Museum plucks musical desk from Case Antiques sale for $63,720

This unique Federal desk, labeled by well-documented East Tennessee cabinetmaker J.C. Burgner, featured a hidden stringed instrument under the top. It struck the right chord with buyers, competing to $63,720. Case Antiques image
This unique Federal desk, labeled by well-documented East Tennessee cabinetmaker J.C. Burgner, featured a hidden stringed instrument under the top. It struck the right chord with buyers, competing to $63,720. Case Antiques image

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A Southern Federal desk, with unusual stringed instrument inset under its top, was the number one hit at the Summer Case Antiques Auction, to the tune of $63,720 (all prices include the buyer’s premium). It was one of the highest prices ever paid at auction for a piece of Tennessee furniture.

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Morphy’s awarded right to auction legendary Kyle D. Moore petroliana collection

Musgo Gasoline porcelain advertising sign, Kyle D. Moore collection. Morphy Auctions image
Musgo Gasoline porcelain advertising sign, Kyle D. Moore collection. Morphy Auctions image

DENVER, Pa. – Dan Morphy, founder and president of Morphy Auctions, announced today that his firm has been chosen to auction the prestigious Kyle D. Moore petroliana collection, now owned by a private investor. According to Morphy, it is the most valuable collection ever to pass through Morphy’s doors, having an estimated value of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000.

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Japanese ceramics by living masters at Indianapolis museum

Tokuda Yasokichi IV (Japanese, b. 1916), Saiyu Censer (left), about 2002, porcelain with polychrome glaze. Purchased with finds provided by Tim and Jody Garrigus, 2001.137AA-B. © Tokuda Yasokichi IV. Kaneta Masanao (Japanese, b. 1953), Water Jar for Tea Ceremony (Mizusashi), 2006, wood-fired glazed stoneware, Hagi ware, 7 1/2 x 8 x 8in. Gift of John and Cynde Barnes, 2008.349A-B. © Kaneta Masanao.
Tokuda Yasokichi IV (Japanese, b. 1916), Saiyu Censer (left), about 2002, porcelain with polychrome glaze. Purchased with finds provided by Tim and Jody Garrigus, 2001.137AA-B. © Tokuda Yasokichi IV. Kaneta Masanao (Japanese, b. 1953), Water Jar for Tea Ceremony (Mizusashi), 2006, wood-fired glazed stoneware, Hagi ware, 7 1/2 x 8 x 8in. Gift of John and Cynde Barnes, 2008.349A-B. © Kaneta Masanao.

INDIANAPOLIS – Centuries-old traditions blend with the innovative techniques and eye-catching designs of today in the IMA’s upcoming exhibition, “Tradition Reborn: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics,” opening at the museum July 31.Continue reading

Colonial Williamsburg brings out its best silver for grand affair

Chafing dish
 marked by John Burt (1692/93-1745/46)
, Boston, c. 1730, 
silver and wood.
 The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund, 2012-24
Chafing dish
 marked by John Burt (1692/93-1745/46)
, Boston, c. 1730, 
silver and wood.
 The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund, 2012-24

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – To mark the reinstallation of Colonial Williamsburg’s permanent silver collection in its galleries comes “Silver from Mine to Masterpiece,” an exhibition of approximately 170 objects ranging from the typical to the rare, and dating from a circa 1530 Spanish ingot of silver to items made circa 1835. The exhibition will be on view from Sept. 12, 2015 to Jan. 7, 2018.Continue reading

Rediscovering Pirandello

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BY SILVIA ANNA BARRILA
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Landscape by Fausto Pirandello. Courtesy Galleria Russo.

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Fausto Pirandello was born in Rome in 1899, the son of famous playwright and Nobel Laureate Luigi Pirandello, and Antonietta Portolano.

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He began his artistic training with Felice Carena after World War I. His first signed works date back to the early 1920s, and his public debut took place in 1925 at the third Roman Biennial, where he showed a picture of bathers, a theme he revisited frequently throughout his career. Although he lived in Rome, his family was Sicilian, and his long stays in Sicily influenced his color palette, with the warm colors of its sun-drenched land, the blinding light and the blue sea.

Compared to the classicism of his teacher, his painting is more expressionist, characterized by diagonal compositions and a sparse representation of reality. He was associated with the Roman school, a painting movement of the 1930s that aimed to overcome the conventionalism of the “Novecento” movement through wild and expressionist painting.

In 1926 he participated in the Venice Biennale, where he returned regularly from 1932 to 1942. From 1928 to 1930, he was in Paris, where he frequented Italian artists such as De Chirico and De Pisis. In 1929 in Paris, he mounted his first solo exhibition, at the Galerie Vildrac. In 1930 he exhibited in Vienna and, in the following year, in Rome, where he remained until his death in 1975.

Fausto Pirandello, Autoritratto con tavolozza, 1946, olio su tavola, cm 60x41, Courtesy Galleria Russo
Fausto Pirandello, Autoritratto con tavolozza, 1946, olio su tavola, cm 60×41, Courtesy Galleria Russo.

His first solo show in Italy was in 1931, at the Galleria di Roma, and two years later he had a solo show in Milan at the Galleria Milano. This is the period during which he created several important works now housed in museums such as Pompidou (Interno di mattina, 1931) and Museo del Novecento (Il Remo e la pala). In 1935, Pirandello exhibited a number of works at the second Roman Quadrennial, including Il bagno and Pioggia d’oro, today held in the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna di Roma, along with the portrait of his brother Stefano Pirandello (1930) and portrait of his father Luigi Pirandello (1936). Among those who collected his works in those years were Corrado Alvaro, Ercole Maselli and Telesio Interlandi in Rome; and Margherita Sarfatti and Arturo Martini in Milan.

Pirandello paintings from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s are in highest demand today, although works from the 1920s are all but impossible to find in the marketplace. His favorite theme was the human figure, which he depicted in a monumental and dramatic way.
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At the end of the 1930s and 1940s Pirandello showed in important group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including Vienna, San Francisco, Paris, London, Pittsburgh and New York, and received important recognition. He won third prize at the Rome Quadrennial in 1939 and first prize at the second Mostra dello Sport in 1940. In 1942 he exhibited for the first time at the Galleria Gian Ferrari of Milan, where he returned to exhibit frequently. The gallery has played an important role in the artist’s career and published his catalog.

Also after the war, Pirandello continued to exhibit frequently, both in Italy and abroad. In 1955 he had a solo show in New York at the gallery of Catherine Viviano. But in those years of veering between abstraction and figuration, between form and content, Pirandello searched for a perfect balance. His intention was to reduce the picture to light and color, but he never forgot the nature and the objective reality, toward which he went back in the 1960s.

Despite his career and recognition in life, today his work is undervalued. One may find works of interesting pictorial value for around 50,000 euros.

“The market for Italian artists very often does not correspond to their true artistic value because of various, complex reasons,” said Fabrizio Russo, owner of Galleria Russo in Rome. “Pirandello’s market reached its peak about five years ago, but it was later affected by the crisis that has affected many artists who are not supported at the international level. Today, finally, there is a new turnaround.”

The market for Pirandello is mainly Italian, but is emerging at the international level, particularly in Great Britain “thanks to the foresight of the large international auction houses that have not hesitated to insert works by the artist in the prestigious evening sales in London,” added Russo. Also contributing to this rediscovery is the important exhibition that the Estorick Collection, a collection of Italian art in London, devoted to his work (July 8 to Sept. 6, 2015).

Fausto Pirandello, I pastori, 1934, olio su tavola, cm 75x103, Courtesy Galleria Russo
Fausto Pirandello, I pastori, 1934, olio su tavola, cm 75×103, Courtesy Galleria Russo.

But what is Fausto Pirandello’s significance within the panoramic history of art? “He was, in my opinion, an absolute genius, who has been able to anticipate international artists like first Lucian Freud and then Jenny Saville,” replied Fabrizio Russo. “The apparent disharmony of the form, a deliberately rough material, and the highly dramatic atmosphere of his compositions place him without any doubt among the most interesting international expressionists.”

The family of Fabrizio Russo began working with Pirandello in the 1950s, and this collaboration went on until his death, as evidenced by several catalogs of solo exhibitions. Fabrizio Russo started to handle Pirandello’s work in the first year of his gallery, 1984.

The work of Fausto Pirandello is protected by a foundation established in 2011 by his son Pierluigi and daughter-in-law Giovanna Pirandello. The foundation, which has 19 works by Pirandello, strives to preserve both the works and an important photographic and documentary archive about the artist. It also promotes the knowledge of Pirandello through exhibitions, conferences and publications in Italy and abroad.
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SilviaAnnaBarrilaAbout Silvia Anna Barrila

Silvia Anna Barilla is an Italian fine arts journalist and regular contributor to the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE (ArtEconomy24). She also writes about art, design, lifestyle and society for a number of Italian and international magazines, including DAMn Magazine and ICON (Mondadori). She is based in Milan and Berlin.
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Stallone puts ‘Rocky,’ ‘Rambo’ memorabilia up for auction

Rocky Balboa's boxing trunks from the first match against Clubber Lang (Mr. T) in 1982's 'Rocky III.' Heritage Auctions image
Rocky Balboa’s boxing trunks from the first match against Clubber Lang (Mr. T) in 1982’s ‘Rocky III.’ Heritage Auctions image

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Sylvester Stallone is parting with memorabilia from the Rocky and Rambo movies, but he’s keeping the two characters alive onscreen. The 69-year-old entertainer announced Thursday that he’ll put hundreds of props and costumes from his 40-year career up for auction in October, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting military charities.

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Detroit art museum says ‘thanks’ to Michigan with programs

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), 'Les noisettes' aka 'The Nut Gatherers,' 1882. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), ‘Les noisettes’ aka ‘The Nut Gatherers,’ 1882. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

DETROIT (AP) – The Detroit Institute of Arts is showing its gratitude to the people of Michigan for the state’s help in preserving the internationally renowned collection during the city’s passage through bankruptcy.Continue reading

Miscellaneana: Chinese snuff bottles

A transparent blue glass snuff bottle (left) inside-painted with a continuous scene of warriors on horseback. Saleroom estimate is £450-£500. A heart-shaped porcelain snuff bottle painted on one face with figures on a bridge in a landscape, and a lakeside view on the other. It sold for £1,700. Photos: Peter Wilson auctioneers
A transparent blue glass snuff bottle (left) inside-painted with a continuous scene of warriors on horseback. Saleroom estimate is £450-£500. A heart-shaped porcelain snuff bottle painted on one face with figures on a bridge in a landscape, and a lakeside view on the other. It sold for £1,700. Photos: Peter Wilson auctioneers

LONDON – The history of Chinese arts and crafts is a long one. During the Neolithic period for example – it stretched from the 10th to the second millennium B.C. – China’s artist potters were making pottery incised or painted with stylish geometric and linear designs that, for the time, show an amazing level of invention. In contrast, our cavemen were chasing their next meal.

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American artists at forefront of Louis J. Dianni auction Aug. 8-9

Painting of a merchant sloop sailing out of Philadelphia Harbor and leaving the Naval Yard behind by Thomas Birch (Pennsylvania, 1779-1851). Louis J. Dianni LLC image
Painting of a merchant sloop sailing out of Philadelphia Harbor and leaving the Naval Yard behind by Thomas Birch (Pennsylvania, 1779-1851). Louis J. Dianni LLC image

GARRISON, N.Y. – A rare painting of Civil War photographer Mathew Brady by the renowned portrait artist Charles Loring Elliott, a pre-Columbiam statuette of a pregnant woman, and a colorful circa-1910 art glass vase by the French maker LeGras will all come up for bid at an auction to be held by Louis J. Dianni LLC on Aug. 8-9.Continue reading