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Home - AFAnews
Friday, 24 October 2014 10:59
After just one edition in Paris, the New York institution Outsider Art Fair (OAF) already feels at home in France—and it's no surprise. Paris, home turf of art brut father Jean Dubuffet, is natural territory for the genre. These days outsider art is supported year-round by galleries and institutions like the Halle Saint Pierre and such foundations as Bruno Decharme's abcd (art brut connaissance & diffusion) and Antoine de Galbert's La Maison Rouge. The art world's current frenzy of interest in the genre─epitomized by Massimiliano Gioni's "Encyclopedic Palace" exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale─doesn't hurt either. No wonder OAF is settling in so well.
Friday, 24 October 2014 10:55
Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofía will expand into northern Spain after taking over control of the José María Lafuente Archive in Santander. The collection, started by the Santander-based industrialist in the 1980s, contains around 120,000 documents—drawings, books, magazines, catalogues, pamphlets, prints, letters, and pictures—covering the history of 20th-century art in Europe, Latin America and the United States, with a particular emphasis on Spain.
The Reina Sofía will assume the technical direction, research management, preservation and dissemination of the archive for a period of ten years, with the option to fully acquire the collection down the road.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 17:03
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has launched an online gallery that allows web visitors to explore the submissions received for Stage One of the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition.The Guggenheim hopes to construct the new museum in Helsinki’s South Harbor area, close to the historic city center and easily accessible to visitors arriving by sea. The Foundation plans to organize and present internationally significant exhibitions of artworks from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The proposed museum will also specialize in Nordic art and architecture.
Each entry is represented by two images and a brief concept summary provided by the participants. A total of 1,715 submissions were received from 77 countries. The competition was open to qualified architects from anywhere in the world, but the identities of the competitors are being kept under wraps.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:30
Frans Verbeeck's "The Mocking of Human Follies" (c.1560) was sold at auction last night in Vienna for a staggering £2.3 million. The sum is an all-time record for the artist. It also marks one of the highest selling prices ever achieved at an Austrian auction.
The auction of the masterpiece took place last night at the Viennese headquarters of the Dorotheum's auction house. The Verbeeck painting is said to have caused quite a stir at the auction house's Old Master Paintings sale. According to the Austrian newspaper "The Local," the painting had a presale estimate of between £709,000 to £945,000. It is reported that the work was sold to an unnamed Flemish bidder - after a hard-fought bidding war.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:26
Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde fish and Piero Manzoni’s white canvas were among the top purchases during Frieze Week in London as the auction houses sold 231.2 million pounds ($373 million) of art.
As the biggest week-long concentration of art events in Europe ended yesterday, dealers at Frieze Art Fair individually reported brisk sales and the tallies at the auction houses almost doubled from last year’s October sales.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:22
The Louvre has commissioned Zeng Fanzhi to create a new work taking Eugène Delacroix's masterpiece "Liberty Leading the People" (1830) as inspiration. The resulting painting, entitled "From 1830 to Now, No. 4," now sits next to Delacroix's original at the Louvre, creating a compelling visual dialogue between past and present, East and West.
The Chinese auction darling is the second living Chinese artist whose work has been displayed amongst classic masterpieces at the Louvre.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:13
The program for the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale was revealed today by its curator, Okwui Enwezor, and Paolo Baratta, the organization’s president, at a conference at the Biennale headquarters at Ca’ Giustinian.
Enwezor, a curator, writer, critic and director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst since 2011, has given the biennial the title “All the World’s Futures.” The event, which opens to the public on 9 May and runs until 22 November, promises to be critically engaged with the events of today.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:06
A bicorne that belonged to Napoléon I will be the star lot at a two-day auction of Napoleon memorabilia from the collection of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco.
The black felt hat with two horizontal points has become emblematic of the French emperor and is “believed to have been worn during his stay on the Island of Elba,” according to the auction house Osenat. The hat first came from Joseph Giraud, vet to the Imperial Household, and it carries an estimate of €300,000‑400,000. Napoleon is known to have owned numerous hats, some of which can now be found in museums around the world, and he wore them with the brim aligned to his shoulders to differentiate himself from his officers.
Thursday, 23 October 2014 12:00
Douglas Hyland, who has led the New Britain Museum of American Art through two major expansions, tripled its collections and more than doubled its endowment, will retire as the museum's director after its new addition is complete next fall.
Hyland, 65, announced his decision Wednesday at a meeting of the museum's board of trustees.
"Everything I envisioned for this museum has been accomplished," Hyland said. "The collections have grown, the attendance is at 100,000. This is the best year of our history."
Thursday, 23 October 2014 11:56
In a formal ceremony that witnessed the performance of a creation of a unique work by artist Qin Feng, Christie’s officially opened their new exhibition space and office in Shanghai at the historic Ampire Building, near the Bund.
“When James Christie first opened the doors in London in 1766, nearly 250 years ago, his intention was to bring people art lovers together with the art they loved. Today in Shanghai we open this wonderful building that speaks of the history of the city, the tradition of Christie’s and yet also feels very contemporary and looks to the future.”
Thursday, 23 October 2014 11:50
The man who runs London's Tate Modern - an art gallery in a former power station that looms over the River Thames - was named on Thursday the most powerful figure in the world of contemporary art.
Nicholas Serota has been in the top 10 of the "Power 100" every year since the list was launched by ArtReview magazine in 2002, which said his museum "has come to epitomize almost all the elements of the current 'global' artworld."
Thursday, 23 October 2014 11:45
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has elected four new members to its board of trustees, the latest sign of growing confidence in the museum under new director Philippe Vergne.
Prominent L.A. artist Mark Bradford is among the additions, who also include legislative and public policy strategist Heather Podesta, entrepreneur and art collector Cathy Vedovi and banking executive and philanthropist Christopher Walker.
The additions announced Wednesday raise the number of board members to 50, which the museum said nearly restores the board to its largest size in the last decade.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:19
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, a vibrant modern and contemporary art museum in Buffalo, New York, is gearing up for its first expansion in over fifty years. Earlier this month, the 152-year-old institution announced that it will hold a series of meetings with its members and the public to help determine the size and scope of its eventual growth and development. The meetings, which will be followed by a series of focus groups, are slated to begin on October 27.
While Albright-Knox’s parent organization, the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, was founded in 1862, construction on the Gallery didn’t begin until 1890. Designed by prominent local architect Edward B. Green and funded by Buffalo entrepreneur and philanthropist John J. Albright, the Greek Revival structure opened to the public in May 1905.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 12:12
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has cleared its biggest remaining hurdle to secure its art collection. Last week, the city of Detroit reached a settlement with its largest holdout creditor, the Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC). As Detroit’s 16-month-long bankruptcy trial comes to a close this week, the 11th-hour deal all but guarantees that the DIA’s collection will not be sold to pay down the city’s debt.
The bond insurer FGIC—which is owed around $1bn of Detroit’s $18bn debt—was one of the most vocal opponents to the so-called “Grand Bargain”, a scheme to safeguard the DIA’s collection while generating money for the city’s pensioners.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 12:04
“Widows are all much in demand,” sings the titular character in an English-language translation of The Merry Widow. “And if the poor things should be rich / Then there’s no end to the suitors at hand!”
And with so many gawkers gawking, a widow ought to be well dressed.
Mourning attire from 1815 to 1915 is the subject of a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire,” which opened on Tuesday in New York. And though Harper’s Bazaar urged “nun-like simplicity” of widow’s weeds in 1868, many of the frocks on display are very grand, embellished with lace, fringe and beads.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 11:56
A significant collection of works, never before on the market, by Man Ray will be offered at Sotheby's, Paris on 15 November. This will be the very last opportunity to acquire works by Man Ray coming directly from the studio of the artist, the artist’s estate. Following the first sale of works by Man Ray, coming from the studio of the artist held at Sotheby’s London in 1995, the auction will be the largest and most important sale of works by the ground-breaking artist in nearly 20 years.
As observed by Andrew Strauss, Vice-president of Sotheby’s France and leading authority on Man Ray: “Today’s auction presents a selection of the remaining significant works from the artist’s estate, many of which have never been seen previously.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 11:36
The Swiss photographer René Burri, celebrated for his portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso, died on Monday in Zurich aged 81, the Magnum Photo agency said.
Burri, who lived between Zurich and Paris, had been suffering from a long illness, Magnum said.
Martin Parr, president of Magnum Photos, said: “Not only was he one of the great postwar photographers, he was also one of the most generous people I have had the privilege to meet.”
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 11:27
On Monday night, non-profit organization Americans for the Arts held its annual fundraising gala in the Cipriani ballroom across from New York’s Grand Central Station. The black tie affair brought together a blue chip who’s who including RoseLee Goldberg, Agnes Gund, and Jeffrey Deitch as well as artists like Frank Stella and Will Cotton. Cocktail hour offered guests the chance to pick up a limited-edition print by Shepard Fairey to benefit the charity. “I feel like a bit of an imposter in this realm because I come from a not-asking-for-permission background,” admitted Fairey, who looked oddly at home in a suit. “But I am enjoying the company.”
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 11:15
Bonhams is set to auction a rare pair of Brescian flintlock holster pistols, circa 1660–70, on November 26. The pistols, which will be sold in the antique arms and armor sale in Knightsbridge, London, are estimated to sell for £60,000–80,000 ($97,000–130,000).
Pietro Manani, who is listed by Brescian firearms expert Nolfo di Carpegna as “one of the most active craftsmen of his time," made the pistols. The length of his working life is unknown, and some speculate that the thirty-eight known examples of Manani's work may be the work of a father-son duo.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014 11:06
On the final leg of its Smithsonian-organized, cross-country tour, Annie Leibovitz’s “Pilgrimage” exhibition will land at the New-York Historical Society from November 21 through February 22, 2015. While Leibovitz may be best known as a portraitist to the stars, this collection of images contains nary a celebrity portrait — at least not in the traditional sense.
When Leibovitz’s longtime partner Susan Sontag died in 2004, she took to the road to visit places and things that the couple had always wanted to see together.
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