Affordable photography at Bloomsbury Auctions, June 4

Marilyn Minter (b. 1948), ‘Wet Kiss,’ 2014 (est. £13,000-£15,000). Minter is known for her large, often sexually provocative images. Despite their scale and vibrant colors, her images are never manipulated digitally and are made in the darkroom.


Marilyn Minter (b. 1948), ‘Wet Kiss,’ 2014 (est. £13,000-£15,000). Minter is known for her large, often sexually provocative images. Despite their scale and vibrant colors, her images are never manipulated digitally and are made in the darkroom.

LONDON – The latest Photo Opportunities auction at Bloomsbury Auctions on Thursday, June 4, coincides with the relaunch of Photo London and features big names of fashion photography including Irving Penn and Norman Parkinson.

Estimates range from £100, in the no reserve section, to £15,000 for Marilyn Minter’s Wet Kiss, 2014. Appealing to a wide range of photography lovers from veteran collectors to first time buyers looking for bold and beautiful works, the London sale pleases all tastes and pockets.

Elliott Erwitt (b. 1928), Wyoming, 1954 (est. £2,000-£3,000). Erwott wrote: “I was traveling across the country from New York to Los Angeles and taking a lot of pictures, while driving, out of the windshield … today it’s an image of a bygone era, but at the time seemed ordinary.”




Irving Penn (1917-2009), Woman in Balenciaga Coat (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Paris, 1950 (est. £10,000-15,000). American photographer Penn was most widely known for his fashion photography and portraits. This image is of his wife Lisa Fonssagrives, who is widely recognized as the first supermodel.




Norman Parkinson (1913-1990) Dog Friday, Praslin Island, Seychelles for British Vogue, 1971 (est. £1,500-£2,000). Grace Coddington, former model and the creative director of American Vogue magazine, wrote: “Parks taught me such a lot … he and I were on a shoot in the Seychelles in 1971 with the model Apollonia van Ravenstein, standing on miles and miles of virgin white sand. Suddenly a dog appeared out of nowhere. Apollonia stretched out her arms to call it, and at that moment, the picture sprang to life.”




Horst P. Horst (1906-1999), Round the Clock I, NY, 1987 (est. £5,000-£7,000). Dubbed the King of Fashion Photography, Horst was one of the leading fashion and portrait photographers of the 20th century. “Horst tamed the avant-garde to serve fashion” – The New York Times, April 19, 1996.




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.

Reading the Streets: Nicolas Holiber brings Goliath to Gotham

‘Head of Goliath’ by Nicolas Holiber, New York City. Images by Ilana Novick

‘Head of Goliath’ by Nicolas Holiber, New York City. Images by Ilana Novick
‘Head of Goliath’ by Nicolas Holiber, New York City. Images by Ilana Novick
 
NEW YORK – There’s a 4-feet-tall severed head in Tribeca, but the office workers happily eating lunch in Tribeca Park, a triangular green oasis a block below Canal Street don’t seem disturbed. The head is lying sideways, having abandoned its former bodily home. Fortunately this is not the beginning of a Law and Order episode, but rather sculptor Nicolas Holiber’s intriguing The Head of Goliath.
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Slot car sets, farm toys to be featured at M&M Auctions, May 30

M&M Auctions' sale of more than 460 lots May 30 includes many premium construction replicas. M&M Auctions images


M&M Auctions' sale of more than 460 lots May 30 includes many premium construction replicas. M&M Auctions images

HOLBEACH, UK – M&M Auctions’ sale on May 30 is dedicated to specialist farm toys, diecast models and collectibles. The 464-lot catalog features an eclectic mix of items for many hobbyists.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding.

The auction will begin with an extensive collection of agricultural replicas – many boxed and some rare – in various scales.




The lineup then moves on to a single-owner Scalextric (slot car) collection featuring the rare James Bond 007 set.




Next comes a selection of boxed and unboxed die-cast toys from Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox and others. Construction models follow with many boxed items from Conrad and NZG.

The sale sees a new partnership with LiveAuctioneers.com and with M&M’s specialist worldwide shipping department.

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.

Leila Dunbar to appraise sports items May 30 at Concord Museum

Sports memorabilia expert and Antiques Roadshow appraiser Leila Dunbar will conduct appraisals at the Concord Museum in Concord, Mass., on May 30, 2015 from 10:30 a.m. till 12 noon. Image courtesy Leila Dunbar
Sports memorabilia expert and Antiques Roadshow appraiser Leila Dunbar will conduct appraisals at the Concord Museum in Concord, Mass., on May 30, 2015 from 10:30 a.m. till 12 noon. Image courtesy Leila Dunbar

CONCORD, Mass. – On May 30, bring your special sports-related items to the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts for a verbal appraisal with Leila Dunbar. A longtime Antiques Roadshow appraiser and former Sotheby’s Director of Collectibles, Dunbar has auctioned and appraised hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sports memorabilia for leading museums, corporations, professional athletes and private collectors.

Clients include the New York Yankees Museum, United States Golf Association, Pro Football Hall of Fame, the New England Sports Museum, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Bobby Orr and Floyd Mayweather.

Originally from Milford, Mass., Dunbar is a lifelong Boston sports fan. Dunbar also serves on the National Appraisal Association Board of Trustees and is a certified sports memorabilia appraiser and grader for the Appraisal Association of America.

There is a limit of two appraisal items per person. Appraisal time: 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Fee: $15 per item for museum members; $20 per item for non-members.

Space is limited. For reservations, call 978-369-9763, ext. 216; or log on to http://www.concordmuseum.org/sports-appraisal-day.php.

Dunbar’s appearance is in conjunction with the Concord Museum’s exciting new exhibition, The Art of Baseball, exploring the many ways that artists have passionately responded to America’s national pastime. Drawn from The Gladstone Collection of Baseball Art, a private New York collection that has been gathered over the past 40 years, The Art of Baseball features works by acclaimed American artists—including William Merritt Chase, Robert Rauschenberg, and William Zorach—as well as folk artists who were inspired by the sport.

Please arrive with an item you can carry by 10:00 a.m. Items and appraisals will be conducted before the entire audience. If you bring a collection of cards, time may not allow a valuation for the entire group. Good-quality photos should be substituted for large or particularly fragile items.

The town of Concord is approximately 20 miles west of Boston. The Concord Museum is easily accessible from Route 495 or Route 128/I-95, via Route 2, and is located 1/4 mile east of Concord Center, at the intersection of Lexington Road and Cambridge Turnpike. Entrance is on Cambridge Turnpike. Museum parking is free.

For more information about Leila Dunbar, log on to www.leiladunbar.com. Visit the Concord Museum online at www.concordmuseum.org.

Santa Monica Auctions mounts contemporary art sale May 31

Marc Karzen, ‘Morty’s Pool,’ 1987, unique c-print ‘bumper’ mounted to illustration board, produced for ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ (estimated gallery price: $2,000-$3,000). Santa Monica Auctions images


Marc Karzen, ‘Morty’s Pool,’ 1987, unique c-print ‘bumper’ mounted to illustration board, produced for ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ (estimated gallery price: $2,000-$3,000). Santa Monica Auctions images

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Santa Monica Auctions will present their Last Day of May Sale, an auction of modern and contemporary artwork of all mediums, on Sunday May 31 beginning at noon Pacific Time at Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding.

The Last Day of May Sale presents secondary market works by mid-career and established artists of all mediums including paintings, photography, sculpture, multiples and prints.

This auction will feature an assortment of the original unique “bumpers” – the artwork used for NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman. From 1982-1992, Marc Karzen photographed a series of slice-of-life-moments that punctuated segments, introduced guests and branded this groundbreaking show. These unique artworks were all created by Karzen and have been stored in his archives and never displayed nor viewed by the public until now. Each one is a unique chromigenic print, some with hand collage and signed on verso by the artist with the Late Night nomenclature included in the imagery. These beautiful, funny and creative original artworks were used multiple times throughout the 11 years that the Letterman show was at NBC.

The auction lineup has works by David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Raymond Pettibon, Robert Motherwell, Sam Francis and Andy Warhol, including a Campbell’s Soup II (New England Clam Chowder), 1969 color screenprint from the numbered edition of 250 (estimated gallery price: $25,000-$30,000).




A lot of 23 works – original posters and invitations published by Ferus Gallery from 1957 to 1965 – by various artists is estimated at $6,000-$8,000. Included is a Pepper Pot Soup original offset exhibition poster, 1962, after Andy Warhol.




A Raymond Pettibon ink, watercolor and gouache on paper, No Title, 2013, from Regen Projects, Los Angeles, is estimated at $15,000-$20,000.




A lot of 18 original posters by Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, is estimated at $5,000-$6,000. Including are artists Ed Kienholz, James Rosenquist, Larry Rivers, Robert Waldren, Arakawa, Kanemitsu, Jean Tinguely, John Chamberlain, Kenneth Snelson, Robert Grosvenor, Claes Oldenberg, Larry Rivers, Mark Di Suvero, Robert Rauschenberg and Niki De St. Phalle.




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.

Italian police arrest Tunisia museum attack suspect

The Carthage Room of the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Image by Alexandre Moreau. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.


The Carthage Room of the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Image by Alexandre Moreau. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

ROME (AFP) – Italian police said Wednesday they had arrested a Moroccan suspected of taking part in the March attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis in which 21 foreign tourists were killed.

Abdel Majid Touil, 22, was arrested on an international warrant by Italy’s anti-terrorism DIGOS police in the northern town of Gaggiano, officers told a press conference.

Touil, who is wanted for premeditated murder, kidnapping and terrorism, was detained on Monday evening. He was living with his mother, a carer, and two older brothers in the town near Milan.

The Bardo attack on March 18 killed 22 people, including a Tunisian policeman and tourists from Italy, Japan, France, Spain, Colombia, Australia, Britain, Belgium, Poland and Russia.

Tourists getting off buses outside the museum were gunned down by two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons, who then took hostages inside the building.

Many people were shot in the back as they tried to escape. After rampaging through the museum for several hours, the two gunmen were killed in an assault by security forces.

Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi said a few days after the attack that a third gunman was on the run.

Police said Touil had been in Italy before the attack. They said he entered illegally in February with a boatload of 90 migrants, before being issued with an order to leave.

The officers did not specify whether he had been expelled or, if he had, where he had gone to.

They said investigators had been able to trace Touil because his mother had reported his passport missing.

The news that the suspect had sneaked into Italy by boat sparked an immediate outcry among right-wing politicians, with the head of the anti-immigration Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, calling for the Schengen agreement allowing free movement between most continental European states to be suspended.

“Libyan intelligence says boats are arriving with Islamic State terrorists. Today in my Milan a North African was arrested for involvement in the Tunisian massacre. Close the borders before it’s too late,” Salvini told Italian media.

Hard-right politician Daniela Santanche from Silvio Berlusconi’s Go Italy party also slammed the government.

It is “unbelievable that this government, instead of defending us from cutthroats, has transformed Italy into a useful platform for terrorists,” Santanche said.

Authorities in Tunisia have arrested nearly two dozen suspects in connection with the attack and fired senior police officials over alleged security failures.

On March 29, Tunisian forces killed nine men allegedly belonging to the jihadist group accused of being behind the shooting, the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade.

Lokmane Abou Sakhr — an Algerian who allegedly masterminded the attack — was killed along with at least eight others from the notorious brigade.

The Bardo tragedy was met by global outrage, with leaders from Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to France’s President Francois Hollande and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas travelling to Tunis to take part in a march to denounce terrorism.

Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamic extremism since the overthrow of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.    Authorities say as many as 3,000 Tunisians have gone to Iraq, Syria and Libya to join jihadist ranks, raising fears of returning militants plotting attacks.