NEWS

Bomb Threat Hoax At The Royal Ontario Museum
The Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, has suspended one student and two teachers in connection with a bomb hoax at the Royal Ontario Museum that cancelled a major fundraising event by the Canadian Foundation for Aids Research (CANFAR). The student left a suspicious package that looked like a pipe bomb inside the museum's lobby. Police closed the area to traffic as a robot investigated the package. A piece of paper was attached to the object that read, "This is not a bomb."
(view more...)

Shortlist Announced For New Fourth Plinth Commission
The six artists have been commissioned to produce a maquette of their proposed work. The models will go on show in the Annenberg Court at the National Gallery from 8 January 2008. The selected artist is due to be announced by the Mayor of London in 2008, with the artwork they produce being installed after the current work, "Model for a Hotel" 2007 by Thomas Schütte, has been taken down.
(view more...)

Australia Parliament Hides Art From Departing MPs
Officials at Australia's Parliament House today took down valuable artworks to keep MPs dumped in weekend elections from taking them as they began packing up offices.
(view more...)

The Museum Of Arts & Design At Two Columbus Circle
For nearly half a century, the Museum of Arts & Design has served as the country’s premier institution dedicated to the collection and exhibition of contemporary objects created in media such as clay, glass, wood, metal, and fiber. The Museum celebrates materials and processes that are today embraced by practitioners in the fields of craft, art and design, as well as architecture, fashion, interior design, technology, performing arts, and art and design-driven industries.
(view more...)

The Rothschild Faberge Egg To Be Offered At Christie´s London
Christie’s announce that they will offer at auction a remarkable discovery, The Rothschild Fabergé Egg. Previously unrecorded and an addition to no more than 12 documented examples known to have been made to Imperial standards for anyone other than the Russian Imperial Family, this exceptional work of craftsmanship is expected to realise £6 million to £9 million ($12 to $18 million) and potentially establish a new world record price for a Russian object. The Rothschild Fabergé Egg will be offered at the auction of Russian Works of Art on 28 November 2007, and will highlight Russian Art Week, a series of auctions dedicated to Russian Pictures, Works of Art, Books, Manuscripts and Icons which will take place in London from 26 to 29 November 2007.
(view more...)

The New Detroit Institute of Arts Opens November 23
On Friday, November 23, the new Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will open its doors after a six-and-a-half year, US$158 million building renovation and expansion to present its world-class collection in a completely new light. Many exciting events will celebrate the long-anticipated opening of Detroit’s own national treasure.
(view more...)

Painting Found In Trash Sells For One Million
Rufino Tamayo´s painting, "Tres Personajes" (Three People) founded in a pile of trash on a New York street has sold at auction for more than a million dollar. The 1970 artwork went under the hammer at Sotheby´s on Tuesday for US$1,049,000. New Yorker Elizabeth Gibson found the painting while walking for a cafe near her house.
(view more...)

Rare Sketch By Canadian Artist Sold
Art collector Ash Prakash purchased a Tom Thomson oil sketch titled "Algonquin Park" for US$560,000. The piece had been held outside Canada for decades. The sketch depicts the fall colours of the famed nature-lovers´paradise. The Thomson piece had been held in a private collection in the United States and is believed to have never before been published or exhibited. The sale featured 276 lots, with bids totalling US$10.5 million.
(view more...)

Smithsonian Coutyard Opened To The Public
The Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution opened to the public yesterday. The enclosure of the building’s grand central courtyard transforms the visitor experience of the galleries and provides one of the largest event spaces in Washington. The fluid-form of the fully glazed roof canopy bathes the courtyard in natural light and its form complements the structure of the former United States Patent Building, once described by the poet Walt Whitman as "the noblest of Washington buildings".
(view more...)

Koons Is Most Expensive Living Artist At Auction
Jeff Koons is the new world´s most expensive living artist, replacing British artist Damien Hirst. Koons’ hot-pink, stainless-steel "Hanging Heart (Magenta and Gold)" sculpture was sold for US$23.6 million by America´s most powerful dealer Larry Gagosian.
(view more...)

Art Medal For Andrew Wyeth
President George W. Bush announced the recipients of the 2007 National Medal of Arts. Nine medals will be presented by the President and Mrs. Laura Bush in an East Room ceremony at the White House. The National Endowment for the Arts manages the National Medal of Arts nomination process and notified the artists of their selection to receive a medal, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.
(view more...)

Hugh Grant Sold "Liz" Painting For US$23.7 Million
Andy Warhol´s 1963 painting titled "Liz (Colored Liz)" was sold for US$23.7 million at Christie´s New York. The painting belongs to British actor Hugh Grant who bought the artwork six years ago paying only US$3.6 million. Only two bidders competed for "Liz" before it went to a buyer on the telephone. The painting was expected to fetched US$25 million.
(view more...)

Thiebaud Record At Christie´s
Last night, Christie´s International sold a Wayne Thiebaud painting titled "Seven Suckers" for US$4.5 million. The 1970 artwork is a record for the artist and took part of the Contemporary Art sales projected to be trhe biggest ever. "Seven Suckers" more than doubled its US$1.8 million high estimate.
(view more...)

Lux Artist Pavillion
Lux Art Institute, a visual arts institution that is redefining the modern museum experience, celebrates the opening of its long-anticipated Artist Pavilion by inviting the public to a free community open house yesterday, November 11. The Artist Pavilion, a LEED certified green building in Encinitas, California, provides a residence and studio for artists as well as exhibit space, a library/conference room, and administration offices for the nonprofit institute.
(view more...)

MIT Sues Architect Frank Gehry
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued Frank Gehry and the construction firm claiming the designer and builders failed in their contruction and are responsible for the Stata Center amphitheater´s structural problems. The US$300 million building has multiple leaks, cracks in the exterior, clogged drainage system, a build-up of mold, and ice and snow sliding off the window boxes. The Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was built only three years ago.
(view more...)

Chinese Vase Found In Wardrobe Sells For Millions
A magnificent 18th century Chinese vase was sold for more than US$5.87 million at Sotheby´s London. For the last three decades, the vase was left in a closet behind shoe boxes and dresses. The blue and white "dragon" vase from the Qing dynasty was included for auction after the Swiss owner spotted a similar work at a London museum. Around 1970, an expert told the owner the vase was a copy.
(view more...)

Matisse Painting Sells For Record US$33.6 Million
A new record for a painting by French artist Henri Matisse was established at Christie´s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York. "L´Odalisque, harmonie bleue" painted in 1937 went for US$33.6 million (it was estimated US$20 million). Christie's International sold US$395 million of Impressionist and modern works tonight.
(view more...)

Botero´s Abu Ghraib Art Opens In Washington
Fernando Botero's "Abu Ghraib" series features uncompromising, graphic images by this Colombian painter expressing his outrage at the American-led torture of Iraqi insurgents. The Paris-based Botero, known for his exaggeratedly rotund figures in benign social satires, unveiled these controversial works in Europe in 2005. This will be the first showing of the Abu Ghraib paintings and drawings in a museum in the U.S.
(view more...)

Art Institute Historic Loan To Kimbell Museum
Some of the most celebrated and iconic works of the great Impressionist painters are coming to the Kimbell Art Museum next summer! The loan of about 90 paintings from Chicago’s world-renowned Impressionist collection is possible because of an ambitious reinstallation and expansion project at the Art Institute that includes extensive renovation of the galleries and the construction of a new Modern Wing designed by Renzo Piano—the architect recently chosen by the Kimbell to design its own second building. The Art Institute’s Impressionist collection has never before left Chicago in such a large group, and it will be shown exclusively at the Kimbell.
(view more...)

National Archives Announces Discovery of "Hitler Albums" Documenting Looted Art
Yesterday at a National Archives press conference, Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, Michael Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for Records Services and Robert M. Edsel, author of Rescuing Da Vinci and President of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, announced the discovery of two original leather bound photograph albums documenting art that was looted by the Nazis during World War II, both of which Mr. Edsel will donate to the National Archives under separate terms.
(view more...)