News

26.03.2018

Fine art never went on about the power of those in power. Drawing a picture, the artist describes the events or simply spits out emotions. But no one knows how many years it will appear in the galleries and museums, and how the authorities will react to it. Some pictures can be quickly rehabilitated, and other works can wait for “coming out” for years. And this despite the fact that the skill of the artist can be on top. Examples of censorship are masterpieces of “forbidden art.”

“Distribution of food”, Ivan Aivazovsky 

This unusual picture is dedicated to the events of 1891-1892, when America sent humanitarian aid to Russia at the time of the economic and epidemic crisis. The situation of the people was very disastrous, and Emperor Nicholas II personally thanked America for its substantial financial contribution. Disagreeable to the government of the painting Aivazovsky during his visit to the US presented the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington.

“Model”, Nikolay Yanchuk 

“Model” is a picture of a Ukrainian artist, one of those numerous canvases that were collected all over Ukraine until 1937. They wanted to destroy them, because the stories were not ideologically verified, and the authors were subjected to all kinds of persecution and repression. The war prevented the destruction plans, and the paintings miraculously survived to the present day in the closed collections of museums.

“Consecration of a brothel”, Vladimir Makovsky 

This work of Vladimir Makovsky, the famous Russian artist, was never finished. Probably, the painter understood how small the chances of passing church censorship with such a plot are. The sketch clearly reads a protest against the contemporary artist’s reality, in which such absurd things could occur.

Source: https://ukraineartnews.com/news/news/shedevry-iskusstva-kotorye-pylilis-v-kladovkah

23.03.2018

French auctioneers accidentally found a picture called “Jesus praying before the cross.” It is known that this canvas is a genuine work of French artists of the XVII century Antoine, Louis and Mathieu Lenen.

“A 72 x 54 cm oil painting depicts Jesus at the age of 6-8 on his knees and with his arms crossed over his heart, a blond blue-eyed boy with a delicate skin and angelic face, surrounded by a pitcher covered with a towel from which Pontius Pilate washed his hands, a ladder with which the body was removed from the cross, a hammer, nails and other objects associated with the Passion of Christ.The gloomy landscape and a heavy purple curtain add contrast to this unusual scene, “the experts shared.
They are also confident that this is an extremely important work of the Lenen brothers, probably created between 1642 and 1648, a few years after the birth of Louis XIV.

21.03.2018

According to the TEFAF Art Market Report: Online focus, devoted to online art commerce, the leading position in the online market is occupied by departments of leading auction houses that either develop their own online platforms or use third-party platforms to attract new customers. At the same time, dealers and galleries are in no hurry to develop e-commerce: one third of them work only offline, and 20% do not intend to work through the Internet.

 At the same time, although the volume of this segment of the market is small, the report records the growth of online sales by 18.8%. The fastest growth is observed in the segment of low prices, which leads to the appearance of new customers in the market. Growth in the upper segment is limited due to problems of trust and transparency, which are still not solved, although the way out is in the field of technology. For the development of all market segments, it is critically important to attract young collectors who widely use electronic devices to organize their lives.

Among the most innovative market participants in the report are Artsy, 1st Dibs and Invaluable, which have succeeded, despite the failure of a number of business models. The TEFAF fair is also going to engage in e-commerce, launching TEFAF TEN, which will be developed in partnership with Invaluable: on the eve of the TEFAF fair in New York, its participants will be represented on the microsites dedicated to them.

Source: ukraineartnews.com/news/art/soglasno-otchetu-tefaf-onlajn-prodazhi-proizvedenij-iskusstva-vyrosli-na-188

20.03.2018

Very often in auction houses for fabulous money are sold works of art, which not only look strange, but can even shock. Maybe it will surprise you, but what subjects were not honored to become “masterpieces” of art: a sheet with scribbles, a fur cup with a saucer, a jar with real waste of life, an iron with spikes and so on. Whether it is possible to consider them as great works is up to you. However, if the public and experts so highly appreciated these items, then, for sure, there is something unusual in them. In this article we will try to find out how some of the works brought world fame to their creators.

“Untitled”, Sai Twombly
It’s no secret that many people consider this picture as childish scribbles or a simple sheet of paper on which they paint a pen. However, the true connoisseurs of art apparently do not share this opinion, because the work of Twombe was sold 3 years ago at Sotheby’s auction for a record $ 70 million.

“Fur tea set”, Meret Oppenheim.

Swiss surrealist artist Mereth Oppenheim in 1936 gained worldwide fame, creating a fur cutlery (a saucer, a cup and a spoon, covered with real fur). This rather absurd composition almost immediately became a classic of Dadaism and Surrealism, since it combines the incompatible and as it ridicules common sense. Today, this unique facility is located in the New York Museum of Modern Art. It is also worth noting that he did not suffer at all for many years, so if today this work is put up for auction, then its value will be estimated by millions.

“Artist’s Shit”, Piero Manzoni. According to the Italian conceptual artist, he wanted to focus his work on the credulity of buyers who are “ready to buy and shit.” Thus, Manzoni released 90 jars containing 30 g of his own feces. But the author’s colleagues argue that in fact in banks the usual cast. The most interesting thing is that the price of one jar equaled the price of gold for the same mass – $ 37, but in 2007 one of them was sold at Sotheby’s auction for € 124 thousand, which, you will agree, is amazing. What is their value now, can only guess.

“Spatial concept”, Lucho Fontana.

We used to believe that any damage spoils works of art, but not in the case of this artist. Fontana is a true master of paintings with cuts, because his usual at first glance works are sold at astronomical prices. For example, the picture that you see in the photo, went under the hammer in 2012 for $ 1.5 million at the London auction Christie’s.

Source: http://art-news.com.ua/strannye-proyzvedenyia-yskusstva-prodannye-za-myllyony-18943.html
© Art News Ukraine. Under the guidance of Sotheby’s.

14.03.2018

The testimony of the repentant Mafiosi led to the trail of the picture of Caravaggio, long considered lost. 48 years after its theft an international investigation will be launched. We publish the material of the new French edition in the TAN network – The Art Newspaper Daily.

On the night of October 17 to October 18, 1969, Caravaggio’s painting “Christmas with Saint Lawrence and Saint Francis” (1600, 3×2 m) was stolen from the oratorio San Lorenzo in Palermo. Since then she has become one of the most sought after works of art in the world and the heroine of numerous studies, films and books. The Italian writer Leonardo Sasha dedicated her book One Simple Story (1989). British journalist Peter Watson, author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy (1984), claimed that he had already agreed to meet with a merchant to look at the canvas, but these plans were prevented by a devastating earthquake in southern Italy. Someone thought that this product of Caravaggio was eaten by rats in a shed, and someone – that it was cut into small pieces.

The last hope to find Caravaggio was already lost on November 5, 1996, when the mafioso Francesco Marino Mannoya, nicknamed Mozzarella, said that he personally participated in the theft of the painting, badly damaged it when he took it out of the frame in the church and then completely destroyed it. Mannoy in his youth was in the Sicilian criminal clan of Santa Maria di Gesu, and then, once in prison, he became one of the most useful pentito police informers. However, more recently, almost 50 years after the theft, Mannoya, still sitting behind bars, refused his words and said that he had invented everything.
Another repentant mafia goat nostra, also a member of the clan of Santa Maria di Gesu, a certain Gaetano Grado, who is now just over 70 years old, gave evidence to the Italian parliamentary commission on combating organized crime.
According to Grado, when on October 20, 1969, about the disappearance of the picture reported in the press, the goat nostra instructed him to deal with this matter. In less than a week, he found four robbers (previously all sources talked about two) – Sicilian thugs, who are now identified, and they have taken testimony. The painting was first delivered to Stefano Bontade, and then to Gaetano Badalamenti – to members of the so-called triumvirate of the Sicilian Mafia. In October 1969, the goat nostra proceeded to find a buyer and discuss the possible price; an intermediary and a buyer were found in Switzerland.

Grado described in detail the meeting with the Swiss buyer, whose face was identified in the photo – the identity of this man is established, but he died a long time ago. Thus, the canvas of Caravaggio was sold six months after the theft, it left Sicily and was forwarded to Switzerland through the usual channels that the mafia used.

The fact that the participants of the old events are now talking about the picture again – in many respects the merit of the commission on combating organized crime, which in the near future intends to publish a report on its activities. However, in a 700-page document, only 3-4 pages will be devoted to the masterpiece of Caravaggio and the above details will not be included there.

Over the past weeks, these news have been vigorously discussed in Rome, a city where, according to recently raised archives, Caravaggio wrote in 1600 the Palermo “Christmas with St. Lawrence and St. Francis”. The newspaper La Repubblica reported that the picture was taken abroad, but developed the old hypothesis that the canvas was cut into seven or eight pieces (seven figures and the bull’s head?). This assumption is not new. According to many, it was more profitable for criminals to sell seven or eight little Caravaggio than one monumental canvas. Everything is possible, because Grado does not know how the fate of the work developed after the completion of negotiations on its sale in the spring of 1970. The recent confessions of a witness shed light only on the first six months of history, stretching for 48 years. In any case, an international investigation, which will begin in the near future, will be long and time consuming.

12.03.2018

The legendary Mona Lisa may soon leave the Louvre and embark on a journey. Mona Lisa will start packing her bags. A masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci could leave the Louvre for the first time in 44 years, said French Minister of Culture Françoise Nissen. Nissan said that she was “seriously considering” this step as part of a traveling exhibition of France’s most prestigious works. In the case of the approval of La Gioconda – the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, whose enigmatic smile won innumerable millions – for the first time in 44 years “will come out” of the Louvre. Note that the last time she toured the museums in 1974.

Officials and curators are not very happy about this news because of concerns about the fragility and safety of the picture. But Nissen dispelled these fears, referring to President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to provide Bayeux tapestry XI century. Tapestry depicting the events of the Norman conquest, will go to the UK in 2022, when the Baye Museum will complete the reconstruction. In turn, the artist-critic Nikolaus Bernau considers the idea of ​​sending the world-famous painting by Leornardo da Vinci to the tour exhibition absolutely meaningless. Damage to objects during transportation is sometimes quite significant, warns Bernau. Especially often this happens with works of wood and other organic materials, such as canvas. Interesting! In 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy persuaded President de Gaulle to lend money to the National Gallery in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum. In 1911, the masterpiece was stolen from the Louvre, and it was found only two years later in Florence. And in 1956 a man poured a picture of acid when it was exhibited in a museum in the south of France.

Source: http://art-news.com.ua/mona-lyza-vpervye-za-polveka-poedet-v-muzeinyi-tur-18860.html
© Art News Ukraine. Under the guidance of Sotheby’s.

05.03.2018

The exhibition at the d’Orsay Museum will show Edgar Degas ‘The Choristers’ painting, which was recently discovered near Paris when a bus parked at a gas station was searched.

Prior to this, the fate of the canvas, written by Degas in 1877, remained unknown for nine years – since when in 2009 she was kidnapped from the Martini Museum of Cantini.
As Artnet writes, the picture was found in mid-February: the authorities conducted an ordinary inspection of the bus, not suspecting that there was a canvas in the luggage compartment. Who exactly transported the picture – is unknown, none of the passengers of the bus did not claim their rights to the cargo.
After discovering the canvas, he was sent for examination to the Parisian museum of d’Orsay, where specialists confirmed the authenticity of the picture. According to experts, the cost of Degas’s work is approximately $ 1 million.

27.02.2018

cialis vény nélkül ára

In the Vienna Museum of Art History, they again installed the “Stairway to Klimt”, and in the closet of the former museum secretary found his picture considered lost. One of the most luxurious museum halls in the world at the Vienna Museum of Art History has become such, not least because of the picturesque decorations made by the “Company of Artists” group commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I. The allegorical cycle symbolizes different periods in art: Ancient Egypt, Antiquity, Renaissance. The paintings are inscribed by Gustav Klimt and his co-authors – brother Ernst and friend Franz Matsch – between the marble columns on either side of the main staircase and impress with their scale (their length is more than 12 m). At the usual time, the ceiling has to be viewed with its head back, but now a special bridge is installed under the dome of the museum. With him, the heroes of the founder of Austrian Art Nouveau can literally look into the eyes. The attraction will last until September 2, so those who did not have time to do it five years ago, when the artist’s 150th birthday was celebrated, can now get on the 100th anniversary of his death: practical Austrians know a lot about successful ideas.

At the same time, in the ancient section of the museum, the famous Klimt canvas Nuda Veritas (“Naked Truth”) was first shown, which was acquired by the playwright and critic Hermann Bar and transferred to the Theater Museum in Vienna.

In addition, in Austria, found for many years, considered lost Klimt’s drawing “Two lying figures.” In 1951, as a long-term exhibitor, he was presented to the Museum of Modern Art “Lentos” in Linz by the collector Olga Yager. As a result, this work was at the center of the litigation between the authorities of Linz and the heirs of Jager, who in 2006 wanted to return Klimt and three works of Egon Schiele from the same array, but could not, they disappeared without a trace. The injured party was awarded a compensation of € 8.2 million, a small part of which (€ 100 thousand, according to Artnet) will now have to be returned: “Two lying figures” showed up in the former museum secretary’s cabinet thanks to a will in which she reported the whereabouts of the drawing from request to return it after her death. Now, before the return to the rightful owners, the drawing is planned to be presented at one of the exhibitions timed to the 100th anniversary of Klimt’s death, and with respect to the disappeared drawing, watercolors and the picture of Schiele, to resume the investigation.

23.02.2018

Franklin Museum Institute in Philadelphia held an exhibition of one of China’s national treasures. This is about 10 sculptures from the famous Terracotta Army. However, the exhibition ended in a scandal. The staff of the museum found that one of the soldiers broke and stole a thumb.

After some time the museum managed to find a thief. It turned out to be 24-year-old Michael Rohan. It is not clear why a young man needed a finger of 2,000-year-old sculptures, but his misdeeds could have very serious consequences. Despite the fact that the American Museum apologized, Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Center, which provided 10 sculptures for exposition, demanded serious punishment for Rohan. The management of the center is going to collect compensation from the museum on the basis of the rental agreement. In the appeal of the Chinese side it is mentioned that the historical and artistic value of the sculpture is “impossible to estimate”. But at the same time, the approximate cost of a Terracotta Warrior is called – $ 4,500,00. A dozen soldiers shown in the exposition are only a small part of the 8100th Army, found in the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuandi. The Terracotta Army is the site of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

20.02.2018

The scientists have discovered a mountain landscape under the picture of Pablo Picasso “A beggar squatting”

New technologies helped to discover under the picture of Pablo Picasso “The beggar sitting on his haunches” a landscape turned upside down by 90 degrees, written by another artist.

About the fact that Picasso painted his picture on top of another, it became known back in 1992, but only now the scientists managed to find out what was depicted on it. Originally, an unknown artist from Barcelona painted mountains on canvas. Then Picasso wrote over them “Poverty”, and, according to scientists, he turned the canvas and used the original outlines of mountains as a contour of the woman’s back.

Scientists also managed to find that Picasso first depicted in the picture the hand of a beggar who holds bread, but then removed this element, completely hiding the woman’s hands under the garment.

In order to find out what is under the top layers of the dye, the researchers conducted X-ray fluorescence analysis. Such technology will allow to determine which chemical elements are in different parts of the picture, not only on the surface, but also in all layers of paint.