Tag: News

MEXICO CITY.- The Tlaltecuhtli monolith discovered near Templo Mayor Archaeological Site in 2006 was moved in May 17th 2010 to Templo Mayor Museum, where it is to be presented for the first time as part of the Moctezuma II, Time and Destiny of a Ruler exhibition. The colossal sculpture was relocated in a maneuver that used state-of-the-art technology and the work of several persons during more than 31 hours. It was moved from the Ajaracas plot to the museum using 2 cranes to lift the four fragments in which the 12 tons piece was found. Trailers transported it through Justo Serra and Correo Mayor Streets to the building where main doors were previously removed to allow the introduction of the enormous stone. The 4.19 by 3.62 meters monument, besides being the biggest found to present, is the only Mexica sculpture that conserves its original colors. Restoration and consolidation conducted by National

NEW YORK, NY.- In honor of the late Kenneth Noland (b. April 10, 1924, Asheville, N.C.; d. January 5, 2010, Port Clyde, Maine), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Kenneth Noland, 1924–2010: A Tribute, on view in the level 4 Thannhauser Gallery from May 21 to June 20. One of the great American abstract painters of the second half of the twentieth century, Noland had his first major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in 1977. Throughout a career that spanned six decades, Noland explored the essential qualities of color and surface in canvases that came to exemplify Color Field painting, a signature of postwar abstraction in the 1960s. About the tribute exhibition, Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, said: “The Guggenheim Museum, with its founding history rooted in the support of nonobjective painting, is honored to again share with the public Kenneth Noland&#14

SYDNEY.- The exhibition Victorian visions presents an impressive collection of some 45 paintings, watercolours, drawings and sculptures by some of the luminaries of Victorian art, including works by Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Burne-Jones, Leighton, Poynter, Watts and Waterhouse. The collection has been assembled by John Schaeffer, Australia’s most passionate and highly respected collector of 19th-century European art. The exhibition is on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 20 May to 29 August 2010. This is the first time that many of these works have been seen in Australia. Many of the works of art are superb examples from these significant artists. For example, the impressive 2.6-metre tall painting Mariamne by J W Waterhouse, which recently featured so prominently in the Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy, London; Holman Hunt’s Il dolce far niente, recently in the Holman Hunt exhibition

FALLS CHURCH, VA.- An extraordinary private collection of more than 100 maps documenting the topographical history and development of Washington D.C. will be auctioned on Thursday, May 20, 2010 at Quinn’s Auction Galleries & Waverly Rare Books in Falls Church. The property of Washingtonian John Richman, the collection of rare maps traces over 200 years of the District’s physical progress, including the dredging of the Potomac that enabled the creation of a unified new city. “This collection is a virtual 200-year time capsule of how Washington was established, how it looked before the District was formed, and how the aspects of some of its most important landmarks changed the landscape,” said Matthew C. Quinn, co-owner of Quinn’s Auctions. “There are maps of the City of Alexandria, the City of Georgetown, and then the newly established City of Washington. Additionally, there are maps

ZURICH.- Christie’s 2010 Swiss Art sale presents 226 lots of exquisite Swiss art dating from the early 19th century up until the present day, ranging from classics including Ferdinand Hodler, Giovanni Giacometti and Félix Vallotton to young contemporaries such as Pippilotti Rist, Christoph Büchel and Loredana Sperini. Estimates range from SFr 3,000 – for the small scale painting, Irgendeine Szene in der Welt B/Any scene in the world B (2010) by the young Swiss-born Patrick Graf – to SFr 2.5 million for the top lot by Ferdinand Hodler; Genfersee mit Jura / Lake Geneva with Jura (1911), formerly owned by the Zurich based entrepreneur and collector, Fritz Meyer-Fierz (1847-1917). The sale on 7 June 2010 will kick off with a Charity sale to benefit the internationally acclaimed exhibition space Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen. 25 of approximately 400 artists who have been exhibiting at the Kunst Halle over the past 25 year

NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP).- Work crews in Cyprus have accidentally unearthed four rare clay coffins estimated to be some 2,000 years old, the country’s Antiquities Department director said Wednesday. Maria Hadjicosti said the coffins adorned with floral patterns date from the east Mediterranean island’s Hellenistic to early Roman periods, between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D. She said the coffins were dug up this week from what is believed to be an ancient cemetery in the eastern coastal resort of Protaras. Hadjicosti said similar coffins dating from the same period have been discovered. Two such coffins are on display in the capital’s Archaeological Museum, while three others remain in storage there. But she called the latest find significant because the coffins were untouched by grave robbers. “The undisturbed coffins will help us add to our

ST. PETERSBURG, FL.- An anonymous donor has surprised a Florida museum with a valuable gift: a Georgia O’Keeffe painting. “Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico” was hung on a gallery wall at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. Museum director John Schloder told the St. Petersburg Times a woman called and asked if the museum wanted to see her O’Keeffe painting, and things progressed from there. The donor doesn’t want to be named, but she told Schloder she loves visiting the museum and wanted it to have her O’Keefe. The painting from 1930 has been owned by several private collectors. Schloder says the museum never could have afforded it. O’Keeffe’s paintings from that era have sold in recent years for anywhere from $2 million to $6 million.

BEIJING.- Pace Beijing presents an exhibition of Zhang Huan’s recent work. It is his fi rst exhibition with the gallery in Beijing and his third with Pace. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition. Zhang Huan: Free Tiger Returns to Mountains will open on May 20 and remain on view through July 20, 2010. Zhang Huan is well-known for his ability to work in multiple mediums. He initially gained fame as a performance artist in the 1990s, but in recent years has returned to painting, sculpture, and large-scale installations. Free Tiger Returns to Mountains will include ash paintings and cowhide sculptures. This new series of ash paintings are different from his previous paintings. Whereas in the past they were based on existing photographs, the new works are imagined wildlife scenes. The brushwork has a more expressionist and looser feel than before. The ash paintings focus on the Chinese tiger. One of the most endangered ani

VALENCIA.- The first exhibition in a Spanish museum dedicated to Bernar Venet gathers 53 works and a representative selection of the conceptual work developed by Bernar Venet during different phases of his artistic career. Part of his work was characterized by the use of poor materials, new media such as the video, the sound recording and the photography in order to document performances and actions and the advent of unpredictable situations. Works such as Performance dans les détritus (Performance within the garbage) in 1961, Tas de Charbon (Pile of coal) in 1963 or his series Relief Cartón (Relief Carton) from 1963 to 1965 were characterized by the elimination of features such as color, form, etc., which were traditionally associated with the aesthetic pleasure of the artwork. The catalogue of this exhibition is the first monograph