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Established in 2008

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Cairo Museum Gets Vandalized



Recently opened last year after, after an eight year restoration valued in $10 million dollars, The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo (Cairo Museum) was vandalized by looters during the protests that are taking place in the Egypt.
Several cabinets, artifacts and two mummies were damaged. A casket was also opened.
It seems however that looters didn't manage to steal any of the artifacts.

Conscientious citizens have formed a human cord to protect the museum, while the authorities are taking the necessary procedures to avoid further assaults.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Julia Margaret Cameron Award (2nd edition)

Addressed to professional and non professional women photographers worldwide, the Second Edition of The Julia Margaret Cameron Award is organized by The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards (WPGA), with the sponsorship of Save the Children and ZOOM Magazine.
Photographers are invited to submit their works, which can be consisted by single images or portfolios, each divided in their own categories.

The Julia Margaret Cameron Award in the value of $5,000 in cash, will be presented to the best photographer according to the Jurors' team. The first runner up will be awarded with The Julia Margaret Cameron New Talent Award cash prize of $3000. Their respective works will be published in Zoom Magazine during 2011.

A diploma from The Julia Margaret Cameron Award as Outstanding Photographic Achievement will be given to the winner in each category.
In every category Honorable mentions will be awarded at discretion of the Jurors.
All awardees, including the honorable mentions of each category will be published in the book “The Julia Margaret Cameron Award 2011.″
Awarded works will be exhibited during 2012 in a city and venue to be decided.

The deadline for submiting works is January 31, 2011.

As in other contests organized by WPGA who partner with Save the Children, sales of works in exhibitions will be donated to that humanitarian organization.

Top 10 Auction Results in 2010

The year of 2010 was certainly positive for the major auction houses, with several records for renowned artists, including old masters.
According to ArtMarketInsight's list, the painting "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" by Pablo Picasso, sold at Christie's NY for $95 000 000, achieved the highest value, while the second place was taken by the statue "L'homme qui marche I" by Alberto Giacometti, sold for $92 521 600 at Sotheby's London. The painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)", conquered the third place and was sold at Sotheby's NY for $61 500 000.

The rest of the top 10 was taken by the following works: "Men in her life" by Andy Warhol ($56 500 000, Phillips de Pury NY); "Grande tête mince (1954)" by Alberto Giacometti ($47 500 000, Christie's NY); "Tête" by Amedeo Modigliani ($46 650 450, Christie's Paris); "Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto" by Pablo Picasso ($45 814 900, Christie's London); "Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV)" by Henri Matisse ($43 500 000, Christie's NY); "Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino" by William Turner ($40 211 100, Sotheby's London); "Kirche in Cassone..." by Gustav Klimt ($38 284 800, Sotheby's London).

The total paid of these works resulted in near $567.5m (hammer price).

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Show Your Drybrush Technique and Win Prizes

Artists Network, through the Creativity Workshop section of the Watercolor Artist magazine, has launched a contest based upon the drybrush technique used in watercolour, where artists are invited to send 72 dpi JPEG images of their watercolour paintings featuring a drybrush technique and are asked to describe their method.

The “editor’s choice” will receive a six-month subscription to ArtistsNetwork.tv online video workshops, plus $50 worth of North Light fine art books.

Entrants should submit their works until February 10, 2011 to wcamag@fwmedia.com.

Watch a video of a portrait painting where the drybrush technique is used.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dennis Hopper Collection Auction Results



The Interiors Sale auction, that took place in New York, Rockefeller Plaza – Tuesday and Wednesday, January 11-12, 2011, featured nearly 300 works of art and personal items from the collection of actor, artist and collector Dennis Hopper, including works from renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Gerhard Richter, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Kenny Scharf, and fellow actor Viggo Mortensen.

Among the works, two of them achieved much higher results than their estimated value.
A screenprint portrait in colours of Mao, one plate (F. & S. II 99), by Andy Warhol, in collaboration with Dennis Hopper, dated from 1972 and punctured by two bullet holes, was sold for $302,500 (€234,496, £193,910) to a private US collector, setting a world record for a single Mao print at auction.
The second highest value was paid by an Asian private collector for Marilyn: one plate (F. & S. II.27) screenprint in colors, 196, also by Andy Warhol: $206,500 (€160,078, £132,372).

The Interiors Auction, including property from the Dennis Hopper Collection, reached the value of $3,427,413 (€2,656,909, £2,197,059).
All sold prices include buyer’s premium.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Artists Wanted: A Year In Review

Open to all artists from around the world who are over the age of 18, Artists Wanted : A Year In Review 2010 is an international, all-medium-encompassing open call seeking to bring due recognition to emerging and innovative artists working in Animation, Design, Drawing, Film, Illustration, Installation, Painting, Performance, Photography, Sculpture, Sound, Video, and other Conceptual proposals that they may wish to present.

Submited works will be appreciated by the following juri: Lee Wells and Adina Sales (Motion & Sound); Aldon James, Jr. and Saul Ostrow (Fine Art); John Fiorelli, James Jean and Jeff Ng aka jeffstaple (Design & Illustration); Craig Cohen and Lesley A. Martin (Photography).

The Grand Prize winner will gain a feature spot at SCOPE New York 2011, next to the top figures in the global art scene, a $10,000 cash grant (includes $5,000 to create new work and $5,000 to spend however you want), hotel accommodations and airfare to and from New York City for the event, as well as other promotional events. The winner of The People's Choice Award will receive a $2000 cash grant and an online feature bringing international exposure.

The Artists Wanted: A Year In Review 2010, also includes The Category Awards with the objective of bringing more attention and recognition to talented artists in their respective mediums.
Categories are devided in Fine Art (Painting, Drawing, Sculpture & Installation); Motion & Sound (Film, Video, Performance & Sound); Design & Illustration; Photography.
The winner of each will receive $1,000 and internationally broadcasted online features by Artists Wanted.

With the participation of Topher Grace, the recipient of The Art of Elysium Award will receive a $10,000 donation made to The Art of Elysium upon his/her behalf, as well as an online feature published by Artists Wanted and The Art of Elysium.
Topher Grace is an American Film and Television actor, best known for his lead role as Eric Forman on That 70s Show and committed supporter of The Art of Elysium.

Works must be submited online and the price for entry is $10 per image, or 8 or more images for a flat rate of $79 (maximum of 15 images).
After completing payment, applicants will be sent a confirmation email with username, password, and direct link to their portfolio, which can be fully edited until the final deadline.

Entries must be submitted before January 28, 2011. Late entries must be submitted no later than February 4, 2011 and may be subject to a late entry fee.

Artists Wanted was was created three years ago by two Brooklyn based artists, Jason Goodman and William Etundi Jr. and is is a collaborative project between several New York City artists and creative organizations working to build new lasting opportunities for emerging talent.

Friday, January 21, 2011

California Institute of the Arts seeks Contemporary Art Historian

The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is seeking a candidate for the position of Contemporary Art Historian/Faculty on a full-time regular basis, starting Fall 2011.

The successful applicant will be expected to teach undergraduate and/or graduate courses in general art history and theory, as well as courses in their area of specialization and supervise independent study projects.
A considerable record of publication, aptitude to address a range of artistic media and diverse student interests, and the ability to teach modern and contemporary art history in an art school context is a must. Participating in other program duties and committee work will make part of the assignments.

College level teaching experience required. Include CV (Curriculum Vitae), letter of application (include teaching philosophy), names and addresses of 3 references, writing samples, supporting materials, and SASE only if return of materials is necessary. Brief course proposals are encouraged.

The deadline to apply for the position of Contemporary Art Historian/Faculty at CalArts is February 15, 2011.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Orient Expressed: Japan's Influence on Western Art, 1854- 1918



From February 19 throughout July 17, 2011, the Mississipi Museum of Art will present the exhibition "The Orient Expressed: Japan’s Influence on Western Art, 1854-1918", the eleventh in The Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series.

Comprising more than 200, The Orient Expressed will show works of art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, lent by some of the most prestigious collections, including: Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana; Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi; and the Mississippi Museum of Art’s own collection.

The exhibition will instruct visitors upon the cultural phenomenon known as Japonisme, first identified by French art critic Philippe Burty in 1872, and its influence up to our days in visual and decorative arts, architecture, fashion, graphic design, literature, music and theater.

Through decorative arts, graphic design, paintings, printmaking, and other media, the public will have the opportunity to aknowledge the impact of Japan on the West prior to World War I. In addition to the exemplary Western objects that will be showcased in The Orient Expressed, a select group of works from the Japanese art tradition will be incorporated to clarify specific influences. Dan Piersol, the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Deputy Director for Programs, states, “All of these aspects will elucidate the impact of Japonisme, and how it hastened the development of art nouveau and symbolism during the 1890s, and the advent of modernism.”

Visitors will be able to appreciate the works from noted artists and manufacturers such as Robert Frederick Blum, Pierre Bonnard, Félix Buhot, Felix Bracquemond, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Charles Caryl Coleman, James Sidney Ensor, Paul Gauguin, Gorham Manufacturing Company, Childe Hassam, Utagawa Hiroshige, Helen Hyde, Georges Lacombe, John La Farge, Bertha Boynton Lum, Minton and Company, Charles Sprague Pearce, Rookwood Pottery, Henry Somm, James McNeill Whistler, Alfred Stevens, Theodore Wores, Tiffany & Co., and many more.

Found within the exhibition itself, two Family Corners and a Closer Look Gallery will offer educational components related to The Orient Expressed, and will include interactive areas, art activities, and reading materials to engage visitors with the works of art on display.
A host of special events, educational programs, and other activities with a Japanese influence will also help to enhance the visitor's experience.

With the participation of guest curator and scholar Gabriel P. Weisberg, "The Orient Expressed: Japan’s Influence on Western Art, 1854-1918" is expected to expect to host more visitors than any other exhibition the Museum has had previously, according to Mississippi Museum of Art Director Betsy Bradley.
Following its presentation in Jackson, The Orient Expressed will be on view at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, from October 5, 2011 through January 15, 2012.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

VIP Art Fair - Exclusively Online



In recent years the art market witnessed the emerge of online venues with the purpose of permiting new artists to show and sell their works without passing through the traditional galleries.
Now a project catered for the major traditional galleries has been created, which will allow them to show their artworks online and fully interact with the public and especially with art collectors.

Conceived by James Cohan, active in the contemporary art world for more than 25 years as a dealer and founder of the James Cohan Gallery in New York in 1999, between other activities, the VIP Art Fair will, in similarity to its traditional counterparts, be open during one week, with the main difference of happening exclusively online and permiting less expenses to exhibitors and visitors.

Gathering some of the best world renowned art galleries, including Almine Rech, Anna Schwartz, David Zwirner, Emmanuel Perrotin, Fraenkel, Hauser & Wirth, Hyundai, James Cohan, Larry Gagosian, Luisa Strina, Koyanagi, Marlborough, Max Hetzler, Sadie Cole HQ, ShangART, Sommer Contemporary Art, White Cube, Yvon Lambert, and Xavier Hufkens, among others, in a total of 139 galleries from 30 countries, this online event is bound to become a case study in the art market and which paths it may take from now on, especially when such influent names are involved.

Featuring a revolutionary design, VIP Art Fair will offer art collectors the opportunity to view artwork through an innovative technology that presents artworks in relation to other works of art and to the human figure. Inquisitive visitors will be able to zoom in to examine details of a painting’s surface, get multiple views of a three-dimensional work, and watch videos of a multimedia piece. Galleries will provide comprehensive details on artworks and artists, including biographies, catalogue essays, artist films and interviews, and in-depth information that will empower collectors.

An important aspect of this online international contemporary art fair is going to be the interactivity between dealer and collector. Each dealer will have the ability to hold conversations with collectors via instant messaging, Skype, and telephone to discuss works on offer in the virtual booth (10 to 20 works).
Specially-created Private Rooms will permit dealers to share works from their gallery's backroom inventory (between 40 and 70 works) in real time with their clients.
Online payments will not be offered through this platform during this art fair.

The VIP Art Fair can be explored through different perspectives, including the obvious online tours, which can be based on featured works, tours created by collectors, critics, or even by curators from participating museums. Visitors will be able to build their own personalized tours of the Fair that showcase their favourite works and share with friends or post them in the VIP Lounge. Other ways to navigate the site wil include the Fair Map and advanced searches based on criteria of interest, such as artist’s name, medium, or price range.

The Fair will open on Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. EST and conclude on Sunday, January 30, 2011, at 7:59 a.m. EST. Browsing the Fair is free of charge. To access interactive capabilities, visitors must have a VIP Ticket, which on January 22 and 23 will cost $100 and thereafter will cost $20. You can request an invitation here.

VIP Art Fair was founded by James Cohan, founder of the James Cohan Gallery in New York in 1999 and board of directors of the Art Dealers Association of America, Art 21 and Independent Curators International; Jane Cohan, industrial designer by training and partner at James Cohan Gallery, New York/Shanghai, where she manages press relations and acts as artist liaison; Jonas Almgren, involved in the launch of Vantive (IPO 1995), InterWeave (sold 1997), E.piphany (IPO 1999), PremierGuide (sold 2007), and One Art World (2005); and Alessandra Almgren, starter of the Home Theater Research Group in 1998 and co-founder of One Art World.
Its directors are Noah Horowitz, Adjunct Professor of Art Business at the Sotheby's Institute of Art, New York, and author of "Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market", and Stephanie Schumann, who brings her experience from The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Drawing Center, and The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, where she is a founding patron and chair of the museum’s young benefactors group.
Other names include Sidney Blank, Marco Raab and Olaf Kreitz, all from Supermetric.

The promotional video for VIP Art Fair was created by When in Doubt Productions in collaboration with Force of Feather

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Designs Unveiled for The Broad Museum



The designs of The Broad Art Foundation (The Broad), a contemporary art museum to be built on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, were revealed by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad and architect Elizabeth Diller.
Dubbed “the veil and the vault,” and designed by world-renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the three-story museum will feature a unique porous honeycomb “veil” that wraps the building and is visible through an expansive, top floor sky-lit gallery that will be home to great works of contemporary art drawn from the 2,000-piece Broad Collections assembled over the past 40 years.

The 120,000-square-foot project will feature almost an acre of column-free gallery space, a lecture hall for up to 200 people, a ground floor multimedia gallery, a public lobby with display space and a museum shop. Also to be included is a state-of-the-art archive, with study and art storage space that will be available to scholars and curators who want to research works in the collection and borrow artworks for their institutions through The Broad Art Foundation.
The public entry to the museum will complement the landscaped plaza to the south that is part of the Grand Avenue Project’s master plan. Its lobby will include a bookshop and espresso bar. Visitors will then journey upwards via an escalator, tunneling through the archive, arriving onto 40,000 square feet of column-free exhibition space bathed in diffuse light.
Presenting a 24-foot-high space, the area will be fully adaptable according to the curatorial needs.
The exhibition exit will be made through a winding stair through the vault, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses into the vast holdings of the Broad Collections and the foundation’s lending library operations, leading visitors back to the lobby.

With its construction predicted to begin in late summer and to be completed in two years, The Broad's inaugural exhibition will feature 200 of the most iconic works from the Broad Collections, including many recent additions to the collection and works never seen before in Los Angeles.
The exhibition show the artworks of Doug Aitken, El Anatsui, John Baldessari, Jean Michel Basquiat, Mark Bradford, Joseph Beuys, Chuck Close, Marlene Dumas, Sam Francis, Ellen Gallagher, Mark Grotjahn, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Sharon Lockhart, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Cady Noland, Lari Pittman, Neo Rauch, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Ray, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Robert Therrien, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol and Christopher Wool, among many others.

For three years after the inaugural exhibition, The Broad will feature rotating exhibitions every four months, focusing on artists represented in distinctive depth in the collection, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol and Christopher Wool.
During exhibitions, curators will be able to include lent works that will enhance the exhibition's theme, the perspetive about the artist, etc.

Founders of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and The Broad Art Foundation, which they established to advance entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science and the arts, as well as supporting other areas such as scientific and medical research, Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, are devoted to philanthropy.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Los Angeles Art Show 2011


Presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA) and KR Martindale Show Management, the Los Angeles Art Show 2011 will feature over 100 international exhbitiors, and will include film screenings, live performance art, special exhibit spaces, book signing, and a special events program.

The Chinese Art will be in focus during this 16th edition of the LA Art Show 2011, with a special program featuring Chinese art with accompanying lecture series.
A special exhibit, ‘Three Walkers – Crossing Over’ presented by Guangzhou’s 53 Art Museum, curated and sponsored by the Asian art magazines Art Gallery Magazine and Gallery Sights will feature celebrated artists Feng Feng, Liu Qing-yuan, and Qin Jin. Additionally, The Los Angeles Art Show will showcase a significant number of participating Chinese galleries, most of them will display works outside of China for the first time. Their inclusion will provide attendees with a remarkable opportunity to see what’s really trendy in Asian Art.

China Today will feature a lecture on Contemporary Chinese art led by artist, Tao Dong Dong and a screening of the 2006 documentary, “The Rising Tide” which provides a ‘living sense’of China’s Contemporary art scene.
With the creation of China Today, the fair will offer fresh insights into the contemporary reflection of China’s strong visual arts traditions and their influence the art world.

Included in the Los Angeles Art Show 2011 Special Exhibitions will be: "The Sister Cities of Los Angeles International Art", "Vox Humana", "Flora Kao’s Ghost Grove", presented by the Los Angeles Art Association, and "Rarely/Unseen", a private collection of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

In the same way of last year's edition, the LA Art Show 2011 will open in conjunction with the 26th Annual Los Angeles Fine Print Fair, organized by the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA), which will offer collectors and art lovers a comprehensive look at prints in all techniques.

Visitors will have an opportunity to view and purchase fine prints from across a broad spectrum of Old Master, German Expressionist, antique and modern Japanese, 18th and 19th-century European, 19th-century American, American Regionalist, Latin-American, and Modern works to Contemporary masterworks and new editions.

The 16th Annual Los Angeles Art Show Opening Night Premiere Party, taking place on the 19th of January, 2011, will benefit The Art of Elysium, permiting it to expand its program to bring arts to critically ill hospitalized children, continuing to produce original artistic workshops, as well as increase substantially the number of school children who visit the Getty through the Getty Museum’s fully subsidized Title One bus transportation program. This program ensures that as many students as possible from throughout Los Angeles can visit the Getty and experience its collection and the site through guided and self-guided visits, also including architecture and garden tours.

The Los Angeles Art Show takes place on January 19-23, 2011 (20-23 general public) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015.
General admission to the Los Angeles Art Show is $20. Opening Night Premiere Party: Wednesday, January 19, 2011. Tickets are $125 and $500.
New mobile technology, the free Los Angeles Art Show iPhone app powered by Collectrium, will allow visitors to point their iPhone at any registered artwork exhibited at the fair and add their own notes, bookmark for later, instantly receive extensive information on artist and piece, contact the gallery, or share with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and email.
It willl also permit to view the entire catalogue on their smart phone, read all the programming and scheduling information about the show, and see a map of the fair.
To download this app for free, visit iTunes and type in Collectrium or visit www.collectrium.com/iphone.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Little Draw: Free Drop-in Art Workshop at The Wallace Collection

This Sunday 9th January, 2011, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm, The Wallace Collection will present a free drop-in art workshop catered for all ages and levels of artistic experience.

Entitled The Little Draw, the workshop will be lectured by William Riding, a specialist in Islamic geometry, Orthodox Icon painting, and portraiture.

William’s own practice concentrates on the harmony, rhythms and movements that come from composing an image using traditional and sacred geometrical forms and motifs.

The Wallace Collection is displayed at the Hertford House, located in the Manchester Square London, UK.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Portuguese Artist and Fine Art Collector buys "NightLight Please" by Kathie Papasso

The painting "NighLight Please", acrylic on board by the american artist Kathie Papasso, was acquired by the portuguese artist and fine art collector José Carrilho.

Kathie has won several art awards, including two first places (coloured pencil and watercolour) in the "2010 Annual Okeechobee County Fair" and second place in the "Taylor Creek Riverbank."

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Mozambican Painter Malangatana Died With 74 Years of Age



The Mozambican painter Malangatana passed away at the age of 74, in the Hospital Pedro Hispano (Matosinhos, Portugal).

Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (6 June 1936 - 5 December 2010) was born in Matalana, a village of the district of Marracuene, located in the outskirts of at the time called Lourenço Marques, present Maputo.

His father was a miner in South Africa and his mother embroided trousers and would sharpen the teeth of local young girls, a trend at the time.

With a sick mother and an absent father, Malangatana went to live with an uncle, studying until the third grade. He started working with 11 years of age, carrying out tasks such as babysitter or catching balls at the tennis club.

Spending great part of his youth together with portuguese settlers, it was with them that his awaken to the arts took place. One night at the house of the biologist, sculptor and painter Augusto Cabral (1922-2006), Malangatana saw him painting and requested to be taught. He was given some paints, brushes and plywood panels.

The young Malangatana also had the sponsorship of the portuguese architect Pancho Guedes, who offered him a space in the garage of his home in Maputo and would buy him two paintings every month, offering a generous amount.

In few months he manifested the will of showing his works to the public, and the exhibition became an enormous success.

During the 70s he travels to Portugal for the first time, thanks to a Gulbenkian's scholarship.

Politics also played an important role in his life, he was a deputy of FRELIMO between 1990 and 1994 . During the portuguese colonization he was placed into custody due to the suspect of connections with the same group, being released after 18 months at the lack of evidence.

He was one of the founders of the National Art Museum of Mozambique, Unicef colaborator, and initiated the creation of a Cultural Center in his homeland Matalana.

His works were exhibited in Mozambique, Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Austria, United States, Bulgaria and India, and can be found in museums, galleries and private collections.

Murals can be found in Maputo, Beira, Colombia, South Africa, Suaziland and Sweden.

The Mozambican artist also tried his artistic skills with pottery, tapestry, engraving and sculpture, he was also an actor, poet, dancer, musician and philantrophist.

Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (crocodile) was attributed the Honoris Causa degree by the Évora university, the Prince Claus award, the medal of the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique, and was nominated Artist for Peace, by Unesco.
Photo by Carlos Lopes (Público newspaper archive)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

BRAFA 2011 - Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair

Inspired by the examples of the Grosvenor House in London and the Prinsenhof in Delft, and organinzed by the Belgian Antiques Fair not-for-profit association, the first BRAFA (Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair) edition took place in 1955 in the Arlequin Hall of the Galerij Louiza.
This initiative to set up a “salon van antiquairs” was taken by Charles Van Hove, for many years the President, and Ms Mamy Wouters, Vice-President, of the Belgian Royal Chamber of Antiques Dealers.

Reserved until 1994 to Belgian antique dealers who were members of the Royal Chamber of Antiques Dealers, the fair was a national event that had been held at the "Palais des Beaux-Arts" in Brussels between 1967 and 2003, with the number of participants ranging between forty and fifty.
However its continuous success and expansion of art objects continued to arise the interest of antique dealers from abroad, leading the at the time President Christian de Bruyn to open the fair to foreign antique dealers for the first time in 1995.

The "Palais des Beaux-Arts" no longer suficed to hold the event and in 2004 the Belgium Antiques Fair moved to the Tour & Taxis industrial site in the Noordwijk district of Brussels alongside the Willebroek canal.
This change permited to increase the number of participants to near 120, a steep improvement from the original 20 participants at the outset and a statement of BRAFA's importance at an international level.

Over the years the fair has also embraced modern and contemporary art, preparing itself for the 21st century. Because the name “Belgian Antiques Fair” or “Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique” no longer reflected this development, in 2007 the fair was renamed BRAFA or Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair.
The Belgian Antiques Fair not-for-profit association was placed under the High Protection of Her Majesty the Queen on 30 September 2009.

The fair will include antiquities, oceanic art, African art, Oriental art, silver, antique jewellery, furniture and works of art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, curiosities, ceramics, earthenware and porcelain, drawings, engravings, old masters, modern painting, sculpture, carpets, tapestry, antique and modern books, numismatic, contemporary painting and sculpture, photography.

Counting with the presence of 130 dealers, the BRAFA's 56th edition is expected to receive around 38,000 visitors.

Held in the Tour & Taxis in the heart of Brussels, the fair will run from 21 to 30 January 2011 (11am to 7pm). Late night opening on Tuesday 25 and Thursday 27 January 2011 until 10.30 pm.
Guided tours: daily at 3 pm.
A catalogue with 600 pages is available for €10.

The Museum Mayer van den Bergh will be this year's guest of honour and will exhibit twenty works of art that will include The Adoration of the Shepherds by Jacob Jordaens, an antiquities-styled Maria-Magdalena by Jan Gossaert, and the life-size portraits of the Vekemans family painted by Cornelis de Vos.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Musée Malraux: Signac "Les Ports de France"

The Malraux museum in the Le Havre region of France is showing a major exhibition of 90 watercolours by the French artist Paul Signac (Paris 1863 – Paris 1935).

An enthusiast of the sea and of the mediterranean coast with its ports, Signac sailed from Bretagne to St. Tropez during the year of 1832, soon after the decease of this artist friend Georges Seurat, with whom he created the neo-impressionism movement and the start of the divisionism or pointillism. In Saint-Tropez he starts painting with watercolour, together with the French pointillist painter d’Henri-Edmond Cross, soon concluding that drawing and watercolour will permit him a free and spontaneous artistic creation.

In 1928, an encounter with Gaston Lévy, a wealthy man, founder of the Monoprix deparment stores and an avid collector, will permit him to initiate a project dear to him.
Signac states his ideas in detail to his new friend: « Depuis longtemps je rêve de faire une suite importante d’aquarelles sur « Les Ports de France ». J’ai relevé 40 ports de la Manche, 40 ports de l’Océan ; 20 ports de la Méditerranée. En tout une centaine (…). Si ce projet avait votre agrément, je commanderais une conduite intérieure C4 Citroën, je prendrais un chauffeur et je partirais en février pour les ports de la Méditerranée. En avril, je remonterais vers les ports de l’Océan pour terminer en été les ports du Nord. Je pense qu’il faudrait 5 ou 6 mois de travail, un peu fou ! Je ferais deux aquarelles dans chaque port, l’une pour vous et l’autre pour moi, différentes d’ailleurs, et vous choisiriez celle des deux qui aurait votre préférence. Nous déciderions ensemble du format et du prix. Les marchands n’auraient rien à y voir ! »
In english: «For some time now I have been dreaming of painting a major series of watercolors on French ports . I have identified 40 ports on the North Sea, 40 on the Ocean; 20 on the Mediterranean. In total, one hundred». He suggests that Lévy sponsor this operation, and the precision of his letter proves it was far from being improvised. «If this project were to meet your approval, I would order a sedan C4 Citroën, I would hire a chauffeur and I would leave in February to Mediterranean ports. In April I would go up to the Ocean ports to finish with the Northern ports in the summer. I think it will take me 5 to 6 months of work, a bit crazy! I will do two watercolors in each port, one for you and the other for me, different ones of course, and you will choose the one you prefer of the two. We will decide together on the price and the format. Art dealers would have nothing to do with this!»

Seduced by this project, Gaston Lévy accepts to sponsor it, and in March 1929 the renowned and famous Signac at the age of 65, casts away, completing his periplus in 1931.
This artistic undertaking will become the acclaim of his career as a watercolourist.

A rare exhibition "Signac: Les Ports de France" (Signac: The Ports of France), is a poetic catalogue of French coast before the Second World War, never before published and now shown to the public for the first time.
The 90 known watercolours of this series are presented in perspective with a selection of paintings by the artist witnessing his profound bonding to the sea and the ports, as well a couple of works by artists who Paul Signac particularly admired: Le Lorrain, Joseph Vernet, Corot, Jongkind, Boudin… Paintings from the neo-impressionism and impressionism periods, and from the opening at the time of his settlement in Saint-Tropez in 1892.

Firstly the exhibition was to be on display only until January 16, 2011, then until the 23, but it seems to have been extended until the end of the month. For more information you can contact the Malraux museum through the contacts found on this page.

The Art Inquirer used the French to English translation of Signac's explanation to Gaston available on this page.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year 2011



As the author of this blog, I would like to wish to everyone, and in particular to all readers and their families, a prosperous 2011 with peace love and tranquility.

Because The Art Inquirer is dedicated to art, lets aim for a 2011 where art will play an important and recognized role in our society.

Since its existance, this art dedicated blog has provided its readers with interesting, relevant and useful content, and it will keep doing so in the future.

The Art Inquirer offers important information and quality links for artists, art lovers and art collectors.

Yours trully,