Letting 'the nest egg hatch'
May 20 2011
Picture: The Parish of St Michael and All Angels
A church in Withyham, East Sussex has been given permission to sell four paintings by Niccolo Di Pietro Gerini. They are expected to fetch up to £1.5m when sold at Sotheby's in the summer.
The church has been unable to pay for the insurance since 1995, and the pictures have been at Leeds Castle ever since. Probably, selling them is the right decision: as the Chancellor of Chichester Diocese put it, 'The nest egg must be allowed to hatch.'
You've been Sewelled
May 20 2011
Picture: Evening Standard
Trecy Emin gets the Brian Sewell treatment. Worth reading, for whether you agree with him or not, there's no doubting that Sewell is a brilliant writer.
Bill & Melinda
May 19 2011
Picture: Smithsonian Institute
A new portrait of Bill & Melinda Gates has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington. The artist is Jon Friedman. News reports say that it was based on a photograph.
New Walpole Society Volume
May 19 2011
Picture: National Gallery
Splendid news - the latest Walpole Society publication contains the travel notebooks of Charles Eastlake (1793-1865), artist and the first 'Keeper' of the National Gallery. His notebooks contain details of the pictures he saw in Europe. You could say they are the 19th C equivalent of George Vertue's notebooks.
Happily, this publication comes equipped with a full index. The 2009 issue, with the account books of Joseph Wright of Derby, had no index - the art historical equivalent of a car with no steering wheel.
Congratulations to Dr Susannah Avery-Quash, who has edited the notebooks and written detailed introductions. Buy a copy here.
Andy Warhol should have thought of this
May 19 2011
Picture: Lee Hadwin
Donald Trump is reported to have paid a 'six figure sum' for the above, by Lee Hadwin.
Lee, a former nurse, paints while he sleepwalks. From the Daily Post:
Explaining how it all began, Lee said: “I was staying at my mate’s house and I drew on his mum’s kitchen wall without knowing. He ended up getting the blame for it because his mum thought we had just been drunk. But my mum caught me under the stairs drawing, and it’s gone on from there. It started out just being scribbles everywhere, and I still do scribbles from time to time."
“But then I started doing proper artwork, really complicated things.”
Lee said he can draw between two or three times in a good week, with ordeals in his life playing a part in his creations.
I wonder what currency the six-figure sum was in. Rupees?
Re-joining 'Leftover Mountain Painting'
May 19 2011
Picture: CNTV
Great excitement in China as the two halves of one of China's most famous landscapes are to be reunited. 'Leftover Mountain Painting', painted by Huang Gongwang in c.1350, is travelling to Taiwan to be joined together with 'The Wuyongshi Painting'. More here, and a video here.
Easter Island comes to Liverpool
May 19 2011
Picture: Liverpool Echo
A basalt statue from Easter Island has gone on display in Liverpool's World Museum. On loan from the British Museum, it was stolen removed from Easter Island by the crew of HMS Topaze in 1868.
Met App
May 18 2011
This must be the first of many: the Met Museum has launched an iPad interactive e-publication. The exhibition is Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Download it here.
No more reckless de-accessioning in NY
May 18 2011
A potentially important development in New York state. From the Wall Street Journal:
Important museum pieces will be protected under rules adopted by the New York state Board of Regents. The Regents approved new rules that would restrict the sale of museum pieces as facilities face continued hard fiscal times.
The rules would require proceeds from sales to be used for acquisitions and would also seek to keep museum relics and pieces in the public domain even if a museum shuts down.
Former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester says the rules will prohibit important cultural pieces being sold to private collectors in order to pay for operating expenses.
Meanwhile, in Scotland
May 18 2011
Picture: NMS
Interesting to note the contrasting fortunes of two museums in Scotland. According to The Scotsman:
- The National Museum of Scotland has blitzed its public appeal target, raising £13.6m. This total included £1m from 'reclusive tycoon' Dr Walter Scott, and £2m bequeathed by Adele Stewart, a spinster. National Museums Scotland had already raised £17.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and £16m from the Scottish Executive Government.
- The National Galleries of Scotland, however, have not fared so well. The campaign to raise £7.5m for the refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery fell short, and a £2m bail-out from the Scottish Government was needed.
Does the discrepancy mean the Scots are philistines? I doubt it, since both projects essentially revolved around the telling of Scottish history. Perhaps it just came down to the quality of the appeals.
Gainsborough's House
May 18 2011
Some very sad news about Gainsborough's House in Sudbury. The museum, Gainsborough's birthplace, is apparently facing a funding crisis. Diane Perkins, the excellent Director, has been made redundant.
Who will run it now? It has always suffered slightly from an identity crisis, being not quite devoted to Gainsborough, whilst trying to be a contemporary art space for the region. Perhaps the trustees should use this opportunity to shift the focus of Gainsborough's House to a proper 'centre of excellence' for the study of Gainsborough and, say, the Norwich School. A tie up with the Paul Mellon Centre perhaps?
The Arts Minister who paints
May 18 2011
Picture: Irish Times
Jimmy Deeniham, Minister for Arts in Ireland, gets his paints out for charity.
'A' for effort.
Now then Mr. Vaizey, show us what you can do.
Discovering the Lake District 1750-1820
May 17 2011
Picture: Wordsworth Trust
An exhibition (till 21st June 2011) at the Wordsworth Trust looks at how artists depicted the Lake District between 1750-1820. Worth the trip just to see Wright of Derby's exquisite depiction of Ullswater (detail, above). Jenny Uglow's review here.
11m views on You Tube
May 17 2011
Women In Art from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.
That makes it the most popular history of art video on You Tube. Above is a better quality version on Vimeo. It's compiled by Philip Scott Johson, a very clever fellow. Test yourself on the artists, and check your score here.
New York Old Master sales
May 17 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
The catalogues for Sotheby's and Christie's June sales are now online. Included (at Sotheby's) is this rather fine sketch by the genius Thomas Lawrence at $40-60,000.
Ever heard of Jasper Cropsey?
May 17 2011
Picture: New York Times
If you've got a pair of seemingly innocuous 19thC American landscapes you think are worth a few hundred dollars max, as the owner of the above did, then swot up on him quick. The pair made $840,000 in New York State last Sunday.
More here.
Guff-watch
May 17 2011
Picture: Christie's
Jonathan Jones on Andy Warhol's 1963 Self-Portrait, recently sold for $38.4m:
It is beautiful – one of his best works. Its cool blue hues lure the eye amid columns of newsprint and pictures in media reports of the sale. It looks spiritual, somehow – at once a piece of popular culture and something more private. The four photos he has used show him hiding behind dark glasses and trying out different poses that all seem a bit churlish, awkward, evasive. It is a self-portrait by someone who either does not want to look at himself, or does not want to truly show himself to others. And what makes it so powerful is the self-knowing explicitness with which it communicates this diffidence and unease.
Tracey Emin - Still a Tory
May 17 2011
Picture: Anita Zabludowicz
There's been an interesting media response to Tracey Emin's retrospective at the Hayward, and her promotion of it. The Guardian, normally Eminista No.1, finds itself in a pickle over her unabashed Toryism. She says that the 'Tories are the only hope for the arts':
There's no money, the country is bankrupt so the arts is going to be bottom of the list on everyone's agenda except that the Tories have an amazing arts minister in Ed Vaizey who is particularly protective and defensive of the arts.
Also the arts cuts, they are less than they were eight years ago with the Labour government. In the present climate its amazing that there's any money for the arts at all.
And remember, Tory people are massive collectors of the arts. For a lot of my friends, who think I'm crazy voting for the Tories - I want to know who buys their work? Who are the biggest philanthropists? I promise you, it's not Labour voters.
The Guardian arts cuts blog, normally the first to condemn any hint of cut-advocacy, merely asks meekly - 'Is she right?' The answer, I'm afraid, is a most emphatic yes.
Curiously enough, Emin was lunching with Vaizey at the very moment he heard he was going to be Culture Minister - as pictured above. That's way cooler than being summoned to No.10, don't you think?
Theatrical Portrait Collections
May 16 2011
Understanding British Portraits are organising a visit to London collections of theatrical portraits, including the Garrick Club and the Handel House Museum. 20th July, book here if you fancy it.
National Gallery talks
May 16 2011
The Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery in London is 20 years old. As part of the celebrations, the National is putting on a series of talks. They are to be held on Thursdays, 1–1.45pm, Sainsbury Wing Theatre, Free Admission.
- 2 June 2011; The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece: From Polyptych to Pala. Join Professor David Ekserdjian to consider the consequences of the move from altarpieces constructed of multiple panels (polyptychs) to those created on a single panel (known by the Italian term pala).
- 9 June 2011; Heaven on Earth: The Construction of Vision in the 15th-Century Altarpieces of the Sainsbury Wing. Join Dr Alison Wright to see how altarpieces can help us to understand how Renaissance painting expressed the relationship between the earthly and the heavenly.
- 16 June 2011; The Rediscovery of Botticelli and Piero della Francesca. National Gallery Director Dr Nicholas Penny will explore how the reputations and appeal of these artists enjoyed a major revival in the 19th century, and take a closer look at their works in the collection
- 30 June 2011; Transformations of the Altarpiece in Victorian Britain: Burne-Jones and Others. Elizabeth Prettejohn will examine what happened to the altarpiece in the Victorian era, demonstrating how artists such as Leighton, Rossetti and Burne-Jones developed new innovations for this artistic form.
