NEWS

Italy Will Return Ancient Looted Items To Pakistan
Italy agreed to return 96 ancient looted items to Pakistan, asking other countries to follow their example. The items include decorated bowls, vases, coins, plates, musical instruments, and more. They date from 3,000 to 1,800 B.C. This announcement was made by Italian Cultural Minister Francesco Rutelli. The items were spotted by authorities during a trade near Milan in 2005. Experts are not sure for how long have they been in Italy.
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US$400 Million Will Be Exhibited For Sale At artparis-abudhabi
Today it was announced the launch of the most prestigious art fair to be held in the Middle East. The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and artparis will join forces to held this art fair on November 29-29, 2007. Masterpieces by Picasso, Dali, Chagall and many more will be exhibited and offered for sale at the artparis-abu dhabi art fair.
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Empire State Plaza Art Commission Chair Nominated
Governor Eliot Spitzer announced the nomination of Agnes Gund to serve as chairwoman of the Empire State Plaza Art Commission. Gund currently serves as president merita of The Museum of Modern Art and chairwoman of its International Council. She joined the MoMA Board in 1976 and served as its president from 1991 until 2002. She also serves as chairwoman of the Mayor's Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission of the City of New York.
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Damien Hirst Is The New Auction World´s Priciest Living Artist
Damien Hirst has become, as we all knew a long time ago, oficially the auction world's priciest living artist. His artwork, "Lullaby Spring" was sold for US$22.7 million ( £9.65 million ) to an anonymous collector at Sotheby´s London yesterday. The 2002 work is a 3 metres wide steel cabinet containing 6,136 hand-crafted and individually-painted pills.
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New Curator Of Antiquities For The Getty Museum
Karol Wight was named new curator of antiquities by the J. Paul Getty Museum. She is an expert in ancient Roman glass and will be in charge of a staff of eight and about 2,500 sculptures, pottery, jewelry and other ancient artworks. This will be a very hard job as many countries are claiming that some of the priceless ancient art collection from the Getty were stolen.
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Monet Art Sells for US$36.8 Million At Sotheby´s London
A painting from Claude Monet's water lilies series was sold for 18.5 million pounds (US$36.6 million dollars) at auction at Sotheby's in London Tuesday, making it the second most expensive work by the French impressionist ever sold. The 1904 work, "Nympheas", had been expected to fetch around 15 million pounds. It has not been seen in public since 1936 and is considered as one of the finest paintings from the water lily series to have come on the market.
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Record Results for Art 38 Basel
The 38th edition of the international art show closed on a very high note. The 300 exhibiting galleries judge this year’s Art Basel a great success. In the words of Samuel Keller, Director of Art Basel: "The 38th edition of Art Basel was a record year, a festival for the international art world. Rarely have there been so many important and interesting art works in one place at the same time." A record number of 60,000 art collectors, museum professionals, artists, and art lovers from all over the world visited the event. 2,300 media representatives from all continents came to see what the international art market has to offer.
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Gilbert & George to be Awarded at the Florence Biennale
This year's edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will include, as honoured guests, the acclaimed artists Gilbert & George and from the White Cube Gallery London, Tim Marlow. Gilbert & George will be awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize on 4th December. Gilbert & George will come to Florence together with Tim Marlow, exhibitions director of the White Cube Gallery London, protagonist of the famous BBC programs dedicated to the art world. Tim Marlow has published several books and important artists monographs such as Auguste Rodin and Egon Schiele. He writes for various magazines and newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, Art Monthly, etc.
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Judge Blocked Fisk Univ. From Selling O´Keeffe Donated Works
A judge ruled that the Fisk University cannot sell any of the 101 art works donated by artist Georgia O´Keeffe in 1949, because they were donated to be used for art education. The collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec.
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Painting Stolen From NSW Gallery
A thief took a US$840,000 painting from the Art Gallery of New South Wales during opening hours around 10am and 12:30pm. The painting is a small self-portrait called "A Cavalier (Self Portrait)" by 17th-century Dutch artist Frans van Mieris I. The strange part is that the thief unscrewed from the wall the entire work and no one from the gallery notice it. Even stranger is that the theft was not reported until the next day. Security is now being reviewed.
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National Gallery And HP Take Art To The Streets
30 full size replicas of famous paintings are hung around London, turning the city into an art gallery for 12 weeks. The "Grand Tour" is the result of a collaboration between HP and the National Gallery. Copies of masterpieces from Caravagio to Constable will be some of the paintings. This is a very good way to bring art into the local community and to encourage a new audience to take an interest in art.
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Chinese Artist Is Taking 1,001 People To Documenta As Live-Exhibit
Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, will take 1,001 compatriots to Germany to spend months wandering around the city of Kassel as live-exhibits for his entry to Documenta. The artwork is named "Fairytale" and will cost 2.1 million pounds (3.1 million Euro or US$4.1 million). This will be the most expensive project of this year´s Documenta.
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African Phographer Wins Venice Biennale´s Golden Lion Award
The famous Venice Biennale´s Golden Lion lifetime achievement award was given to Malian photographer Malick Sidibe. This is the first time a photographer wins this award and Sidibe is also the first African to receive the top prize. Sidibe is well known for documenting the changes that have taken place in Mali and its music scene.
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Cleveland Museum Acquires Important Photography Collection
The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired one of the most important collections of 20th-century Surrealist photography in private hands. The museum will buy 171 photographs owned by David Raymond, a New York art collector and producer of independent films. Raymond is also donating additional works, bringing the total acquisition to 180 individual images.
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Sale Sets A World-Record For A Sculpture Of Any Period
The Albright Knox Art Gallery sold its famed "Artemis and the Stag" bronze sculpture for US$28.6 million at Sotheby´s New York. The gallery announced last fall that they will sell 207 antiquities to help boost its endowment and generate new funds for acquisition of modern and contemporary art.
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Tracey Emin Will Represent Britain At Venice Biennale
British artist, Tracey Emin, said female artists are paid less and paid attention to less than their male counterparts. Britain´s representative at the Venice Biennale is the first woman to do so in 10 years. She thought she will not be selected because of her edgier fare. But her cause was helped when the Guerrilla Girls (an art collective) said that Britain has showcased fewer female artists than Afghanistan.
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Prints By Banksy Stolen From UK Gallery
Rare prints by street artist Banksy have been stolen in two raids on an art gallery. The artworks are worth nearly £10,000. Thieves broke into Art Republic in Brighton, UK, and took ten works. The first break-in was on May 20 and the second, four days later by the same people. It is believed that the artworks were stolen to order for a dealer or collector.
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Thousands Get Nude In Amsterdam For Spencer Tunick
About 2,000 people participated in a series of nude group photos in Amsterdam for US photographer Spencer Tunick. Men and women participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of the artist.
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Naked Tony Blair and Wife At Summer Exhibition
A drawing which depicts Tony and Cherie Blair naked on the steps of 10 Downing Street is the centrepiece of the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. Artist and sculptor Michael Sandle, 71, conceived the three-panel picture, Iraq Triptych, as a protest against the war.
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Nude Kate Moss Photos Went On Auction
Nude photographs of supermodel Kate Moss fetched a total of $366,000 when they went up for sale in a London auction. The early photographs of the supermodel date back to the early 1990’s and include some nude shots taken in her early 20s. The auction took place in four separate lots.
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Retrospective Of Richard Serra At MoMA
One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1939) has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work. In the early 1960s, Serra and the Minimalist artists of his generation turned to unconventional, industrial materials and began to accentuate the physical properties of their art.
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