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Monday, 12 September 2016 11:12

The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, which moved to a new building in May, will host a major exhibition dedicated to the celebrated American Modernist, Romare Bearden. Romare Bearden: Vision and Activism will present fifty-four works by the artist, including collages and lithographs. The show is being presented by the Romare Bearden Foundation—a nonprofit organization established by the artist's estate to preserve and perpetuate his legacy.

Monday, 12 September 2016 11:11

Later this month, Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts will display the Dundas Sofa—a rare piece of furniture designed by architect Robert Adam and Thomas Chippendale. The eighteenth century sofa, which was created for the Scottish businessman Sir Lawrence Dundas, will anchor the exhibition Grand Designs: Neoclassical Taste in the 18th Century. The show will explore the history and conservation of the sofa, while presenting other furniture, decorative objects, and prints from the era.

Friday, 09 September 2016 14:54

Outside the Lines: American Abstraction in the 20th Century, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, September 8-October 8, 2016—This highly personal exhibition commemorates Hirschl & Adler Modern’s dedication to promoting and exhibiting the works of major American abstractionists—an endeavor it has been committed to since its inception in 1981. In addition to showcasing works by well-known masters of American Modernism, such as Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, and Charles Howard, Hirschl & Adler Modern has championed many under-recognized post-war artists, including Stanley Twardowicz, Robert Natkin, and Ray Spillenger.

Friday, 09 September 2016 14:53

The grandchildren of Henri Matisse’s muse, Greta Moll, are suing London’s National Gallery over a painting they say was stolen from their family after World War II. The heirs, who filed legal proceeding in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, September 7, are seeking the return of the painting or $30 million in compensation. The 1908 painting of Moll has been in the museum’s collection since 1979.

Friday, 09 September 2016 14:52

Art Basel Miami Beach has announced the 269 galleries participating in this year’s event. Now in its fifteenth year, the show was established as a stateside companion to the illustrious Art Basel fair, held each year in Basel, Switzerland. Art Basel Miami Beach will take place December 1-4, 2016, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Exhibitors include Acquavella Galleries, Cheim & Reid, and Gagosian Gallery.

Friday, 09 September 2016 14:51

Christie’s has announced that it will raise its buyer’s fees for the first time in three years—a move that the auction house hopes will bring in more revenue. The changes, which go into effect on September 19, will see a twenty-five percent charge on the first $150,000 of a work’s hammer price, twenty percent on amounts from $150,001 to $3 million, and twelve percent on amounts greater than $3 million. Sotheby’s, Christie’s main competitor, last raised its buyer’s fees in 2015.

Friday, 09 September 2016 14:50

Nicholas Serota, who has served as the director of the Tate museums since 1988, will leave his post next year. After his departure, he will assume a part-time position as chairman of Arts Council England—a national development agency for the arts that provides funding for a range of projects and activities. Serota, who previously ran London’s Whitechapel Gallery, helped turn the Tate museums into some of the finest and most visited arts institutions in the world. The search for a new director will begin immediately.

Thursday, 08 September 2016 12:53

The celebrated interior designer Suzanne Tucker has been selected to serve as the chair of the thirty-fifth San Francisco Fall Art & Antiques Show. The longest running international art and antiques fair on the West Coast, the Show will feature sixty dealers from around the world, offering for sale an extraordinary range of fine and decorative arts from antiquity to the present day.

Thursday, 08 September 2016 12:52

The bottom-right corner of Rene Magritte’s long-lost painting, The Enchanted Pose, was discovered in the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery’s collection, three years after two other sections of the work were found in the United States and Sweden. The painting was last seen in its entirety in 1927 and is believed to have been cut up by the Belgian Surrealist himself. The recently discovered piece of canvas was found tucked underneath another work by Magritte.

Thursday, 08 September 2016 12:52

Cartier’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue has reopened following a two-and-a-half-year renovation. Housed in a Neo-Renaissance mansion dating back to 1904, the structure underwent a major refurbishment helmed by the French architect, Thierry Despont. The four-story structure, which now boasts a rooftop terrace and an array of sophisticated salons, opened with a celebrity-studded party on Wednesday, September 7.

Thursday, 08 September 2016 12:51

On December 4, works from the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art will go on view at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Home to a rich selection of art belonging to the Berlin State Museums, the Gemäldegalerie’s collection provides a sweeping overview of European painting from the thirteenth to eighteenth century. The highly-anticipated exhibition will include works by Iranian artists as well as major American and European figures, including Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock.

Thursday, 08 September 2016 12:50

In December 2013, Norman Rockwell’s iconic Saying Grace sold for a record $46 million at Sotheby's. At the time, the buyer of the big-ticket item was not disclosed, but it has recently been revealed that filmmaker George Lucas was the purchaser. Lucas, an avid collector, hopes to exhibit the work in his forthcoming Museum of Narrative Art. The Star Wars creator is currently looking for a site for the institution—a task that has proved more difficult than expected.

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 11:58

The exhibition Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 is the culmination of more than a decade of research on the woodworkers and furniture of Rhode Island, resulting in an ongoing database of 3,000 objects available online in Yale University Art Gallery’s Rhode Island Furniture Archive. Art and Industry presents a comprehensive survey of Rhode Island furniture from the colonial and early Federal periods, including case furniture, formal seating furniture, clocks, and Windsor chairs.

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 11:55

The New York Times has announced that it will no longer cover art happenings in New Jersey, Westchester, Long Island, or Connecticut. The paper will continue to produce its Metropolitan section as it appears in New York City and will distribute it throughout the tri-state region. According to a statement from Dean Baquet, Editor-in-Chief of The New York Times, “the resources and energy currently devoted to these local pages could be better directed elsewhere.”

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 11:54

Thirty employees of the prestigious French auction house, Drouot, have been sentenced to between eighteen months and three years in prison. The group was found guilty of stealing millions of dollars worth of art and other treasures that were headed for the auction block, and then selling them at the very same auction house. The offenders stole works by Gustave Courbet, Marc Chagall, and Henri Matisse, as well as jewelry and items from the estate of the Irish furniture designer, Eileen Gray.

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 11:52

The German painter Otto Dix is best known for his dark works that explore the horror and brutality of war. But Dix also created a series of lighthearted works meant to teach children stories from the Bible. Two art dealers have been on the hunt for these rare works for two decades and they recently discovered them in a private German collection. The fourteen watercolors, created around 1925, are currently on view at the Remmert and Barth gallery in Düsseldorf.

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 11:51

The Cooper Hewitt, which is home to iconic works by Arne Jacobsen, George Nelson, Bruno Mathsson, Alvar Aalto, and just about every other influential modern designer ever to exist, has digitized approximately ninety-two percent of its monumental collection. The massive undertaking took a year and a half to complete and will allow visitors to the museum, as well as individuals around the world, to interact with the institution's impressive holdings.

Tuesday, 06 September 2016 14:56

1. This iconic, Marcel Breuer-designed home is a steal at less than $1 million.

The legendary and profoundly influential Modernist architect Marcel Breuer designed this residence for the Snower family in 1954. Located in Mission Hills, Kansas—a suburb of Kansas City—the home was meant to stand out from the typical ranch-style homes that populated the area. And that it does. Breuer’s unique, cantilevered design makes for a residence that seems to defy gravity, appearing almost weightless.

Tuesday, 06 September 2016 14:54

Next week, the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York, will display over forty works by the Abstract Expressionist Ray Spillenger. The drawings and paintings set to go on view, were part of a trove discovered in the late artist’s Manhattan apartment by his son. Spillenger, who studied with Josef Albers and Willem de Kooning at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, never garnered as much attention as his mid-century counterparts.

Tuesday, 06 September 2016 14:53

Two months ago, the UK voted to leave the European Union—a move that shocked the world as well as many living in the country. Martin Roth, the Director of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, was one of the many UK residents left disillusioned by the decision. Now, in the wake of the landmark vote, Roth is expected to resign from his post at the institution and return to his native Germany. He has been with the V&A since 2011.

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