Jeff Koons, ‘Balloon Monkey (Orange),’ high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating, 150 x 235 x 126 in. (381 x 596.9 x 320 cm), executed in 2006-2013. Estimate: $20 million-$30 million. Chistie’s Images Ltd.
NEW YORK – On the heels of the foremost Jeff Koons’ retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Christie’s will offer Balloon Monkey (Orange), as one of the highlights of the November evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art.
Jeff Koons’ monumental stainless steel sculpture with its impressive scale, fluid line and immaculate mirror-like surfaces, achieves a perfect tension between representation and abstraction. One year after Balloon Dog (Orange) set the world auction record for any living artist, Christie’s will present the 20-foot-long Balloon Monkey (Orange) at the entrance of Christie’s 20 Rockefeller Plaza for six weeks, before being sold on Nov. 12.
Seven years in the making, Balloon Monkey (Orange) marks a spectacular new chapter in Jeff Koons oeuvre. Looking at the smooth, highly polished surface of this monolithic balloon animal, one can appreciate how the artist has progressively attained ever-greater heights of perfection. He achieves this through careful planning, dogged determinism and an uncompromising commitment to his vision – outstripping even advanced industry in his technological ambition.
This is one of five unique Balloon Monkey sculptures made from precision engineered, mirror-polished stainless steel finished with a translucent brightly colored palette coating of either: blue, magenta, orange, red or yellow.
The landmark exhibition at the Whitney Museum of America Art, ending Oct. 19, is the most comprehensive survey ever devoted to the artist’s pioneering oeuvre and his first major museum retrospective in New York. The touring show will reopen again in November at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where it will coincide with a display of works at the Musée du Louvre that will include examples of his Balloon Rabbit, Balloon Swan, and Balloon Monkey sculptures.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Jeff Koons, ‘Balloon Monkey (Orange),’ high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating, 150 x 235 x 126 in. (381 x 596.9 x 320 cm), executed in 2006-2013. Estimate: $20 million-$30 million. Chistie’s Images Ltd.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Jack Dawson’ screen-worn ‘Titanic’ coat. Profiles in History image.
LOS ANGELES – Recognized from one of the most notable scenes in the Oscar-winning film Titanic, Leonardo Di Caprio’s “Jack Dawson” screen-worn coat from the unforgettable “I’m the king of the world” scene heads the lineup of Hollywood entertainment items being offered at Profiles in History’s Hollywood Icons Auction taking place Oct. 17-20.
LiveAuctioneers, which has produced exclusive video about this important sale, will provide Internet live bidding.
The one-of-a-kind period coat was never duplicated for production and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the film’s Academy Award-winning costume designer, Deborah Lynne Scott, who personally chose it for Di Caprio. The coat has an estimate of $50,000-$70,000.
“What better piece of film memorabilia than Jack’s highly recognizable coat to launch our Hollywood Auction?” said Joseph Maddelena, president and CEO of Profiles in History. “DiCaprio wore it throughout the beginning of the film and most notably in the unforgettable sequence when he, ‘Jack’ hoists himself onto the bow of the cruising ocean liner proclaiming, ‘I’m the king of the world!’ a quote which now ranks no. 100 by the American Film Institute’s top 100 movie quotations in American Cinema.”
Additional Titanic collection memorabilia being offered is a selection of opulent, fine fashion and accessories worn by the female socialites portrayed in the film, including Frances Fisher’s “Ruth Dewitt Bukater” screen-worn coat and vintage pearl earrings ($3,000+), a trio of her screen-worn earrings (1,500+), and Kathy Bates’ “Molly Brown” screen-worn necklace ($1,000+) among other items from the epic blockbuster.
“We have compiled an enormous assortment of collectibles for this particular auction, spanning a large portion of entertainment history,” said Maddalena. “Not since the legendary MGM Auction of 1970 has there been an entertainment memorabilia auction of this magnitude. The DiCaprio coat is just a sample of the extraordinary selection of items being offered at the forthcoming four-day auction. Spanning the silent era to modern film, the immense selection encompasses a collection of lots from high-profile celebrities, films, TV, music and Broadway icons among other commanding entertainment people and moments.”
Among a collection of Steve McQueen memorabilia, Profiles in History will include the “Virgil Hilts” signature prison sweatshirt from The Great Escape (estimate: $12,000+) and the Naval sailor jumpsuit worn by McQueen in the Robert Wise period film The Sand Pebbles (estimate: $6,000+).
From Game of Thrones, Season 1, fans will have an opportunity to collect the “Robert Baratheon” crown, which was central to the provocation of all the tragedies and triumphs that followed throughout the addicting premiere season of the globally popular series (estimate: $15,000+).
One of the most iconic tools in any action hero’s arsenal is the “Indiana Jones” whip used in the 1981, 1984 and 1989 Indiana Jones movies (estimate: $50,000+).
From the historic TV series that developed into a film franchise, Profiles in History is featuring an extensive array of Star Trek relics. The hero screen-used Ricardo Montalban signature “Khan” tunic, wrist communicator and Starfleet necklace from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn is from the infamous character considered to be one of Star Trek’s most familiar and beloved villains (estimate: $30,000+). In addition, there are 20 lots from the personal collection of Jonathan Frakes, who played “Commander William T. Riker,” which features a lot of more than 250 scripts from Star Trek: The Next Generation (estimate: $6,000+).
The original vintage Jumanji screen-used “Carry Board” game with letter from director Joe Johnston is expected to procure $30,000 or more.
Additional prominent pieces: An amazing archive of 14 signed letters by Harry Houdini debunking famous psychic “Margery”; the Captain America motorcycle from the 1969 counterculture classic Easy Rider; a collection of 12 high-profile costumes and weapons from The Lord of The Rings Trilogy; rare items from The Wizard of Oz; a herd of collectibles from Jurassic Park; Citizen Kane lots featuring an Orson Welles screen-worn costume; and there is The Da Vinci Code actual functioning brass “cryptex” with rose box.
Among the highly anticipated music items are the Stevie Ray Vaughan vintage guitar and an Elvis Presley Concorde Guitar from the Joe Esposito Collection.
For details contact Profiles in History by phone at 310-859-7701.
Click on the links below to view exclusive video auction previews produced by LiveAuctioneers:
Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Jack Dawson’ screen-worn ‘Titanic’ coat. Profiles in History image.
‘Robert Baratheon’ crown from Season 1 of ‘Game of Thrones.’ Profiles in History image.
Marilyn Monroe ‘cocktail’ dress. Profiles in History image.
Robin Williams ‘Mork’ costume from the ‘Mork and Mindy’ TV series. Profiles in History image.
Bullwhip used by Harrison Ford in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981), ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ (1984)’ and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989). Profiles in History image.
Mork’s egg spacecraft from the the ABC sitcom ‘Mork and Mindy’ (1978-1982). Profiles in History image.
FDR’s study is preserved in the library. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
HYDE PARK, N.Y. (AP) – Attendance increased dramatically at the FDR Presidential Library and Home in Hyde Park, around the time that Ken Burns’ documentary series on the Roosevelts aired on public television.
The FDR National Historic Site sold 10,500 tickets from Sept. 14-30, up 24 percent from the same time period in 2013, according to spokesman Clifford Laube.
Sales at the library and museum’s New Deal Store increased nearly 40 percent during Sept. 14-20, the week the film aired, compared with the same week in 2013, Laube said. The attraction’s website had 65,300 visitors that week, compared to just 8,700 the same week last year.
Burns’ series looked at the lives and legacies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor, and an earlier Roosevelt president, Theodore.
The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace on East 20th Street in Manhattan, which is a National Park Service site, has also observed a slight rise in visitation since the Burns series aired, according to National Park Service spokeswoman Mindy Rambo. “And documentary-related questions are through the roof, so people are coming with purpose,” Rambo said.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-10-01-14 2011GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
FDR’s study is preserved in the library. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
An image of the painting posted on the Banksy website. Image courtesy of banksy.co.uk
LONDON (AP) – Authorities in southern England were embarrassed but defensive Thursday after telling workers to destroy a mural they later realized was created by the internationally famous graffiti artist Banksy.
Banksy’s often satirical works have fetched up to $1.8 million at auction and his images have been controversially stripped from walls and sold for high prices.
The latest mural, which featured pigeons carrying anti-immigration banners, appeared at Clacton-on-Sea, the site of a special election next week featuring the anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party. Tendring Council spokesman Nigel Brown said Thursday that the mural was chemically removed from the wall after complaints that it was racist.
“There was a sharp intake of breath when we realized it was a Banksy,” Brown said.
The mural, featured on Banksy’s website, showed pigeons holding up signs directed at one exotic-looking bird. One banner reads “Go Back to Africa” while another says “Migrants not welcome.”
The elusive artist has a knack for courting attention with an ingenious mix of timing and clever placement. He left an espionage-themed graffiti artwork in the hometown of Britain’s electronic spy agency soon after some of its covert activities were revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Brown said the Clacton mural probably went up Monday or Tuesday – only days before the closely fought Oct. 9 by-election that was sparked when the local Conservative Party lawmaker switched his allegiance to UKIP. Brown said he didn’t know about the mural until a reporter asked about its location after seeing the image on the artist’s website.
Brown defended the council, saying it had a duty to act on concerns that the mural was inappropriate.
“We would love him to come back,” he said. “We’re not against Banksy or murals.”
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-10-02-14 1159GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
An image of the painting posted on the Banksy website. Image courtesy of banksy.co.uk
The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The State Capitol administrator and other officials are defending the cost of restoring 46 antique statehouse chairs at nearly $2,000 each, while Nebraska’s governor questioned if the work could have been done for less.
The wood-and-leather chairs are the original furniture used when the State Capitol opened in 1932, and state Capitol administrator Bob Ripley said it cost $87,000 to restore them. He said using funds to refurbish the chairs saves money in the long run because they don’t have to be replaced frequently by cheaper substitutes.
The chairs are still historically accurate and museum quality, Ripley said. Purchasing new chairs would have cost twice as much as restoring the old chairs.
“The governor’s office suite was designed to be a very special space,” he said. “The items put in there were very exotic. It was designed to be a showplace. If we had brought just something close, it would have degraded the value of the building.”
Two Capitol Commission members also defended the refurbished chairs. State Sen. Greg Adams said the furniture will last a long time, and former state Sen. Jim Cudaback said the chairs should be preserved in their original state as much as possible.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman said he wasn’t aware of the chair renovation’s exact cost until the Omaha World-Herald contacted him. Heineman, who heads the Commission, said in a statement that Ripley “should have been more sensitive to the cost.”
But Ripley cited another flap that occurred over high-priced furniture, which he said proves investing in quality furniture creates savings in the long run. State lawmakers were criticized in 1990 by some members of the public when they approved buying 56 office chairs for legislative committee hearing rooms at $1,400 each.
Ripley said that before 1990, those chairs had been replaced about every three to four years at a cost of around $400 each. The purchase ultimately saved money because over 24 years, that would have meant a cost of between $2,400 and $3,200 per chair.
The chairs bought in 1990 haven’t been replaced and have needed only minor touch-ups, he said.
“Those chairs are as good today as they were then,” he said.
Ripley said the 46 antique chairs should last at least 20 years.
“It’s far smarter to take care of what we have,” he said.
Rare color photo of the trial at Nuremberg showing the defendants guarded by American Military Police. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A Dallas woman bid $9,000 for documents from the Nuremberg trials that were found in an old locked trunk in Alaska that belonged to a postwar stenographer.
Fran Berg, a member of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, was the highest bidder for the items in an auction of World War II memorabilia Saturday by the Alaska Auction Co. in Anchorage. With a 15 percent buyer’s premium paid to the auction house, Berg paid a total of $10,350.
“This is very special,” Berg said Wednesday of the collection, which includes carbon copies of trial transcripts that had belonged to the late Maxine Carr, a stenographer at the war-crimes trials following the war.
The collection also includes a staff directory for the multinational tribunal that prosecuted scores of Nazi masterminds in the trials, a translated letter to Nazi faithful that signs off with “Heil Hitler” and personal credentials, correspondence and canisters of undeveloped film.
The documents were found stored in Carr’s long-vacant Anchorage home. Carr died at least a decade ago, but it’s not clear exactly when.
Berg said she has long known concentration camp survivors. Also, her late father-in-law was a Jewish-American U.S. soldier who helped liberate Nazi victims from a concentration camp in Dachau. It was a piece of his history he never talked about except once when he agreed to tell his story on videotape for Holocaust Museum Houston.
Carr’s collection resonated with Berg when she got word it was available by auction. That the items were found in a trunk reminded her of her father-in-law, who had kept military discharge papers and medals in a shoebox she found in a closet after his death six years ago.
“You put it away in a trunk, and nobody will ever know,” Berg said of the Carr collection. “That trunk is so full of history that the world needs to know.”
Berg bought the items as a private citizen and said she wants to show it to war survivors and universities, and offer it on loan to museums as a traveling exhibit. She also wants to interview Carr’s 91-year-old widower, Chand Sud, who lives in an Anchorage assisted living facility.
At the auction, other people were bidding on the Nuremberg items with the intention of destroying them so that part of history would not be glorified, according to Christine Hill, who has owned the Anchorage auction house with her husband for 30 years. Hill said she was happy that the collection went to someone who believes it’s an era that should never be forgotten.
When Berg learned she submitted the winning bid, she called Hill crying.
“She was so happy she got it,” Hill said. “I was really touched, and I started crying a little bit.”
Wood-carver Harold Enlow’s depiction of Dogpatch characters Daisy Mae Yokum, Li’l Abner Yokum and their son Honest Abe Yokum. Image courtesy of Don Arnett and the Boone County (Ark.) Heritage Museum.
HARRISON, Ark. (AP) – Harold Enlow’s family was in the roofing business, but he found that it was not a good fit for him.
“Man, it was hot in the summer,” he said, “and cold in the winter.”
“And you’re afraid of heights,” his wife, Elaine reminded him.
“And I was afraid of heights,” Harold said, chuckling at the reminder.
The Springfield, Mo., native eventually found more agreeable work with a new family in a new town, that being the Yokums of Dogpatch, USA, the Harrison Daily Times reported.
Harold was the wood carver from 1968 to 1975 at the Newton County theme park based on Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip, which ran in newspapers from 1934 to 1977. From pieces of beechwood and working by the name of George Bernard Saw, he carved figures of Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae, Pappy Yokum, Jubilation T. Cornpone and the other memorable citizens of the imaginary hillbilly town of Dogpatch.
Some of Harold’s original creations, many of them one-of-a-kind, will be on display at the Boone County Heritage Museum from Oct. 14 to 17. The figures are on loan from Don Arnett, a New York collector and wood carver.
“We have not seen the carvings for many years either,” Elaine said, “so it will be like a family reunion for us.”
Elaine and Harold led the way through the cluttered workshop and storehouse, which verged on being a woodcarving museum, at their home in the Newton County woods just a few miles from the former theme park. In their post-Dogpatch days, the Enlows have kept busy in the woodcarving business. In addition to turning out more of the whimsical figurines that got him started, Harold conducts woodcarving classes all over the United States and Canada. Elaine does some carving, but mainly she paints the figures and handles other parts of the business.
Harold recalled the days spent carving figures for the tourists who came to Dogpatch. A self-taught artist, he admitted that, at first, he was not very good at girls’ faces, like Daisy Mae’s.
“I am now,” he quickly added.
Many people from Harrison had summer jobs at Dogpatch, Harold said. In fact, he claimed that several well-known couples actually started courting in his wood shop.
Elaine said that a couple from St. Louis, the Heimburgers, would come to Dogpatch every summer. The Heimburgers, Harold added, owned a popular bakery that was known for its classic gooey butter cake. The Heimburgers always bought several of Harold’s figures and took them back to St. Louis.
When the Heimburgers died, Elaine said, their children put the Dogpatch figures up for sale on eBay. That’s where Arnett bought them for $3,000.
“All of our carvings seem like family,” Elaine said, “and it is always so nice when they go to a good home. We know the couple who originally owned them really did like them. Don is going to be another good caregiver.”
For more information on the exhibit, call the Boone County Heritage Museum at 870-741-3312.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-10-01-14 1223GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Wood-carver Harold Enlow’s depiction of Dogpatch characters Daisy Mae Yokum, Li’l Abner Yokum and their son Honest Abe Yokum. Image courtesy of Don Arnett and the Boone County (Ark.) Heritage Museum.Confederate Gen. Jubilation T. Cornpone, Dogpatch’s founder and most famous son. Image courtesy of Don Arnett and the Boone County (Ark.) Heritage Museum.The ample and fertile Widder Fruitful, a Dogpatch regular. Image courtesy of Don Arnett and the Boone County (Ark.) Heritage Museum.
