October 2014 - Page 3 of 19 - Auction Central News

Earth’s natural wonders on display in Morphy’s Nov. 8 Mineral Auction

Gold specimen, Belshazzar Mine, Boise County, Idaho; 24.56 oz total weight / 19.35 oz pure gold content, ex Farnham collection. Est. $80,000-$110,000. Morphy Auctions image

DENVER, Pa. – Geological treasures of every imaginable color and origin will take the spotlight on Saturday, November 8th as Morphy’s presents an eye-filling 116-lot auction of rare minerals. Bidders will be able to participate online through LiveAuctioneers.

The anticipated top lot of the sale is Lot 10, a spectacular 257-gram Tanzanite crystal. Found in the Merelani Hills region near Arusha, Umba Valley, Tanzania, the intense blue-purple specimen is a true rarity with perfect proportions culminating in a sharp, chiseled determination. Previously in a private collection assembled by a gem broker in Arusha, this crystal was sold to an investor a few years ago.

“Tanzanite crystals only come from one place in the world, a mine complex that is already past the 1.5-kilometer depth mark,” said Morphy Auctions president, Dan Morphy. “The mine is still going, but there’s a limit, and access to Tanzanite crystals like the one in our sale will eventually end.” Measuring 10.9 by 4.7 by 3.5cm, the crystal is estimated at $100,000-$125,000.

Another geological beauty that’s expected to land in the money is Lot 102, an important, 100-percent natural gold specimen from Boise County, Idaho. It was found with a metal detector in 2008 at the old dumps of Belshazzar Mine. “Crystallized gold from this locality was barely known until this find,” Morphy noted. After this particular specimen’s discovery, the Belshazzar Mine area became known as one of the top US locales for gold in crystal form. The piece has been assayed by specific gravity at 19.35 ounces of pure gold content out of 24.56 ounces of total weight, including the matrix rock. Of investment grade and measuring 10.8 by 7.7 by 6.7cm, it is expected to sell for $80,000-$110,000.

Lot 9, a large, chrome-green emerald sourced at the Muzo Mine in Colombia, exhibits a radiant, intense color and is described in Morphy’s catalog as “translucent and brilliantly sparkling…great cabochon material for the jewelry trade.” Most emeralds of its size and weight (crystal: 3 by 2.7 by 2cm; overall 6.8 by 6.1 by 4.3cm, 174 grams) would have been cut, but this particular gem was saved and became part of the Dr. Marvin Rausch collection. Its estimate is $30,000-$40,000.

From the Shigar Valley of Gilgit, Pakistan, comes Lot 101, a fine-quality aquamarine with an intensity, clarity, brilliance and transparency that puts it among the top percentile of specimens ever found at that locale. “This is truly a special piece. It’s so sharp and clean that, at first glance, it looks faceted rather than natural,” Morphy said. Weighing 98 grams and presented on a custom display base, it is entered in the sale with a $25,000-$30,000 estimate.

One of the finest gems in the sale is Lot 44, an amethyst found in Las Vigas de Ramirez, Veracruz, Mexico. A major specimen for that locality, it weighs 1,890 grams and features glassy, intensely colored purple crystals up to 4.5cm in length. Undoubtedly older and with provenance from the Schertz collection assembled in the 1980s-1990s, the 17 by 15.7 by 14.5cm amethyst is estimated at $20,000-$25,000.

Other highlights include Lot 98, a massive 25-lb quartz crystal from Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil, ex Schertz collection and estimated at $12,000-$15,000; and Lot 3, a 106-gram tourmaline, ex Bill Larson collection and Farnham collection, sourced at the Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, California, and estimated at $6,000-$9,000.

Morphy’s Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 Mineral Auction will commence at 9 a.m. Eastern time. For additional information on any item in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or email info@morphyauctions.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Tourmaline, Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, California; 106 grams, ex Larson and Farnham collections. Est. $6,000-$9,000. Morphy Auctions image

Emerald, Muzo Mine, Boyaca Dept, Colombia; 174 grams, ex Dr. Marvin Rausch collection. Est. $30,000-$40,000. Morphy Auctions image

Tanzanite crystal, Merelani Hills near Arusha, Umba Valley, Tanzania; 257 grams, from a private collection. Est. $100,000-$125,000. Morphy Auctions image

Matrix Tanzanite, Merelani Hills near Arusha, Umba Valley, Tanzania. Est. $50,000-$60,000.

Amethyst, Las Vigas de Ramirez, Veracruz, Mexico; 1,890 grams, ex Schertz collection. Est. $20,000-$25,000. Morphy Auctions image

Quartz crystal, Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil; 25 lbs. Est. $12,000-$15,000. Morphy Auctions image

Aquamarine, Shigar Valley, Gilgit, Pakistan; 98 grams, ex Schertz collection. Est. $25,000-$30,000. Morphy Auctions image

Waplington & McQueen photo collaboration coming to Tate

'Nick Waplington/Alexander McQueen: Working Process' photography exhibition. Image credit: copyright Nick Waplington

LONDON – Tate Britain’s spring 2015 photography exhibition presents the result of a unique collaboration between the artist Nick Waplington and the acclaimed fashion designer Alexander McQueen. This major exhibition will reveal McQueen’s working practice through a selection of over 130 large and small scale photographs, including images never seen before. The exhibition is timed to coincide with the Victoria and Albert Museum’s “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” fashion exhibition.

Waplington photographed McQueen’s idiosyncratic creative journey as he prepared and presented his final Autumn/Winter collection, “The Horn of Plenty,” in 2009. He was given unprecedented access to McQueen’s studio, and captured an intense and theatrical working process, from sketching to production to the Paris catwalk show. McQueen conceived “The Horn of Plenty” collection as an iconoclastic retrospective of his career in fashion, reusing silhouettes and fabrics from his earlier collections, and creating a catwalk set out of broken mirrors and discarded elements from the sets of his past shows. This radical theme provided inspiration for Waplington, best known for his photographic work centered on issues of class, identity and conflict. Their artistic collaboration reveals a raw and unpolished side of the fashion world, juxtaposing candid images of McQueen’s working process with rigorously produced photographs of landfill sites and recycling plants, to create a powerful commentary on destruction and creative renewal.

The photobook that resulted from this collaboration is unlike anything of its kind. Waplington and McQueen worked on the book together and a large maquette of the book, which they shared as they edited the work, will be on display.

“Nick Waplington/Alexander McQueen: Working Process” is curated by Simon Baker, curator of photography and international art, Tate, Carolyn Kerr, head of program management and Isabella Maidment, assistant curator contemporary British art, Tate Britain.

The exhibition runs March 10 to May 17, 2015.

Nick Waplington (b.1965) is a British photographer born in Aden, Yemen, and based in London and New York City.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Miscellaneana: Della Robbia pottery

Della Robbia charger incised with a leaf and flower pattern by Cassandra Annie Walker and her colleague Charles Collis. A painter’s mark ‘FM’ is possibly the mysterious Miss Furniss. It is estimated at £1,000-1,200. Photo by Peter Wilson

LONDON – Perhaps it’s sheer coincidence, but the current rise in the popularity of Della Robbia pottery – and hence the spiraling sums it’s fetching in the saleroom – can be attributed to the publication earlier this year of the definitive new book on the subject. Whether it will be sustained is another matter.

The Della Robbia Pottery, Birkenhead, 1894-1906, published by the Antique Collectors’ Club, is a scholarly work charting what must be one of the shortest-lived ceramics enterprises ever.

Its strength for me, however, is an A to Z list of the artists and workers employed there and the marks they used to identify their work. Many even have head and shoulder portrait photographs, making it surely the most complete list to date. It brings every identifiable piece to life, adding another dimension to the joy of collecting pieces from this unique factory.

Equally intriguing, of course, is the number of pieces and the workers responsible for making them yet to be identified, known either not at all or by only their Christian names or initials, both areas of collecting that could make further research highly rewarding.

The book’s author is Peter Hyland, a member of the Northern Ceramic and the English Ceramic Societies and a senior volunteer at the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke. He explains that at first, male workers handled the unfired clay, while the women were responsible for painting the fired ware.

Over time, however, this demarcation became blurred and pieces with just one set of initials or monogram indicate that one person was responsible for both designing and incising and painting its decoration. Perhaps because female artists tended to stay at the factory longer, partly because they had received some form of art training, surviving pieces by them appear to be more readily available to today’s collectors.

Royal Doulton had its Barlow sisters; Wedgwood its Daisy Makeig Jones; and the Staffordshire Potteries, such gifted individuals as Clarice Cliff, Charlotte Rhead and Susie Cooper. Della Robbia was not lacking in talented female artist designers, any or all of whose work would make a fascinating collection.

The pieces illustrated are part of a large collection coming up for sale at Nantwich, Cheshire, auctioneers Peter Wilson on Nov. 26-27. Thanks to Hyland, we have biographies of most of them.

Top of any list must be Cassandra Annie Walker, whom Hyland describes as the mainstay of the pottery. Not only did she work there almost continuously for the short time it was in production, she was arguably its best artist designer.

Walker was born into a relatively well off Liverpool family in 1875, joining Della Robbia not long after it started in 1894. Soon her name was being attached to pieces on exhibition, notably those at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery and at London’s Albert Hall, and as an assistant to Harold Rathbone, the pottery’s founder. She attended classes at Liverpool School of Architecture and Applied Arts (the Art Sheds) and won a scholarship to take a course at Westminster School of Art in London.

She specialized in wall plaques, decorated with colorful patterns of interweaving Art Nouveau plant and organic forms, combined with heraldic and Celtic motifs. Their designs achieve a harmony between the shape of the pots and the designs that are woven across their surfaces.

She emigrated to Canada two years after the factory closed and died in 1936. Look for her initials “CAW”, “CW” or her monogram of a W surrounded by a curly C. Look also for the stylized sailing ship logo that appears on much of the ware.

Annie Smith’s story is less than happy. She was born in Birkenhead in 1876 and was adopted by a railway watchman and his Welsh wife in 1881. By 1896, she was working as a colorist at the pottery, during which time she signed and dated some pieces, but what happened next is not known.

The 1901 census lists her as a patient in Chester’s lunatic asylum. Later that year she signed on at the Art Sheds for painting and drawing classes, resuming her work at the pottery until its closure. In 1911, she was unmarried and still living, with her adoptive parents. Her work is marked “AS”, while her monogram is formed by her intertwined initials traced by a continuous line.

Liz, or Lizzie, Wilkins was another young woman from Birkenhead who joined the pottery soon after it opened and left in 1904 to get married. Despite having had no art training, she incised designs on pottery prior to painting it and her painted initials are said to be commonly found. She was also one of the artists entrusted with painting the Della Robbia panels for the fountain in the Savoy Hotel.

Unlike all other Della Robbia designers, Suffolk artist and sculptor Ellen Mary Rope (1855-1934) was the only one who did not actually work at the pottery. Instead, she was persuaded by Rathbone to supply designs and plaster models which, The Magazine of Art stated in 1897, were “peculiarly adaptable to Della Robbia methods.”

In an auction earlier this month, a rare pair of 20-inch square Della Robbia panels, one with an angel and a child, the other with a mother and child, the child holding a lily sold for a thumping £8,500 ($13,700).

Both were designs done originally as the outer panels of a triptych in memory of the sculptor’s brother, Dr. Henry John Rope. The triptych was installed in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, while the pottery subsequently produced and sold a small number of the panels inscribed with her signature.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Della Robbia vase incised and painted with Art Nouveau flowers and leaves by Cassandra Annie Walker. It is estimated at £300-400. Photo by Peter Wilson

Della Robbia twin-handle vase incised with flowers by Arthur Bells and painted by Annie Smith. It is estimated at £300-500. Photo by Peter Wilson

Della Robbia dish dated 1895 incised with a Leopard in a 17th century style by Harry Fletcher and painted by Annie Smith. It is estimated at £200-300. Photo by Peter Wilson

A Della Robbia bottle vase dated 1896 incised and painted with floral patterns by Lizzie Wilkins and signed 'Lizzie'. It is estimated at £600-800. Photo by Peter Wilson — A Della Robbia bottle vase dated 1896 incised and painted with floral patterns by Lizzie Wilkins and signed ‘Lizzie’. It is estimated at £600-800. Photo by Peter Wilson

A small Della Robbia charger dated 1900 incised and painted by Lizzie Wilkins. It is estimated at £300-500. Photo by Peter Wilson

Some of the Della Robbia collection to be sold by Peter Wilson auctioneers on Nov. 26-27. Photo Peter by Wilson

One of a pair of Della Robbia panels by Ellen Mary Rope, sold for £8,500. Canterbury Auction Galleries photo.

UK museum honors Waterloo victor, the Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1815-16. Copyright: Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London (English Heritage)

LONDON – The first gallery exhibition devoted to the Duke of Wellington will open at the National Portrait Gallery, to mark the 200th anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015.

“Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions,” which will run March 12 to June 7, will explore not only the political and military career of the victor of this great battle, but also his personal life through portraits of his family and friends.

Highlights include Goya’s portrait of Wellington started in 1812 after his entry into Madrid and later modified twice to recognize further battle honors and awards; and from Wellington’s London home, Apsley House, Thomas Lawrence’s famous 1815 portrait painted in the same year as the Battle of Waterloo. This iconic military image of Wellington was used as the basis of the design of the British 5 pound note from 1971 to 1991.

Drawn from museums and private collections including that of the present Duke of Wellington, the exhibition of 59 portraits and other art works has the support of the Marquess of Douro, and includes rarely seen loans from the family including a portrait by John Hoppner of the Duke as a youthful soldier and a daguerreotype portrait by Antoine Claudet, in the new medium of photography, taken on Wellington’s 75th birthday in 1844. The family has also loaned Thomas Lawrence’s beautiful drawing of Wellington’s wife, Kitty (née Pakenham).

The real experience of soldiers fighting in Wellington’s armies will be explored through eyewitness accounts, including prints based on sketches by serving soldiers and the illustrated diary of a young officer, Edmund Wheatley, written in a lively style with the intention of it being read by his sweetheart.

“Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions” considers the attempts of the art world to celebrate the Duke of Wellington’s military successes. Commemorative objects on display will range from royal commissions by Europe’s foremost artists and manufacturers to more modest souvenirs aimed at the domestic market. Wellington’s eventful and often difficult political career will be illustrated by examples of the many satirical prints published in the 1820s and 1830s and the exhibition will also examine the reappraisal of Wellington’s life that took place at his death and on the occasion of his lavish state funeral.

The Duke of Wellington’s long life (1769 –1852) spanned the 18th and 19th centuries. Most famous for his victory over Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, he later entered politics, serving twice as prime minister. “Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions” will explore the role of visual culture in creating the hero, the legacy of heroism and the role of the portrait in Wellington’s own public and personal self-representation.

Curated by Paul Cox, associate curator, National Portrait Gallery, with close support from Lucy Peltz, curator of 18th century portraits, National Portrait Gallery, this biographical exhibition will use portraits and objects to explore Wellington’s military career and his sometimes controversial political and personal life.

“The Duke of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon at Waterloo is well known. This exhibition provides the opportunity to examine less familiar aspects of his life, including the long political career during which he saw through important forward-looking legislation, but suffered a dramatic loss of popularity,” said Cox. “I hope that visitors to the exhibition will gain a fuller picture of Wellington as a man, rather than simply as a hero.”

The exhibition is part of the Battle of Waterloo 200th Anniversary Commemorations, the national partnership of commemorative events www.waterloo200.org .

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Ding-dong – Trick or treat! A look at popular Halloween collectibles

Halloween witch riding black cat candy container, 10in tall, sold at Morphy’s for $4,200 on Sept. 17, 2011. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Morphy Auctions

NEW YORK (ACNI) – Halloween comes but once a year, unless you’re among the many thousands of collectors whose homes are perennially decorated in orange and black. From noisemakers and candy containers to party favors and board games, anything that taps into childhood memories of the much-loved October 31st holiday is in demand with Halloween enthusiasts.

Legend has it that Halloween started as an ancient Celtic harvest and sometimes-secular celebration. In the 20th century, however, the holiday became more mainstream, without any ties to religion. The craze to collect Halloween memorabilia took off in the 1990s, due in part to the publication of Stuart Schneider’s landmark book Halloween in America (Schiffer, 1995). When showcased in print, the colorful items once considered post-holiday throwaways were given a new lease on life. Halloween items were reinvented as collectibles, and soon they began popping up on dealers’ tables at antique shows and flea markets from coast to coast.

Some of the most coveted Halloween novelties were made in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s. It’s a wonder some of them were even allowed to be marketed – like, for instance, papier-mache jack-o-lanterns – or “JOLs” – with rings to hold a candle in place. When lit, the candle would illuminate the area behind the lantern’s tissue-paper eyes. Because of their possible flammability, JOLs of that type would never meet today’s safety regulations, but fortunately that’s not an issue with collectors, whose standards have more to do with condition, color and imagery.

The gold standard for many collectors is early figural candy containers, which generally were designed with removable heads, so candy could be accessed. But there’s always competition for these sorts of items at auction. One particularly desirable candy container we saw at Morphy’s Sept. 11, 2010 auction was a 9½-inch combination “veggie man” and lantern, with parsnip arms, zucchini legs, potato feet and a fruit-type head. When its interior candle was lit, the veggie man’s paper eyes and mouth would glow. Against an auction estimate of $5,000 to $8,000, it sold for $12,650 (inclusive of 15% buyer’s premium).

Even when initially retailed, candy containers were at the top end of the market, pricewise. In the 1940s, smaller Halloween candy containers sold for 49 to 59 cents. That sounds cheap in today’s money, but not so much back then, when a loaf of bread cost 8 cents, gasoline was 18 cents a gallon and minimum wage was 30 cents per hour.

Jack-o-lanterns were even cheaper than candy containers and originally could be purchased in dime stores for as little as 19 cents. Not all were designed as traditional pumpkins with eyes, noses and broad, toothy smiles. Some of the lanterns resembled owls, witches, ghosts, devils or bats. Generally, the offbeat character lanterns are more valuable to collectors than garden-variety pumpkin JOLs.

After candy containers and lanterns, arguably the third-most-popular items with collectors are Halloween-theme board games. Especially in pre-Civil War times, people would host Halloween parties at home. Games were always high on the list of party activities, especially those involving fortune telling. Generally, the more colorful the box and board graphics are, the more valuable a game is to collectors. Naturally, rarity is also a consideration.

By far, the greatest selection of vintage Halloween collectibles can be found online at LiveAuctioneers. Run a search for “Halloween” and you’ll be amazed at what’s available: www.LiveAuctioneers.com

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Possibly the only surviving example of a veggie man candy container / lantern combination, 9½ inches tall, sold for $12,650 at Morphy’s on Sept. 11, 2010. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Morphy Auctions

Jack-o-lantern candlestick and holder, ex Tom Fox collection, 4¼ in tall, featured in Mark B. Ledenbach’s book ‘Vintage Halloween Collectibles,’ sold at Bertoia’s for $4,950 on Nov. 10, 2013. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Bertoia Auctions

1901 McLoughlin Bros (American) ‘Hand of Fate’ Halloween board game, sold at MBA Seattle Auction House for $501.50 on March 8, 2012. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and MBA Seattle Auction House

Clockwork trade stimulator of mama duck in witch costume holding a duckling under her arm, 22in tall. Both mother and baby duck nod their heads and open their mouths when activated. Sold at Bertoia’s for $4,575 on March 29, 2014. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Bertoia Auctions

Vintage composition tabby cat lantern with paper inserts for eyes and mouth, 4in tall (not counting handle), comes with lift-out candleholder. Sold at Bertoia’s for $2,074 on March 29, 2014. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Bertoia Auctions

High Museum of Art exhibit features 24 works by Cezanne

Paul Cézanne, 'Mont Sainte-Victoire,' ca. 1904–1906, oil on canvas, 33 x 25 5/8 in. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum.

ATLANTA (AP) – An exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art showcases a group of impressionist and post-impressionist works amassed by a private collector who described the pursuit and acquisition of the pieces as an adventure.

The exhibition, “Cezanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection,” includes 50 pieces, including works by Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin and Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec. It opened Saturday at the High.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is 24 works by Cezanne, including 16 rarely exhibited watercolors.

One of the first paintings visitors see in the exhibition, Chaim Soutine’s View of Ceret, in which a cityscape is hardly recognizable, was Henry Pearlman’s first major acquisition made in 1945. In Pearlman’s Reminiscences of a Collector, which is printed in the exhibition’s catalog, Pearlman writes that he would get a “lift” when he saw that painting whenever he arrived home.

“This first pleasant experience with a modern painting started me on a road of adventure that has been both exhilarating and satisfying. I haven’t spent a boring evening since that first purchase,” he wrote.

Pearlman, whose Eastern Cold Storage Co. made significant contributions to marine shipbuilding during World War II, and his wife, Rose, went on to build an impressive collection that has been housed at the Princeton University Art Museum since 1976.

The collection includes works that are considered among the best by the respective artists, including van Gogh’s Tarascon Stagecoach, Modigliani’s portrait of Jean Cocteau and Cezanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire. But it also lacks anything by Pablo Picasso and others that would seem natural inclusions for a collection of works from that era.

“There are relationships between things, but it’s not a textbook collection,” said High director of collections and exhibitions David Brenneman. “It’s really Pearlman looking at things and drawing relationships.”

Pearlman greatly admired Cezanne, and his collection includes works featuring familiar subjects for the artist – landscapes set in the countryside of Provence in southern France and still lifes of objects from his studio.

Some of the oil paintings seem incomplete with patches of canvas showing through, and it’s not clear whether Cezanne had reached a point at which he was satisfied or whether he meant to come back to the paintings later, Brenneman said. Graphite drawings provide the framework for the watercolors, with colors added in varying intensity and the bright white of the paper shining through in places.

Soutine, the second most represented artist in the exhibition, is perhaps less familiar to the casual art consumer. But Brenneman said he hopes the exhibition will help expose more people to the works of the French expressionist who painted with thick strokes that leave markedly raised ridges of paint on the canvas.

To that end, the High borrowed five Soutine portraits from a private collection to supplement the seven other Soutine works included in the exhibition. Just as Soutine’s landscapes verge on abstraction, his portraits nearly cross the line into caricature, Brenneman said.

Other highlights of the exhibition include The Sacred Grove by Toulouse-Lautrec, a parody of a classical scene by academic painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes that includes objects and people from Toulouse-Lautrec’s time, and carvings by Gauguin and Modigliani.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 11 at the High. Then it will be at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Vancouver, Canada, (Feb. 7-May 18) and will finish its tour at the Princeton University Art Museum (Sept. 12-Jan. 3, 2016). It previously was shown at museums in England and France.

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If You Go…

CEZANNE AND THE MODERN: Oct. 25 through Jan. 11 at the High Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta; http://www.high.org , 404-733-5000. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Friday until 9 p.m.; Sundays, noon-5 p.m. Adults, $19.50; students with ID and seniors 65 and over, $16.50; children 6-17, $12; children 5 and under, free.

AP-WF-10-23-14 1717GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Paul Cézanne, 'Portrait of Paul, the Artist’s Son, ca. 1880, oil on canvas, 6 3/4 x 6 in. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum. — Paul Cézanne, ‘Portrait of Paul, the Artist’s Son, ca. 1880, oil on canvas, 6 3/4 x 6 in. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum.

Paul Cézanne, 'Provençal Manor,' ca. 1885, oil on canvas, 13 x 19 in. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum. — Paul Cézanne, ‘Provençal Manor,’ ca. 1885, oil on canvas, 13 x 19 in. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum.

Nov. 5 art auction benefits animal welfare group Mercy For Animals

J J Manford, 'Moogles Fauna,' acrylic , oil, spray paint and collage on canvas; 18 x 12in, est. $3,000. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

NEW YORK – Art and animals will come together for a common goal on Wednesday, November 5 as Mercy For Animals conducts its Art of Compassion benefit auction. Proceeds from the online auction of more than 75 artworks will benefit Mercy For Animals’ many animal welfare programs in North America.

The auction features original pieces by dozens of artists, including Moby, Jo-Anne McArthur, Al Jackson, Donald Baechler, Ross Bleckner and William Wegman. The selection has been curated and organized by Nick Lawrence, founder and curator of Freight+Volume gallery in New York City.

Bidding is on now and closes at 9 p.m. Eastern time on November 5. All auction artworks will be on view that same evening from 6-10 p.m. at a special Mercy For Animals fundraiser at Freight+Volume. The gallery is located at 530 W. 24th St., New York, NY 10011. To purchase tickets to the festive fundraiser, which are $100 apiece, or to make a donation to Mercy For Animals, visit https://www.charity-pay.com/e/event.asp?cid=22&eid=44.

To browse or bid on the art being sold in the online auction, click here: http://paddle8.com/auctions/mercyforanimals

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

John Newsom, 'Wonderland,' screenprint, 48 of 60, framed, 16.25 x 27in, est. $1,600. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — John Newsom, ‘Wonderland,’ screenprint, 48 of 60, framed, 16.25 x 27in, est. $1,600. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

William Wegman, 'The Wave,' pigment print, 17 of 30, framed, 11 x 8.5in, est. $850. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — William Wegman, ‘The Wave,’ pigment print, 17 of 30, framed, 11 x 8.5in, est. $850. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

Katherine Bradford, 'Dueling Supermen,' acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 in, est. $1,900. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — Katherine Bradford, ‘Dueling Supermen,’ acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 in, est. $1,900. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

Moby, 'Receiving,' giclee print on exhibition mat, framed, 13 x 19in, est. $295. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — Moby, ‘Receiving,’ giclee print on exhibition mat, framed, 13 x 19in, est. $295. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

Joe Heaps Nelson, 'Ferdinando,' gouache, charcoal and acrylic on paper; framed, 11.5 x 12.5in, est. $450. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — Joe Heaps Nelson, ‘Ferdinando,’ gouache, charcoal and acrylic on paper; framed, 11.5 x 12.5in, est. $450. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

Bryan Osburn, 'Untitled,' 2013, oil on paper, framed, 8 x 10in, est. $950. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals — Bryan Osburn, ‘Untitled,’ 2013, oil on paper, framed, 8 x 10in, est. $950. Image courtesy Paddle 8 / Mercy For Animals

Book explores New York state’s pivotal role in Civil War

'An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War' published by SUNY Press. Image courtesy of SUNY Press.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A new Civil War book based on a popular exhibit at the New York State Museum is due out this December.

The book published by SUNY Press is a companion to the exhibit, “An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War.”

The yearlong exhibit opened at the downtown Albany museum in September 2012, telling the story of how New York state provided the most men, money and supplies for the Union war effort. It also highlighted the personal stories of some of the nearly 450,000 New Yorkers who fought for the North.

The exhibit received the Award of Merit from the American Association of State and Local History.

The book was written by three top officials at the museum: chief curator Robert Weible, senior historian Jennifer Lemak and associate exhibition planner Aaron Nobel.

For additional information about the book log on to http://www.sunypress.edu .

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Possible complete mammoth skeleton found in Idaho

Paleontologists from the Idaho Museum of Natural History excavating a bison latifrons at American Falls, Idaho, in the 1930s. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (AP) – A portion of a Columbian mammoth skull and tusks have been uncovered in Idaho, and experts say a rare entire skeleton might be buried there.

Experts estimate the mammoth was about 16 years old and lived about 70,000 to 120,000 years ago in what was a savanna-like country populated with large plant-eaters and predators.

The skeleton was spotted earlier this month by a fossil hunter working as a volunteer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation near American Falls Reservoir. It was partially excavated by students and instructors from Idaho State University.

But the team had to postpone their work Oct. 18 as the reservoir’s water level rose, completing some of their tasks while standing in water. They plan to return next summer when the reservoir drops.

“It gives us a little more time to prepare if this is a complete mammoth, to get the funds together,” said Mary Thompson, Idaho Museum of Natural History collections manager and a university instructor. “This is going to be substantial to go out and excavate a complete mammoth.”

She said more bones and tusks remained in the bank that couldn’t immediately be removed.

“There may be a whole mammoth there, so that is rare,” she said.

Workers built a barrier to keep the fossil in place while underwater.

The area, Thompson said, has produced fossils of various extinct species over the decades, ranging from saber-toothed cats, short-nosed bears that were larger than grizzlies, and giant sloths. One of the most often found fossils are from bison latifrons, somewhat similar to modern bison but larger and with giant horns. Their image is part of the museum’s logo.

“It’s a very important North American Pleistocene site,” Thompson said, naming a time period that runs from 1.8 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. “We have researchers from all over the world coming here to study the fossils from American Falls.”

Besides fossils, there are also tracks of mammoths, large cats, canines and other animals where they crossed then muddy areas eons ago.

Thompson said she hopes to have the portions of the mammoth the team managed to get out put on display early next year.

AP-WF-10-27-14 2142GMT

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Exhibitions in US honor El Greco 400 years after his death

El Greco's 'View of Toledo,' circa 1596-1600, oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States, home to a rich collection of works by El Greco, is paying homage to the Spanish artist with major exhibitions opening soon in Washington and New York.

From Nov. 2, the National Gallery of Art in the U.S. capital will spotlight its seven El Greco canvases alongside four on loan from the Phillips Collection and Dumbarton Oaks in Washington and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

In New York, exhibitions dedicated to the Renaissance painter will open on Nov. 4 at the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection.

Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos on the Greek island of Crete, El Greco worked in Venice and Rome before settling in Spain, notably in Toledo, where he adopted his now-famous nickname.

Virtually forgotten after his death in 1614, he was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century. His work appeared in the Louvre in Paris, and he was embraced by such modern artists as Picasso, Cezanne and the German expressionists.

His profile in the United States was due in good part to a buying frenzy among rich American collectors, said David Alan Brown, curator of the Washington exhibition.

“They competed with each other, all these millionaires,” he added. “There was a kind of Greco craze. That is one reason why they are so many Grecos in the United States.”

All told, about 50 works by El Greco are held by museums in about 20 cities around the country.

Famous for his elongated silhouettes, the artist “was not always successful,” Brown said.

“His work was so extreme that some people did not respond to it, and other people responded strongly,” he said.

“He’s an artist that always provokes strong reactions. No one can be indifferent to El Greco.”

Brown added: “It’s a very personal, visionary style.”

“El Greco’s art was never simple; it has the spiritual intensity of the counter-Reformation but also pictorially a very complicated vision. That’s what appeals to us today.”

To accompany the exhibition, the National Gallery has produced a 30-minute documentary.

In Spain, dozens of events have been taking place this year to mark the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death.

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