NEWS

Van Cleef And Arpels Sues Heidi Klum
German supermodel, actress, TV presenter, fashion designer, television producer and singer, Heidi Klum, is being sued by luxury jewelry home Van Cleef and Arpels claiming she copied a vintage clover jewelry design for her own range of accessories. The firm is upset that pieces in Klum’s collection for Mouawad USA are too similar to their own Alhambra line.
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Shiv Sena Activists Attack MF Hussain´s Exhibition
A painting exhibition by Indian artist, M.F. Hussain, was disrupt by two activists from the Hindu group Shiv Sena, damaging two artworks and shout slogans against Hussain. Police arrest them almost inmediately. New Delhi´s India International Center organized this exhibition titled "India in the Era of Mughals".
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New Gallery Of Botanical Art
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens, opening in spring 2008, will be the first gallery in the world dedicated to botanical art and open to the public all year round. The gallery, designed by award-winning architects Walters and Cohen, will exhibit precious works of art from the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Dr Shirley Sherwood, many of which have never been on public display before.
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Barakat Gallery To Return Stolen Artifacts To Iran
A London Appeal Court ruled that the city´s Barakat Gallery must return 18 artifacts smuggled from the ancient site of Jiroft in Iran. In March, an initial court rejected ownership by Iran and let the gallery put up for auction all the artifacts. Iran decided to take action and made a complaint. Court stopped the auction.
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Picasso Painting Stolen From Brazil Museum
Two paintings, one by Pablo Picasso and one by Brazilian painter Candido Portinari, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Art Museum (MASP) where they were on exhibition on Thursday. The paintings stolen are Picasso's 1904 work "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and Portinari's 1939 "The Coffee Worker".
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Pakistani Artist Gulgee Murdered
Pakistan´s renowned artist Ismail Gulgee, his wife and maid were found mudered at their residence in Karachi. Gulgee's body was found in the bedroom, his wife's body in the kitchen and the maid´s body in a store room. Guljee's son Amin discovered the bodies. Police said that adding the condition of the victims' bodies, supposedly they were strangled about three days ago.
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Russia Cancels Major Exhibition In London
A major exhibition of French and Russian paintings appears to be cancelled by Russian authorities. The exhibition titled "From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925," was set to open in London on January 26, 2008 at the Royal Academy of Art. The Russian government says Britain could not guarantee the art would not be seized over private legal claims. A final decision is expected on Thursday.
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Metropolitan Museum Acquires Diane Arbus Archive
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it has acquired the complete archive of Diane Arbus (1923-1971), the legendary American photographer known for her revelatory portraits of couples, children, nudists, carnival performers, and eccentrics. The Estate of Diane Arbus has selected the Museum to be the permanent repository of the artist’s negatives, papers, correspondence, and library. The Museum will collaborate with the Estate to preserve Arbus’s legacy and to ensure that her work will continue to be seen in the context of responsible scholarship and in a manner that honors the subjects of the photographs and the intentions of the artist.
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Renzo Piano Named Winner Of The AIA Awards
Italian architect Renzo Piano was awarded the 2008 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects. This is the highest American honor for an architect in the US. Piano is the fourth foreign in the last 10 years that won this medal.
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British Artist Damien Hirst Donates Major Works To Tate Museum
Tate Museum announced that four important works by Damien Hirst have been donated by the artist to the Collection. This is the first major gift by the artist to a museum. The gift includes an early vitrine, "The Acquired Inability to Escape" 1991, the sculpture "Life Without You" 1991, one of the first in Hirst’s series of fly paintings "Who is Afraid of the Dark?" 2002, and the exhibition copy of "Mother and Child Divided", 2007 which is on display in Turner Prize: A Retrospective at Tate Britain until 6 January.
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Chicago Museum Admits Gauguin Piece Is A Forgery
The Art Institute of Chicago has revealed that a ceramic figure previously believed to have been sculpted by 19th century French master Paul Gauguin is a fake. The half-man half-goat figure, "The Faun", is one of many forgeries produced by the Greenhalgh family in Britain.
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US$100,000 In Paintings Destroyed In Art Gallery Fire
A big fire destroyed about US$100,000 worth of artwork at a Wynwood art gallery. Investigators think an advertising balloon secured to the gallery for Art Basel might have cause an electrical fire. Wind made the balloon move and rub againt electrical wires. The fire started at about 3 am Tuesday at the Herald Golen Gallery on 29th Street.
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Phoenix Stops US$2.4 Million Public Art Project
The Phoenix City Manager´s Office rejected a US$2.4 million public art piece planned for the downtown park near Van Buren Street and Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The art work was chosen by a city-appointed panel and already paid the artist US$104,000. Members of the Phoenix Arts and Culture Commission said the artwork is too unconventional and will reignite a controversy because it reminds of a "floating jellyfish".
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Two NYC Museums Fight For Picassos
The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Foundation has filed a complaint in federal court asking to reject a claim that two paintings by Pablo Picasso in the museum´s collections were sold by a relative of his under duress in 1935. The two paintings are "Boy Leading a Horse" (1906), donated to MoMA in 1964 by William S. Paley, the founder of CBS, and "Le Moulin de la Galette" (1900), given to the Guggenheim in 1963 by the art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser.
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UK Government Gives US$102 Million To Build Tate New Wing
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon James Purnell MP, announced a capital investment of US$102.7 million towards the new development of Tate Modern. This is the largest capital commitment by Government to a cultural project since the British Library which opened in 1998.
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Bono and Damien Hirst To Hold Art Charity Sale
Bono and Damien Hirst have joined forces with Sotheby’s and Gagosian Gallery to organise the most significant charity auction of Contemporary Art ever - The (RED) Auction - which will be held at Sotheby’s in New York on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14th, 2008. The proceeds are to go the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa conducted by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The sale at Sotheby’s will be preceded by a preview exhibition of the works at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea from February 4th to 13th, 2008.
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New Director At The National Gallery
Dr Nicholas Penny has been announced as the new Director of the National Gallery. His appointment by the Board of Trustees was approved by the Prime Minister. Nicholas Penny worked at the Gallery between 1990 and 2000 as Clore Curator of Renaissance Painting. Since 2000 he has been Senior Curator of Sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
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Mark Wallinger Wins The Turner Prize 2007
The Turner Prize 2007 has been awarded to Mark Wallinger, it was announced at Tate Liverpool this evening. The £25,000 prize was presented by Dennis Hopper. The Turner Prize 2007 is supported by Arts Council England, Liverpool Culture Company, Northwest Regional Development Agency, Milligan and Tate Members. With the support of the sponsors, this year's prize fund is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. The event was broadcast live on Channel 4 News.
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First Major Auction Of Indian Paintings In Paris
Modern and contemporary Indian art has become a major focus in the international art scene. Similarly to contemporary Chinese art, Indian art has gone from success to success, beating record prices time and again in India, but also in London, Paris, and New York. After having organized the very successful first sales of contemporary Chinese art, Artcurial, number one in the sale of modern and contemporary art in France, will hold the first auction in France dedicated to modern and contemporary Indian art on Monday 3 December 2007.
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The New Museum Will Open To The Public On December 01
The New Museum, one of the nation’s leading showcases for the art of our time, will open its much-anticipated new building on the Bowery to the public on Saturday, December 01, 2007. Coinciding with the institution’s 30th anniversary, the milestone will be celebrated with 30 hours of continuous free admission to the public sponsored by Target, beginning at noon on December 1st.
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