Bonhams South African Art Sale Will Be The Biggest Of Its Kind In The World
A painting of baobab trees by Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) is a powerful illustration of this artist was selected to bring South African Art to London when he decorated South Africa House in Trafalagar Square. Bonhams fourth and largest sale of South African Art, 450 lots divided into two sales, one at Bonhams in Knightsbridge on September 9 and one in Bonhams in Bond Street on September 10 is expected to set new records. The sale features the iconic Pierneef image, "The Baobab Tree", which is estimated to sell for £300,000. The artist presented this painting to the South African High Commissioner to Britain in the 1930’s, Charles te Water, as a gift after he visited Pierneef’s studio and admired the unfinished picture.
(view more...)

West Harlem Art Fund Goes Green With Azure Dynamic Hybrid Buses
Azure Dynamics Corporation, a leading developer of hybrid electric and electric powertrains for commercial vehicles, announced that it has received orders for two Hybrid Citibuses from the West Harlem Art Fund, Inc (WHAF). WHAF is a ten year old community-based, cultural arts and preservation organization serving northern Manhattan in New York City.
(view more...)

The Fifth Floor: Ideas Taking Space
To mark the end of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture, Tate Liverpool is proud to present a groundbreaking exhibition inspired by ideas and proposals from people across the city. "The Fifth Floor" presents major new works and commissions by more than fifteen internationally-renowned artists that respond to ideas and themes that have evolved out of discussions with individuals and groups based in Liverpool. The title of the exhibition refers to a floor that does not physically exist within Tate Liverpool’s four-storey building. While responding to ideas from people in the city, "The Fifth Floor" invites the visitor to reconsider the Gallery as a place of imagination and invention.
(view more...)

UK’s Largest Contemporary Painting Prize Announces Shortlist
The shortlist for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize – the UK’s largest contemporary painting competition with a first prize of £25,000 and total fund of over £35,000 - was announced recently. The forty shortlisted entries demonstrate that far from being ‘old-fashioned’, an artist’s decision to paint is exciting and challenging. The paintings have absorbed the legacy of conceptual art and incorporated it into the work; they are not in opposition to it. The works, selected from a record 3,222 submissions, represent the best of the UK’s current and future painting talent. Over the last 50 years, this biennial competition has given prominence to artists including David Hockney and Richard Hamilton, who went on to find fame and acclaim after winning the prize, and Peter Doig, who described winning the John Moores in 1993 as a pivotal moment in his career.
(view more...)

Art Bodensee With Stars Of The International And Local Art Scene
The eighth edition of the only summer art fair will begin in six days. The art bodensee on the shores of the beautiful Lake Constance in the border quadrangle of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland has been dedicated to contemporary art since 2001. The fair revolves around the works of 400 artists, presented by fifty selected galleries from seven nations.
(view more...)

Bonhams To Open Its New Queen Street Salerooms With 2008 Scottish Sale
Bonhams, one of the world's leading international auction houses, has committed to holding its annual Scottish Sale in its new, state-of-the-art salerooms, which will be launched in August 2008. The Scottish Sale – now in its ninth year – will be the first auction to take place at 22 Queen Street, Edinburgh from 27 to 29 August. It will coincide with the world famous Edinburgh International Festival.
(view more...)

Harn To Remain Open On Tuesdays Thanks To Generous Support
The Harn Museum of Art is pleased to announce that the museum will remain open on Tuesdays thanks to the generous support of Harn members and friends. After the University of Florida announced a university-wide budget reduction for the 2008 – 2009 fiscal year, the Harn was required to lower the cost of operations by 6 percent, which lead to the decision to close the museum on Tuesdays. Closing the museum would have resulted in a decrease in the number of school tours offered, fewer opportunities for UF faculty and students to use the museum’s resources and the elimination of the widely-popular Tuesday tot times offered at the end of each month.
(view more...)

The Hamptons Weekend Of Art
Returning for its fourth year to the East End, SCOPE Hamptons will transform the 25,000 square-foot East Hampton Studios into a world-class art fair and destinationlocation coinciding with the 15th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit. SCOPE is a major contributor to the Hamptons most celebrated weekend of art. Centrally located and inches from seasoned and emerging collectors’ homes, East Hamptons Studio is SCOPE’s home away from home for the New York and international art enthusiast.
(view more...)

Advance Tickets On Sale August 01 For Artistic Luxury
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) offers advance tickets to "Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique", an exhibition of sumptuous objects from CMA and rare loans from public and private collections worldwide. Anticipating the popularity of Artistic Luxury, CMA foresees advance ticket sales as a way to encourage patrons to come early in the run of the exhibition and not face the possibility of tickets selling out. On sale August 1, adult general public tickets to Artistic Luxury will be $5 off the regular full ticket price of $17 if purchased online, by phone or in person before October 19, 2008 and used before November 18, 2008. The discount results in an adult ticket for only $12, rather than the full price of $17. CMA members and children under 5 years old always enter free.
(view more...)

Transforming Tate Modern: Green Scheme For Tate Modern’s New Building
Tate Director, Nicholas Serota, and leading architect Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, revealed the revised plans for the new development of Tate Modern. In response to a revised brief and consultation with artists and curators, the architects have refined designs to create a dramatic new museum for the 21st century. At the heart of the updated plans are the unique oil tanks of the former power station which will be retained as raw spaces for art and from which the new building will rise. In the previous scheme the oil tanks were occupied by an auditorium and other facilities.
(view more...)

Ferguson Family Donate Basil Blackshaw Paintings To IMMA
Four paintings by the distinguished Irish artist Basil Blackshaw recently acquired by the Irish Museum of Modern Art were unveiled at the Museum. The works from Blackshaw’s "Window Series" have been donated to IMMA in memory of the late Vincent Ferguson by his wife Noeleen, his daughters Ciara, Judy and Emma and his sons John Conor and Paul, under section 1003 legislation.
(view more...)

CBC Launches Collaborative Arts Program
California Bank of Commerce presents "Meeting and Passing," an exhibition of over 100 paintings and ceramics by U.K artists Geoff and Jenny Morten now on display at the Bank. The exhibit runs July 7th through September 12, 2008 at the Bank’s downtown Lafayette location at 3595 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Second Floor. The California Bank of Commerce Arts Collaborative is an outreach effort to promote professional artists and art education by mounting public exhibitions in its corporate offices. Artwork is for sale and all proceeds benefit the artists.
(view more...)

Christie’s To Offer The James Brown Collection
On July 17, Christie's is pleased to present to collectors and fans alike The James Brown Collection. More than 320 lots from Mr. Brown’s South Carolina home feature everything from his iconic stage worn jumpsuits and capes, to his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction award to handwritten lyrics.
(view more...)

New Exhibition Showcases Pivotal Photographic Works
"In Focus: The Landscape", at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Center, August 26, 2008–January 11, 2009, offers an overview of the history of landscape photography from the dawn of the medium to the 20th century. Drawn exclusively from the Getty Museum’s collection, the exhibition brings together the work of more than 25 innovative photographers, all of whom have left their distinctive mark on the history of the genre, including Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820–1884), Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946), and Robert Adams (American, born 1937).
(view more...)

Kimbell Art Museum To Open Shop In New Omni Fort Worth Hotel
The Omni Fort Worth Hotel and the internationally acclaimed Kimbell Art Museum have finalized a partnership that will give the Kimbell Art Museum Shop a second home at the new luxury hotel, opening in downtown in January 2009. The new Kimbell Art Museum Shop will feature art quality books, jewelry, decorative items and gifts, as well as the comprehensive Kimbell Handbook, which showcases more than 260 works of art and the museum’s exhibition catalogs.
(view more...)

Rosenthal Retires and Prather Joins Modern Art Department at MET
After 15 years as Senior Consultant for modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nan Rosenthal will retire on July 1, it was announced by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Curator in Charge of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan.
(view more...)

The Ackland Art Museum Receives Grant For Conservation Of Asian Art
The Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received a grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent grant-making agency of the federal government, to fund a five-day, on-site detailed conservation survey of 75 Asian art works from the Ackland Collection. The grant totals US$26,968 and will enable a group of conservators to visit the Ackland in early August to survey of a collection of fragile scrolls and folding screens from the Ackland Collection.
(view more...)

AXA Art Conservation Research Project At The Guggenheim
AXA Art Insurance Corporation is pleased to announce its support of "IMAGELESS: The Scientific Study and Experimental Treatment of an Ad Reinhardt Black Painting", an exhibition on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from July 11 through September 14, 2008. IMAGELESS presents the findings of the AXA Art Conservation Research Project in conjunction with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art. In commenting on the significance of IMAGELESS, Christiane Fischer, CEO of AXA Art, U.S. offered the following statement, "We are pleased to have catalyzed this pioneering 7-year conservation research project. It is our hope that the findings and documentation will lead to new directions in preserving the legacy of monochromatic and minimalist paintings, so that their beauty and relevance may be shared and understood by future generations".
(view more...)

US$5 Million Grant To The Clark Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announced that the Starr Foundation has contributed US$5 million in support of its acclaimed Research and Academic Program, a leading international center for discussion and scholarship in the visual arts. The gift establishes The Starr Directorship of the Research and Academic Program.
(view more...)

$7.5 million Government Grant Announced For Rotorua Museum
Prime Minister and Minister for Art, Culture and Heritage Helen Clark announced a major grant which will ensure the ambitious project to complete the Rotorua Museum building will be achieved. Announced during her speech at the "Roof Shout" for the north wing extension, the $7.5 million grant is from the Regional Museums Fund for Capital Construction Projects. This sees the total amount of money raised for the project reach $21million, enough to complete stage III of the project, the south wing extension and refurbishment.
(view more...)

Akron Art Museum Wins 2008 RIBA International Award
Proving once again that it indeed deserves the title "world renowned," the Akron Art Museum, designed by the Viennese firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, was chosen as one of three finalists for the highly prestigious Lubetkin Prize from the Royal Insitute of British Architects (RIBA) in London. After winning one of RIBA’s 2008 International Awards, following a visit by a jury of architects and lay judge, the Akron Art Museum was honored further by being chosen as one of only three worldwide finalists for the Lubetkin Prize.
(view more...)

Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008: Martin Creed Work No. 850
A runner will speed through Tate Britain’s dramatic neo-classical sculpture galleries, again and again, running as if their life depended on it, every day for the next four months. The tightly choreographed live performance Work No. 850 has been specially devised by Martin Creed for the Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008 sponsored by Sotheby’s.
(view more...)

Sotheby's July 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale Triumphs
Tonight’s Evening Sale of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s London achieved the phenomenal sum of US$188,853,831 against a pre-sale estimate of £67.4 – 96.6 million, making it the most successful Summer sale of Contemporary Art in Europe. The sale had numerous high points throughout the evening, with records achieved for 11 different artists.
(view more...)