Displaying items by tag: Fine Arts

Matthew Girling has been appointed Global CEO of Bonhams with immediate effect. He was formerly joint CEO of Bonhams with responsibility for Europe and Asia. Following this decision, Patrick Meade, who was based in New York with responsibility for Bonhams US, takes up a new post in Europe as Group Vice Chairman overseeing all Fine Arts departments across Bonhams business.

The company will now appoint a Managing Director for New York. Bonhams Co-Chairman, Robert Brooks stated to the press, “Bonhams is a truly international company and the appointment of a single CEO will enable us to bring more focus to developing our strategy worldwide.”

On April 28, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) unveils a major exhibition examining the contributions and the legacy of women working in the applied arts during the mid 20th century, a time when curatorial attention and prestige were lavished on
 their male counterparts and those working in the fine arts. Installed on two floors of the museum, “Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and Design, Midcentury and Today” showcases works by three dozen artists associated with craft centers such as the Bauhaus in Germany and later, the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.

The Delaware College of Art and Design in downtown Wilmington is making small expansions that could later trigger bigger and more significant projects for the two-year school.

Next to DCAD, developer Buccini/Pollin Group is putting up a $6 million, five-story apartment building at 606 N. Market St. DCAD, which is known for its majors in photography, illustration, fine arts, animation, interior design and graphic design, will occupy the first floor of that building.

DCAD President Stuart Baron said the school will house sculpture studios there.

Art Basel Asia Director Magnus Renfrew will join Bonhams as deputy chairman Asia and director of Fine Arts in September, he said by telephone today.

“This is a very exciting time to be involved in the Asian art market and building up an Asian collector base,” said Renfrew, 38, who will be responsible for boosting Bonhams’ classical, modern and contemporary Asian art offerings.

Renfrew oversaw Art Basel’s Hong Kong fairs in 2013 and 2014. The company, which runs international art fairs in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong, said it has not appointed his successor in an e-mail response.

O. Aldon James, the former director of the prestigious National Arts Club in New York, has been ordered to pay $950,000 to settle claims that he mismanaged the institution and used its funds to support his lavish lifestyle. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued James in September 2013, claiming that him, his brother and an associate were using over a dozen apartments and other space at the club’s headquarters rent-free. Schneiderman also said that James used tens of thousands of dollars to purchase goods from antique store, flea markets and vintage clothing boutiques.

The settlement will be divided between Schneiderman and the club – $50,000 will go to the plaintiff and the remaining $900,000 will be given to the organization. However, many critics feel that James and his cohorts should have been more severely punished since the club has accrued over $1 million in legal fees alone thanks to the debacle. In addition to the fine, James has been banned from any future nonprofit leadership roles and must vacate the spaces he occupied at the club by the end of July.

The private National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by the art and literary critic for the New York Times, Charles DeKay. The organization’s goal has remained intact: to “stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts.” A long list of distinguished artists have belong to the National Arts Club since its founding including Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase and Alfred Stieglitz.    

Northeast Auctions has a reputation as an Americana powerhouse but its Memorial Day weekend sale in Portsmouth, N.H., proved that it knows its way around the market for fine art, as well.
 
On Sunday, May 29, ten Old Master drawings executed in chalk, pencil, ink and gouache set Northeast’s phones ablaze. Altogether, the works on paper generated nearly $150,000, six times their low estimate. Most were acquired by European dealers, auctioneer Ron Bourgeault said afterward.
 
Leading the group was a 19 ¼ by 13 inch pen, ink and wash architectural capriccio by the Venetian master Francesco Guardi. The signed piece more than tripled its low estimate to bring $54,280.
 
Two drawings with storied pasts also fared well.  Once the property of society decorator Elsie de Wolfe, known as Lady Mendl after her marriage, the drawings are inscribed with her name and an address to conjure with: 10 Avenue d’lena in Paris’s leafy  XVIe arrondissment. Sir Charles and Lady Mendel had an apartment in the former mansion of Prince Roland Bonaparte. The most costly of de Wolfe’s two drawings, a pencil and sepia wash on paper of a fountain flanked by nymphs, brought $38,940. A chalk study of women and children fetched $35,400. Both works are initialed but not signed.
 
Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980)’s ebullient 46-inch bronze of a leaping woman, “The Joy of the Waters,” surpassed estimate to bring $79,650. It is one of more than 40 Roman Bronze Works castings of the figure and dates to around 1920. The sculpture is the first and favorite of the garden fountains made by the Philadelphia-born artist, who created two versions of “The Joy of the Waters.”  The Belgian girl Janette Ransome modeled for the first version, which dates to 1917.
 
Day one of the two-part sale was devoted to English pottery and porcelain from a private American collection.
 
“The rarest pieces in the best condition did quite well. Condition was an issue on some  items but collectors overlooked blemishes if the form and decoration was rare enough,”  said Rebecca J. Davis, Northeast’s specialist in ceramics, glass and silver.
 
One “stellar” offering, said Davis, was a late 18th century Worcester porcelain “Chequered Tent”  fluted coffeepot and cover. Ex-collection of Leo and Doris Hodroff, it achieved $4,838. A matching cup and saucer garnered $2,360.
 
The highest prices were for armorials. Painted with the arms of Richard Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, 2nd Marquess of Buckingham, and his wife, Lady Anna Eliza de jure Baroness Kinloss, a Barr, Flight and Barr porcelain stand from the Stowe service doubled low estimate to bring $24,190. Said to have been made for the younger brother of King George III, a late 18th century Worcester platter from the Duke of Gloucester service achieved $18,880.
 
“Overall, it was a very strong auction,” said Bourgeault, noting the return of retail buyers to his May event, long a favorite with furnishers. “People have reduced the prices of their houses in order to sell them.  Now they are furnishing for less, too.”
Prices include the buyer’s premium.
 
Write to Laura Beach at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Northeast Auctions has a reputation as an Americana powerhouse but its Memorial Day weekend sale in Portsmouth, N.H., proved that it knows its way around the market for fine art, as well.
 
On Sunday, May 29, ten Old Master drawings executed in chalk, pencil, ink and gouache set Northeast’s phones ablaze. Altogether, the works on paper generated nearly $150,000, six times their low estimate. Most were acquired by European dealers, auctioneer Ron Bourgeault said afterward.
 
Leading the group was a 19 ¼ by 13 inch pen, ink and wash architectural capriccio by the Venetian master Francesco Guardi. The signed piece more than tripled its low estimate to bring $54,280.
 
Two drawings with storied pasts also fared well.  Once the property of society decorator Elsie de Wolfe, known as Lady Mendl after her marriage, the drawings are inscribed with her name and an address to conjure with: 10 Avenue d’lena in Paris’s leafy  XVIe arrondissment. Sir Charles and Lady Mendel had an apartment in the former mansion of Prince Roland Bonaparte. The most costly of de Wolfe’s two drawings, a pencil and sepia wash on paper of a fountain flanked by nymphs, brought $38,940. A chalk study of women and children fetched $35,400. Both works are initialed but not signed.
 
Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980)’s ebullient 46-inch bronze of a leaping woman, “The Joy of the Waters,” surpassed estimate to bring $79,650. It is one of more than 40 Roman Bronze Works castings of the figure and dates to around 1920. The sculpture is the first and favorite of the garden fountains made by the Philadelphia-born artist, who created two versions of “The Joy of the Waters.”  The Belgian girl Janette Ransome modeled for the first version, which dates to 1917.
 
Day one of the two-part sale was devoted to English pottery and porcelain from a private American collection.
 
“The rarest pieces in the best condition did quite well. Condition was an issue on some  items but collectors overlooked blemishes if the form and decoration was rare enough,”  said Rebecca J. Davis, Northeast’s specialist in ceramics, glass and silver.
 
One “stellar” offering, said Davis, was a late 18th century Worcester porcelain “Chequered Tent”  fluted coffeepot and cover. Ex-collection of Leo and Doris Hodroff, it achieved $4,838. A matching cup and saucer garnered $2,360.
 
The highest prices were for armorials. Painted with the arms of Richard Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, 2nd Marquess of Buckingham, and his wife, Lady Anna Eliza de jure Baroness Kinloss, a Barr, Flight and Barr porcelain stand from the Stowe service doubled low estimate to bring $24,190. Said to have been made for the younger brother of King George III, a late 18th century Worcester platter from the Duke of Gloucester service achieved $18,880.
 
“Overall, it was a very strong auction,” said Bourgeault, noting the return of retail buyers to his May event, long a favorite with furnishers. “People have reduced the prices of their houses in order to sell them.  Now they are furnishing for less, too.”
Prices include the buyer’s premium.
 
Write to Laura Beach at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..