Autographed photo of Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Saco River Auction Co.
NEW YORK (AP) – Hall of Fame football star Jim Brown – running out of time to retrieve his 1964 NFL championship ring – has sued a memorabilia dealer.
The 78-year-old Los Angeles resident filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Manhattan federal court against Lelands.com and Lelands Collectibles Inc.
The lawsuit seeks to halt the sale of the ring in an online auction that ends Friday. It also seeks unspecified damages over broadcast remarks that Lelands’ founder, Joshua Evans, made about Brown.
A message left Wednesday with Evans was not immediately returned.
According to the lawsuit, the ring was stolen from Brown’s Cleveland home in the late 1960s and the robbery was reported to the police.
The lawsuit also accused Evans of making statements in print and broadcast interviews in recent weeks that implied Brown has diminished mental capacity as a result of taking thousands of hits as a football player. On at least one broadcast, though, Evans could be heard describing Brown as the greatest football player of all time and saying Brown was aware that a family member had sold the ring in the 1990s.
The lawsuit said the ring is priceless to the former Cleveland Browns player. The highest bid was $58,948 Wednesday afternoon.
Brown, who works as a Browns special adviser, rushed for 12,312 yards and scored 106 touchdowns in nine seasons before retiring at the peak of his career in 1965. In 1964, he rushed for 1,446 yards and scored seven touchdowns as the Browns won the championship – the last for any major Cleveland sports franchise.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP-WF-07-23-14 2013GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Autographed photo of Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Saco River Auction Co.
Alessandro Mendini, Superego, Totem, scultura totem in ceramica dorata che presenta una successione di elementi quadrati e sferici, firmata ASTI, Italia – Forma o funzione? Decorazione o utilità? Opera d’arte o oggetto di design? Domande su cui da sempre si interrogano designer e architetti e che attraversano come un fil rouge i lotti messi in vendita dalla casa d’aste di Asti specializzata in design Nova Ars il 31 luglio: un originale mix di circa 140 di pezzi di design e opere d’arte contemporanea dagli anni 30 a oggi, con stime dai 500 ai 18.000 euro.
In vendita ci saranno, per esempio, sculture realizzate da designer tra cui “Separazione nostalgica” di Angelo Mangiarotti (lotto 11, stima €3.000-3.500), scultura in plexiglas che il designer e architetto milanese ha realizzato anche in altri materiali come il marmo e il bronzo e che presenta due elementi senza funzione che si possono avvicinare e allontanare; oppure il totem in ceramica dorata “Superego” di Alessandro Mendini (lotto 42, stima €3.000-4.000), esemplare in edizione di otto realizzato su modello di una delle 13 sculture uniche concepite per il progetto “Arts & Crafts & Design. Il tempo secondo Alessandro Mendini e i suoi artigiani” nel 2013; e ancora la scultura perforata di Giò Ponti creata per Sabbatini nel 1978 (lotto 8D, stima €2.000-2.500) e la recente serie di sculture in ceramica di Massimo Giacon (lotti 126-143, stime €2.000-4.000), originali figure in edizione di 50 tra design, fumetto e pop surrealismo che sono state da poco mostrate alla Triennale di Milano.
Ma ci saranno anche vari pezzi di design in cui l’elemento decorativo prevale sulla funzione, come la poltrona “Hérisson” di Marzio Cecchi (lotto 38, stima €13.000-15.000), un designer poco conosciuto, noto solo ai collezionisti, perché ha lavorato poco per l’industria e molto di più per le gallerie ed è stato a lungo attivo negli Stati Uniti. Si tratta di una poltrona a forma di riccio del 1969, realizzata in pochissimi esemplari, che ha saputo anticipare le provocazioni degli anni 70 e 80 e l’abbandono del diktat della funzione a favore della forma e della decorazione, tendenza che rispecchiava un cambiamento di gusto ma anche di società.
Poi, esempi di design pop degli anni 70, come la poltrona a forma di occhio “Le Témoin” di Dino Gavina e Man Ray (lotto 18, stima €2.000-2.500), o la poltrona “Magritta” ispirata ad un quadro di Magritte di Dino Gavina e Sebastián Matta (lotto 19, stima €2.000-2.500).
Tra i pezzi più importanti all’asta ci sarà una cassettiera piramidale del giapponese Shiro Kuramata (lotto 30, stima €15.000-18.000), prodotta da Cappellini nel 1968 in poche edizioni e molto difficile da realizzare perché interamente in plexiglas e con i cassetti uno diverso dall’altro all’interno di una piramide alta quasi due metri. Shiro Kuramata è stato un designer molto attivo in Italia che ha lavorato anche con Ettore Sottsass all’interno di Memphis. Anche Sottsass è rappresentato con diversi pezzi: da alcuni mobili (lotti 22, 25, 32, 36, 44, stime €3.000-10.000) ad una serie di gioielli (lotti 67-72, stime €3.500-6.000).
E poi, ancora, ci saranno opere d’arte legate al design, come le fotografie di oggetti di design realizzate da Occhiomagico e utilizzate come copertine della rivista Domus (lotti 82-113, stime €800-6.000). “Occhiomagico è un gruppo che ha iniziato a lavorare negli anni 70 con Studio Alchimia”, ci spiega lo specialista di Nova Ars Edoardo Scagliola, “e che è stato alquanto dimenticato, ma è in fase di rivalutazione. Già lo scorso ottobre è stata dedicata a questo gruppo una retrospettiva a Mosca all’interno della Design Week”.
Non mancheranno, tuttavia alcuni pezzi più classici come un grande tavolo con struttura in ferro battuto e piano in marmo del 1930 circa di Pierluigi Colli (lotto 2, stima €10.000-15.000); una piantana di Cesare Lacca degli anni 50, che ancora porta il decorativismo tipico del decennio precedente (lotto 8M, stima €1.500-2.000) e alcune lampade degli anni 50, oggi molto di moda, tra cui una di Max Ingrand per Fontana Arte attualmente molto ricercato (lotto 8E, stima €3.400-4.000).
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Alessandro Mendini, Superego, Totem, scultura totem in ceramica dorata che presenta una successione di elementi quadrati e sferici, firmata
Shiro Kuramata, Produzione Cappellini, Piramide, Mobile a cassetti su ruote in metacrilato nero, 1968 circa, 70×60 cm, h 183 cm. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Marzio Cecchi, Studio Most, Hérisson, importante sedia, struttura a stella, vinile argentato, 1969, 80x150x130 cm. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Occhiomagico, Tin Douf, 1979, 33X51 cm, vintage, c-print, dipinta a mano, copia unica. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Massimo Giacon, Love carrot, ceramica, ed. di 50, Superego Editions, 2009, h 58 cm. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Alessandro Mendini, ‘Superego Totem,’ An enameled totem sculpture, signed and numbered 1/8, 23 x 10.6 x 8.3 inches. Courtesy Nova Ars. ASTI, Italy – Form or function? Decorative or utilitarian? Artwork or design object? Questions that designers and architects have always engaged and that run as a leitmotif through the lots offered on July 31 by Ars Nova, the Asti-based auction house specializing in design. The auction will be an original mix of approximately 140 pieces of design and works of contemporary art from the 1930s until today, with estimates ranging from €500 to €18,000.
The sale includes, for example, sculptures created by designers such as Separazione nostalgica by Angelo Mangiarotti (lot 11, estimate €3,000-3,500). The Plexiglas sculpture by Milanese architect and designer has created in other materials, as well, such as marble and bronze, and is composed by two items without function that one can bring closer or draw apart. There’s also the golden ceramic totem Superego by Alessandro Mendini (lot 42, estimate €3,000-4,000), a sculpture that was realized in an edition of eight on the model of 13 unique sculptures designed for the “Arts & Crafts and Design: Alessandro second time Mendini and his craftsmen” project in 2013. And, also, the perforated sculpture created by Giò Ponti for Sabbatini in 1978 (lot 8D, estimate €2,000-2,500), or the recent series of ceramic sculptures by Massimo Giacon (lots 126-143, estimate €2,000-4,000): an original series of figures in edition of 50, which combine design, comics and pop surrealism and were recently shown at the Milan Triennale.
But there will also be various pieces of design in which the decorative element prevails over function. For example, the “Hérisson” armchair by Marzio Cecchi (lot 38, estimate €13,000-15,000). Cecchi is a little-known designer, mainly known among collectors because he worked little for the industry and much more for galleries, and because he was for a long time active in the United States. Shaped like a hedgehog, the armchair was made in very few editions in 1969 and anticipated the provocations of the 1970s and 1980s, the abandonment of the dictates of function in favor of form and decoration – changes that reflected new trends in taste but also in society.
Then, there will be examples of the pop design from the 1970s, such as “The Témoin,” an armchair in the shape of an eye by Dino Gavina and Man Ray (lot 18, estimate €2,000-2,500), or “Magritta,” an armchair inspired by a Magritte painting by Dino Gavina and Sebastián Matta (lot 19, estimate €2,000-2,500).
Among the most important pieces in the auction there will be a pyramidal chest of drawers by Shiro Kuramata (lot 30, estimate €15,000-18,000). It was produced by Cappellini in 1968 in few editions and it was difficult to realize because it is entirely in Plexiglas and all drawers are one different from each other and inserted in a nearly 2-meter-high pyramid. Shiro Kuramata was very active in Italy and also worked with Ettore Sottsass at Memphis. Sottsass is represented in the sale with different pieces: some furniture (lots 22, 25, 32, 36, 44, estimates €3,000-10,000) and a series of jewelry (lots 67-72, estimates €3,500-6,000).
And then, again, there will be artworks related to the design, such as some photographs of design objects made by Occhiomagico and used as covers of Domus magazine (lots 82-113, estimates €800-6,000). “Occhiomagico is a group that started working in the 1970s with Studio Alchemia,” says Ars Nova specialist Edoardo Scagliola. “It has been somehow forgotten but is in the process of re-evaluation. Already last October there was a retrospective dedicated to this group in Moscow during the Design Week.”
However, the sale will also offer some more classic pieces, like a big table with wrought iron and marble top by Pierluigi Colli from circa 1930 (lot 2, estimate €10,000-15,000); a floor lamp by Cesare Lacca from the 1950s, which still bears the decorative style typical of the previous decade (lot 8M, estimate €1,500-2,000) and a few lamps from the 1950s, which are again fashionable, including a Max Ingrand lamp for Fontana Arte that is currently very desirable (lot 8E, estimate €3,400-4,000).
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Alessandro Mendini, ‘Superego Totem,’ An enameled totem sculpture, signed and numbered 1/8, 23 x 10.6 x 8.3 inches. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Shiro Kuramata, produced by Cappellini, Pyramid, drawers, wheels, black methacrylate, circa 1968, 27.5 x 23.6 x 72 inches. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Marzio Cecchi, Studio Most, Hérisson, silver vinyl cloth seat in the shape of a big hedgehog, circa 1969, 31.5 x 59 x 51 inches. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Occhiomagico, ‘Tin Douf,’ 1979, 33 x 51 cm, vintage, c-print, hand-painted, unique. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Massimo Giacon, ‘Love carrot,’ pottery sculpture, edition of 50, Superego Editions, 2009, 22.8 inches high. Courtesy Nova Ars.
Auctioneer Russ Kodner standing beside the highlighted item of the auction, David Davidovich Burliuk’s ‘Paris Rue St. Rock,’ oil on canvas, which sold for $53,100. Kodner Galleries image. DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Mid-Summer in south Florida is hot and steamy but it was a large selection of 20th century art that created the heat at Kodner Galleries’ July 16 auction. The highlighted offering of the evening was a large and vibrant David Davidovich Burliuk, American/Ukrainian (1882-1967) oil on canvas Paris Rue St. Rock selling strong at $53,100. LiveAucionteers.com provided Internet live bidding.
The auction featured works from several large prominent collections representing well-recognized 20th century artists including a John Koch Still Life with Cat, whcih hammered down at $11,800.
Additional highlights were a Chaim Gross bronze selling for $5,664, two Vicente Viudes oils bringing a total of $10,266, a Moses Soyer Ballerinas for $10,620 and several works by Jorge Sanchez totaling $8,024.
The sale also included works by Henry Moore, Karel Appel , Leonardo Nierman and others.
Also sold was Portrait of a Lady attributed to John Michael Wright, Scottish (born circa 1617-1694) for $11,800.
The auction also included a fine Russian Grachev Bros. champleve enamel and crystal cordial set selling for $21,240, an Edouard Ernie silver and horn fish set at $1,550, a Karl Greisbaum enamel singing bird box hammered down at $7,670 and a Faberge letter opener for $2,140.
As with every Kodner Galleries sale the auction included a selection of fine jewelry including a Mughal style 10.30-carat emerald ring that sold for $16,520, a 3.5-carat emerald and diamond ring for $5,425, a Ulysse Nardin chronograph for $4,484 among other quality items.
Thanks to very strong Internet activity, summer is not the slow season for Kodner Galleries’ auctions.
Auctioneer Russ Kodner standing beside the highlighted item of the auction, David Davidovich Burliuk’s ‘Paris Rue St. Rock,’ oil on canvas, which sold for $53,100. Kodner Galleries image.
Early 20th century Russian Grachev Bros. silver, champlevé enamel and etched and cut crystal eight-piece cordial set. Price realized: $21,240. Kodner Galleries image.
Antique enamel singing bird box automaton by Karl Greisbaum. Price realized: $7,670. Kodner Galleries image.
San Diego Convention Center, site of Comic-Con International: San Diego, which kicked off with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 23, and continues through Sunday, July 27. Photo by D.G. Amas. SAN DIEGO – It’s the day before Preview Night at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Over the last few days, San Diego International Airport has bubbled quietly with the steady influx of vendors from comic book and original comic art dealers to movie studio minions, all of whom arrived early to set up booths, finish presentations and sweat the last minute details before the opening of the largest pop culture convention in North America.
Today, though, that steady stream will turn into a deluge. Starting tonight and then through the next four days, a tidal wave of fans will cascade through the airport, through the beautiful old Santa Fe rail station and across the interstate highways into downtown San Diego, where the event simply takes over the city.
As recently as 1994, when the San Diego Convention Center was half its present size, there was actually another convention going on at the same time. Its attendance reported at about 30,000 over the course of the convention.
Even though the convention center has doubled in size since then, the show’s attendance has been capped in realm of 130,000 for several years now. Events have expanded to include the hotels on either side of the convention center. By late afternoon Pacific Time, the fashionable, pedestrian-friendly Gaslamp Quarter will team with walkers headed to and from the hall. Area restaurants will have unpleasant wait-lists.
The attendance cap continues to be cause for concern to many. San Diego is scheduled to break ground in Spring 2015 on a major expansion of the facility as Comic-Con’s dominance of the field is not as crystal clear as it once was.
Over the last few years, it’s become clear the ReedPop’s New York Comic Con will give San Diego a run for its money in terms of attendance. Both conventions are just about maxed out due to their present facilities, but San Diego seems to have figured out a path forward while Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Convention Center and government officials thus far have offered little in the way of solutions.
In terms of influence and staying power, the title is not yet really up for grabs. San Diego remains king.
Wednesday’s activities will occur mainly on the show floor, as fans take in displays and see what the vendors have to offer. Traditionally, Preview Night, which is theoretically exclusively for the attendees who purchased admission to the four full days, Thursday-Sunday, has only limited panel activities.
This year’s Wednesday night activities focus on sneak peeks for four television properties based on DC Comics characters (the pilots for the live action shows The Flash, iZombie and Constantine, and the return of animated Teen Titans Go).
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
San Diego Convention Center, site of Comic-Con International: San Diego, which kicked off with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 23, and continues through Sunday, July 27. Photo by D.G. Amas.When the show opens around 6 p.m. (it’s always a bit earlier, but that’s the posted time), wide open walking space in front of the San Diego Convention Center are a distant and enticing memory. Photo by D.G. Amas.
The striking, full-length portrait of Christabel Pankhurst by Ethel Wright shows the subject in a flowing green dress and boldly wearing a sash with the distinctive colored stripes adopted by many suffragettes – purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope. Depicted in a theatrical pose, and illuminated against a dark background, Pankhurst is portrayed as though she could be marching or speaking passionately on a stage. The artist, Ethel Wright, was a society painter who supported the suffrage cause.
The portrait was first displayed at the radical “Women’s Exhibition,” which was staged in Kensington, London, in 1909. Organized by the suffragettes, and cleverly promoted as a traditional village fete and a showcase of women’s skills and potential, the real motivation behind the exhibition was to raise funds for the militant group and to raise awareness of their cause. Since then it has only been seen at two small exhibitions in the early 1930s, organized by suffrage societies. The portrait was purchased by prominent suffragette Una Dugdale Duval in 1909, and has remained with the family until this bequest.
Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, was a primary strategist in the Women’s Social and Political Union, the suffrage organization founded by her mother to galvanize the campaign for women’s right to vote in the early 20th century. Despite petitions to parliament demanding women’s enfranchisement, by the first decades of the 20th century, women still had virtually no influence in the making of policies that would affect their lives.
Christabel Pankhurst trained as a lawyer at Manchester University and gained a first-class law degree but, as a woman, was unable to practice as a barrister. Pankhurst used her legal knowledge in speeches and pamphlets to highlight the inequality faced by women and, as an inspirational speaker and astute strategist, she became a figurehead for the militant suffrage movement.
The portrait of Pankhurst will be shown alongside a new display marking 100 years since key members of the suffragettes attacked important works of art in the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery to draw attention to their cause. “Suffragettes: Deeds not Words” explores the events that took place during the final months before the outbreak of World War I, when, after years of peaceful campaigning, the actions of the suffragettes escalated to civil disobedience and serious vandalism, including arson and bombing, to get their voices heard.
Showcasing a selection of rare photographs of the suffragettes campaigning as well as original archive documents, this display will focus on the protagonists of the attacks and the reaction of the police, the press and the National Portrait Gallery itself. Included are photographs of the significant damage to the National Portrait Gallery’s painting of its founder Thomas Carlyle by Millais, attacked by Anne Hunt, and a photograph of damage to the Royal Academy’s portrait of Henry James by Sargent, now in the National Portrait Gallery Collection and on display in the adjacent room.
Emmeline Pankhurst’s arrest at Buckingham Palace, Emily Davison’s funeral procession and a portrait of Mary Richardson, who was notorious for attacking the Rokeby Venus by Diego Velasquez at the National Gallery, are among the other photographs on display. The display also includes surveillance photographs of a number of Suffragettes, which were issued to the National Portrait Gallery by the Criminal Record Bureau in 1914. The attacks ceased at the outbreak of World War I, when the Suffragettes agreed a truce in favor of the war effort.
Franz Marc’s (1880-1916) ‘Pferde in Landschaft’ (Horses in Landscape), circa 1911, gouache on paper, was among the looted artworks passed down from Hildebrand Gurlitt to his son, Cornelius Gurlitt. BERLIN (AFP) – Sculptures thought to be by masters Degas and Rodin have been found in the flat of the late German art collector whose priceless hoard included Nazi-looted works, investigators said Thursday.
Images of the works, once their origins are verified, will be published in the online inventory www.lostart.de to help trace their rightful owners in case they were once plundered by the Nazis, said the task force in charge of the investigation.
The sculptures were only recently found in the Munich flat of Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive son of a Nazi-era art dealer. Gurlitt died in May at age 81, after the discovery of his vast collection drew worldwide attention last year.
Before his death, Gurlitt struck an accord with the German government to help track down the rightful owners of pieces in his trove of 1,280 paintings, drawings and sketches, including Jews whose property was stolen or extorted under the Third Reich.
The works – including masterpieces by Picasso and Monet – were seized in early 2012 when they were discovered by chance during a tax evasion probe.
The latest works, a far smaller find, were only discovered after his death, by Munich probate court officials who were sent to secure Gurlitt’s estate, the task force statement said.
The new find includes “a sculpture that is probably by Edgar Degas and a marble sculpture that, after a first inspection, may be a work of the French artist Auguste Rodin,” said the task force.
Its head, Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel, promised “thorough research work and a transparent presentation of the new discovery” in the interest of “the victims of Nazi art theft as well as the heirs of Cornelius Gurlitt.”
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Franz Marc’s (1880-1916) ‘Pferde in Landschaft’ (Horses in Landscape), circa 1911, gouache on paper, was among the looted artworks passed down from Hildebrand Gurlitt to his son, Cornelius Gurlitt.
