NEW YORK – On Feb. 19, Guernsey’s will present at auction the very instrument that made rock ’n’ roll possible: the original prototype of the revolutionary Les Paul Gibson guitar. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
This particular guitar, known as Black Beauty, was designed by and belonged to guitarist-inventor Les Paul decades ago – it is the prototype for all Les Paul models produced by Gibson to this day.
The guitar’s storied history began when it left the Gibson factory in December 1953 and was delivered to Les Paul in early 1954.
This forward-thinking instrument featured superior refinements: a new tune-o-matic bridge and stoptail piece system, finer inlays, and a fancy-looking binding around the entire guitar – all in black with gold.
After more than 20 years of performing with and innovating on this guitar, Les gifted this iconic instrument in 1976 to his personal luthier, technician and close friend Tom Doyle, where it has remained in his private collection to this day.
A pioneering musician as well as an avid inventor, Paul was always looking to improve upon the guitars he was playing. Approached in the early 1950s by Gibson with the hopes of building a true electric model suited to his needs, the first guitar constructed (known the Gold Top) had multipl design flaws. In response, Les demanded that a much better instrument be made if it were to bear his name. Though initially referred to as the Les Paul Black Custom, this marvel eventually became known as “Black Beauty.”
In addition to this landmark instrument Guernsey’s will offer other select items from the collection of Tom Doyle, most notably Chet Atkins’ legendary prototype Gretsch guitar known as “Dark Eyes.”
For additional information contact Guernsey’s at 212-794-2280. Watch for the online catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
DETROIT — The Detroit Institute of Arts presents an exhibition featuring two of the most fascinating artists of the 20th century. “Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit,” on view March 15–July 12, explores the tumultuous and highly productive year that Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo spent in Detroit. The DIA is the exhibition’s only venue.
This is the first exhibition to focus on their time in Detroit, a period during which each artist made significant career breakthroughs and where Rivera painted his groundbreaking Detroit Industry murals.
“Rivera considered Detroit Industry, recently designated a national historical landmark, as his finest mural cycle,” said Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director. “It shows the artist at the height of his powers. For Frida Kahlo, on the other hand, the works she produced while in Detroit can be seen as the beginning of her development as a mature artist with her own distinct—and distinctive—style.”
Between April 1932 and March 1933, Rivera created one of his most accomplished murals—Detroit Industry—on the walls of what was then a garden courtyard at the recently opened new museum building. At the same time and largely unnoticed, Kahlo developed her now-celebrated artistic identity. By including works before, during and after their time in Detroit, the exhibition provides a context for the impact Detroit had on each one’s career.
Included in the 38 works by Rivera are his epic preparatory drawings for Detroit Industry. Not shown for almost 30 years, these to-scale drawings demonstrate Rivera’s vision for the murals: a synthesis between Mexico’s spiritual and political values and United States industrial might. Among the 26 works by Kahlo are many of those she created in Detroit, which reveal the emergence of her deeply personal artistic style.
Before coming to Detroit, Rivera’s and Kahlo’s art centered on Mexican politics, society and identity. Rivera focused on farmers, laborers and indigenous peoples, whom he aimed to bring to the center of Mexico’s history and national identity. Kahlo referenced folk art motifs, believing that indigenous and folk culture was an authentic expression of Mexico’s heritage.
While in Detroit, Rivera worked primarily on the 27-panel Detroit Industry frescos, which depict the complex interplay of natural resources, manufacturing processes and workers at the Ford Motor Company River Rouge plant, as well as other Detroit’s industries. Rivera, who already had an interest in industrial design, spent months sketching at the Ford plant and was fascinated by the then state-of-the art factory. He conceived of the murals as promoting the understanding of the working class and American engineering genius.
Rivera incorporated elements of ancient Mexican cultural beliefs and their relationship to the modern world throughout the murals to illustrate his concept of the interconnectedness of the earth’s resources and modern technology. For example, he modeled the image of a stamping plant after the Aztec creator deity Coatlicue.
For Kahlo, Detroit was a time of deep emotional turmoil, as well as growth as an artist. Shortly after arriving, she suffered a devastating event: the loss of her pregnancy. That experience is the subject of one of her most affecting paintings, Henry Ford Hospital, in which she expresses her physical and emotional pain in the aftermath of that event. The foreground shows Kahlo lying in her hospital bed, with deeply personal surreal images floating around her.
Kahlo continued to define herself mostly through self-portraits that reflected her feelings about her time in Detroit. She was unhappy and wanted to return to her Mexican roots. Self-portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States shows Kahlo standing in the middle, with references to Mexico’s ancient traditions on her left and symbols of U.S. industry on the right. While there are similarities to Detroit Industry, Rivera’s overriding theme is the synthesis of the Americas, Kahlo portrays them as two separate realms—clearly favoring Mexico.
When the artists returned home, Rivera continued to paint murals and resumed his interest in portraying everyday people and indigenous Mexican heritage. Good examples are his paintings Man Loading Donkey with Firewood and Zandunga, Tehuantepec Dance.
Kahlo established herself as an artist in her own right and continued painting self-portraits using iconography she developed in Detroit. Self-portrait with Cropped Hair, a commentary on gender, and Self-portrait with Monkey, where the monkey is thought to be a surrogate for the child she never had, are two such paintings. When Kahlo painted other women, she often showed them as weak or suffering, such as Suicide of Dorothy Hale and A Few Small Nips, which shows a woman who had just been stabbed to death by her husband. Kahlo’s own anguish and sense of suffering come through in both paintings.
A 248-page hardcover catalog ($50) will accompany the exhibition. Publication of the catalog is supported by Futhermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
Tickets: Audio tours for adults and youth in English and Spanish are included in ticket price (free for DIA members).
Tuesday–Friday: Adults $14 Ages 6-17 $9 Adult groups $12 Ages 6-17 groups $8.
Saturday–Sunday: Adults $19 Ages 6-17 $9 Adult groups $16 Ages 6-17 groups $8.
In addition to regular museum hours, the DIA will be open until 10 p.m. on Thursdays during the run of the exhibition, and beginning May 26 will be open until 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
The exhibition has been organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Bank of America. Additional support has been provided by the Henry and Mary Ellen Bellaimey Family Foundation.
OAKLAND, Calif. – Last month Clars Auction Gallery announced that, in partnership with Christie’s, New York, they had been chosen to present the collection of the estate of Richard Mellon Scaife to auction in 2015. Scaife amassed the collection while traveling the world and buying at some of the finest and most prestigious antique and art galleries, including Jeremy Ltd., London, and Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge.
The collection was an important part of the interiors at his Pebble Beach, Calif., Nantucket, Mass., and Pittsburgh, Pa., residences.
This world-class collection will be offered at both Christie’s, who will host an important single-owner sale of furniture and decorative arts in 2015, and Clars Auction Gallery, which will be offering the remainder of the collection. The collection includes English porcelains dating to the early 18th century, an extensive majolica collection including rare examples, and fine antique furniture dating from the 18th century-present. Clars will hold two sales focusing on the Scaife estate and collection, Jan. 17-19 and Feb. 21-23, with the remainder of the collection in their following monthly auctions.
Internet live bidding for the Clars aucitons will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com
Coming to auction at Clars, on Jan. 17-19 will be part of Scaife’s extensive majolica collection amassed over several years. He showcased this collection at both his Nantucket and Pebble Beach residences. Many pieces selected for the January sale have a nautical theme. Offerings date from the early to mid-19th century, including pieces from the studio of George Jones. Highlights include shell-form compotes, early nautilus shell spoon warmers, clam-form flower frogs, and highly decorated wall pockets.
Also of note from the prominent Scaife collection, will be a French Industrial gilt bronze automaton lighthouse clock and barometer, circa 1890. A miniature pietra dura specimen marble-top table accented with red coral sprays is part of a large group of miniature furniture from the Scaife collection.
Scaife was born in Pittsburgh on July 3, 1932, and was the great grandnephew of Andrew Mellon, growing up at the family’s opulent homes in Pittsburgh and Ligonier. He was a noted media publisher and philanthropist, and donated hundreds of millions of dollars to countless causes, foundations and museums including the Clinton Global Initiative, the Heritage Foundation and Hoover Institute.
Clars January 2015 sale will also bring to auction offerings from other notable estates. From a prominent Pacific Heights, San Francisco estate, a Steinway and Sons, New York, Model O baby grand piano, is estimated at $25,000 to $35,000. In addition, there will be an extensive collection of early American furniture, including a Chippendale slant-front desk, executed in mahogany, circa 1760-1790.
Hurray for Iconic Hollywood
America loved all 140 episodes of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, an American television show that ran from Jan. 22, 1968 through May 14, 1973 on the NBC network. Clars Auction Gallery will be offering three costumes worn by Ruth Buzzi, and designed by legendary Hollywood costume designer Michael Travis. (Note: Travis was also the costume designer for Liberace.) The highlight of the costumes to be offered is a Psychedelic Graduation costume. There are only 2 other known examples of this costume, and the example Clars will be selling retains the original tag on the inside of the jacket to which Buzzi’s name has been typed. Estimate on this costume is $5,000 to $7,000.
Rounding out this exciting three-day event will be significant offerings in jewelry, fine art and Asian art and antiques. Highlighting the jewelry and timepieces category will be a men’s Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute stainless steel wristwatch, 40 mm, circa 1962; a diamond three-stone ring in 14K yellow and white gold, set with old European cut diamonds totaling approximately 2.86 carats and a stunning carved jadeite, diamond and 18K white gold pendant that will be offered for $7,000 to $9,000.
In fine art, the January auction will feature a nice array of American and International works. One in particular is a watercolor by Jasper Francis Cropsey (American, 1823-1900) titled Sunset (1894). This delicate work on paper by the renowned Hudson River school artist will be offered at $5,000 to $7,000. An oil on canvas by New York artist, Leon Kroll (American, 1884-1975) titled Nude Study will also be featured. On the International side, a colorful yet dramatic painting titled Teaching Our Young (1988) by the Modernist Objibwa/Chippewa artist, Norval Morrisseau (Canadian, 1932-2007) will be offered at $6,000 to $8,000. A delightfully vibrant oil on board titled Girl and Dog by Rosa Rolanda (Mexican, 1897-1962) is also estimated to achieve $6,000 to $8,000.
The Asian art and antiques category will offer a wide assortment of jade, including plaques, belt hooks, toggles and a brush washer carved with bat form handles. Another highlight will be an East Indian Mughal-type khanjar dagger with a jade hilt carved in the form of a parrot, inlaid with red glass eyes. In Chinese ceramics, there will be a selection of pottery from the Han to the Tang dynasties, including hu vases and various pottery tomb figures. In Qing and Republic period porcelain, an assortment of blue and white along with enameled dishes, bowls and vases will be offered. In the Japanese section, a highlight will be a gilt lacquered butsudan shrine cabinet from the late 19th/early 20th century.
The sales will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday and at 1:30 p.m. on Monday. For more information email: info@clars.com
[button color=”black” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”follow” openin=”samewindow” url=”https://www.liveauctioneers.com/auctioneer/306/clars-auction-gallery/”]Click to view the catalog at LiveAuctioneers[/button]
The first offering of Richard Mellon Scaife’s extensive majolica collection will be sold at Clars’ Jan. 17-19 auction. Clars Auction Gallery image
A large group of miniature furniture from the Scaife collection will be offered. Clars Auction Gallery image
This stunning carved jadeite, diamond and 18K white gold pendant that will be offered for $7,000 to $9,000. Clars Auction Gallery image
The highlight of the costumes to be offered by legendary designer Michael Travis is this Psychedelic Graduation costume, which retains the original tag on the inside of the jacket, to which Ruth Buzzi’s name has been typed. Estimate on this costume is $5,000 to $7,000. Clars Auction Gallery image
This East Indian Mughal-type khanjar dagger with a jade hilt carved in the form of a parrot features inlaid red glass eyes. Clars Auction Gallery image
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Library of Congress has purchased the archives of a Chilean-born photographer who has documented the decay of great American cities for more than four decades.
More than 5,000 images by Camilo Jose Vergara will fill a gap in the library’s prints and photography collection, which until now has been short of images of post-industrial urban America.
“I am delighted, thrilled and proud to have my life’s work archived at the Library of Congress, a great American institution,” Vergara said in a statement Wednesday from the library.
“I feel happy reciprocating the amazing generosity that the people of my adopted country, the birthplace of my children and grandchild, have shown toward me.”
Widely recognized as a master of contemporary urban photography, Vergara since the 1970s has focused his cameras on what he has called “the urban fabric of America’s poor inner cities” and how ruined neighborhoods can evolve.
Born in 1944 into a wealthy Chilean family that fell into poverty by the time he became a teenager, Vergara came in the late 1960s to the United States, where he studied sociology and took up the camera.
In 2013, he received the National Humanities Medal, the first photographer to be so honored, for his work in such cities as Chicago, Detroit, New York and Camden, New Jersey.
Some 400 of his photographs have been digitized for the Library of Congress’s www.loc.gov website. More appear on Vergara’s own online home, www.camilojosevergara.com.
Sequence of 4 photographs taken by Camilo José Vergara of Fern Street in North Camden, New Jersey from 1979-2004. Demonstrates Vergara’s use of time lapse in recording a site over time. Clockwise from top left 1979, 1988, 1997, 2004. Source: Camilo Jose Vergara upon personal request of Jim Harper on 4/15/2006. Presumed copyright Camilo Jose Vergara; fair use of image under guidelines of US Copyright Law for critical commentary on the artistic genre and technique utilized by the artist
NEW YORK (AP) – The exhibition “Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art is coming to the big screen for one day – Jan. 13.
Single-day virtual guided tours of four other exhibitions from major museums will be shown at select cinemas across the country over the next several months.
A Rembrandt exhibition from London’s National Gallery and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is on tap for Feb. 24.
An exhibition from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum will be featured April 14.
Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl With A Pearl Earring” and other works from the Hague’s Mauritshuis is coming June 23.
July 14 brings “The Impressionists” from the Museum of Luxembourg, Paris, the National Gallery London and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
CHICAGO – More than 193,000 people visited the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) during the 15- week run of the “David Bowie Is” exhibition (Sept. 23—Jan. 4), setting a new attendance record for the museum.
As the most successful exhibition in the MCA’s 47-year history, “David Bowie Is” also set new attendance records for all of the Bowie-related programs and performances, some selling out in less than an hour, and the highest sales for the MCA Store with the addition of the Bowie- themed store. The MCA was the only U.S. venue for this exhibition, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
“We brought this exhibition to the MCA because it was an ideal bridge to connect with new audiences who are interested in the multidisciplinary arts that have always been a hallmark of the museum. We are thrilled that so many people from around the country visited us for the first time, and we are especially proud of the enthusiasm and support we had in Chicago, where members of the community had a chance to rediscover the MCA,” said MCA Director Madeleine Grynsztejn.
There was an overwhelming response to the exhibition from the Chicago community. During its run, restaurants, hotels and venues had Bowie-inspired events. People regularly came to the MCA dressed as one of David Bowie’s stage personas, and a record-breaking 79 million Twitter accounts saw the exhibition hashtag #DavidBowieIs. Visitors to the MCA website numbered more than 1 million. The MCA hosted an opening day Bowie Tribute Concert drawing thousands of Chicagoans to Daley Plaza on Sept. 23, which was officially declared “David Bowie Day” in Chicago.
Demonstrating Bowie’s lasting influence on multiple areas of contemporary culture, nearly all of the Bowie-related programs at the MCA were sold out. This included programs with internationally renowned cultural figures from disciplines such as music, film, and literature with talks by Kevin Barnes, Bryan Ferry, Neil Gaiman, Todd Haynes, Sandy Powell, and St. Vincent; performances by Boy George, Michael Clark Company, Bobby Conn, Disappears, Tim Kinsella, Jon Langford and Sally Timms, ONO, and White Mystery; and a David Bowie Film Festival.
The exhibition also attracted a record number of notable figures, especially from the music world. Celebrity visitors included Sophia Bush, Margaret Cho, Billy Corgan, Gillian Flynn, Adrian Grenier, Daryl Hannah, George Lucas, William H. Macy, Bob Mould, Rita Ora, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Earl Slick, Usher, Peter Wolf, Neil Young and many others.
Peggy Papaioannou, MCA chief financial officer, developed a new financial model to optimize capacity during the MCA’s first time having timed tickets, a special admission price, and extended hours. Also, a special “Bowie Superfan” ticket was sold in advance of general ticket sales for Bowie enthusiasts who wanted to book their travel early. The nationwide synchronized release of David Bowie’s new three-CD compilation Nothing Has Changed by Columbia Records, and the U.S. screenings of the David Bowie is happening now documentary, created by the V&A and directed by Hamish Hamilton, contributed to the national attention and success of the exhibition run.
The artEdge 2014: David Bowie Is gala, presented by Louis Vuitton, drew the biggest names in Chicago’s social scene with a special performance by music legend Bryan Ferry. Over 750 people attended the gala, which raised more than $2.85 million, benefiting MCA exhibitions and programs.
The Bowie-themed store was designed by the MCA to offer hundreds of Bowie-inspired design objects, some of which were produced exclusively for the MCA. During the run of the exhibition, the MCA Store sold 189,000 items including 7,000 Bowie exhibition catalogues, 14,000 t-shirts produced exclusively for the MCA, and 2,100 limited edition prints including a Chicago edition of David Bowie as Aladdin Sane by Brian Duffy.
“David Bowie Is” presents the first international exhibition of the extraordinary career of David Bowie—one of the most pioneering and influential performers of our time. The exhibition focuses on his creative processes and collaborative work with artists and designers, and demonstrates how his work has both influenced and been influenced by wider movements in art, design, music, and theater. The exhibition’s multimedia design introduces advanced sound technology by Sennheiser and video installations to create an immersive journey through Bowie’s artistic life. MCA Chief Curator Michael Darling organized the Chicago presentation of the exhibition.
The exhibition continues its international tour with upcoming stops at the Philharmonie de Paris, Cité de la Musique in Paris (March—May 2015), the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne (July— Nov 2015), and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands (December 2015—March 2016).
BERLIN (AFP)- German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk kicked off eight nights of concerts at an iconic Berlin museum Tuesday with a multimedia performance of their classic album “Autobahn.”
Founding member Ralf Huetter, 68, collaborated with other artists to make 3D films to be projected in the signature glass-and-steel shell of the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) while the quartet performed its trailblazing brand of “industrial folk music.”
The stunning modernist temple by Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe is hosting the back-to-back shows before it closes for several years for renovation.
Kraftwerk’s concerts have been sold out since November and come on the heels of other high-concept outings at the Sydney Opera House, New York’s MoMA, the Tate Modern in London and Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo.
The Berlin dates mark the biggest spectacle staged by the band in the German capital in a decade.
Kraftwerk, founded in 1968, are credited with paving the way for acts ranging from Depeche Mode, New Order and Human League to Coldplay and Daft Punk.
The notoriously reclusive band, based in the western city of Duesseldorf, has always shunned celebrity and even invented robot avatars to distance themselves from their on-stage personas.
“There’s no pop band in the history of the music industry that has shown so little interest in being pop stars,” Berlin’s daily Morgenpost said.
The museum also opened in 1968, near where the Berlin Wall cleaved the city until a quarter-century ago. It has since become a beloved cultural institution and tourist magnet.
Britain’s David Chipperfield is managing the overhaul of the architectural landmark with the aim, he has said, of making the repairs imperceptible when they are completed.
Its collection of modern masterpieces by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Henry Moore and Gerhard Richter will be placed in storage or on loan in the meantime.
The museum said the Kraftwerk performances marked “a wonderful encounter between pioneers of the electronic age with a great visionary of public space.” Concert goers wear 3D glasses as they watch the show.
Each night will showcase a different album, most made in the band’s 1970s and 1980s heyday, followed by a greatest-hits set.
Fans say the band has managed to stay cutting edge.
“They were always ahead of their time with their modern sound and minimalist lyrics,” said Claus Boelicke, 48, who works for a German charity.
“Their music is so catchy and the staging is so cool and very funny actually,” said Friederike Schilbach, 34, who works in publishing and discovered Kraftwerk in the 1990s. “I think sometimes people abroad got their humour more than Germans did.”
The enthusiastic, mostly middle-aged crowd cheered hits like “Das Model” and “Wir sind die Roboter” (We are the robots), which won the group an international cult following.
“Nearly all the new genres of pop music that developed in the following decades — hip-hop, electro, Miami bass, house, techno, dubstep … were influenced by Kraftwerk,” German weekly Zeit Magazin said recently.
More experimental art troupe than pop band, Kraftwerk, which means power station in German, picked up a Grammy lifetime achievement award last year.
Their lyrics about the growing dominance of technology in daily life and the omnipresence of machines are widely seen as prescient in a hyperconnected world.
Calling their musicians “audio operators,” founders Huetter and Florian Schneider aimed to break with the pop music brought by the US and British occupying forces to create a new German sound.
“These unapproachable marionettes were the opposite of the blues — no warmth, no sex, no extroverted expressions. They were not the children of James Brown and Coca-Cola,” news magazine Der Spiegel wrote this week.
Schneider announced he was leaving the band in 2008 and Huetter is the only original member remaining.
Music critic Kai Mueller said Kraftwerk’s uber-German sensibility played to stereotypes that resonated abroad.
“Maybe they showed the world what we Germans were capable of: precision, excellence and yes, robot tears,” he said.
![Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). 'Two Masks (The Tomato) (Deux Masques [La Tomate]),' 1947. Gouache on paper, cut and pasted. 18¾ x 20 3/8 (47.7 x 51.8 cm). Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Marron, New York. © 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York](https://www.liveauctioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/jupiterx/images/2015_0107_039rt1_large-516ab64.jpg)
