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Usaha Tegas Heritage celebrates young artists via annual student art competition

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Printmaking

This year’s participants were tasked to submit works focusing on Malaysia’s intangible cultural heritage.

Did the Russians Take His Family’s Tintoretto? He’s Intent on Finding Out.

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

John Barry says that in the last days of World War II, his great-grandfather, a prominent German art historian, lost a massive painting of the 16th-century sea battle at Lepanto.

In the annals of history painting, few topics have captivated artists more than the Battle of Lepanto, an epic 16th-century naval contest in which massive fleets of Christian and Ottoman galleys clashed off the coast of Greece.

Among the numerous depictions of the scene is an enormous, 10-foot-wide version of the engagement created soon after it took place in 1571 that has been attributed to Tintoretto.

That work, “The Battle of Lepanto,” was sold in Venice in 1908 to a German archaeologist and art historian, Friedrich Sarre, the first director of the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin.

The painting hung in that city for a time just before World War II. But then, as was the case with tens of thousands of works of art, its trail grew murky in the chaos of the times. The work was not listed as having been exhibited again in a public setting until the 1980s.

Now members of Sarre’s family have come forward to say they believe they know what happened to the painting. John Barry, a great-grandson of Sarre, said it is likely the work was looted from the archaeologist’s spacious villa outside Berlin in 1945 when Russian forces advanced to occupy the home and much of that area, based on family writings from that time.

Those documents, the family acknowledges, do not discuss the painting’s whereabouts then or during the war. But Barry said they represent a good start and that his efforts to further track the work have been stymied by Sotheby’s, the auction house, which sold the painting in 2016.

Sotheby’s has a team that focuses on the provenance of artworks that could have been lost as a result of persecution in World War II. It has publicized its success in settling multiple restitution claims. But Barry said that for more than two years, Sotheby’s has stonewalled his efforts to learn more about “Lepanto” beyond what appeared in its sale catalog.

That catalog, as Barry points out, referred to a 1910 exhibition in which his great-grandfather had been listed as the work’s owner. Yet when Barry pressed Sotheby’s for help in tracking the painting, he said an auction house representative questioned whether the painting it had sold was even the same one.

“There are many extant oil paintings of the Battle of Lepanto — it is in fact one of the most painted sea battles of the 16th and 17th Centuries — and I am struggling to connect the dots,” Lucian Simmons, the worldwide head of restitution at Sotheby’s wrote to Barry, according to email records Barry provided.

In fact, Barry said, the Sotheby’s catalog cited another connection to his great-grandfather —— an article he had written about the painting in 1938.

Barry, a lawyer who formerly served in the U.S. Justice Department, said he is disappointed that Sotheby’s stopped responding to his queries more than a year ago.

“A firm like Sotheby’s cannot take the public-facing position that a painting’s looted provenance matters greatly from the point-of-view of ethics, integrity, and market value, and then selectively ignore those concerns and refuse to come clean when it is confronted with uncomfortable facts,” he wrote in an email message to The New York Times.

Sotheby’s said it has treated Barry’s inquiries appropriately and that it has made every reasonable effort to evaluate his claims and engage in an open exchange. In a statement, Sotheby’s referred to Barry’s great-grandfather as a “pioneering scholar” and expressed sympathy for the family’s loss of the villa and its treatment by the Russians. But it said it has seen no evidence to clearly indicate Sarre owned the painting after 1910 and found no indication that it had been looted.

“Sotheby’s remains amenable,” the statement said, “to facilitating an amicable solution with the Sarre family in the event that WWII-era evidence of ownership and loss comes to light.”

Friedrich Sarre, a German archaeologist and art historian, who is credited with expanding an understanding of Islamic art. via the Sarre family

So many works were looted in Europe during the war that museums and the art market have committed to analyzing the history of paintings like the Lepanto battle image that have significant gaps in their wartime histories. Most of those works were lost by Jews at the hands of the Nazis. The Sarre case is different in that he was from a Huguenot background and the work, at least according to the family’s thesis, would have been lost to the Russians, who the U.S. State Department has said carted away major amounts of art and archives from Germany at the end of the war.

There is no evidence, though, that this painting ever left Germany. The most recent research by the Sarre family indicates that by 1957 it was in the possession of a German scientist whose heirs held onto it for more than a decade.

Complicating any transport of the painting would have been its immense size, which was perhaps viewed as necessary by the artist to capture the scope of a battle that featured hundreds of vessels and left thousands on either side dead or wounded. Giorgio Vasari, Paolo Veronese and Titian were among the other artists who depicted the battle, in which a coalition of forces from Spain, Venice and other states, assembled at the urging of the Pope Pius V, defeated a fleet from the Ottoman Empire.

One expert, Frederick Ilchman, chairman of European art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, said he is not convinced “Lepanto” is by Tintoretto, given differences he noted with other battle scenes by the artist.

“Tintoretto tends to present particular moments of drama in the foregrounds of his compositions, adding anecdotal interest to the story,” said Ilchman, who co-curated a major 2019 exhibition on the painter at the National Gallery of Art. “That is absent here.”

But, even so, he said he found the monumental depiction of one of the top naval conflicts of all time “automatically interesting.”

Sotheby’s characterized the Lepanto painting in its catalog as “attributed” to Tintoretto, a term it uses to indicate there are serious grounds to believe a work is by a particular artist. In the auction house’s protocol it is one step in certainty below saying a work is “by” an artist.

Soon after acquiring “Lepanto” in Venice, Sarre lent the painting to the 1910 Munich exhibition where a catalog identified its owner as Fr. Sarre. It was displayed again in Berlin in 1936 and two years later Sarre discussed the importance of the painting in the article he wrote. He said it had been in a private collection in Berlin for 30 years, but he did not mention that the collection was his own.

The whereabouts of the painting during the war remain unclear, but Barry has collected documents that indicate Sarre’s home in an area outside Berlin was occupied by the Red Army in June 1945. One of Sarre’s sons wrote in a diary entry that on June 4, 1945, the Russians gave his family an hour to leave their home. Barry said Sarre’s wife, Maria, wrote in a 1954 memoir that she departed with only a dress, a coat and a blanket, adding that her family had lost “art treasures.”

The Barry family said it had determined that by 1957 the painting was in the possession of Arthur Scheunert, a scientist whose image later appeared on an East German postage stamp. Scheunert’s family attempted in the 1970s to sell the work to the State Museums of Berlin, which includes the Museum for Islamic Art. But the sale did not go through, according to a 1986 letter from the museum to Sarre’s daughter, Maria Louise Sarre

Sotheby’s catalog for the 2016 auction of “Lepanto” did not include information about the whereabouts of the painting for the decades after 1936, saying only that it had been acquired before 1980 by Alfred Lefmann, a German collector. The auction house said that the provenance provided in the 2016 catalog was the most complete available at that time, and that the painting was never listed in databases of lost artworks.

It was exhibited in Germany in the 1980s, on loan from Lefmann, according to Sotheby’s and was subsequently held by at least one other collector before being sold at auction in Paris in 2016 for $352,000.

Barry began reaching out to Sotheby’s for information about the painting in 2021 when family members first noticed it had been sold at auction. Simmons, the Sotheby’s executive, responded promptly, the email records show, and discussed the work with Barry by email and over the phone. At one point, he sent Barry a 1994 story mentioning “Lepanto” from the German newspaper Die Zeit that said there was evidence that it was in Sarre’s villa in 1945. The article noted that the home “was confiscated by the Russians.”

Sarre lived in this villa outside Berlin, which was occupied by Russian forces in 1945. His family believes the painting of the sea battle may have been in the home at that time. via the Sarre family

But Simmons later wondered whether the work that Sarre had owned was the same one Sotheby’s sold, which led Barry to send pictures of “Lepanto” from the 1910 Munich exhibition catalog and from the 2016 Sotheby’s catalog. The images look identical, though the painting, once roughly 6-by-13 feet suffered damage and is now just over 10 feet wide.

“There is no doubt that the painting Sotheby’s sold in 2016 was owned by Friedrich and Maria Sarre,” Barry wrote to Simmons in August 2021.

The two men communicated several times after that, Barry said, including in an hourlong video call in which Simmons listened to him make his case. In an email from May 2022, Simmons wrote: “I wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you.” He then wrote, according to copies of that correspondence from Barry, “I’m briefing both buyer and seller in the Paris auction and will let you know when I have any news.”

Barry said that since then, Sotheby’s has stopped responding to his phone calls and correspondence, but he has no plans to drop the matter. He said he does not expect that anyone will simply hand over “Lepanto” to his family, but that he would like Sotheby’s to acknowledge the work’s provenance had been incomplete and to explore what solution might be fair to all parties involved.

“My family has a strong connection to this painting,” Barry said. “I feel an obligation to them.”

Artist Tulu Bayar: Shifting from Traditional to Digital Photography

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Artists are often at the forefront of new ideas, and their work can offer new ways to see the world: where it has been and where it is going. In conjunction with her current solo show at Amos Eno Gallery in Brooklyn, Turkish-born U.S.-based multi-media artist Tulu Bayar speaks about how the shift from traditional film to digital media impacted her artistic process that investigates materiality, medium, and social constructs of religion and gender.

At a time when relations in the Middle East are tense, we revisit one of her works about water shortage in the region. We also speak about her long career as a professor in art and how students approach their work-life balance in new ways that pay more attention to their mental health.

You were trained in film and photography in the 90s, which means you have experienced great shifts in how to work with the medium — from wet film to digital and the revolution of editing and retouching digitally. How was this shift for you?

Tulu Bayar: The shift from traditional film to digital media in the 90s had a transformative impact on my artistic process. Digital technology provided me with the freedom to experiment in ways that were previously impossible with traditional film. The instant review, editing, and manipulation of images on a computer screen opened up new creative possibilities for me. From digital photography, I moved to video editing and digital sound design. These skills all helped me create multi-sensory installations.

Rather than seeing this transition as a strict shift, I view it as a natural flow in my artistic journey. I consider myself an artist unbound by specific media, positioning myself on the borderline of two languages and cultures. This perspective reflects my sensitivity to flux and transition. My work embodies a hybrid language, allowing for cross-border examination and the incorporation of otherness. It’s characterized by fluidity and multifaceted expressions.

The flexibility gained from working with digital and analog mediums, combined with conceptual approaches, enables me to seamlessly navigate between the two. For example, in my latest work, “Twine,” I employed both analog and digital processes extensively. Source photographs were digitally created and printed from my photographic archive in both Turkey and the USA. Subsequently, inkjet prints were employed to produce Citra Transfer Prints on cotton paper, which is a very hands-on process.

The final touch involved treating the prints with a liquid paste derived from soil, sand, water, and vegetation gathered from various geographical regions of the USA and Turkey. The resulting coloration, such as red, brown, and gray brushstrokes, varied due to the differing ratios and materials used in creating the paste. This entire process represents an environmentally safe hybrid between analog and digital methods.

Tulu Bayar. Traces #22: 9” diameter, 1/3” depth, Photographic film, resin, India ink, glass etching medium. Courtesy of Strata Gallery.

In your exhibition “Traces,” the wet film itself becomes the subject installed in circular sculptures. What did it mean to show this material in this way in 2021?

Tulu Bayar: “Traces” draws upon my decade-long exploration of drawing with photographic film and employs meditative repetition to communicate the idea of oneness: all binary concepts share and are connected to one source. I first started to use photographic film as a sculptural form in the early 2010s.

In contrast to an examination of the physical, my work focuses on the spiritual essence of wholeness and mysticism that is deeply rooted in Rumi’s teachings. “Traces” is composed of several mixed-media works meticulously created from photographic film, ink, and resin. Each exhibits an exploration of calligraphic abstraction, performance, drawing, and ebru. Ebru is a traditional Turkish marbling art that is made with special ink on water.

Many believe there is another major shift in photography and image-making with AI. Software like Midjourney comes to mind, and the actors strike over rights to their images if they should be used to create new content. What are your thoughts? Have you started working with AI, or does that not interest you?

Tulu Bayar: While my work is currently focused on being tactile, multi-sensory, and detail-oriented, with a preference for handmade elements, I acknowledge the pragmatic aspects of digital technology. I find value in what technology offers both in my studio and in general. As of now, I haven’t ventured into using AI, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility in the future. It’s too early for me to make a definitive judgment on incorporating AI into my artistic process.

In today’s rapidly advancing technological landscape, dismissing any technological advancements is inevitable. It’s essential to experiment with technology and find responsible ways to engage with it, taking charge of how it will impact our work. Analog photographers were initially skeptical of digital technologies, but over time, discussions about their legitimacy have faded. Photography, by its nature and history, has always embraced new technological advancements, inheriting and evolving with each wave of innovation.

Installation view. Tulu Bayar: 20 Letters, 2016. Black and white photographic film, resin, maple board. Dimensions: 10” X 10” X 3” each. Courtesy of the artist.

Much of your work advocates for Muslim women in different ways, both by educating audiences to understand that the Muslim faith is not monocultural and varies but also by expressing some of the difficulties individual women face, as with your installation “20 Letters” (2016). You were in the U.S. during the 9/11 attacks, and currently, you live in Pennsylvania. How has islamophobia changed? You have also spent a lot of time in Turkey. How have women as a group fared there, and how do you follow the developments?

Tulu Bayar: My installation “20 Letters” served as a response to conversations where religion is manipulated as a pragmatic political tool and becomes a focal point of identity politics. This work consists of 20 small mixed-media boards created from photographic film, maple board, and resin, exploring text and calligraphic abstraction.

Each board represents what is interwoven and concealed in the daily lives of Muslim women, offering a visual manifestation of short essays written by 20 women about the hardships they face due to their Muslim identity in the West.

The progressive voices of gay, straight, black, white, and brown Muslim women from the United States contribute to this work. Their stories were first photographed on black and white photographic film, arranged on maple boards in patterns reminiscent of Ebru, the Turkish marbling technique. The scrolled films both hide and reveal these women’s stories, keeping them anonymous and echoing their state of mind between confrontation and silence.

I am not a religious person, but I have found myself consistently categorized as “Muslim” in the United States due to my national origin, especially during and shortly after the 9/11 attacks. This categorization was imposed on me from both the right and the left. Despite living in the U.S., I approach religion similarly to how I did in Turkey. I have never worn a hijab, and I freely wear a bikini to the beach. My stance on religion remains unchanged, and I react when forced into a narrow categorization that promotes monoculturalism.

Turkey has a multifaceted representation of Islam, with a growing number of practicing Muslims. In my upbringing, Turkey was more secular, with religion being more spiritual and less political. However, the landscape has shifted, and religion has become more political and less spiritual over time.

Your video work “Settlement” (2004) features a Jewish and a Muslim woman who both live in the same area in the Middle East, in a place where water is scarce, sharing a jug of water. With the current political climate, it seems apt to revisit it now. Can you tell me more about this work to highlight the complexities in the region further?

Tulu Bayar: “Settlement” is a multi-channel video projection that delves into the intricate dynamics of water scarcity in the Middle East, particularly among Jewish and Muslim communities sharing the same land. It is from the early 2000s. The project features two women, one Jewish and one Muslim, engaging in spiritual cleansing rituals unique to their respective faiths, all while peacefully sharing a jug of water.

The essence of the work lies in its exploration of the profound connection between water, land, and the political complexities of the Middle East. Growing up in an environment where water scarcity was a persistent issue, I aimed to shed light on this often overlooked and under-discussed problem with this work. While acknowledging that water scarcity is not the sole challenge faced by the region, I wanted to emphasize its symbolic and historic significance, making compromise and agreement challenging for both communities.

“Settlement” is meant to serve as a commentary on the silent but impactful role of water in the political landscape of the Middle East. By highlighting the shared spiritual importance of water in both Jewish and Muslim faiths, I intended to shift the focus towards the peaceful coexistence that water could symbolize, rather than being a source of conflict. In doing so, I hope that the work invites viewers to reflect on the broader issues at play and encourages a deeper understanding of the complexities within the region’s socio-political climate.

Tulu Bayar. “Settlement,” 2-Channel Projection. 8:44 min. Courtesy of the artist. Date: 2004

What do you teach at Bucknell? How has the student body, and their interests changed over the time you have been there?

Tulu Bayar: I teach visual arts at Bucknell, focusing specifically on photography, video, and occasionally installation courses. Additionally, I oversee independent studies with advanced students who pursue individual projects. Teaching provides me with instant gratification, witnessing the significant progress students make from the beginning to the end of the semester.

Since I first started teaching years ago, I have noticed shifts in the student body and their interests. As each generation comes through, their priorities and interests evolve. Currently, there is an observable trend where students prefer spending less time in the studio and more time on self-care and rest. The impact of COVID-19 has brought mental health issues to the forefront, along with heightened awareness of social, political, medical, and monetary injustices. Students now demonstrate increased sensitivity to these issues, and this is reflected in their artwork and their approach to class assignments and readings.

What artists inspire you and how do you build community with other artists?

Tulu Bayar: I draw inspiration from various aspects of life, and my artistic influences come from diverse sources. Notably, my students excite me, and visiting other artists’ studios is a source of inspiration. Attending open studios and participating in well-regarded artist residencies also play a crucial role in shaping my identity as an artist.

In terms of building community with other artists, I am affiliated with several professional organizations. Additionally, due to my academic connections, I often receive invitations to serve on review committees and jury exhibitions. Participating in these panels has not only allowed me to establish lasting relationships with fellow artists and art professionals but has also provided insights into the concerns and interests of other artists. Learning about the materials and media they use is an integral part of this process.

I prioritize forming long-term and genuine connections over engaging with multiple communities that offer transactional relations. My interest lies in fostering deep relationships, and I find fulfillment in being part of small, intimate, and authentic communities.

Congratulations on your solo show in Brooklyn, Twine, at Amos Eno Gallery. What’s next?

Tulu Bayar: Thank you! Following the de-installation of the exhibition at Amos Eno Gallery, my next focus will be on handling the logistics for my upcoming exhibition at Ferda Art Platform in Istanbul, scheduled for winter 2024.

Alexandra Israel is a contributor to Grit Daily, a freelance arts writer and publicist. A museum aficionado since her introduction to Jean Dominque Ingres’ portraits as a small child, she enjoys spending her free time at museums and finding off-the-beaten-track gallery shows. She is a regular contributor to the art publication Cultbytes. With her finger on the pulse, Alexandra has been working in PR for over seven years, primarily within book publishing and in the art world. She has held positions at Penguin Book Group, Aperture Foundation, and Third Eye. Alexandra graduated from Bates College in 2010.

Groups invited to help theatre decorate sculpture as part of March of the Elephants event

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

People who have helped shape the Lichfield Garrick are being asked to make their mark as part of a new community art project.

Ahmedabad: Asia’s Largest Sculpture Restaurant, Aranyani, Offers Pure Veg Multi-Cuisine Fare

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

Presenting Aranyani, a gorgeous new haunt offering mystical and cottagecore vibes along with multi-cuisine vegetarian fare. Here are all these

The best bike photography of the year?

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Photography

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Viewing 8 posts – 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

The best bike photography of the year?
Love Lorentz Holder’s shot, brilliant!

Posted 3 hours ago

If my photography answer is dictated by “which would i put on my wall”..

Hannes Berger….

The rest are IMO absolutely bloody awful.

Posted 3 hours ago

I am left rather nonplussed by a load of those. They seem rather artificial and contrived.
Frankly, STW has better photos regularly.

Posted 2 hours ago

I am definitely drawn to the more “natural/riding” type of shots than the “arty/farty” end of the scale.
Have that Jb Liautard shot on my screensaver roll.
Maybe an STW equivalent to PB Photo of the Year (forum members not paid staff/contributors) might be an interesting idea?

Posted 2 hours ago

Love this

Posted 2 hours ago

Red Bull, so preferably both wheels off the ground, but at least one. Or trials, so a sense of precariousness.
It’s not for me; I’m also in the ‘STW covers are better’ camp.

Posted 2 hours ago

Maybe an STW equivalent to PB Photo of the Year (forum members not paid staff/contributors) might be an interesting idea

Yes please…

Posted 52 minutes ago

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The auction giving you the rare chance to buy footballing artworks at affordable prices

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

Sporting memorabilia makes big money. Think of Michael Jordan’s Nikes, which sold for $1.4 million, or Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” shirt ($9 million). It also makes smaller money, in quantities. Specialist auctioneers Graham Budd in Northamptonshire have a sale today of more than 1,000 items, ranging from a 1958 West Ham vs Manchester United programme at £30 to a silver salver presented to footballing legend Billy Wright estimated at £30,000.

But what about art representing sport? There is nothing to speak of in Budd’s auction, and in the contemporary field, the most memorable work I’ve previously seen was at Art Basel – a 2006 film by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno of Zinedine Zidane and his famous headbutt (an edition bought by the National Gallery of Scotland for £200,000 in 2006). In fact, there has never been a single collection of football-related art at auction – until now.

In a first of its kind, a collection of more than 100 paintings and cartoons inspired by the beautiful game has just gone on view at Bonhams, where online bidding has commenced. The collection was almost bought in 2018 by the National Football Museum in Manchester, but the funding could not be found. Last year it was offered by the Chris Beetles Gallery in its entirety for a reported £1.5 million, but individuals only wanted parts so it was not sold. Now, not wishing to keep it in storage, its elderly owner has decided to disperse it to the winds so more people can enjoy its parts. Estimates range from £100 to £100,000 so almost anyone can participate until noon on December 13, when bidding closes.

The story of the collection begins 25 years ago at the fashionable upmarket London eatery, Le Caprice, when St James’s art dealer Chris Beetles sat down for lunch with a wealthy client who was, like him, a football fan. Beetles had supported Spurs since he was 11. The only clue he gives as to the identity of his client is that he is from the Midlands and had been the chairman of a Premier League club. The two decided to acquire original works of art with football as their subject.

They would not, it was agreed, go for sporting ephemera; just the art. And they would focus on the history of the sport, and the social involvement that went with it – the crowds and supporters as well as the players. But where was the art to be found? As Beetles says: “Until recent decades, when football became the nation’s favourite sport and the democracy of wealth had given it superstar status, it has always been regarded as the working man’s pastime. So previously artists have not routinely been able to attract clients and patrons to the artworks with as much enthusiasm as those depicting ‘upper class’ sports, such as cricket, horse racing, motor racing, rugby, tennis, croquet and shooting.”

Ronald Searle’s Molesworth in the Jug Agane cartoon is estimated to sell for £3000-£4000

A good starting point was Beetles’s own gallery, where he specialised in original cartoons and illustrations for magazines and newspapers for regular illustrators’ exhibitions in which sport was a consistent category.

These were not expensive, and Beetles was able to mop up all the best examples that came to auction. One of their earlier buys was a Giles cartoon of a lone reveller by a snowbound pitch made for the Sunday Express in 1969 bought for £750 at Sotheby’s in 1998. In 2001, a Ronald Searle drawing of the schoolboy Molesworth, with a football cost them a triple estimate £3,290.

Other cartoonists they bought who had turned their hand to football were Reg Wootton, whose rotund dynamo, Sporting Sam, graced the pages of the Sunday Express in the 1940s, Norman Thelwell, better known for his ponies, Louis Wain for his cats, Roy Ullyett from the Daily Express, and Larry from Punch and Private Eye. All saw football’s funny side.

At the same time, Beetles and his collector were looking at more serious art. A favourite provenance they discovered was the first Football Association prize for a football painting in 1953, won by LS Lowry’s Going to the Match (recently sold for £7.8 million). They tried for another Lowry football painting in 2007 but were outbid by the Professional Footballers’ Association at £1.1 million. But the collection does boast other works that were in this competition by Bernard Dunstan, Stanley Roy Badmin and Michael Bernard Critchlow.

Stanley Roy Badmin’s RWS depicts a match between Charlton and Arsenal in the early 1950s

Badmin’s watercolour – inscribed “Here They Come! The Valley”, with reference to Charlton Athletic’s home ground – depicts the crowd, stadium and players at a match in the early 1950s between Charlton and Arsenal. Bought in 1998 for a record £8,800, it is now estimated at a tempting £7,000. Also in the 1953 exhibition was Bernard Critchlow’s view of a match from between the stands at Fulham’s Craven Cottage. This doubled estimates at Christie’s in 2005 at a record £30,000, and now has a tame £15,000 estimate.

Further records were set when they bought a panoramic view of an Aston Villa vs Sunderland match in the 1950s by the little-known Birmingham artist Henry Cotterill Deykin for £5,300, for which a mere £7,000 is expected; and a wonderfully observed view of the crowds, some climbing trees to watch a third round FA Cup tie between Manchester City and the popular Corinthians in 1926 at Crystal Palace by Charles Cundall. Bought at Christie’s in 2003 for a triple estimate £49,350, it is now expected to fetch double that.

Although the cartoons in this sale outnumber the paintings by 10:1, they might be bought for as little as £100 each. In terms of prices, it is the more serious paintings that will win the day.

Where Rembrandt rubs shoulders with Damien Hirst

While the contemporary art travelling circus lands in Florida this week for the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, London maintains its traditional winter focus on historical art as dealers stage a panoply of exhibitions known as London Art Week. Viewing is already underway, and special mention should be made of Eros, a new gallery in St James’s which places sculptures by Rodin side-by-side with his lesser-known contemporary Aime-Jules Dalou for the first time. Also, Colnaghi’s, now Spanish owned, has assembled a rare solo exhibition by the Spanish modern master, Joaquin Sorolla, as a worthwhile postscript to the 2019 exhibition at the National Gallery.

Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait in a cap, wide-eyed and open-mouthed (1630)

Credit: Christies Images Limited.

This sets the scene for London’s Old Master auctions which are estimated to bring around £60 million this week. Sotheby’s touts the highest value lot in a rediscovered Rembrandt at £10 to £15 million, but Christie’s may have the last laugh with the highest value sales. A few years ago, in the face of dwindling sales totals for Old Master paintings, Christie’s rebranded by calling their series ‘Classic Art Week’ to make it sound sleeker and sexier. In addition to its routine Old Master sales – led this year by a sumptuous pair of rediscovered Canaletto paintings of Venice (£8 to £12 million) – there is a £5 million sale devoted to the Josefowitz collection of Rembrandt prints, the largest private collection ever assembled, which includes no less than six etched self-portraits. Dating from his earliest in 1629 to his largest in 1639, each brimming with character, they are estimated to be worth between £15,000 to £120,000 each.

Less expected will be the sight of contemporary works by Antony Gormley and Damien Hirst whose golden The Severed Head of Medusa (2013) was part of his imagined shipwreck of ancient treasures that was shown at two Francois Pinault Foundation venues in Venice in 2017, and is now estimated at £500,000. The contemporary works are part of a series of sales from the £7.5 million collection of Christian Levett who is renowned for combining Old Masters and antiquities with modern and contemporary art which he turned into a museum near Cannes as a model for collectors to explore within their own collections. But after 12 years he has decided to empty the museum and fill it instead with works solely by female artists, notably abstract expressionists. With the boom in rediscovered female artists of the 20^th century going strong, one wonders how far that £7.5 million will go.

Art Market Focus runs on the first Tuesday of each month

Buddhist sculpture collaboration sparks storm in a paper tea cup

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

A leading Chinese tea drink chain has stopped selling recently launched products and merchandise featuring images of ceramic Luohan sculptures after allegations it was engaging in an act of commercial promotion in the name of Buddhism, which is against the law in China.

AP PHOTOS: Photographers in Asia capture the extraordinary, tragic and wonderful in 2023

Dec 5, 2023 By Admin in Photography

TOKYO (AP) — Individually, the photographs are the product of a moment, capturing glimpses of joy, grief, rage, hope, and resilience.

As a whole, the work this year of Associated Press photojournalists in Asia forms a visual patchwork quilt, an extraordinary reflection of the varied panoply of human experience in one of the world’s most fascinating regions.

Some of these pictures delight. Some horrify.

Some, even after repeated examination, retain a sense of mystery.

Take an American ballerina, clad in shimmering white, caught in a blur of revolving motion as she rehearses in China. Or a Muslim bride who gazes pensively through a saffron-colored veil during a mass wedding ceremony in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Or footprints left in a patch of green moss after prayers in New Delhi.

Footprints are seen on the moss ridden roof of Jama Masjid during Eid al-Adha prayers, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

In Malaysia, a base jumper dives from a tower above the sparkling city lights of Kuala Lumpur at night. Blood splatters like raindrops from the tattooed body of a Filipino penitent as he flagellates himself to atone for sins.

There is violence and tragedy here, too.

An enraged young man leaps onto the fallen body of a security officer in Bangladesh. Ethnic Rohingya wade through the surf, their meager belongings clutched in their hands, after being denied refuge in Indonesia.

As with many great news photographs, a single image is often all it takes to illustrate the complex political and social currents that sweep through the region.

A dozen police officers in Hong Kong, for instance, surround a single woman as they march her away on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.

A blurred double image shows Russian President Vladimir Putin as he delivers a speech in China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A group of men help support the elderly Dalai Lama after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader speaks to a group of students, his flowing robes blending into those of the monks around him.

Some of this year’s most powerful photos reveal the beautiful, often deadly power of nature.

A vast ocean of stars glitters in the night sky over traditional sheepskin tents in remote Mongolia. Whales dive in a harbor near Sydney, their tails poised above the water in lovely synchronicity.

A veil of sand and dust seems to envelop a man wearing a green mask as he walks among Beijing’s office buildings.

And in the Philippines, lava flows like red icing down the black slopes of a volcano.