TALAHASSEE, FL (AP).- Just hours after Gov. Charlie Crist announced he would run for the U.S. Senate as an independent, the Florida GOP hastened to remove any likeness to the Republican governor they helped elect. First item to go in the breakup: a $7,500 oil painting that the Republican Party of Florida purchased for its headquarters in Tallahassee. The painting came down after Crist announced that he would skip the GOP primary and run as an independent for the state’s open Senate seat. Officials also removed Crist’s signatures from all party materials. Florida GOP spokeswoman Katie Betta told The Tampa Tribune that the portrait will be auctioned on eBay. Crist’s likeness, however, popped up elsewhere: in paid online ads on the left-leaning news site, The Huffington Post.
Burials Were Discovered at Tlatelolco
MEXICO CITY.- More than 130 burials, most likely from the 16th century, were found at the Great Base of Tlatelolco Archaeological Zone, in Mexico City, during the recent exploration season. The remains are being analyzed to determine their age. First traces of this unprecedented funerary complex were registered between 2008 and 2009. The group of skeletons was found placed parting from the center of the Prehispanic structure, from where 126 of 131 registered skeletons were recovered by archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH); the rest were left in site for conservation reasons. Archaeologist Salvador Guilliem Arroyo, director of the archaeological project, commented that in order to determine temporality and ethnic affiliation of individuals, the phase of analysis continues, studying the skeletons, associated material (Prehispanic and Colonial ceramics, wood fragments, textile rests and meta
Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago at the Brunei Gallery
LONDON.- An unusual exhibition opening at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, “My Dear Brother: Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago”, provides fascinating insights into the life of the Armenians living in the borders of modern Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century through a large collection of postcards of daily life and scenery from across the region. The exhibition of both enlarged images and original postcards was conceived and put together by Osman Köker, based on his book by the same name (Istanbul: Birzamanlar, 2005). Portrayed are different aspects of life from beautiful buildings and churches to inside factories, women working together, townscapes and craftsmen. From scenes of urban Constantinople to small villages in the east, the images show how widespread and integrated Armenian communities were across the Ottoman territory and demonstrate their roles in society. The exhibition also serves the purpose of showing w
Magnificent Russian Imperial Orders will Be Sold by Morton & Eden/Sotheby’s
LONDON.- A magnificent group of Russian Imperial Orders presented in 1837 by Tsar Nicholas I to Britain’s Ambassador to Russia, John George Lambton, “Radical Jack”, the first Earl of Durham, will be sold by specialist London auctioneers Morton & Eden in association with Sotheby’s on Thursday 10 June 2010. The orders have remained in the family and are being sold by a descendant. Tom Eden, Director of Morton & Eden, discussing the sale said: “Imperial Russian orders of this period (1830s) are rare and seldom come onto the market. As most orders that have survived have lost their provenance, the Durham orders are exceptional in that they are known to be the ones bestowed on Durham.” They comprise superb quality insignia of the Orders of St. Andrew (Imperial Russia’s premier award), St. Alexander Nevsky, The White Eagle and St. Anne, all made by the celebrated Court manufacturer Emanuel Pannasch. In additi
Great British Composers: From Elgar to Ades at the National Portrait Gallery
LONDON.- To coincide with the launch of the 2010 BBC Proms, a new photographic display at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates remarkable achievements in twentieth-century British classical music. The display comprises 31 photographs of British composers who, collectively, define a great modern tradition. Beginning with Edward Elgar, whose music has links with nineteenth-century romanticism, the selection of portraits traces a trajectory linking Delius, Vaughan Williams and Walton to more recent developments represented by the music of Birtwistle and Adès. Curator Paul Moorhouse says: ‘A common thread linking these composers is the way their work refracted British musical traditions through wider, contemporary influences. Elgar is usually regarded as a quintessentially English composer, but his orchestral music has close affinities with a central European tradition typified at that time by Richard Strauss. Vaughan Williams’
Russian Businessman and Owner of Stalin Museum, Vasily Bukhtiyenko, Killed in Russia
MOSCOW (REUTERS).- A Russian businessman who set up a museum dedicated to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was electrocuted and bludgeoned to death on Friday, media reported. Vasily Bukhtiyenko set up the Stalin museum in 2005 in Volgograd, previously called Stalingrad, about 560 miles southeast of Moscow. “He was resting at a tennis court. That is where the murder happened,” state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted a spokeswoman for regional investigators as saying. Police said a motive for the attack was unclear at present. Volgograd newspaper “Pervaya Gazeta” reported that Bukhtiyenko was attacked by three men with electric shock devices and then repeatedly hit on the head, it said on its site pro-volgograd.ru. The 1942-43 battle of Stalingrad between Nazi and Soviet troops during World War Two was considered a major turning point in the war, and Russians still mark the German defeat with enormous pride and sentimentality today. As Moscow prepares for its enormous 65th anniversar
Mario Ybarra Jr. Presents Two Installations at Galerie Michael Janssen
BERLIN.- Galerie Michael Janssen presents a selection of Mario Ybarra Jr.’s recent works. In his first solo exhibition at the gallery, the American artist will be presenting two installations. Born in Los Angeles in 1973 and a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Ybarra’s biography is key to understanding his work, which draws attention to forms of culture on the fringe of the mainstream revealing hidden histories within their contexts. His Mexican roots permeate his engagement with the phenomena of contemporary art, street culture and social reality. Mario Ybarra Jr. was brought up in Wilmington near the Los Angeles harbor, where he still lives and works. At a young age he became familiar with the political actions of the dockworkers and their aesthetic sensibility. He belongs to a new generation of artists of Mexican-American descent, who do not reject their identity and origin against a bac
Gans Gift of 50 Works of English Silver Elevates Stature of VMFA’s Collection
RICHMOND, VA.- Fifty dazzling works of art in English silver have been given to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by collector Rita R. Gans of New York, significantly elevating the stature of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts‘ collection. VMFA Director Alex Nyerges calls it “the most important and fabulous gift of English silver in memory in many years to any museum in the world.” “This additional gift, when united with the 102 works of art already in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Jerome and Rita Gans Collection of English Silver, means the collection is arguably the best of its kind in America. When the new gift is installed, the gallery will be the most important of its kind on view in the U.S.,” Nyerges says. The silver in the latest Gans gift ranges in date from 1440 to 1845. The largest portion is from the Georgian period, when London’s silversmiths led Europe in skill and innovation. Mrs. G
National Maritime Museum Launches Toy Boats Exhibition
LONDON.- For more than 100 years miniature ocean liners, paddle steamers and battleships captured the imagination of generations of children, creating a sense of adventure and excitement. At a time when Britain was the world’s great industrial and maritime power toy boats were as fascinating to children as computer games are today. In May 2010 the National Maritime Museum (NMM) launches Toy Boats. The exhibition features over 100 toys, games, catalogues and photographs to reveal how the craze for all things maritime drove toy companies to make toy boats of every size and description. The exhibition explores the range of toy boats made by European manufacturers from 1850 to 1950, a period marked by rapid advances in maritime technology. As nations raced each other to build bigger and better ships, toy makers were swift to exploit the publicity and follow-up with toys that captured the spirit of these famous vessels.
Big Guns Turn Out for Bonhams Fine Arms & Armour with a 1.1 Million Pound Result
LONDON.- The smell of cordite was in the air as international trade and private buyers battled it out for the 382 lots at Bonhams Fine Arms & Armour Sale yesterday (29.4.10). The result was an explosive £1.13m total with 94 per cent of lots sold and few prisoners taken. Head of Fine Antique Arms & Armour at Bonhams, David Williams, who is now hurriedly preparing his next sale for July 21st said after this April sale: “The result is a reflection of the buoyancy of the market for fine antique weapons of all sorts.” He was particularly pleased for the private collector, Per T. Norheim whose array of edged weapons and antique firearms, mainly flintlock and wheel-lock guns, collected over 50 years, did exceptionally well in the sale. Top lot 214, a fine Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund sword and belt awarded to Lieutenant William