February 27, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 5:43 am
After a ban placed on sexy seaside postcards back in the 1950s the popular saucy cards will finally be seen again from public display racks.
The postcard collection includes 1300 cards that were held at the University of Kent in the British Cartoon Archive after they were confiscated for violating the obscenity laws that were in place from 1951-1961.
Anyone can view the collection which will be scanned and place for viewing on the internet due to a £150,000 project grant that was funded by the JISC. They will also be on display at two separate exhibitions over the summer- one held at the Templeman Library at the University itself and another that will open at the end of May in the old Magistrates Court in the city of Margate.
The funding will also be used to scan up over 14,500 political satire cartoons from British cartoonists over the past decade including work featured in the Guardian by Steve Bell and work featured in the Daily Mail by Mac.
The British Cartoon Archive at Kent holds the national collection of cartoons of political and social comment published in British newspapers and magazines – more than 120,000 original drawings by over 350 cartoonists plus 85,000 newspaper cuttings. Its website at www.cartoons.ac.uk already provides access to 140,000 catalogued cartoons.
Head of the Archive, Dr Nick Hiley said: “We are very pleased to be able to make both these fascinating collections available freely to a much wider audience.
“The seaside postcards in particular have already created a lot of interest. Not only are many of the cards still amusing, but they represent a landmark in social and legal history. They are a vivid illustration of how our notion of obscenity has changed over time – these postcards were considered offensive 60 years ago, but far more risqué material is now widely available via the internet.”
suacy po
February 25, 2011
Filed under: Art events,Exhibitions — admin @ 12:55 pm
The most exciting way to keep up to date with what’s hot in the world of modern art and to get tips about new artists is to attend international shows. The chatter and buzz, the sense of occasion and the sheer volume of great art in one place can be electrifying. Whether you are a serious connoisseur or simply appreciate good modern art, it’s worth making the effort to visit at least one of these events. If you are planning a trip or two, New York, Venice or Paris for example, just check whether any big art shows are on – you might be in luck. Most big cities hold some kind of regular art fair, but these are some of the major shows which are worth a detour :
Art Basel – Switzerland and Miami
This annual contemporary art exhibition has been going since 1970 and is held every June in the highly cultured Swiss city of Basel. In 2010 over 62,000 visited the show. Top art galleries from all over the world exhibit modern art by new talent and established artists alike. The next Art Basel will be held from 15th to19th June 2011. A sister show, Art Basel Miami Beach has been held in Miami since 2002 and is just as inspirational. It’s on from 1st-4th December 2011.
PULSE – New York and Miami
If you are thinking about flights to New York or Miami, why not try to co-incide your trip with the cutting edge PULSE Art Fair which is held in both these cities. Showing in New York between 3rd – 6th March 2011 and in Miami from 1st – 4th December 2011. With a wide range of exciting contemporary artists displaying their work it is described as the leading art fair in the US.
FIAC – Paris
Having been around for 30 years, the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) is held in the magnificent surroundings of the Grand Palais and the courtyard of the Louvre. On from 20th-23rd October 2011, this show is accompanied by a multitude of art events and exhibitions around the city.
dOCUMENTA – Germany
Taking place every five years with the next one planned for 2012, this is Germany’s biggest modern art show and is held in the city of Kassell. Last time there were over 500 works of visual art on display, including paintings, photography, films and art installations, created by artists from all over the world. Documenta 13 is on from 9th June to 16th September 2012.
Venice Biennale – Italy
Perhaps the biggest and best known of all the big exhibitions, the Venice Biennale incorporates the Venice Film Festival as well as a contemporary art fair. As its name implies, it is held every two years, and has been going since 1895. It now incorporates dance, theatre, music and film throughout the year. The Biennale is hugely influential and has a permanent exhibition site in Venice. The art show is on from 4th June to 27th November 2011.
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 3:21 am
A statue of the world’s first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, has been erected in central London, in honour of the 50th anniversary of space flight, according to the Minister of Education and Science, David Willetts. “The statue of Yuri Gagarin is at front of the monument to the famous English navigator James Cook, discoverer of Australia, a land that it could be used as space launch ramp,” said the minister, after signing an agreement in Moscow to celebrate 2011 as the Year Russian British-Space Studies.
The document was signed with the Russian Aerospace Agency, Roskosmos. His boss, Anatoly Perminov, commenting on the idea of erecting a monument to Gagarinin London, said it is a great initiative. It also said the Russian and British sides plan to sign a document on cooperation in the study of space in 2011, as well as perform various joint activities in this area.
On the other hand, London is preparing the project YuriGagarin50. Those in charge of the collected impressions of people who met with Gagarin in 1951 and photos.
February 24, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 6:27 am
John Lennon’s original sketches, including three unreleased drawings illustrating himself as political campaigner and family man will be one of the features of The Art of John Lennon. Unknown works, which come from the archive which belongs now to the artist’s widow Yoko Ono.
The picture Power to the People is similar to the Statue of Liberty in a way, with a suited man, who is standing on a pedestal with his fist raised and clenched, wearing a spiked crown. Some date the picture from the release of Some Time in New York City, which was Lennon’s and Ono’s fifth album, circa 1972. The album was a collection of songs protesting social and political issues. It also included a sketch of the statue of Liberty which is believed to be the first version of Power to the People.
Dream Power presents Lennon, wearing his characteristic round glasses, and Ono, lying with him under a tree naked. Another sketch, Family of Peace, is a portrait of the couple with their son. The work is dated from around 1977, the time of Lennon’s travels to Japan where he explored a new technique of sumi ink drawing, the same as he used to make the sketch.
All of Lennon’s pictures are stamped with a seal presenting Japanese letters saying: “Like a cloud, beautiful sound.” The artist, as his wife said, was known as a singer because of “The Beatles” but remained unknown to the world of art. Now the world has a chance to see his other passion, the one for art, which will be presented on the exhibition of his works.
February 20, 2011
Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 3:49 am
An Andy Warhol portrait that had not previously been displayed was immediately sold to an anonymous bidder for 10.8 million. The painting had just been exhibited at Christie’s in London, when it was quickly bought for twice the estimated value.
The painting is 6x6ft and displays the face of Warhol in half shadow and half light, the colours red and white. The work itself is derived from his very important period around 1967 and marks the time when he gained international fame.
It is a part of a series of 11 works from that time. The New York Museum of Modern Art owns some of these, while the rest are found in San Francisco, Munich, and in the Tate collection. This painting has been kept privately since 1974.
February 19, 2011
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 6:11 am
Musical lampposts are just one of the attractions at ‘Liverpool Discovers’, a new art trail through Liverpool, funded by EU funding and Culture Liverpool, that runs from Valentine’s Day to the 20th March. The trail marks important personalities, life-changing inventions and history of the city.
The lampposts, featured in Liverpool One and made by Andy McKeown, are thought to be the first musical ones in Britain. Like a giant i-Pod, they play a broad selection of music, including every single number one played by artists from the city, fifty-seven in total. The music selection is random but can be changed at the press of a button, and is best heard close-up as, otherwise, it is quite quiet.
A mosaic at Speaker’s Corner remembers Mary Bamber, one of the suffragettes who fought for equal rights for women. A giant telescope at the Pier Head represents 17th century astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks. Colin Welland, who scripted the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire is represented in St Helens by moving images. On St James Mount, the public can listen to the sounds of the city with two huge sound ‘mirrors’. The puppet Kelda will represent the Wirral’s Viking past.
Liverpool has huge importance, both historically and cultural, and it is important that events such as this one, put on by Wild in Art, continue to reflect that.
Take a look at what’s on at www.liverpooldiscovers.co.uk. As well as featuring the trail, the website includes a number of interesting facts about the city. For instance, the city’s School of Tropical Medicine was the organisation that connected mosquitoes to the disease Malaria, and won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, in 1902.
February 11, 2011
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 4:22 am
Whether art is your deep passion or just a passing interest, Google has set out to irreversibly alter your existence. The Google Art Project, revealed to the public last week, provides a unified and simple experience of many of the art collections and the interiors of both European and American museums. 17 museums are covered so far.
The claim by Google is that you will not only sight what you hadn’t taken note of previously, but you will also observe the unobservable. Google zoom allows you to study what you cannot even see with the naked eye. The beauty of this project is in the privacy of the viewing. You will no longer have to jockey to get a peek at the paintings. Instead, you can gaze at them all day and night from the comfort of your computer.
You can also study up close the materials and methods of the art surfaces. Of course we expect the Internet to bring the world to our desk, but to see it done with something so physical as art is nothing short of amazing, when considering the angles of the brush strokes of “Château Noir”, by Cezanne, in the Museum of Modern Art.
A nice addition to the Art Project is the Street View that Google already has integrated into its maps. With Street View inside the museum you can get a 360 view of the entire interior. That means ceiling gazing at the murals in Versailles. It also means picking up the subtle atmosphere in such places as Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery.
Just watch out that you refine your control of the program or you will end up being thrown instantly onto the street in front of the museum for no apparent reason. If it happens to you, just get back in and try again until you have tamed that beast. Every artistic bone in your body will thank you.
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 3:33 am
£25.2 million was the going price, in London at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale, for Pablo Picasso’s La Lecture, his portrait of the teenage mistress the legendary artist kept. That is more than twice the expected price that some unnamed bidder paid.
This 1932 painting was of Marie-Therese Walter sleeping in an armchair. She was only 17 years old. Marie was the subject, as well, of other of Picasso’s paintings, including Green Leaves, Bust, and Nude. Bust busted the world’s record in New York in May 2010, being sold at £69.8million.
Picasso had been married at the time to Olga Khokhlova, the Ukrainian dancer. This was only half the reason the affair was kept under hat for so long. The other was her age.
Chair of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Europe, Helena Newman, explained, “Picasso’s La Lecture going for this price has made us very glad, you can imagine. After all, it is an amazing piece from Picasso’s most glorious period work.”
February 3, 2011
Filed under: Art News — Alan @ 7:00 am
Charlotte Church has been hard at work creating a nice little legacy for herself as a pop artist in the music industry but now she has been idolized in pop art as well Artists David Robinson and Adam Clarke from Cardiff were not sure if Church would approve of their new portrait of her but it turns out that she is quite proud given it hands in the room of her mother’s hotel.
Church stated that she loves how true to life the black and white portrait is and went on to say that she loves pop art and would love to get more invested in the world when she gets older. She also joked that while her mother’s guesthouse is not the Louvre it is still a bit of an art gallery to her.
In fact, the new pop art portrait is just one of a few that are placed around the business that is run by Maria, Church’s mother, and James her stepfather. The quaint bed and breakfast is titled Dexby Townhouse after Church’s children with former husband Gavin Henson named Dexter and Ruby.
Church admitted however that most of the work in the B&B is from her children and noted that three year old Ruby is a great artist and Dexter enjoys painting his own self-portraits. She added that there is one more portrait of her in the house that was given to her by an American artist when she was a younger girl.
February 2, 2011
Filed under: Exhibitions — Alan @ 6:02 am
Many British galleries are focusing on British Sculpture this year and the Royal Academy in London is no exception. The first exhibition in over 30 years showcasing 20th century British Sculpture, Modern British Sculpture, open to promising reviews over the weekend.
An increase in auction house sculpture sales may be realised, some believe, since there are many other exhibitions, showcasing sculpture, running at the same time. Many new buyers are recognizing says Frances Christie, one of Sotheby’s directors, that sculpture creates the same impact as a painting.
Lynn Chadwick’s The Couple, is at Pangolin London through the 26 of February. The artist has bronze’s that range from £3,000 to £1 million. There are also prints and drawing as well.
Barbara Hepworth, one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, has a museum in her name, Hepworth Wakefield, opening in May. Works from the 1960s and 70s will be displayed in October at a show in the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.
The Robert Bowman Modern in London is also has an exhibition of Modern British Sculpture.
Artists like Hepworth and Damien Hirst, are included at the RA’s show but missing are artists such as Antony Gormley, considered a one of the most important sculptors in Britain.
