December 2013 - Page 3 of 18 - Auction Central News

Nevinson drawing sets record at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury

‘La Geurre des Trous’ (the War of Holes) by Christopher Nevinson sold for £136,400 ($223,964), setting a record for the artist. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury image.

LONDON – A poignant World War I drawing by Christopher Nevinson, official War Artist for the British Government, set a new world record for a work on paper by the artist at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auction’s sale of Modern and Contemporary Prints on Dec. 11. It was purchased by a by a private collector in New York for £136,400 ($223,964), breaking the record already held by the auctioneer.

Alexander Hayter, international head of modern and contemporary art at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have again broken the world record for a work by Nevinson on paper. In December 2012 we set the record for his drawing, ‘On the Road to Ypres,’ which sold for £111,600 ($183,239). The price achieved on Wednesday for a work by this remarkable artist shows that we still lead the market for the sale of Nevinson’s work.”

La Geurre des Trous (the War of Holes) by the futurist/vorticist artist was a moving tribute to the troops by an artist who was deeply affected by his experience caring for injured French soldiers as a member of the Friends’ Ambulance Unit, during the war. Arguably the finest work on paper by the artist to have appeared at auction in a generation, the drawing depicts the soldiers’ anticipation, presumably in the moment before they exited the trench. By portraying French soldiers, Nevinson was able to reveal the grim side of the war while dodging government restrictions placed on imagery of active British servicemen.

The pen and ink, and brush and ink, drawing was done in 1914/15 possibly at Woesten, just North-West of Ypres, where Nevinson was stationed in November 1914.

Christopher Martin, a specialist on works by Nevinson, said: “Nevinson wrote of intending to give his pictures of that time an abstract, dynamic and mental impression rather than a concrete, static or optical. The abstract quality is seen in the shaping of the earth around the trench in this drawing, and generally in other drawings related to Nevinson’s war paintings.”

A Nevinson etching titled The Thames from Blackfriars also achieved a solid price of £39,680 ($65,153) against an estimate of £15,000-£20,000. It was almost certainly the largest intaglio work by the artist and was based on a painting currently part of the Courtauld Collection, London.

Elsewhere in the sale, a rare and integral part of the last great series of works produced by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, a screenprint titled Two Nudes realized a strong price of £124,000 ($203,600). Of the recent impressions offered at auction, this example was in the best condition and was purchased on the telephone by a London-based private collector.

Based on love and girls in comic books, The Nudes series, begun in the spring of 1993, are some of the largest the artist ever produced. Completed in December that year, they reflect the artist’s fascination of the interplay between the two-dimensionality of the drawn image, and the three-dimensional effect created by the application of variably sized ben-day dots. The effect in Two Nudes is particularly successful, giving a genuine sense of depth to the image.

In an interview in 1997 with David Sylvester, Lichtenstein said: “It’s a little bit the way chiaroscuro isn’t just shadows but a way of combining the figure and the background, or whatever is near it in a dark area… You’re not confined to the object pattern, but the subject matter excuse for this is that it’s a shadow, and that’s interesting to me.”

Another Lichtenstein print, Sunrise attracted a great deal of interest. Signed by the artist, the 1965 offset lithograph printed in color sold for £5,952 ($9,773).

American artist Cy Twombly is known for his large-scale calligraphic style paintings, and an untitled print, signed in pencil by the artist, sold for £32,240 ($52,937). Two European and one American bidder battled on the telephone to secure the picture, with it being purchased ultimately by the buyer from New York. The 1969/71 screenprint in colors was an artist’s proof from an edition of 100, published by Edition Domberger, Stuttgart. Twombly served in the Army as a cryptologist and this influence can be seen clearly in this example, as in much of his other work.

Since his death in July 2011, Twombley’s work has been keenly sought by collectors.

“This print was part of a series very rarely sold as separate pieces. They are of particular interest because they are very similar to his paintings and, a premium is always paid for examples in rare and perfect condition,” said Hayter.

A selection of prints by Andy Warhol achieved strong prices, most notably, Red Lenin, a 1987 screeenprint in color. Signed in pencil by Frederick Hughes, the executor of Warhol’s estate, and numbered 14/24 on a stamped certificate of authenticity, it sold for £32,240 ($52,937) against an estimate of £15,000-£20,000.

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Roy Lichtenstein screenprint titled 'Two Nudes' brought £124,000 ($203,600). Dreweatts & Bloomsbury image. — Roy Lichtenstein screenprint titled ‘Two Nudes’ brought £124,000 ($203,600). Dreweatts & Bloomsbury image.

Wright, Carberry collaboration to stage art exhibitions in NY

Valerie Carberry and Richard Wright. Image courtesy of Wright.

NEW YORK – Valerie Carberry Gallery and Wright have announced a new collaboration. Launching in March of 2014, Carberry @ Wright is an exhibition program that brings artists represented by Valerie Carberry Gallery in Chicago to New York for shows at Wright’s exciting new gallery space at 980 Madison Ave.

The shows will feature artists from Carberry’s contemporary program and will occur two to three times per year, as special condensed-run exhibitions of new work.

“What drives my business is creativity and innovation, which is why this collaboration makes perfect sense. The New York gallery will have the dynamism and flexibility to do so many things. We can preview top highlights from our auctions, we can produce curated exhibitions of art and design, and we can work with Valerie to bring her high quality program to our space,” said Richard Wright, president of Wright.

Carberry said, “We are constantly looking for ways to bring a wider audience to the gallery’s program. We engage with as many of our clients as possible in Chicago and exhibit at select art fairs, such as the Art Show and Art Basel Miami Beach. The chance to exhibit for more than just a long weekend in New York, and to collaborate with my husband in programming his beautiful new gallery is an irresistible opportunity.”

The inauguration of Carberry @ Wright is an exhibition of new paintings by Jim Lutes, “Ponies and Psychos.” The show marks Lutes’s first solo exhibition in New York in over 20 years.

Represented by Carberry since 2005, Lutes has been featured in three solo exhibitions and five group shows at the gallery in Chicago. Lutes has been included in two Whitney Biennials (1993 and 2010).

In this most recent series, Lutes’s paintings hark back to a lost and troubling story of the American West. Using primary source material and early photographic records from digitized archives, Lutes confronts the online vestiges of an erased history and gives physical presence to the narrative in our time, notes Carberry.

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Postcard exhibit shows off historic Columbus, Ga.

A 1940s postcard shows the Muscogee County Courthouse, which was demolished in 1970. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

COLUMBUS, Ga. – The “Greetings from Midtown” exhibition will be on display through June 15in the Galleria Cases at the Columbus Museum, which is capping off its 60th year.

This exhibition celebrates the distinctive houses, schools, businesses and public landmarks that comprise Midtown. In addition to historic postcards, the exhibition features furniture, household items, clothing, games and other pieces that tell the story of each particular location.

Historic postcards present miniature idealized portraits of life in a community. Particularly in the early decades of the 20th century, they were most often purchased not by tourists, but by local residents “showing off” their town while writing to friends or family. Lovely and intriguing to view, the images in the exhibition also provide a window into architectural styles, leisure activities, dress, prominent residents and businesses, and the landscape of a fashionable Columbus suburb.

Visitors are encouraged to share their Midtown memories, both past and present, in the postcard-inspired interactive space in the exhibit. After strolling down memory lane, visitors can send a postcard to posterity or mail one to a friend or family member highlighting their most found memories of Midtown. Those postcards deposited into the exhibition “mailbox” will be displayed in the gallery and shared with virtual Museum visitors on the Greetings from Midtown Pinterest board. In addition, visitors are asked to share historic photographs or pictures of themselves at their favorite places, business, or homes in Midtown on the Museum’s Instagram page, @museumcolumbus, using the hashtag #greetingsfrommidtown.

As an American art and regional history museum, and the second largest general museum in Georgia, the Columbus Museum offers a diverse collection to the public. For more information about the Columbus Museum or the “Greetings from Midtown” exhibition and the educational programming associated with the exhibit, visit www.columbusmuseum.com.

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Charles Marvelle photos of old Paris on view at Met

Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879), 'Rue de Constantine (fourth arrondissement),' 1866, albumen silver print from glass negative.The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1986. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986.1141).

NEW YORK – Widely acknowledged as one of the most talented photographers of the 19th century, Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879) was commissioned by the city of Paris to document both the picturesque, medieval streets of old Paris and the broad boulevards and grand public structures that Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann built in their place for Emperor Napoleon III. “Charles Marville, Photographer of Paris” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a selection of around 100 of his photographs.

The exhibition will be on view Jan. 29–May 4.

Marville achieved moderate success as an illustrator of books and magazines early in his career. It was not until 1850 that he shifted course and took up photography – a medium that had been introduced just 11 years earlier. His poetic urban views, detailed architectural studies, and picturesque landscapes quickly garnered praise. Although he made photographs throughout France, Germany, and Italy, it was his native city – especially its monuments, churches, bridges, and gardens – that provided the artist with his greatest and most enduring source of inspiration.

By the end of the 1850s, Marville had established a reputation as an accomplished and versatile photographer. From 1862, as official photographer for the city of Paris, he documented aspects of the radical modernization program that had been launched by Emperor Napoleon III and his chief urban planner, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann. In this capacity, Marville photographed the city’s oldest quarters, and especially the narrow, winding streets slated for demolition. Even as he recorded the disappearance of Old Paris, Marville turned his camera on the new city that had begun to emerge. Many of his photographs celebrate its glamour and comforts, while other views of the city’s desolate outskirts attest to the unsettling social and physical changes wrought by rapid modernization.

Haussmann not only redrew the map of Paris, he transformed the urban experience by commissioning and installing tens of thousands of pieces of street furniture, kiosks, Morris columns for posting advertisements, pissoirs, garden gates, and, above all, some 20,000 gas lamps. By the time he stepped down as prefect in 1870, Paris was no longer a place where residents dared to go out at night only if accompanied by armed men carrying lanterns. Taken as a whole, Marville’s photographs of Paris stand as one of the earliest and most powerful explorations of urban transformation on a grand scale.

By the time of his death, Marville had fallen into relative obscurity, with much of his work stored in municipal or state archives. This exhibition, which marks the bicentennial of Marville’s birth, explores the full trajectory of the artist’s photographic career and brings to light the extraordinary beauty and historical significance of his art.

The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Concurrent with “Charles Marville, Photographer of Paris,” a related installation in the adjacent Howard Gilman Gallery will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum. “Paris as Muse: Photography, 1840s-1930s” (Jan. 27–May 4) celebrates the first 100 years of photography in Paris and features some 40 photographs, all drawn from the Museum’s collection. The installation focuses primarily on architectural views, street scenes and interiors. It explores the physical shape and texture of Paris and how artists have found poetic ways to record through the camera its essential qualities.

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Jimmy Stewart museum in Pa. rebounds from adversity

Maj. Jimmy Stewart, right, confers with a B-24 crew member in 1943. U.S. Air Force Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) – For a time it looked like the Jimmy Stewart Museum wasn’t going to make it.

It’s in the actor’s hometown of Indiana, Pa., – an hour’s drive from Pittsburgh and off the radar of many fans who might want to attend. And the pool of fans is shrinking as those who grew up during the era of Stewart’s films die out.

The number of tour buses that made special trips to the museum began to decline in 2009 and 2010, said Timothy Harley, the museum’s director. “The situation became very dire. That caused some pretty considerable concern,” he said.

But the outlook has improved, at least of the next few years he said, thanks to loyal fans who began sending donations as the word got out about the plight of the museum.

It turned out that many people still had warm feelings for the star of It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1947 Christmas classic that featured Stewart considering suicide, but being talked out of it by a guardian angel named Clarence.

The donations ranged from small to substantial, Harley said. One was in an envelope containing a single dollar bill and a return address of “Clarence.” And last year, Ken and Carol Schultz, a San Diego couple originally from western Pennsylvania, began making yearly $25,000 donations, which matches what the Stewart family gives.

Harley said the donations have stabilized funding problems for the small museum with a limited staff and budget. But they’re not a long-term fix, he said.

The museum isn’t fancy, which is partly why Stewart gave his blessing to the project before he died in 1997. It’s full of displays not just about movies, but about Stewart’s service as a bomber pilot in World War II, his well-to-do ancestors, and his family life.

Stewart flew more than 20 combat missions over Europe even though he was initially too thin to qualify for the military. Harley said Stewart’s no-nonsense military service resonates with many young people who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, The Air Medal, and the French Croix de Guerre, and by the time the war was over, he had risen from private to the rank of colonel.

Pauline Simms, president of the museum’s board of directors, said the displays that go beyond Hollywood are part of the attraction.

“The museum isn’t just about the man, it’s about the whole era. If fact, it’s why some people come,” said Simms, a native of the town who remembers getting Stewart’s autograph at the end of World War II.

Still, there’s plenty in the museum to satisfy movie fans. Harley notes that Stewart didn’t just play the nice guy in some early films. “He played the heavy or the gangster” in some of the 1930s films, Harley said, and the museum has dozens of movie posters on display.

There’s also a re-creation of Stewart’s boyhood bedroom, and items from the hardware store his father ran until his death 1961.

The J.M. Stewart & Co. hardware store was founded in 1848, and Harley said Stewart’s father was attached to the business even after his son became a world-famous Hollywood star.

Harley said the family’s practical, small-town roots played a role, too.

Stewart’s father, Alexander Maitland Stewart, wasn’t ever entirely sure the movie business would work out for his son, so keeping the store made sense.

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2-year renovation begins on US Capitol dome

The fresco painted on the interior of the Capitol's dome titled 'The Apotheosis of Washington' was painted by Constantino Brumidi in 1865. Image by user:Raul654.This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A world-famous symbol of democracy is going under cover, as workers start a two-year, $60 million renovation of the U.S. Capitol dome.

Curved rows of scaffolds will encircle it next spring, enabling contractors to strip multiple layers of paint and repair more than 1,000 cracks and broken pieces. The dome will remain illuminated at night and partly visible through the scaffolding and paint-capturing cloths. But the Washington icon – and portions of the Rotunda’s painted ceiling that lies below – will be significantly obscured for many months.

The project is beginning just as the nearby Washington Monument sheds scaffolding that was used to repair damage from a 2011 earthquake.

Half-completed when Abraham Lincoln stood beneath it to summon “the better angels of our nature” in 1861, the Capitol dome has since towered over Washington, which limits building heights to 130 feet. Time, however, has let water seep through hundreds of cracks. The water attacks cast iron, which “continues to rust and rust and rust,” said Stephen T. Ayers, Architect of the Capitol.

This first major renovation in more than 50 years should add decades of structural integrity to the dome, which Ayers calls perhaps “the most recognizable symbol across the globe.” The $60 million undertaking will heal inner wounds, he said, without changing the way the dome looks from the ground.

Much of the work will be done at night and on weekends. It won’t be as flashy as the 1993 helicopter removal and return of the 19-foot Statue of Freedom from the dome’s top.

The Capitol’s crowning piece is actually two domes, one nested under the other like Russian dolls, and separated by a web of cast-iron braces hidden from view. From the ground it looks like a massive structure that would be too heavy for the building to support if it were indeed made of the solid stone it appears to be.

Instead it is cast iron painted to look like masonry. The lighter material and open space between the inner and outer domes create a physically sustainable structure. But it’s by no means puny.

The dome’s iron and masonry weigh 14.1 million pounds, said Kevin Hildebrand of the Capitol architect’s office. He led reporters up narrow, spiraling stairs that reach the Rotunda’s top, and then give access to the in-between world of girders separating the two domes. Ultimately the steps lead outdoors, to a panoramic walkway beneath the 12-columned lantern, or tholos, topped by the Statue of Freedom.

After a 1990 rainstorm left puddles on the Rotunda’s stone floor, workers found that bird nests had clogged gutters atop the Capitol, helping water penetrate outer walls and streak interior surfaces. Then they found bigger problems. Hundreds of cracks and pinholes in the cast-iron exterior added to the seepage.

Pans now capture the water. Congress finally agreed to spend $60 million for a better, more lasting solution.

“It is the symbol of our country,” Hildebrand said. “It is an icon that has to be preserved.”

The 150-year-old cast iron is low-quality by today’s standards, he said.

“It’s an archaic material,” Hildebrand said. A dome today probably would be built with glass and steel, he said. But Capitol workers must deal with relatively brittle iron that doesn’t respond well to welding.

First they must remove, capture and safely dispose several layers of lead-based paint. When they reach bare iron, they must quickly prime and paint it section by section, Hildebrand said, because it will “flash rust” in eight hours.

To mend cracks, workers will drill and tap damaged areas, and then insert steel pins. “Metal stitching” will complete the process.

Before repairing water damage inside the Rotunda, workers will hang a giant doughnut-shaped drop cloth just below the painted ceiling. Rotunda visitors whose necks can stand the crane will still see The Apotheosis of Washington through the doughnut hole. The 4,664 square-foot painting, 180 feet above the Rotunda floor, depicts George Washington becoming god-like, aided by figures from classical mythology.

“If these repairs are not made, the artwork in the Rotunda, including the Apotheosis of Washington and the Frieze of American History, are at great risk of damage due to water leaks,” says the Architect of the Capitol’s website. “There is only one Capitol Dome,” it says, and the office “is committed to preserving it for generations to come.”

The architect’s office will update the renovation’s progress at www.aoc.gov/dome.

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Follow Charles Babington on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbabington.

AP-WF-12-25-13 1347GMT

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Ralph M. Chait Galleries moving to 730 Fifth Ave.

Gallery owner Allan S. Chait. Image courtesy of Ralph M. Chait Galleries.

NEW YORK – Ralph M. Chait Galleries, the world-renowned specialists in fine antique Chinese porcelain and works of art and export silver, are moving to a new location in the Crown Building, 730 Fifth Ave. Making the announcement was Allan S. Chait, who with his two sons, Andrew and Steven, operates the 104-year old gallery. Their gallery will open on Jan. 6.

“Since the building is next door to us, this is a relatively easy move,” said Allan S. Chait.

“We look forward to showcasing the best Chinese porcelain and works of art in our new gallery,” added Chait, whose three-generation family business, founded by his father Ralph, is the oldest Chinese art specialist in the United States.

The Stylander Design Group has been commissioned to design the new 4,000-square-foot space, which will consist of several connecting galleries and a library, housing an extensive collection of over 5,000 volumes. The new space features high open ceilings, which will imbue the galleries with a contemporary and airy feel.

The Ralph. M. Chait Galleries has an illustrious history. It was founded by Ralph M. Chait, who arrived in New York from London on July 4, 1909.

Originally working with family members in the antiques trade, Chait familiarized himself with various aspects and fields of collecting, but he gravitated toward Chinese art. “From that point on,” said Chait, “my father immersed himself in the study of Chinese art in all its forms.” Ralph Chait opened his first gallery at 19 E. 56th St., where he remained until the late 1920s. His next move was to 600 Madison Ave.

It was during this time that Allan Chait with his older sister, Marion, started helping their father in the gallery. “I learned at his knee,” he says. “My father showed me how to handle the delicate pieces and how to pack them in a very slow and meticulous manner. In later years, he took me on buying trips that included one where we traveled to the English countryside, where we acquired a very special collection. After viewing many different objects, my father cast his eye on a spectacular Kangxi vase, of which there were only eight known at the time. He arranged to have everything shipped back to the States, except for the vase, which he carefully carried with him on the train back to London.”

“I remember him locking the vase in the hotel closet, and when it came time for dinner he refused to go out because he didn’t want to leave the vase. He ordered room service – with settings for three. Puzzled, I asked him: ‘Why three?’and he replied nonchalantly, ‘You, me and our guest of honor.’”

Over the years, the gallery has had various Midtown addresses but no matter which one it was, Chait Galleries always welcomed a parade of notables with a keen interest in Chinese art passing through their gallery doors including President Herbert Hoover, Nelson Rockefeller, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sir Percival David, Martha Graham, Adlai Stevenson and Sen. Hugh Scott. Their clientele also includes a steady stream of prominent interior designers such as Peter Marino, Mario Buatta, Michael Simon and Mark Hampton Inc, all of whom know they can find rare and beautiful objects for the homes of their tony clientele.

Thanks to the reputation of impeccable expertise and scholarship, the Ralph M. Chait Galleries has been a go-to source for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, the Chicago Institute of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Nelson Atkins Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum.

The gallery is a member of the Asia Week New York Association and is a founding member of the National Antique & Art Dealers Association of America and regularly appears at the Winter Antiques Show, as well as the Philadelphia Antiques Show and the Nantucket Historical Society Antique and Design Show.

For more information visit http://www.rmchait.com or phone 212-397-2818.

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Historic Lake Huron lighthouse for sale for $1M

'Port Sanilac Light,' a print by Joe Cilluffo. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and DuMouchelles.

PORT SANILAC, Mich. (AP) – Ice chunks cling to the rocks and float along the shoreline of Lake Huron as heavy snow clouds hover over the horizon, threatening a storm to come. But no matter how dark it gets, the Port Sanilac lighthouse will guide anyone out on the lake to shore.

It’s been that way since 1886.

“When you’re there in the winter and the winds start kicking up, you get a real sense of what it was like when there was a keeper there carrying kerosene up the stairs to the light, doing his job,” said Tim Conklin, who has owned the lighthouse and its attached caretaker’s house with his wife, Ian Aronsson, since the 1990s when she inherited it.

Aronsson’s grandfather Carl Rosenfield, founder of Carl’s Chop House in Detroit, bought the property from the government in 1928 for $4,000 after it was decommissioned.

“Back when the government originally sold the lighthouse, it didn’t have that kind of historic connotation that they do now,” Conklin told The Detroit News. “They just sold it as surplus government property.”

Now the couple has decided to sell the property, which has been the time capsule for more than 80 years of their family’s memories.

“It’s been a constant living history for us,” Conklin said. “The things that are inside, it’s not a museum where things were collected from the period; it’s stuff that’s been used.”

Conklin and Aronsson have used the lighthouse as a weekend and summer home, taking the time to renovate the attached 2,400-square-foot three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home.

Price for the lighthouse and caretaker home: $999,800.

The lighthouse is a beacon for both ships and for the village of about 620 residents in the Thumb area, said Port Sanilac village president Andy Fabian.

“The history is just incredible. There are some great stories attached to that building,” said Fabian, owner of the Van Camp House Restaurant. “It’s the centerpiece of our community.”

The lighthouse was built as a response to increased shipping traffic in the Great Lakes. Two families lived in the caretaker’s house before Rosenfield bought the property.

Until the lighthouse’s lamp was electrified in 1929, the keeper would lug the fuel up 58 feet of stairs to the tower to keep the light burning. The light is now automated and can be seen 16 miles out into the lake, beamed by the lighthouse’s original Fresnel lens, which is owned and cared for by the Coast Guard.

The lighthouse is so important to Port Sanilac, the village considered buying the lighthouse last year, but couldn’t find the funds, said Fabian.

“It was just out of our reach,” he said. “To do a (loan) we would have had to have a supporting millage and it would have been a bad time to put a tax on our residents.”

According to the state tourism website, Michigan has 115 lighthouses, more than any other state. The opportunities to buy one are few and far between.

Since 2000, the federal General Services Administration has sold 26 lights for prices ranging from $10,000 to $933,000, mostly to governmental entities or nonprofits, said Cat Langel, a spokeswoman for the agency’s Great Lakes Division.

Once the U.S. Coast Guard determines a light isn’t necessary anymore, the GSA is authorized to begin the process to find new stewards for the light under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

If the government can’t find a qualified buyer, the law allows the property to be sold at auction, usually with a minimum bid deposit of $10,000, Langel said.

“As with any real estate, there are numerous factors that affect each property’s final price including location, condition of the property, and fluctuations in the real estate market,” she said.

Privately owned lighthouses presently for sale in Michigan include one on Squaw Island, near Beaver Island, which is listed for $3.2 million and includes 69 acres, and the Round Island lighthouse on St. Mary’s River, which is listed for $2.4 million and includes the 7-acre island and a 3-acre mainland parcel.

Anyone who takes on a lighthouse will have to be prepared for the responsibility, said Jeff Shook, president of the Fenton-based Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, which specializes in restoring decommissioned lighthouses around the state.

“It’s somebody that has to have a passion and interest in history, because it’s a lot of upkeep and maintenance in general,” said Shook. “It would be very beneficial to have somebody who has that respect for the history of the tower and the house.”

The Port Sanilac lighthouse is unusual because unlike most lighthouses, it’s in a village, rather than a remote area, he said.

“I always say there’s this lighthouse keeper romance that people have,” said Shook. “You get a remote lighthouse someplace that’s hard to get to and off the beaten track, and hey there’s this family that used to live out there and keep the light and guide ships.”

The view from the top of the Port Sanilac lighthouse includes the water and the nearby marina, which is closed during the winter. But even with few shops open in the area, people still drive past, stopping to pause, roll down their windows and snap photos of the stark white tower standing out against the cloudy sky.

“It’s an iconic monument for our beautiful little town,” said Fabian. “That light shines through the whole winter reminding us we’ll be out on the water soon.”

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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/

AP-WF-12-21-13 1910GMT

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Ky. store owner honors artist Robert Foose with exhibit

Watercolor by Robert James Foose. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Cowan's Auctions Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – A Lexington art shop owner is displaying a retrospective of Kentucky painter Robert James Foose.

Tom Clark decided to honor the work of the late painter at his store when he learned of Foose’s death this fall. The retrospective at Clark Art & Antiques features a few of Foose’s paintings from the early 1960s to recent years.

Clark told the Lexington Herald-Leader Foose influenced many artists in central Kentucky.

Foose was raised in Pennsylvania and attended the University of Kentucky in the early 1960s. He returned to UK in 1984 and became one of the area’s most prolific and frequently exhibited artists.

Clark says that since opening the exhibit last month, a number of former students and associates of Foose have come to see it.

AP-WF-12-23-13 1001GMT

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Reading the Streets: Meres One post-5 Pointz

Meres One at Rag and Bone, New York City/Photo by Ilana Novick.

NEW YORK – Meres One, an artist and curator of the dearly departed 5 Pointz in Long Island City, is back with his first mural following the untimely white-washing of the former graffiti mecca. This time, he’s popped up with a light bulb mural next to the Rag and Bone store on Houston and Elizabeth streets.

The bulbs are black, white and silver, with eyes like aliens. They are either exaggerated, stretched-out ovals or triangles. It gives the bulbs a stunned and annoyed look. The bottoms are coiled which makes the bulbs look like they are choking; maybe that’s why their eyes are popping out? Then again, that’s how I feel about the end of 5 Pointz, so the anger feels appropriate. The words (hashtags) #MeresOne #RestInPause and #5 Pointz are written underneath the bulbs. I’m hoping that Rest In Pause means the end of the Long Island City space is merely a pause in the world of graffiti and street art, that there’s something amazing coming.

The side of a clothing store, which Rag and Bone calls a “designated graffiti area,” is not quite the same as an entire giant building dedicated to graffiti, as 5 Pointz was, but perhaps it is a sign of where street art is now. There’s a lot of smaller, legal walls, often corporate sponsored, that offer a respite from potential arrest, but without the thrill and the freedom of the chase and the claim of spaces as your own. That’s not to say this isn’t often a good thing. Exposure is exposure, sometimes these walls are nonprofit, and plus with all the constant construction in New York, there will always be room for ephemeral tags, wheat pastes, throw-ups, even murals. It’s just a transitional moment, whose meaning (or lack thereof) I imagine I’ll be working out in this column for quite some time.

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