art

Famed Photographer Albert Watson Publishes Epic 40-Year Retrospective

Filed under: Art, Books

Famed photographer Albert Watson, whose celebrity portraits and nudes of Kate Moss fetch astonishing prices at auction, has come out with a stunning new 40-year retrospective of his work. Titled UFO, which stands for "Uniﬁed Fashion Objectives", the massive monograph includes iconic shots of famous faces from 50 Cent, Christy Turlington, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Uma Thurman, Beyonce and Jack Nicholson are interspersed with still lifes, fashion images and more, personally selected by Watson from his vast archive. The Scottish-born photographer's first celebrity photograph was a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock for the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1973.

Since then he has amassed more than 200 Vogue covers and 40 Rolling Stone covers to his credit and has shot countless ad campaigns, TV commercials and movie posters. Many of the images in the book have never been published before and are presented here for the very ﬁrst time. The slipcased volume is also available as a limited edition book for $500 including an archival pigment print of 500 copies only, housed in a black acrylic case. Individually signed and numbered, the limited edition is available exclusively through galleries representing Albert Watson and selected retailers.

Gallery: Albert Watson's UFO

Scarlett Johansson, Interview, New York City, 2005

Joel West + Denise Gilpin, Little Italy story, Vogue Homme, New York City, 1995

Debbie Dickson + Christie Brinkley, American Vogue, Senegal, 1978

Tags: 50 Cent, Albert Watson, art, Beyonce, books, celebrity, Christy Turlington, coffee table books, fashion, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, nude, photographer, photography, supermodels, Uma Thurman, Vogue

Whistler Print Sets New Auction Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Swann Galleries' auction of Whistler and His Influence on Wednesday, October 27 offered approximately 150 prints by James A. M. Whistler and nearly 20 of these set world auction records, including the sale's top lot, a very early impression of Nocturne, etching and drypoint on Japan paper, 1879-80, which became the most expensive Whistler print ever sold at auction when it brought $282,000.

The moody etching, shown above, was likely one of the first that Whistler made after arriving in Venice. It was estimated to sell for $80,000 to $120,000 and bears his rare butterfly signature. Todd Weyman, Swann Vice President and Director of the Prints & Drawings Department, said, "Setting the record price for any Whistler print shows the quality and scarcity of the material we have been able to gather in the past few seasons."

Among the many other Whistlers that set records in the October 27 sale were a very scarce first state of Rotherhithe, 1860, etching and drypoint, $14,400; Little Smithfield, etching on Japan paper, which had not appeared at auction in the last 20 years, $18,000; Battersea: Dawn, drypoint, 1875, with soft, hazy tones and inky plate edges, $13,200; Fishing-Boats, Hastings, etching and drypoint on Japan paper, 1877, $15,600; Fulham, etching, 1879, one of three etchings Whistler made of the old Putney (or Fulham) toll bridge in 1879 before its destruction, $14,400; Exeter Street, etching, circa 1886-88, $22,800; and Rue des Bon Enfants, Tours, etching and drypoint, 1888, created while he was honeymooning in the Loire Valley, $21,600. The two day sale brought in a total of $2,527,512 with Buyer's Premium.

Tags: art, etching, james whistler, swann galleries, whistler, whistler print

The 10 Luxuries of the Saxon Hotel

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villas & Spa is a celebrated Johannesburg hotel which is well-known to luxury travelers as one of the finest boutique hotels in not just South Africa, but the world. The Saxon has hosted Oprah Winfrey, the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and Kevin Spacey (how's that for a diverse sampling?) and features a distinguished collection of African art worth approximately 6.5 million South African rand (over $925,000).

If the art doesn't sway your fancies, the history will. The Saxon, a Leading Small Hotels of the World and Virtuoso member, was the private residence of insurance giant Douw Steyn until the year 2000. Nelson Mandela famously stayed there after his release from prison, and it was there that he edited his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. The former South African president continues to visit The Saxon today, reportedly every year around the same time -- but naturally, they're not saying when.

Tags: Abercrombie Kent, Africa, art, Black Eyed Peas, Douw Steyn, Johannesburg, Kevin Spacey, leading small hotels of the world, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Saxon Boutique Hotel, Shakira, South Africa, spa, The Saxon, Villas Spa, virtuoso

Continue reading “The 10 Luxuries of the Saxon Hotel”

Sleep on a Giant Mushroom for $1,400 a Night

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Art

The Museum for Contemporary Art in Berlin has a very unique exhibit that must be experienced in a unique way. The exhibit is intended to give visitors a taste of what it would be like to experience soma, the mythical healing and enlightenment drink that was used by ancient Vedic nomads in India to access the divine. No one knows for sure what soma was made of but experts believe 'magic mushrooms,' or fly agaric mushrooms, were a likely ingredient and so the installation features a floating hotel room where guests can spend the night suspended over a large 'shroom-shaped platform.

Besides re-enacting a soma experience artist and creator Carsten Hoeller also aims to explore how to achieve enlightenment and the roles science and myth play in our society. The exhibit will be open November 5th through February 6th for $1400/night.

Source

Tags: art, carsten hoeller, experience art, hotel, hotels, museum, performance art, soma, travel

$50 Million Warhol Stars in Christie's Contemporary Art Sale

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

A rare early Andy Warhol painting expected to fetch up to $50 million, the first picture by Warhol ever to be shown in a museum, headlines Christie's incredible Contemporary Art sale in New York on Nov. 10. The artist's Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable), dated 1962 (above), is one of several multimillion-dollar Warhols on offer in the eye-popping sale. The next most expensive artwork is Roy Lichtenstein's Ohhh...Alright..., dated 1964, expected to fetch in the region of $40 million and one of a number of Lichtensteins on offer, again with several carrying multimillion-dollar estimates. Both seminal paintings "literally changed the course of art history," Christie's notes. In third place price-wise is Gerhard Richter's 1982 oil on canvas Zwei Kerzen, estimated at $12 million – $16 million, followed by Jeff Koons' steel sculpture Balloon Flower (Blue), 1995 - 2000, also estimated at $12 million – $16 million. Following that in the $9 million – $15 million range are two works by Mark Rothko, Untitled (Black on Gray) and No 18 (Brown and Black on Plum). Oligarchs and oil sheikhs, prepare your paddles.

Gallery: Christie's Contemporary Art 11/10

Tags: Andy Warhol, art, auction, Contemporary Art, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Mark Rothko, museum, New York, painting, Roy Lichtenstein

Megabucks Rothko, Warhol & Bacon Head Sotheby's Sale

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

A $30 million Mark Rothko, $25 million Andy Warhol, $18 million Roy Lichtenstein and $10 million Francis Bacon will headline Sotheby's stunning Contemporary Art sale in New York on Nov. 9. Though the least expensive of the top four lots the Bacon, 1985's Figure in Movement (above), is our favorite among the offerings. Bacon gave the painting to his personal physician, Dr. Paul Brass, and the sale marks it's historic first appearance to market. It featured prominently in the 2008 landmark exhibition Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective at Tate Britain which traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Rothko, 1955's Untitled, is one of the artist's most monumental works measuring over 7.5 ft. high. Warhol's contribution is 1962's Coca-Cola, not particularly compelling but guaranteed to ride the wave of high prices realized for his work. The Lichtenstein, Ice Cream Soda, is also dated 1962 and has been in a private collection since it was originally purchased that same year.

Tags: Andy Warhol, art, auction, Contemporary Art, exhibition, Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Roy Lichtenstein

Inside Luxury King Francois Pinault's Private Palazzo Museums

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Wealth, Architecture & Design

Francois Pinault is a man justifiably envied by many. With a fortune of $8.7 billion the high-school dropout-turned luxury goods titan is the majority shareholder of PPR, whose brands include Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. He also owns famed auction house Christie's and the renowned Chateau Latour winery. His amazing contemporary art collection, worth an estimated $1.4 billion, encompasses 2,000-plus works by over 80 artists including Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami and Damien Hirst. Much of it is now housed as his two incredible private museums in Venice, the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana. Both historic buildings were transformed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando and are the subject of a smashing new book from Skira Rizzoli.

Tadao Ando: Venice - The Pinault Collection at the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana shows how Ando's designs seamlessly blend history and innovation while adhering to the strict laws governing the preservation of historic buildings in Venice. At the Palazzo Grassi, prominently located on the Grand Canal, Ando's quiet but expert renovation of the eighteenth-century rooms makes a perfect backdrop for Jeff Koons' eye-popping balloon sculptures. At the Punta della Dogana (shown on the cover above), the Venetian Republic's original customs warehouse, the large-scale space was subtly subdivided into refined rooms for installation art. The "dialogue – that is collision and friction – between the new and the old," Ando states, "is the driving force in creating a city's future."

Tags: architect, architecture, art, art collection, Balenciaga, billionaire, Bottega Veneta, Chateau Latour, contemporary art, Damien Hirst, France, Francois Pinault, Gucci, Italy, Jeff Koons, luxury goods, museum, PPR, Richard Prince, Tadao Ando, Takashi Murakami, Venice, Yves Saint Laurent

Jerry Hall's Paintings Sell Above Estimate

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Artwork owned by the model Jerry Hall brought in a total of £2,489,775 ($3,988,619) at Sotheby's in London this weekend far above a pre-sale estimate of £1.5 million. Hall was selling 14 works, by artists including Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Frank Auerbach, Lucien Freud and Francisco Clemente. Hall told the press that the sale was about letting go of the past. Freud's nude portrait of Hall eight months pregnant, sold for £601,250, twice its estimate. Warhol's Dollar Sign given to Hall as a thank you for her work with his television project brought £217,250. Hall's 1965 Frank Auerbach canvas, Head of Helen Gillespie IV sold for £1.1 million pounds.

Tags: andy warhol, art, jerry hall, lucien freud, sothebys

The Lost Pieta: Has A Michelangelo Masterpiece Been Discovered In New York?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Books

Could a lost Michelangelo painting have been hanging in a New York home for decades? A new book by Italian art historian Antonio Forcellino, "La Pieta Perduta" (The Lost Pieta) asserts that an unfinished painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ is the work of the Renaissance master and could be worth millions. Forcellino says the piece is definitely by Michelangelo and that X-rays done on the piece show the changes that the artist made as he went along. The owner hasn't sought publicity. He told the Sunday Times in London that he grew up with the pairing and that it was passed down from his great-grandfather. After he inherited the painting he started doing more research in the heirloom that he had always been told might be a Michelangelo. He eventually made contact with Forcellino who came to New York to authenticate the painting. Forcellino believes the painting was created by Michelangelo in 1545. His research has led him to find that the painting eventually was owned by a baron in Croatia and then a German baroness, who passed it to her lady-in-waiting, Gertrude Young. When Young died, the painting remained with her brother-in-law -- Martin's great-grandfather. The painting will be restored and will go on display it Italy next year but the owner hasn't said whether or not he will sell it.

[via Art Fix Daily]

Tags: art, lost masterpieces, michelangelo, pieta perduta, the lost pieta

Greek Heroes at the Onassis Cultural Center

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Hero worship in the ancient world was nothing like our own. Whereas we are quick to denounce athletes, politicians, and celebs with very human flaws, the Greeks had a different take. Theirs was a broader view that didn't require total moral excellence. Their concept of heroes and heroines was complicated, changeable, and perhaps more forgiving than our own.

What makes someone a hero or heroine? That's the context for this new exhibition of 90 exceptional artworks focusing on Archaic, Classical, and the Hellenic periods (6th-first century BC) at the Onassis Cultural Center in midtown Manhattan. "Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece" explores the Greek interpretation of heroism with decorated pottery, marble reliefs, bronze statues, and carved gemstones. As this intriguing show emphasizes, virtue was not necessarily a qualification to be considered a Greek hero or heroine. To us, the gods and heroes in the Greek myths were invented by poets and storytellers, but to the Greeks they were real people who lived, died, and in many cases transcended death as immortals.

Tags: Achilles, art, Greek myths, Helen of Troy, Herakles, mythology, Odysseus, onassis, onassis cultural center, sculpture

Continue reading “Greek Heroes at the Onassis Cultural Center”

New Lichtenstein Monograph Marks Milan Exhibit

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Books

An impressive new monograph on the late pop art star Roy Lichtenstein has just been published by Skira on the occasion of a major new exhibition of his work at the Milan Triennial, the most important show ever devoted to the artist in Italy. Roy Lichtenstein: Meditations on Art covers his entire artistic development through more than 250 paintings and sculptural works, a rich photographic section including unpublished material, and critical text. In keeping with the theme of the exhibition, the book examines the relationship between Lichtenstein, art history and its protagonists. There's also a refreshing emphasis on some of his lesser-known work. The reproductions in this deluxe edition, priced at $100, are large-format and in full color. Thirteen years after the legendary artist's death, his works and lexicon of symbols, subjects and themes continue to intrigue the art world while his work fetches millions of dollars at auction.

Tags: art, art book, art books, artist, exhibition, Italy, Milan, museum, pop art, Roy Lichtenstein

Faber-Castell 250th Anniversary Box Set

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Faber-Castell has a big time anniversary coming up, 250 years, and to help mark the occasion they're offering a special "Birthday Box" art set. The limited edition box features a wide array of art tools in every color imaginable (isn't it pretty just sitting there?) that is sure to inspire creativity in professionals and casual art geeks alike (I'm drooling a little). The box will available during the month of October and will be limited to 1761 pieces, which is the year the company was founded, and would make a great 'can't-go-wrong' gift for your creative self or an artsy family member or friend on your list. $1683

Via acquire

Source

Tags: art, art supplies, faber-castell

Five Ways to Protect Your Purchases at New York's Affordable Art Fair

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The Affordable Art Fair starts on September 30, 2010, and it comes with plenty of opportunities to pick up pieces by emerging artists. Featuring works priced from $100 to $10,000, the right choices can turn into astounding art investments down the road. While collectors are drawn to the pieces themselves first, it's hard to overlook the financial appreciation that can occur, especially as the art market claws its way back from financial crisis lows.

What happens if your artwork is damaged? Collectors don't always spend enough time thinking about the financial side of their holdings, and art insurance can be an afterthought. So, it might not be a bad idea to invest a little in protecting your work.

"After taking the time to evaluate a work of art, but before making a purchase, it is important that collectors consider how they are going to protect their investment," said Andrew Gristina, Fine Art Specialist, Travelers Inland Marine. "Most people buy art because of the aesthetic beauty, however, it's also a financial investment, which is why insurance coverage and proper handling should be a consideration with each purchase."

Here are three five steps you can take to protect what you pick up at the Affordable Art Fair (or anywhere else):

Tags: affordable art, affordable art fair, affordable artwork, art, art collecting, art collection, art collector, art fair, art work, artist, Artists, awards-main, decor-pedia, emerging artists, financial crisis, insurance, luxist-awards, main-pedia, manhattan, new york, new york city

Continue reading “Five Ways to Protect Your Purchases at New York's Affordable Art Fair”

Cycles of Violence: Standout at DUMBO Arts Festival

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

I trekked across the river this past weekend to check out the DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn. A neighborhood known for its arts scene could not have been saddled with greater expectations. Let's face it: Manhattan has become consumed by the art market , and DUMBO is perceived as the home of raw art talent. Well, the festival itself wasn't mind-blowing, but the first display I saw caught my attention and made the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge worth it. In fact, I would have walked all the way from the Upper West Side for the first piece I saw.

As I approached the DUMBO Arts Festival, the first thing I saw was on Adams Street. In fairness, I knew about this piece in advance, but I didn't realize it would be my entry into the festival – and become the benchmark by which I would judge all that followed.

"Cycles of Violence," by Ahron Weiner, could be missed easily if you weren't looking for it. New Yorkers familiar with posters on scaffolding all over the city could tune it out all too easily. In this case, that would mean missing an impressive exhibition – of the sort that can shape your perspective on public art.

Gallery: "Cycle of Violence" at the DUMBO Arts Festival

Tags: art, art fair, art festivals, artist, brooklyn, brooklyn bridge, Dumbo, Public art

Continue reading “Cycles of Violence: Standout at DUMBO Arts Festival”

Lehman Art Brings In Over $12 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Fine art formerly owned by Lehman Brothers brought in $12.28 million at Sotheby's New York on Saturday, September 25. The money will be a drop in the bucket toward the more than 600 billion dollars owed to creditors of Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy on that fateful day back in 2008, causing global financial panic. The AFP reports that the sale set 17 records for artists, including Julie Mehretu, whose painting "Untitled 1," shown above, sold for $1,022,500, sailing over the estimate of $600,000-800,000. One lot that failed to sell was an early piece by British art darling Damien Hirst.

Tags: art, damien hirst, julie mehretu, lehman brothers, sothebys

← Previous Page|Next Page →

art

Featured Galleries

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular

Also on AOL