina Piasa celebra il design italiano con due aste che si terranno il primo di ottobre. La prima (alle ore 18) è una vendita che raccoglie 195 oggetti di varia provenienza, tutti da collezioni europee, con stime che vanno da €500 a €40.000. La stima complessiva è pari a €1milione. È già la seconda asta che la casa francese dedica al design italiano. “L’interesse nei confronti del design italiano continua a crescere”, spiega Cédric Morisset, capo del dipartimento. E aggiunge: “È più vario in quanto a stili e materiali rispetto al design scandinavo. A volte, anche più espressivo”.
I periodi più richiesti sono gli anni 50-60 ma anche il decennio degli anni 70. Tra i nomi più ricercati ci sono quelli di Giò Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, Osvaldo Borsani, BBPR, Ico Parisi e Piero Fornasetti.
Tra gli highlight della vendita ci sono un gruppo di mobili disegnati da Giò Ponti per il transatlantico Augustus, inaugurato nel 1952 e smontato nel porto di Alang in India nel 2010-2011. Tra il 1948 e il 1953 Giò Ponti ha, infatti, progettato arredamenti per diverse navi da crociera. In questo caso si è occupato della progettazione di mobili per diversi ambienti di prima e seconda classe e per i ristoranti, prodotti da Cassina, per esempio le poltrone dei lotti 115-116 (stima €20.000-€30.000).
Inoltre ci sarà una selezione di pezzi degli anni 70 della grand dame del design, Gabriella Crespi. Nata nel 1922, Gabriella Crespi si è formata al Politecnico di Milano negli anni 50. Negli anni 60-70 ha disegnato circa 1.500 oggetti per clienti come la Principessa Grace di Monaco, Elizabeth Arden, Günther Sachs e lo Scià di Persia. Ha incarnato quello spirito “bohémien-chic” degli anni 70 che rende i suoi oggetti oggi ricercatissimi. Alcuni pezzi iconici verranno offerti da Piasa, tra questi un tavolo a ninfea (lotto 265, stima €18.000-€25.000), un tipico tavolo di bambù con sei sedie (lotto 263 e 264, entrambi stimati €4.000-€6.000) e la famosa lampada-obelisco (lotto 261, €1.800-€2.500).
E poi ci sarà un omaggio a Max Ingrand (1908-1969), direttore artistico di Fontana Arte per 13 anni a partire dal 1954, con una selezione di rari oggetti in vetro tra cui il lampadario “Modèle 2258” (lotto 133, stima €20.000-€30.000).
La seconda asta di Piasa (alle ore 19) è, invece, un omaggio a Guido e Bruno Gambone, due dei ceramisti italiani più importanti del XX secolo, i cui oggetti sono conservati in molte collezioni interessanti in Europa e negli Stati Uniti. Sul mercato si trovano principalmente in Italia. In questa occasione vengono presentati 109 oggetti con stime tra €500 e €20.000, tutti con provenienza eccellente poiché si tratta dell’archivio dei Gamboni stessi. La stima complessiva è pari a €250.000.
Guido Gambone (1909-1969) si è formato a Vietri sul Mare, in Campania, nel cosiddetto periodo tedesco della ceramica, cioè in quel momento tra gli anni 20 e la seconda guerra mondiale in cui a Vietri lavoravano diversi maestri tedeschi, che seppero unire i temi e i colori locali con le novità artistiche europee, rinnovando profondamente la produzione della ceramica. Gambone è stato influenzato da questo vento innovativo ma ha condotto una ricerca indipendente. Dopo un primo soggiorno a Firenze negli anni 30, nel 1950 si è trasferito nel capoluogo toscano. All’epoca la ceramica in Italia viveva un periodi di straordinaria creatività.
A Firenze ha frequentato i grandi maestri come Marcello Fantoni, Arnaldo Miniati e Ugo Lucerni ed è diventato lui stesso una personalità riconosciuta a livello internazionale.
Tra gli oggetti in vendita da Piasa ci sono alcuni lavori di grandi dimensioni molto rari che sono stati esposti nel 1957 alla Triennale di Milano. Si tratta dei lotti 24 (stima €10.000-€15.000), 29 (stima €12.000-€18.000) e 34 (stima €15.000-€20.000).
Bruno Gambone (nato nel 1936) è il figlio di Guido. All’età di 14 anni si è avvicinato alla ceramica e si è formato presso lo studio del padre. Dopo questo periodo iniziale, tra la fine degli anni 50 e 60, si è interessato ad altri settori, come la progettazione grafica, la pittura, la scultura, il teatro e la scenografia, accumulando esperienze in Italia e all’estero, in particolare a New York dove è entrato in contatto con personalità come Rauschenberg, Warhol e Lichtenstein. Rientrato in Italia ha frequentato artisti come Castellani, Fontana e Bonalumi. Nel 1969, alla morte del padre, ne ha ereditato il laboratorio ed è così ritornato alla ceramica. La sua produzione è molto ampia e sperimentale e riflette la sua esperienza nella pittura e scultura.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Guido Gambone, vaso, ceramica, pezzo unico, 1954, dall’archivio di Guido Gambone (nr. M355), cm 76 x 70 x 50, €10.000-€15.000, foto: Copyright PIASA.Guido Gambone, vaso, ceramica, pezzo unico, 1954, dall’archivio di Guido Gambone (nr. M355), cm 76 x 70 x 50, €10.000-€15.000, foto: Copyright PIASA.Guido Gambone, Vaso, ceramica, pezzo unico, 1950-1955, dall’archivio di Guido Gambone (nr. M358), cm 96 x 36 x 40, €12.000-€18.000, foto: Copyright PIASA.
Giò Ponti, Paire de chauffeuses, teak and fabric, provenance: transatlantic ship Augustus, 1950, 74 x 72 x 70.5 cm, €20,000-30,000. Photo: Piasa rive gauche.
PARIS – Auction house Piasa celebrates Italian design with two auctions to be held on Oct. 1. The first, at 6 p.m. French time, brings together 195 objects from various sources, all from European collections, with estimates ranging from €500 to €40,000. The overall estimate is €1 million. It is the second auction that the French company has dedicated to Italian design. “The interest in Italian design keeps on growing,” said Cédric Morisset, head of the department. “It is more diverse in styles and materials than the Scandinavian design. More expressive, sometimes,” he added.
The most popular periods are the ’50s and the ’60s, but also the decade of the ’70s. Among the most sought-after names are those of Giò Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, Osvaldo Borsani, BBPR, Ico Parisi and Piero Fornasetti.
Among the highlights of the sale there are a group of furniture designed Ponti for the ocean liner Augustus, which was launched in 1952 and scrapped in the port of Alang in India in 2010-2011. Between 1948 and 1953, Giò Ponti, in fact, designed furniture for several cruise ships. In this case Ponti was involved in the design of furniture for different areas of the first and second class and for the restaurants, all produced by Cassina. An example are the chairs of lots 115-116 (estimate €20,000-€30,000).
Also there will be a selection of pieces from the ’70s by the grand dame of design, Gabriella Crespi. Born in 1922, Gabriella Crespi studied at the Polytechnic of Milan in the ’50s. In the ’60s and ’70s she designed about 1,500 products for clients such as Princess Grace of Monaco, Elizabeth Arden, Günther Sachs and the Shah of Persia. She embodied that “bohemian-chic” spirit of the ’70s that makes her creations so cherished today. Some iconic pieces will be offered by Piasa, including a water lily table (lot 265, estimate €18,000-€25,000), a typical bamboo table with six chairs (lot 263 and 264, both estimated €4,000-€6,000 ), and the famous obelisk lamp (lot 261, €1,800-€2,500).
And then there will be a tribute to Max Ingrand (1908-1969), artistic director of Fontana Arte for 13 years starting in 1954, with a selection of rare glass objects including the chandelier Modèle 2258 (lot 133, estimate €20,000-€30,000).
The second auction of Piasa (at 7 p.m.) is a tribute to Guido and Bruno Gambone, two of the most important Italian potters of the 20th century, whose objects are preserved in many collections in Europe and the United States. On the market they are mostly to be found in Italy. On this occasion, 109 objects are presented with estimates between €500 and €20,000. All have excellent provenance as they come from the estate of the designers themselves. The overall estimate is €250,000.
Guido Gambone (1909-1969) got his start in Vietri sul Mare, in Campania, in the so-called “German period” of ceramics, between the ’20s and World War II. In fact, several German masters used to work in Vietri and were able to mix the local themes and colors with the new European artistic trends, bringing a profound renewal to the production of ceramics. Gambone was influenced by this innovative wind but conducted independent research. After a short stay in Florence in the ’30s, Gambone moved there in 1950. At the time, Italian ceramics enjoyed a period of extraordinary creativity.
In Florence he met the great masters such as Marcello Fantoni, Arnaldo Miniati and Ugo Lucerni, and became himself an international personality..
Among the items on sale at Piasa are some rare large items that have been exhibited at the Triennale in Milan in 1957. Examples are lot 24 (estimate €10,000-€15,000), lot 29 (estimate €12,000-€18,000) and lot 34 (estimate €15,000-20,000).
Bruno Gambone (born in 1936) is the son of Guido. At the age of 14, he was introduced to ceramics and was trained in the studio of his father. After this initial period, between the ’50s and ’60s, he became interested in other areas, such as graphic design, painting, sculpture, theater and set design, gaining experience in Italy and abroad, in particular in New York where, he came into contact with personalities like Rauschenberg, Warhol and Lichtenstein. Back in Italy he met artists such as Castellani, Fontana and Bonalumi. In 1969, after his father died, he inherited his laboratory and so returned to ceramics. His production is expansive, experimental and reflects his experience in painting and sculpture.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Giò Ponti, Paire de chauffeuses, teak and fabric, provenance: transatlantic ship Augustus, 1950, 74 x 72 x 70.5 cm, €20,000-30,000. Photo: Piasa rive gauche.Guido Gambone, ceramic vase, unique piece, 1954, from the archive of Guido Gambone (No. M355), 76 x 70 x 50 cm, €10,000-€15,000. Photo: Copyright Piasa.Guido Gambone, vase, ceramics, unique, 1950-1955, from the archive of Guido Gambone (No. M358), 96 x 36 x 40 cm, €12,000-18,000. Photo: Copyright Piasa.
LONDON – A selection of portraits by renowned pop artist Derek Boshier will be shown in the UK for the first time in a new display of the artist’s work opening at the National Portrait Gallery on Sept. 28.
“Derek Boshier: Imaginary Portraits” (Sept. 28-May 2014) will feature 10 works from the artist’s “imaginary portraits” series, including his oil-on-canvas portrait of David Bowie, which was painted in New York in 1980 while Bowie was rehearsing for his role in Bernard Pomerance’s play The Elephant Man. Based on the life of a 19th-century man who developed severe bodily deformities and traveled as a circus performer, the production required Bowie to distort his face and body, holding poses for long periods of time. It was Bowie’s first major theater role and he received huge critical acclaim for his performance. He talked about the role with Boshier at the artist’s studio, resulting in the striking portrait of Bowie in character.
Derek Boshier (b.1937) was closely associated with the development of pop art in Britain in the early 1960s. With David Hockney, Allen Jones, Patrick Caulfield, R.B. Kitaj and Peter Phillips, he was included in the 1961 “Young Contemporaries” exhibition held at the RBA Galleries, London, that marked the appearance of the new art movement. From the outset, Boshier’s art combined social commentary with a rich imaginative element, with portraiture being an important theme throughout. He works in various media, including painting, drawing, sculpture and film.
“Derek Boshier: Imaginary Portraits” showcases an aspect of the artist’s work that involves depictions of invented people or representations of real individuals that incorporate fantasy. Early works on display include two portraits of Bowie and one of the painter Malcolm Morley, which were based on observation from life but then developed imaginatively. Later works include a series of drawings in which the artist depicts himself in a variety of different roles and contexts. The most recent work on show in the display is Black Dog (2009): a large painting that depicts a fragmented figure and represents, according to Boshier, ‘a symbol of self-identification.’
Paul Moorhouse, curator, 20th century, at the National Portrait Gallery, says: “Derek Boshier is celebrated as one of the founders of pop art in the early 1960s. But his distinctive contribution to portraiture, combining observation and fantasy, is less well known. This display explores the role of imagination in making portraits, and it illuminates Boshier’s innovatory approach to a traditional genre.’
“Derek Boshier: Imaginary Portraits” is part of the Gallery’s ongoing Interventions series of displays curated by Paul Moorhouse, which commenced in 2006 with “Andy Warhol: 10 Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century.” Drawing on significant works loaned to the Gallery, the series focuses on important 20th-century artists who have extended portraiture in innovative ways. To date, the Interventions series has included “Patrick Heron: Studies for a Portrait of T. S. Eliot,” “Bridget Riley: from Life,” “John Gibbons: Portraits;”” Frank Auerbach: Four Portraits of Catherine Lampert;” “Anthony Caro: Portraits;” “Tony Bevan – Self Portraits” and “Thomas Struth Family Portraits.”
Artist Derek Boshier will discuss his work with Moorhouse at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire. Image by Rudi Riet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
LONDON (AFP) – U.S. singer Kelly Clarkson has been foiled in her attempt to take home a ring once owned by Jane Austen, after a British museum said Monday it had raised enough money to buy it back.
The 31-year-old singer bought the ring at an auction last year, but the British government blocked her from taking it out of Britain while attempts were made to raise funds to “save it for the nation.”
Jane Austen’s House Museum in Hampshire, southern England, where the 19th century author penned her six novels, said Clarkson had accepted its offer of £157,740 ($253,300, 187,500 euros) for the ring.
The museum had been outbid by Clarkson at the original auction, but launched a campaign in August to raise buy-back funds from Austen fans around the world.
Curator Mary Guyatt said the museum was “thrilled” to be bringing the gold and turquoise ring “home.”
“The museum has been stunned by the generosity and light-footedness of all those who have supported our campaign,” she said.
“Visitors come from all around the world to see the house where she once lived and we will now take great pleasure in displaying this pretty ring for their appreciation.”
The ring, one of only three surviving pieces of jewelry known to have belonged to the celebrated novelist, is due to go on display at the museum early next year.
Known for their gentle mocking of the landed gentry, Austen’s novels including Pride and Prejudice and Emma are among Britain’s best-loved classics.
Austen fan Clarkson, whose hits include A Moment Like This and Since U Been Gone, has sold more than 20 million albums.
She shot to fame as the winner of the American Idol TV talent contest in
2002.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire. Image by Rudi Riet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The Eiteljorg Museum in downtown Indianapolis. Image courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – It still looks like the Old West, a stately, adobe-ish structure that’d fit in on a John Ford/John Wayne set, but the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art lately has been living in the moment.
Saturday, for example, the museum screened Two Spirits, a documentary about the murder of a transgendered Navajo teenager. And over the last three years, visitors ogled stylized guns, motorcycles, and guitars, all symbols of the American west, museum officials say.
These exhibits and others have packed the house and changed the museum’s culture. After two decades of being stuck at 100,000-visitors-a-year, in 2010 the Eiteljorg jumped to 140,000, and has stayed there. It’s on track to clear $500,000 in ticket sales this year, three times what it brought in a little more than a decade ago (and a chunk when you consider the museum’s annual budget is just $7 million).
Museums and other cultural organizations, which rely heavily on charitable donations from wealthy people and corporations, have scrambled to appeal to broader audience since the 2008 financial meltdown led to shrinking donations and endowments. The Indianapolis Museum of Art’s director has talked about hosting a car show—and he’s behind the curve: In Nashville the Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ “Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles” closed two weeks ago, and drew 115,000 visitors (the Indianapolis Museum of Art would be happy to coax 80,000 to its giant Matisse show opening next month).
The Eiteljorg’s turnabout, which interestingly did not involve bringing in new leadership, started during the depths of the recession, The Indianapolis Star reported (http://indy.st/16vceBw ).
“What began the conversation was how awful the financial climate was,” said John Vanausdall, the museum’s CEO, who by then had been running the museum a decade and a half. “We looked ahead and thought, ‘Things don’t look good for the economy, and it’s time for the Eiteljorg to look for a new strategy.’ We interviewed visitors and potential visitors and concluded (the museum) had great awareness but could use better visitation.”
“We started brainstorming,” said Chris Katterjohn, a board member since the mid-1990s who recently wrapped up a two-year stint as board chair, “and we came up with a strategy we called ‘the unexpected West.’ When most people thought of the Eiteljorg they were thinking of Indian pottery, Western paintings, and we understand the audience for that niche is somewhat limited. So we came up with topics we thought would be related to the west that would attract different audiences.”
The new strategy debuted in 2011 with the exhibit “Red/Black,” which focused on the shared history of African-Americans and American Indians. It drew an astounding 61,000 visitors, nearly twice as many as the museum’s previous record-holder, a 2001 exhibit of iconic photographs of the west by the legendary Ansel Adams.
Next came “Steel Ponies,” the motorcycles, which topped “Red/Black,” and after the motorcycles came the guitars, which turned out to be the most popular show in the museum’s 24-year history, with 63,000 visits.
In the middle of all this came “Jingle Rails,” a giant toy train set that since 2010 has been displayed at Christmas. The train makes its way westward from a tiny Indianapolis past miniatures of attractions like the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and so forth. Since its debut, Jingle Rails has averaged 46,000 visits, or nearly five times as many visits as the western art stand-by Georgia O’Keefe drew in 2005.
In O’Keefe’s defense (or maybe in the museum-going public’s defense), the Eiteljorg doubled its spending on marketing.
In 1998 the Guggenheim museum in New York drew record crowds with “The Art of the Motorcycle,” but it also drew fire. “The Guggenheim might bring in more people if they offered rides from Coney Island,” sniffed one private art dealer to The New York Times.
Vanausdall, however, said he has fielded not a single such complaint. “We are like a new museum,” he said, “but we are sticking to our mission. Our mission is about the arts and the history of the American West and native people. And things like the motorcycle are all about the social history of the American west. Same thing for the guitar—the development of the guitar is largely a Western story.”
And, Vanausdall said, people who are drawn to the special exhibits tend to stick around a while and linger in the permanent galleries. “These are people who haven’t been here before,” he said. “It’s amazing. People say, ‘Wow.’”
Next up: a series of some three dozen photographs shot by Los Angeles-based Blake Little documenting the goings on of the International Gay Rodeo Association. The exhibit opens Jan. 18, 2014.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-09-21-13 1958GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
The Eiteljorg Museum in downtown Indianapolis. Image courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.Image courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.Image courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.Image courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines police have arrested two people on suspicion of stealing a rare copper sculpture from a Des Moines yard and selling it for scrap.
The Des Moines Register reports that Robert Dean Olson Jr., 53, and Timothy Arthur Rhiner, 53, both of Des Moines, are in custody and facing charges of first-degree theft.
Police say the men stole the abstract sculpture by the French artist Dominique Mercy sometime early Friday. The sculpture, valued at nearly $8,000, was found Monday at a scrap metal yard, but it had already been cut into pieces.
Police say the scrap yard’s records show the men received less than $200 for the copper sculpture.
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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Huguette Clark (right) circa 1917 in Butte, Mont., with her sister Andrée (left) and her father William A. Clark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
NEW YORK (AP) – A tentative deal has been reached in a New York court fight over the will of a reclusive Montana copper mining heiress that would give more than $30 million of her $300 million estate to her distant relatives, a person familiar with the case said Saturday.
The breakthrough in the fight over Huguette Clark’s estate comes after jury selection started in a trial pitting nearly two dozen of her half-siblings’ descendants against a goddaughter, a hospital where she spent the last 20 years of her life, a nurse, doctors, a lawyer and others.
An April 2005 will cut out her distant relatives. Another will, six weeks earlier, left them most of her money.
The tentative settlement will give the relatives about $34.5 million after taxes under the deal, while her nurse would have to turn over $5 million and a doll collection valued at about $1.6 million, the person told The Associated Press. Her lawyer would get nothing.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the settlement because it hasn’t yet been made public. News of the tentative settlement was first reported by The New York Times and NBCNews.com.
Several of the many lawyers involved with the case declined to comment or didn’t immediately return calls.
Clark owned lavish properties from New York’s Fifth Avenue to the California coast but opted to spend her final two decades ensconced in a Manhattan hospital. The childless Clark died in 2011, at age 104.
Her father, U.S. Sen. William A. Clark, was one of the richest Americans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He served as a senator from Montana, where he initially made his fortune from copper mines. His business empire later grew to include building a Western rail line and establishing a Nevada railroad town called Las Vegas. The surrounding Clark County is named for him.
Jury selection started Thursday in the trial over the validity of the April 2005 will.
“The persons and institution named herein as beneficiaries of my estate are the true objects of my bounty,” that will said, noting that she’d had only “minimal contacts” with her relatives over the years.
Under terms of the deal, Clark’s nurse, Hadassah Peri, would get nothing and would have to return $5 million and the doll collection. Huguette Clark’s lawyer Wallace Bock also would get nothing.
Clark’s mansion in California, Bellosguardo, would become a foundation, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art would get $10 million.
Clark was briefly married in her 20s. Her assistant has said she didn’t leave her apartment for decades before she was taken, emaciated and beset by advanced skin cancer, to Beth Israel Medical Center in 1991.
Doctors said she was medically ready to leave months later. But she chose to stay for two decades, at a cost of about $400,000 a year. And she rewarded the hospital beyond that and her caregivers.
Gifts to Peri, Clark’s chief nurse, included multiple Manhattan apartments and a $1.2 million Stradivarius violin, and the nurse stood to get $30 million in the disputed will. Clark’s primary doctor received cash Christmas presents totaling $500,000, among other gifts, plus a $100,000 bequest that he was preparing to relinquish before testifying at the trial, according to court documents.
The hospital got hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a $3.5 million painting by French pre-Impressionist Edouard Manet and a $1 million bequest.
Clark’s accountant and her lawyer also received sizable cash gifts, and they stood to reap substantial fees as executors of her estate under the challenged will.
Clark’s relatives had said hospital executives, medical professionals and Clark’s lawyer and accountant took advantage of their access to the heiress to manipulate their way into her millions of dollars.
The beneficiaries have said Clark was simply a generous woman who wanted to help those who helped her.
The case drew in institutions and officials from Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, who pressed for Bellosguardo to become a museum, to New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office was involved in the court fight to protect charities’ interests.
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Associated Press writer Jake Pearson contributed to this report.
Jesse Jackson Jr. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
CHICAGO (AP) – With the authenticity of a guitar supposedly signed by Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen called into question, authorities pulled the plug Friday on an online auction of personal belongings forfeited by Illinois’ prison-bound former congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr.
The U.S. Marshals Service began the auction earlier this week to recoup part of the $750,000 in campaign funds the former congressman and his wife illegally spent on memorabilia, furs, vacations and other personal items.
But the agency announced Friday that it was canceling the entire auction “out of an abundance of caution” because of questions about the guitar, which prosecutors say the former congressman bought with campaign money for $4,000.
“Because new information has come to light, we are taking additional steps to review all the items,” said Kim Beal, the acting assistant director for the forfeiture division of the Marshals Service.
Among the dozen other items up for auction were pictures purportedly signed by Bruce Lee and a red, fur-trimmed cape. Buyers were supposed to have been able to place bids on any of the Jacksons’ former possessions until Sept. 26. But signs that something might be amiss came just hours after the auction started Tuesday when the signed guitar was suddenly struck from the auction list.
The Marshals Service said once a review of the items is complete, it will decide whether to resume the sale of some or all of the items.
The Texas-based company conducting the auction, Gaston & Sheehan Auctioneers Inc., said it was another contractor for the Marshals Service that was responsible for authenticating the items in advance.
“This is out of the norm,” one the auction house’s executives, Bob Sheehan, said about the suspension of the sale. He said he didn’t know who or what first raised doubts about the guitar.
Bidding was heavy hours after the auction started for a framed poster dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” album—and allegedly signed by the pop star himself. The highest bidder by Tuesday evening had offered $1,560 for it.
Jesse Jackson Jr., the 48-year-old son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and a one-time golden boy of Democratic politics, was sentence last month to a 21/2-year prison term for to scheming to spend campaign funds. The same judge imposed a yearlong sentence on his wife, Sandra.
The Marshals Service sells property seized or forfeited in criminal cases, the proceeds of which are often kicked back into law enforcement. It currently manages more than 23,000 assets worth around $2.4 billion, the agency says.
