Princess Beatrice wearing the hat designed by Philip Treacy. Image courtesy of ebay.co.uk LONDON (AP) – The eye-popping hat worn by Princess Beatrice at Britain’s royal wedding is to be auctioned to raise money for charity, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.
The famous creation – which some said looked like antlers – will be sold on eBay with the proceeds to go to the charities UNICEF and Children in Crisis.
The hat was the handiwork of Britain’s leading milliner, Philip Treacy, who designed many of the ladies’ hats worn at the April 29 nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The unusual design of the beige hat has sparked a Facebook fan page called “Princess Beatrice’s ridiculous Royal Wedding hat,” and one computer-altered picture showed President Barack Obama and his national security team all wearing the hat as they watched the commando raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
The sale was announced by Beatrice’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, on the Oprah Winfrey show. A palace spokesman confirmed the sale while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy.
Many have said the hat looked outlandish, but Treacy has defended it in comments to the British press, saying Beatrice looked “gorgeous” at the wedding.
Beatrice, 22, also defended it in a recent interview with Grazia magazine. She said it was “wonderful that it’s had such a reaction.”
She added: “It’s an incredible response to a hat, really. I’m glad it provoked so much conversation.”
UNICEF and Children in Crisis said in a statement on their website that they are looking forward to working with Beatrice to raise as much money as possible for children around the world.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The original Mr. Met could not have been happy when the baseball team’s former clubhouse manager was arraigned Wednesday on stolen property and fraud charges. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Mets’ longtime clubhouse manager amassed a secret hoard of baseballs, hats, bats and uniforms, including an autographed 1986 World Series warm-up jersey, that he intended to use to fund his retirement, prosecutors said Wednesday in announcing his arrest.
Charlie Samuels, who was with the team 27 seasons, was arraigned on stolen property, fraud and other charges and was released on a $75,000 bond.
His attorney, Michael Bachner, said Samuels was a loyal employee authorized by the team to take the memorabilia.
“This property was his,” Bachner said. “He was authorized by the Mets to have it. This indictment never made it to first base and it’s never coming home. This is not a betrayal of trust.”
Samuels was fired in November amid claims that he placed bets on games and used Mets checks to cover his debts. The team said in a statement that Samuels was fired following an internal investigation that uncovered policy violations.
“We cooperated fully with the NYPD and the Queens District Attorney’s office in their lengthy and thorough criminal investigation,” the team said in a statement. “As this is a pending criminal matter, we will have no further comment.”
Samuels, 53, also worked as the team’s equipment manager and traveling secretary and had unique and unfettered access to Mets equipment, authorities said.
He stockpiled 507 signed and unsigned jerseys, 304 hats, 828 bats, 22 batting helmets and 10 equipment bags, valued together at more than $2.3 million, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Officials recovered the collectibles at a friend’s basement in Madison, Conn. A commemorative Mets World Champions workout jersey signed by the entire 1986 team and a jersey made after the 9/11 attacks were each worth $7,500.
Prosecutors did not charge Samuels with selling the memorabilia.
“He was holding onto it as his own private collection so he could one day sell it,” Brown said.
Bachner also said the district attorney’s office overstated what was taken.
Part of Samuels’ job included signing off on meal expenses submitted by the umpire room manager, and he was also accused of padding expenses, then skimming the excess to receive an extra $24,955 in reimbursement from 2007 through 2010. He was also accused of failing to report on his tax returns $203,780 in dues and gratuities he’d received from ball players over the years.
“The defendant had a dream job that any Mets fan would die for – and he blew it,” Brown said. “His greed is alleged to have gotten the better of him.”
Samuels began his career with the National League team in 1976. He was made equipment manager in 1983 and later took on the other responsibilities.
If convicted of the top charge of first-degree criminal possession of stolen property, he could face between eight and 25 years in prison.
The investigation was conducted by the New York Police Department’s organized crime division.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The original Mr. Met could not have been happy when the baseball team’s former clubhouse manager was arraigned Wednesday on stolen property and fraud charges. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Karl Momen’s ‘Metaphor: The Tree of Utah’ stands 87 feet tall over the Great Salt Lake Desert. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Since 1986, the “Tree of Utah” has stood as a lone sculpture in the western desert along Interstate 80.
Swedish artist Karl Momen, who created it, now has plans for a visitors center so more people can enjoy the towering sculpture.
Some find the man-made tree fascinating, others have used it for target practice over the years. But the world-famous artist who fell in love with Utah’s desert 30 years ago, wants to make his artwork more accessible and has begun meeting with state officials to make that happen.
The 87-foot tall “tree” remains a mysterious statement standing on the edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Momen became fascinated with what he calls the magnificent desert landscape driving to and from California 25 years ago. He designed a tree, signifying life in a place seemingly void of life.
“It is going to be an object of thinking,” he said in a 1986 interview. “What is the motive?”
His design included rocks and minerals from Utah’s desert, glued onto giant cement spheres. Contractor Don Ryman and his six sons took on the project.
It proved to be monumental back then. They crafted giant spheres – 225-tons of cement in all – that were eventually suspended 80 feet in the air with little support. And the sculpture had to withstand high desert winds.
Momen gave his tree to the state but there was never a pull-off or exit ramp along the westbound side of I-80, 95 miles west of Salt Lake.
To protect the work from vandals, a metal fence surrounds it. Momen wants to give the area new life and has now designed a visitors center with an overlook, cafe, souvenir shop, restrooms and parking. He envisions something serene. “You sit there and you don’t have any interruption of traffic, buildings, anything, just plain desert.”
Momen says it’s a great place to sit and enjoy and relax.
“In the early morning, you can see the sunrise, and by the evening, you see the sunset,” he said. “I have been almost all over the world, never have seen anything like that because when you come at the right time, it is so beautiful.”
He remembers his original reaction to terrain he says he didn’t know existed.
“August 1981 and I didn’t know anything about the desert. A walk, the crunch of the salt and I was so taken with the desert and then it didn’t take me many minutes to think something must be done here,” Momen recalls.
He says his sculpture remains internationally popular, largely because of the Internet. Between August and October, more than 1.2 million people saw the “tree” on Facebook and YouTube, he said.
Momen estimates the cost for the center will be between $1 million and $3 million. He says he has out-of-state donors, foundations in the Silicon Valley.
Momen said he has met with Division of Facilities Construction and Management director Gregg Buxton and attorney Alan Bachman. He plans to meet with representatives from Utah Department of Transportation and Office of Tourism. He says it will take 10 months to a year to acquire the licensing from all the state agencies before construction can begin.
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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Karl Momen’s ‘Metaphor: The Tree of Utah’ stands 87 feet tall over the Great Salt Lake Desert. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Neon tubes highlight the marquee on the Fox Theater in downtown Tucson. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – When history buff Carlos Lozano rolled into town 25 years ago, he was struck immediately by the neon signs along Miracle Mile and Oracle Road.
“They’re just so magical,” he said, noting they expressed a cheerfulness and exuberance about life that in some ways modern culture has lost. “I knew when I saw them that there was something special about Tucson.”
Decades later, about 75 percent are gone. No longer does a Godzilla-sized Marilyn Monroe entice travelers to a motel. The Ye Olde Lantern sign no longer lures Tucson foodies to one of the area’s fanciest restaurants in its day. Some have been destroyed. Others have been snapped up by collectors or hawked on eBay.
Most of those remaining are at risk. And Tucson is diminished because of it, Lozano said.
The city’s sign-code committee is now going over a proposed change in the law that would make it easier to save historic signs, but at its last meeting the group failed to agree on a recommendation to send to the City Council, instead scheduling a follow-up meeting next week.
When Tucson updated its sign code, many old signs were too big, too tall or too near the public rights-of-way to meet the new criteria. They were allowed to remain, but if they ever came down, even for repairs, they couldn’t go back up. Also, if the business changed use, the sign would have to come down.
Advocates point to the rusted-out, badly-aged “diving girl,” who, for 65 years, has beckoned visitors to the Pueblo Hotel and Apartments’ swimming pool as the poster child for sign purgatory.
She’s flat illegal since the use of the building changed to a lawyer’s office. The city’s sign code administrator, Glenn Moyer, acknowledged that, technically, if an administrator took over who was not sympathetic to historic signs, the diving girl – and any like her – could be ordered down.
Business owners often sacrifice to keep the signs. Since diving girl takes up all of the business’s allotment for signs, the Piccarreta Davis law firm can’t put its own sign out front. It still gets inquiries about vacancies. Like many older signs, restoring it would be expensive, but the law firm is willing to do it, if only it were allowed.
Likewise, Steve Fenton, who owns the long-empty Reilly Funeral Home on East Pennington Street, says he’d love to fix up the vintage 1920s neon sign that is original to the building.
“That sign is an integral part of the history of that building,” he said. Fenton said he’s unable to say how much work the sign will need, because to date it’s been a moot point.
“Historic signs are part of the historic fabric of Tucson, so it’s only logical that we should try to keep them in place,” Fenton said.
Bob Vincent’s Southwest Animal Health on North First Avenue stands in the shadow of a large boot, outlined in neon, with a fluorescent orange spur, which has marked the entrance to the business complex for more than 50 years. When it’s fixed up, it can be seen from blocks away, he said.
It worked when he moved in 17 years ago, but has fallen into disrepair. “I hate to see it all dilapidated,” Vincent said. “It makes my business look bad.”
City leaders, acknowledging the role the distinctive signs played in the rise of the Oracle-Drachman corridor, even put a 30-foot-tall neon sculpture of a saguaro in the median at the gateway of the old tourist court strip, as an homage to its history.
Still, the wheels of government turn slowly. It’s been two years since the City Council turned the job over to an ad hoc citizens’ committee in June 2009.
The group identified about 200 signs that might qualify as historic. Since then, they had many a spirited debate about what criteria to use to keep out signs without historic value, said Jonathan Mabry, the city’s historic preservation officer.
Take the No-Tel Motel. The naughty little witticism might lend a sense of place, but the sign itself isn’t anything special, Mabry said.
What they ended up agreeing to was a special designation for signs installed prior to 1961, as well as transitional signs installed between 1961 and 1974. They would have to meet nine criteria for automatic approval, from having neon or incandescent lighting, to being non-rectangular and exemplifying historic heritage. Those that don’t meet all nine can still petition for the designation.
Business owners looking to incorporate new text, such as their name, into a sign may be able to do so, as long as it doesn’t change the sign’s character.
No longer would the historic signs count toward the business’ signage area, allowing them to put up their own sign.
Two provisions ran into some turbulence with sign-code advisers, who have long fought against visual blight – letting historic signs be relocated to an area with a concentration of historic signs allowing replicas as long as they are installed on the original premises. Commissioners feared those provisions would reopen the door to the types of signage that in the 1970s gave Tucson brief notoriety as having the nation’s ugliest street – Speedway.
But advocates of historic restoration say that, in a sea of plastic uniformity, there is a need to preserve examples of quirky American folk art.
Sharon Chadwick told the sign code advisory committee that losing historical elements will hurt. “You’ll become like a person who doesn’t have a memory.”
But Mark Mayer, a longtime billboard opponent, objected that rather than being narrowly focused on just the most worthy signs, he thought the law would “open a wide door where grossly oversized signs” could be restored, relocated or replicated.
Mayer urged dumping the measure, and instead making a list of signs worth keeping.
Mabry said a list wouldn’t work. “That’s exactly the kind of approach we should not take,” he said, adding that what makes a sign “historic” is not nostalgia or even personal opinions about its aesthetic.
The sign committee will meet again May 19 to discuss the change and forward their take on the proposal. It could go to mayor and council for action possibly in June.
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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-12-11 0857GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Neon tubes highlight the marquee on the Fox Theater in downtown Tucson. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
These Lucite circular form candlesticks echo the 1970s. The larger one is 14 inches tall. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Rago Arts & Auction Center.
NEW YORK (AP) – Her friends’ Lucite-and-white kitchens were far more inviting than the outdated, psychedelic wallpaper and avocado-colored appliances that greeted Jeannine Anckaitis at home during the late ’80s.
“It was the absence of color that looked so clean, fresh and bright,” she said. “They were clutter-free and seemed upscale. Our kitchen, on the other hand, seemed garish and was overwhelming to the eye.”
It’s been more than 75 years since rival chemical companies came up with a new generation of clear acrylics known in their world as polymethyl methacrylate. Lucite wasn’t the first brand in 1936, but it’s an enduring symbol of mid-century modern style spanning home furnishings and decor, industrial design and retail merchandising, contemporary art and costume jewelry.
“It’s so modern, but it also looks futuristic at the same time,” said Alexis Bittar. “It’s definitely the platinum of the acrylics.”
Bittar is the wizard of Lucite after a 20-year journey from hawking his jewelry on the streets of New York to hand-sculpting masks for Lady Gaga and floral pins for Michelle Obama. “You can manipulate it any way you want,” he said.
Lucite’s qualities – it’s easy to form, glue, cut, tint and fuse with other materials to add texture, color and sparkle – are the things that made it a hit. Lucite handbags from Charles Kahn and other designers in the ’50s now fetch up to $600 or more from collectors.
There were precursors when DuPont put tough, clear-as-glass Lucite on the market for the windshields and canopies of fighter jets, the eyes of submarine telescopes and the gun turrets of tanks. Cheaper to produce than Bakelite, Galalith and Catalin, with a unique ability to conduct light, it moved over the years to a myriad of other applications, from three-story aquariums to the heels of women’s shoes.
“It’s definitely fresh,” said interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, who created a sleek living-room set of clear Lucite for the New York City digs of Sean “Puffy” Combs. “I like that it’s clear, so the rooms tend to look larger when some of the pieces are in that material. I also combine it with white or black so it’s a combination of clear and solid. It’s easy to clean. You don’t have to paint it.”
Lucite has its purists. Some wouldn’t consider designing in color, for example, or embellishing it with metals and other bling. Perhaps all those neon Lucite laminate keychains produced by high schoolers during shop class in the ’70s left a bad taste.
Etienne Coffinier, an architect and furniture designer who grew up in Algeria, Holland and Dubai, works solely in clear Lucite.
“It’s a staple of our design,” he said. “We have clients who have huge rooms and therefore they have huge coffee tables. I don’t like to have the huge coffee table hiding the beautiful rug I have designed for them. The best quality of Lucite is that it’s more transparent than glass. It doesn’t scratch so easily, and if it does you can usually buff it out.”
Noriega-Ortiz straddles the divide, using pops of bright solids in chairs or yellow see-through tabletops in the same home as clear Lucite chandeliers, and shaped legs holding up other pieces.
Lucite is great, he said, for combining periods in home furnishings. “We mix it with antiques so it doesn’t compete.”
Ultimately sleek and modern, the designers said, the acrylic – in name and sensibility – has traveled far from the ’50s, considered its heyday, straight through to the ’70s, a period followed by several years of sagging interest revived by a new generation of designers.
“As a sculptor in addition to a designer, I was attracted to the endless possibilities of using Lucite to create new jewelry shapes – a loose-fitting bangle or cuff that wraps around the wrist, a solid Lucite ball on a long chain,” said Isaac Manevitz, creator of the Ben-Amun jewelry line.
“When I started my brand in the early ’80s, Lucite helped pave the way for outrageous fashion jewelry that was more fun than the smaller diamonds that had been so popular in previous decades,” he said.
In suburban Chicago, Wendy Piersall has the bug for vintage, inspired in part by a grandmother who passed down a tortoise-colored Lucite bag.
“My father’s mother was incredibly fashionable, with impeccable taste,” she said. “It’s really one of my favorite pieces of all time. You just can’t find stuff like that anymore.”
In the ’50s home, after the war and its rationing were over, all things “modern, fresh and clean” were appealing, and Lucite swept in, said Chris Robinson, business manager for Lucite International, a Memphis, Tenn.-based division of Mitsubishi Chemicals.
“It was cool to have clear Lucite cutlery. It was in everything,” he said. “Back then it was expensive stuff and arty stuff, so the fancy people were getting it. They were looking for things that weren’t metal, like the things their parents had. Lucite was a material that no one had seen before.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-11-11 2118GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
These Lucite circular form candlesticks echo the 1970s. The larger one is 14 inches tall. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Rago Arts & Auction Center.Measuring just 6 inches by 5 inches, this Judith Leiber gold tone metal and Lucite bag is early and rare. Photo credit: P.S. (Post Script).
Signed by the renowned clock maker Simon Willard, this early 19th century tall-case clock was the top seller at the auction, making $32,900. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. MALVERN, Pa. – A gorgeous early 19th century Simon Willard tall-case clock, signed “Warranted by S. Willard” on the dial, sold for $32,900 at an estates auction held April 23 by Gordon S. Converse & Co. The clock was the sale’s top lot.
Over 280 high-quality, fresh-to-the-market items in an array of categories crossed the block. Of those, about 240 sold.
“The crowd was average,” said Gordon Converse, “but online bidding, through LiveAuctioneers.com, was very strong.”
Converse said there were between 300 and 400 registered online bidders, a fact that turned what could have been an ordinary sale into a very successful one.
“We were very pleased with the results,” he said. “Things are definitely looking better than they did this time last year, both in terms of our business in general and the vibrant antiques industry in particular.”
The Simon Willard clock was expected to do well, and it did not disappoint. The dial was attributed to the workshops of Curtis and Nolen in Boston and was attached to an eight-day bell strike clockworks. The hood was surmounted by three brass ball finials. The clock was housed in a Federal solid and veneer mahogany case, with flared French feet, giving it a majestic stance at 93 1/2 inches tall.
Willard clocks overall are highly desired by collectors. It was Benjamin Willard who first began making clocks in his small, rural Massachusetts workshop, in 1766. His younger brothers – Simon, Ephraim and Aaron – learned the trade and began a three-generation clockmaking legacy that endures today. Simon is best known for inventing and patenting the so-called banjo timepiece in 1802.
Following are additional highlights from the auction. All prices quoted include a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium.
A 16 1/2-inch mystery clock made circa 1835 and attributed to Robert Houdin (French, 1806-1871), boasting a gilt bronze and glass case and the original carved giltwood stand, brought $11,750. The clock is so-named because the hand appears to move around the glass dial without any form of assistance, making it a mystery. But to Houdin, a magician, it was no mystery at all.
In reality, a rod was run up through the pillar and was connected to a further one going along the right hand of the top of the case. A worm screw was attached to this and was connected to a second invisible glass dial set behind the main one. The hand was attached to this through the front dial, thereby turning as the rear glass turned. It was basically a clever optical illusion.
But illusion was Houdin’s game. He was so revered a magician that Harry Houdini took his name for himself. Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (the Houdin part was his wife’s maiden name) was the most famous illusionist of his time, having given performances for Queen Victoria and Napoleon. While he was a great inventor and a pioneer in applying electricity to horology, mystery clocks were his trademark invention. Some had an enamel dial, others a glass dial.
An early 19th century Philadelphia mahogany tall-case clock with a heroic painted dial, signed by Abraham Cassell of Germantown (Philadelphia), went for $5,875. The clock had a solid and veneered mahogany Federal case, a painted dial with a Federal eagle, and an eight-day running bell-strike clockworks.
Another fine mahogany tall-case clock made in Philadelphia – this one signed by David Weatherly (American, at work 1805-1850) – chimed on time for $3,525, in what seemed like a bargain price. The 97-inch-tall clock featured an eight-day running bell strike clockworks with an enamel moon disk dial attributed to Patton and Jones. “It was basically all original and in good condition,” said Converse.
An 1832 engraving with hand-coloring after Paul Revere, titled The Bloody Massacre, climbed to $3,290. The image – originally executed by Paul Revere in 1770 and considered his most important and desirable work – depicted the massacre perpetrated on King Street in Boston on March 5, 1770, on the eve of the American Revolution, by a Party of the 29th Regiment.
Rounding out the day’s top lots, a fine Chinese enamel vase, about 15 inches high, garnered $1,469.
To contact Converse e-mail them at Gordon@ConverseClocks.com or phone (610) 722-9004. For more information, log on to www.AuctionsatConverse.com or www.ConverseClocks.com.
Robert Houdin’s mystery clock made in 1835 sold for $11,750. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.‘The Bloody Massacre,’ a hand-colored 1832 engraving after Paul Revere’s 1770 original, mustered $3,290. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.Bidding on this fine mahogany tall-case clock signed David Weatherly of Philadelphia, 97 inches tall, reached $3,525. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.Abraham Cassell signed his early 19th century Philadelphia mahogany tall-case clock that topped $5,875. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.One of the highlights of the Oriental objects was this fine Chinese enamel vase, 15 inches tall, which sold for $1,469). Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia auction house is set to sell off the art collection of a health care executive convicted of fraud.
Richard Scrushy’s collection will be auctioned off Sunday by Freeman’s in Philadelphia with proceeds going to HealthSouth and its shareholders.
HealthSouth Corp. won a $2.9 billion civil judgment against Scrushy in 2009 after he was convicted on federal corruption charges. An appeals court last week threw out two bribery convictions but let most of the corruption charges stand.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the collection includes two Picasso prints and a Renoir lithograph among its 16 pieces.
The items are on display through Saturday.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The American Folk Art Museum has sold its building on West 53rd Street in New York. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license. NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s Museum of Modern Art has agreed to buy the building of the financially strapped American Folk Art Museum.
The building is next door to MoMA, meaning MoMA could expand the exhibition space of its West 53rd Street facility. No immediate plans for the folk art building were announced.
The American Folk Art Museum will continue to operate at its gallery space near Lincoln Center. A spokeswoman for the smaller institution confirmed the sale, which will help eliminate its bond debt. The sale price was not disclosed.
The Folk Art Museum’s director, Maria Ann Conelli, announced last week that she was stepping down in July.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Anish Kapoor in 2008. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. PARIS (AP) – A blood-colored, globulous balloon ensconced in Paris’ Grand Palais seems to suck you into its vortex as you lose your sense of balance. And that’s not such a bad thing.
The city’s latest monumental exhibit, by Anish Kapoor, is at once enveloping and vertigo-inducing, and as often with the outspoken British artist, political. Kapoor dedicated it to jailed Chinese artist and government critic Ai Weiwei.
Leviathan, which opened Wednesday and runs through June 23, really is just one 75,000-cubic-meter balloon filling up much of the Art Nouveau, glass-roofed Grand Palais. Its “skin” is PVC vinyl, barely thicker than the skin of a toy balloon. Its four orbs are sustained by fans pumping whooshes of air that become the exhibit’s soundtrack.
It’s a show you experience from inside and out. A stiff, narrow revolving door releases visitors into what curator Jean de Loisy calls “this strange monster.”
The initial sense of darkness and the deep red tones do make you feel you’re in the belly of some beast. It mesmerizes gradually, as the sunlight coming in through the Palais’ windowed roof shifts its shadows. The seams in the balloon form lines that lead to a black hole in the center of one orb.
“It offers the possibility of going inside ourselves,” de Loisy told The Associated Press at the opening. “You are at the origin of the world.”
That black hole creates such a pull, and the lines are so dizzying, that one visitor swayed and stumbled as she tried to find the exit. She sought to steady herself on a wall, but instead found herself reaching inside a deeply concave balloon.
From outside, the balloon resembles a mutant blimp, bulging in four directions. Visitors walk under and around the bulges, touching the smooth skin of the burgundy vinyl.
The exhibit is the latest in a series staged by the Grand Palais called Monumenta, in which artists create massive artworks taking into account the scale and structure of the domed venue. Past Monumenta exhibitors included U.S. artist Richard Serra and German artist Anselm Kiefer.
“It’s both monumental and intimate,” said visitor Sabyne Soulard, who teaches art in Toulouse. Waving her hand to watch the shadows it created, she said, “It feels like it’s breathing.”
Kapoor, one of Britain’s best-known artists, is known for embracing enormity. He is designing a 375-foot twisting steel tower to overlook the Olympic Stadium in east London, intended to draw tourists to the London Olympic Park after the 2012 Games. His 110-ton stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture on Chicago’s lakefront has become one of the city’s most photographed landmarks.
Indian-born Kapoor dedicated the exhibit to Ai Weiwei, who was detained trying to board a flight to Hong Kong last month amid a Chinese crackdown on dissidents.
“His arrest, disappearance and alleged torture are unacceptable. When governments silence artists it bears witness to their barbarity,” Kapoor said in a statement.
Sioux chief Red Cloud’s war bonnet is one of millions of images that will be made available by Yale University. Image copyright Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – Yale University announced Tuesday that it will offer free online access to digital images of millions of objects housed in its museums, archives and libraries, and the school said it’s the first Ivy League university to make its collections accessible that way.
No license will be required for the transmission of the images and no limitations will be imposed on their use, which will allow scholars, artists and others around the world to use Yale collections for study, publication, teaching and inspiration, Yale said.
It will take many years for the university to digitize all its objects. The school has harvested 1.5 million records from all its catalogs and digitized 250,000 of them, which are available through a newly developed collective catalog (http://tinyurl.com/4x2x2f3 ). Yale expects the 1.5 million records to grow much larger as it continues to harvest its catalogs.
Images now accessible under the new policy include pictures of the war bonnet of Sioux chief Red Cloud, a Mozart sonata in the composer’s own hand and a 15th-century Javanese gold kris, or dagger, handle.
Yale says its collections are among the strongest in depth and breadth of any academic institution in the world, ranging from anthropology to vertebrate zoology and including world-renowned art collections from antiquity to the present.
“That Yale has achieved the goal of making its collections available online to students, scholars, and the general public, in a free and open-access environment, is a splendid achievement that we hope will inspire other colleges and universities internationally to follow suit,” said Amy Meyers, director of the Yale Center for British Art. “The ability to publish images directly from our online catalogs without charge will encourage the increased use of our collections for scholarship, a benefit to which we look forward with the greatest excitement.”
Researchers will be able to examine individual items online in detail and compare objects from different collections side by side.
“High costs of reproduction rights have traditionally limited the ability of scholars, especially ones early in their careers, to publish richly illustrated books and articles in the history of art, architecture, and material and visual culture,” according to Mariet Westermann, vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “Yale’s new policy provides an important model to follow.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
