Govt Opens Art Vault

The public are to be given the chance to view an art collection that they own but can only rarely see, which includes art works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Thomas Gainsborough, LS Lowry, and Lucian Freud. For one afternoon only, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is opening the doors to a vault that holds the Government Art Collection. Pieces are usually only exhibited in government buildings and embassies, but on Saturday, May 17, free tours are being offered of a small selection from the 15,000-strong art collection at a storage facility in London. Its origin dates from 1898, when the Office of Works was made responsible for the art displayed in government buildings across the world. Those wishing to see the art collection must book a place by emailing gac@culture.gov.uk or calling 020 7580 9120. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art

Monet Art Sets Record

The auction price for Claude Monet set a new record Tuesday as an early work by the French impressionist artist was sold for more than $41 million dollars, media reported. "Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil" -- a painting of a bridge with two trains passing over the Seine while pleasure boats float below -- was sold at a Christie's sale for 41,481,000 dollars, said Rik Pike, a spokesman for the art auction house. "It is the quintessential early Monet. We will not see another one this good for a long while, I don't suppose, unless this one lures a few out," Christie's honorary chairman and the evening's auctioneer, Christopher Burge, said. The previous record for a Monet painting was 36.5 million dollars for his 1904 "Nympheas," which was sold last year. Christie's said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous. The sellers were reportedly the Nahmad family, dealers with art galleries in New York and London. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art

Quatar Buys Art

The rulers of Qatar have paid tens of millions of pounds for art works by two of Britain’s best-known modern artists. The al-Thani family, who are trying to build up their art collections in the Gulf state, have bought Francis Bacon’s Study from Portrait of Pope Innocent X for £26m and a Damien Hirst sculpture for just under £10m. The purchases by the al-Thanis, detailed on the website of The Art Newspaper, also included a work by the American artist Mark Rothko for £36m. Qatar is planning a network of museums and galleries. It is being advised by the British Museum and Lord Rothschild, the financier and art expert. Several Gulf states are aiming to build new museums, both to help them compete for western tourists and to promote a more outward-looking image. Plans include branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi. The Qatar family, led by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has been buying art for several years, but specialised in Islamic or older European art works. The change to buying the likes of Bacon and Rothko is “really exciting”, said John Martin, director of the Dubai-based Gulf Art Fair. “These are, frankly, dream pieces,” he added. “You need to buy the highest order from the top artists if you want international museums.” (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art

Sued For "Trash" Art

The Art Newspaper reports that American artist Robert Rauschenberg has sued an artist in Florida, claiming violation of his rights under the US Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. According to Rauschenberg, the defendant, Robert Francis Montgomery of Florida, who also paints under the name of Robert Fontaine, sold art works purportedly by Rauschenberg which Rauschenberg did not create, with certificates of authenticity. Rauschenberg alleges that this violated his rights to protect the attribution of his work. Montgomery says there was no violation of artists’ rights because Rauschenberg created the disputed art. His lawyer told The Art Newspaper that Montgomery found a group of “chromes,” or large negatives, in Rauschenberg’s trash in 1998. Although most of them were given away or discarded over the years, “a piece was sold”, Mr Freeman said. He disagrees that this diluted Rauschenberg’s name or prejudiced his reputation, saying: “Why does the lion want to eat the mouse?” Rauschenberg is seeking “to prevent the use of his name as being the author of any work of visual art which he did not create”, his court complaint says. He alleges damage to his image from the sales, which he says jeopardise the economic value of his legitimate art works, and damage his reputation. The suit seeks to enjoin Montgomery from doing anything likely to confuse or deceive others into believing that art not attribut­able to Rauschenberg came from him. He is also seeking the destruction of all items in Montgomery’s possession bearing Rauschenberg’s name or claiming to be his work, and all profits allegedly wrongly derived from using his name. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art


Christie's Irish Art Sale

Works by some of Ireland’s most celebrated artists - including Le Brocquy, Lavery and Paul Henry - are on display in Dublin just weeks before going under the hammer. Sourced from private collections all over the world, almost 170 pieces will be auctioned at the annual Irish Art Sale at Christie’s in London on May 8. Bernard Williams, International Director of Irish Art at Christie’s, said this year’s annual auction offers an impressive selection of works representing 250 years of Irish art. But he said with local sales rooms now putting pressure on international auction houses, more rare works are being sourced worldwide. “Christie’s international leadership of the art market has once again seen us source works from around the world,” he said. “There is a significant number of market-fresh consignments from America, Canada and Australia which are in Ireland for the first time in many years.” Among the pieces on show in Dublin is Henry’s Showery Day on the Bog, which Mr Williams brought on a Greyhound bus and Amtrak passenger train from New Hampshire to New York, where a shortage of taxis then forced him to carry the painting on a rickshaw. Since Christie’s staged its first annual sale dedicated to Irish Art in 1996, world record prices have been paid at auction for a number of leading artists including George Barret, Gerard Dillon, JB Yeats, Henry, Lavery and Thomas Roberts. The sale is expected to realise in excess of €4.5m. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art

Small Art Galleries Best

In Victorian times, Woking was known as a place for the "mad, the bad and the dead" because of its large cemetery, Zoroastrian burial ground, crematorium and asylums. The title was relevant until 1993, when a group of determined locals shook off the shadows of the past by helping to open its first art gallery and museum. Yesterday, that museum featured on the nation's largest art prize shortlist, which was dominated by small regional art galleries or exhibitions that have opened over the past year. The Lightbox Gallery and Museum in Woking, the Shetland Museum and Archive in Lerwick, and an anti-slavery exhibition at the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol were all selected for the Art Fund prize, which recognises Britain's best new or renovated art galleries and shows in the past 12 months with an award, for the winner, of £100,000. All except the fourth shortlisted venue, the Wellcome Collection, which opened its doors in central London last year with the help of £30m from the Wellcome Trust, are small-scale venues or exhibitions that were up against some of the goliaths of the art world on the long list. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art