Displaying items by tag: philanthropist

Six years after selling off his art collection in a record-breaking "sale of the century", the French businessman and philanthropist Pierre Berge is now putting his renowned library under the hammer.

The lover and business partner of the late designer Yves Saint Laurent told AFP he is putting almost his entire collection up for auction, one of the most priceless in private hands.

The Russian collector and philanthropist Dasha Zhukova is donating $1m to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to establish a “distinguished visiting artist” position.

The spot will be awarded to an artist, architect or designer and covers a one-to-two-year residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology where they will be encouraged to conduct new research and develop a body of work in collaboration with the faculty, students and researchers.

San Francisco city officials are looking into a complaint filed against philanthropist and board president of San Francisco's de Young museum, Dede Wilsey, over a $450,000 payment to a museum staffer, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The complaint from the museum's chief financial officer, Michele Gutierrez, is being investigated by City Hall and the office of the state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The payment was allegedly made to Bill Huggins, a city worker assigned to the museum who retired in September 2014 after suffering a heart attack.

A rare medieval panel by Italian artist Giovanni de Rimini has been saved for the nation thanks to a donation from a US businessman and philanthropist.

Scenes From the Lives of the Virgin and Other Saints, painted around 1300-1305, was in the Duke of Northumberland's Alnwick Castle collection until 2014.

It was then sold at auction and a temporary export bar was put in place.

The collection of the highly regarded sculptor and philanthropist Lolo Sarnoff will be presented over several several sales in New York and London throughout the spring. The selection of work on offer  spans important Impressionist & Modern Art, follows Sotheby’s legendary six-day, 700 lot auction in 1978 of the collection of Lolo Sarnoff’s step-father, Robert von Hirsch. Works by artists such as Picasso, Chagall and Renoir are expected to sell for above the estimates. 

Warren Weitman, Chairman of Sotheby’s Americas, commented: “It is a great privilege for Sotheby’s to present works from this extraordinary collection."

The Williams College Museum of Art has received a donation of 68 works of contemporary art from the collection of computer programmer and philanthropist Peter Norton.

WCMA is one recipient in a series of gifts to university and college art museums throughout the country. The art, from Norton’s personal collection, is intended to support the integration of the visual arts in higher education, to connect diverse audiences with contemporary art, and to foster creative museum practice.

The gift to WCMA is part of Norton’s second such philanthropic project, following one in 2000 in which he gave more than 1,000 pieces to 32 institutions.

Sotheby's New York announced it will offer the collection of Chicago philanthropist Jerome H. Stone over a series of auctions this spring. Stone assembled the collection over the course of the 1950s and '60s with the help of his wife Evelyn. It consists of blue chip works by artists such as Fernand Leger, Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti, Juan Gris, and Marc Chagall, that together are expected to bring in more than $40 million.

Stone, who built his family business, Stone Container Corporation, into a national multi-billion dollar corporation, and later founded the International Alzheimer's Association, often bought from leading dealers including Pierre Matisse and Sidney Janis.

The city of Sacramento and the Kings have agreed to commission world-renowned artist Jeff Koons to create a sculpture for outside the new downtown arena.

In what is the largest budget for a public art installation in the region’s history, the Kings, the city and three team owners will pay $8 million for the art. Another $1.5 million from the Kings and local philanthropist and artist Marcy Friedman will commission work from local artists to be displayed at the arena.

Koons’ sculpture will be the fifth in his “Coloring Book” collection, a series of towering stainless steel sculptures that have been displayed in some of the most prominent art museums in the world.

Princeton University has announced the largest gift in its history: a trove of rare books valued at nearly $300 million, including a Gutenberg Bible, an original printing of the Declaration of Independence, all four of Shakespeare’s Folios and significant musical manuscripts written by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner.

The Scheide Library, named for the family of the philanthropist and scholar William H. Scheide, has been housed in a special room in Princeton’s Firestone Library since 1959, when Mr. Scheide, who died last November at age 100, moved it there from his family home in Titusville, Pa. The bequest makes Princeton the permanent home of what the university’s president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, called “one of the greatest collections of rare books and manuscripts in the world today.”

Former Dodgers President Jamie McCourt and heiress and philanthropist Aileen Getty are among the four new trustees announced Thursday by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Investor and philanthropist Andrew Nikou and art collector Chara Schreyer also joined MOCA's board of trustees.

“They each have a commitment and passion for civic and culture engagement that is inspiring,” MOCA Director Philippe Vergne said in the announcement. “As a group, they represent well how we are continuing to establish the museum’s national and international footprint.”