arts news

HONG KONG.- Christie’s Hong Kong completed its five-day Autumn sales with strong results across the board in Asian art, watches, jewelry and wine. Totaling HK$1.65 billion/US$ 212.5 million/£ 128 million, the results show a robust recovery of the art and auction market, giving Christie’s a 58% market share for the year in Asia. Records were achieved in a range of categories, including Chinese modern paintings and works of art, Asian contemporary art, watches and jewelry, reaffirming the consistent demand by collectors for the best and rarest. As confidence returns to the global economy, collectors – the majority being

LAS VEGAS, NV.- CityCenter presents the first major permanent collection of art in Las Vegas to be integrated into a public space, and one of the world’s largest and most ambitious corporate art collections in existence today. The CityCenter Fine Art Collection features works by acclaimed artists, sculptors and visionaries including Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Frank Stella, Henry Moore and Richard Long, among others. Validating CityCenter’s status as a cultural destination of worldwide significance, the Fine Art Collection is designed to become a benchmark for

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture sale achieved a total of $32,358,750, with works by Andrew Wyeth, Mary Cassatt, and Charles Prendergast commanding the highest prices. Two new world auction records were set for American artists Guy Pène Du Bois and John Joseph Boyle, and a second highest price was achieved for a work by Andrew Wyeth. Eric Widing, Head of American Paintings at Christie’s noted: “Our December 2 sale saw collectors returning to the saleroom to bid with vigor and enthusiasm on many of our top lots. Our sale results were by far the best we have seen in American

NEW YORK, NY (AP).- Two stolen ancient artifacts are being returned to Italy from New York City. An Italian government representative is taking possession of them at a ceremony Wednesday. The artifacts are a Pompeii plaster wall painting and a Corinthian vase for mixing water and wine. They were recovered by immigration and customs officials in June. Both items had been scheduled for auction in New York before they were discovered to have been stolen. Immigration officials said the vase may have been illegally introduced into the art market by Giacomo Medici (JAH’-kuh-moh meh-DEE-chee) in 1985. The art dealer was convicted in Rome in 2004

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (AP).- El Greco’s vision of the veil of Veronica hangs near a golden crown with 447 emeralds. Just a few steps away, a recumbent sculpture of the crucified Jesus Christ rests before its return to a Spanish hermitage in time for Holy Week. “Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World” at the Indianapolis Museum of Art is drawing visitors from around the world for an unprecedented exhibition of 71 pieces from 45 lenders — many of them private — in Spain, Mexico, Peru and other countries. Madrid’s Prado has loaned five works alone.

MADRID.- Through the generosity of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, from 3 December the Prado will be displaying a masterpiece by the Dutch painter Frans Hals, Company of Captain Reijnier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw (1633-1637), which was completed by his fellow-countryman Pieter Codde. This magnificent work by one of the most important Dutch painters of the 17th century is to be seen at the Museum as part of its “Invited Work” programme. In 1885 Van Gogh said of it: “Just to see that painting would make the journey to

NORFOLK, VA (AP).- Growing up on Cape Cod, explorer Barry Clifford was fascinated by the romantic tale of “Black Sam” Bellamy. Sailing to Massachusetts to rendezvous with his mistress, the pirate encountered a nor’easter that sent him, most of his crew, and tons of gold, silver and jewels to the ocean’s bottom. The lore launched Clifford on a life of treasure-hunting — including the discovery in 1984 of the Whydah, Bellamy’s treasure-laden three-master, which sank off of Wellfleet, Mass., on April 26, 1717. “I was looking for treasure, and I found it,” Clifford, 64, said. “More treasure than I could have ever imagined. The whole bottom was layered with it.” A sliver of Clifford’s discovery is on display through April 4, 2010, at Nauticus, a marine science museum perched on the Norfolk waterfront. “Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship,” organized by National Geographic, includes thousands of gold and silver coins and hundreds of other d

NEW YORK, NY.- The Frick Collection announced that it has been awarded a $1 million challenge grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. When matched over the next four years with $3 million in contributions from other sources, the grant will create a $4 million endowment for the position of Chief Conservator, also providing, in perpetuity, funds for research, professional development, and related expenses. Comments Frick Collection Board Chairman Margot Bogert, “Change happens in perhaps less obvious ways at the Frick than elsewhere,