20 November, 2013
Contemporary Art: Japan
On March 15, 2013, Mori Art Museum Chief Curator Mami Kataoka presented a lecture at the Art Gallery of Ontario titled "Contemporary Art in Japan: Visions and Views of the Universe."
more info here
15 November, 2013
Artbank Sturgeon Magazine
Watch the Four Corners feature on the launch of Artbank, featuring an interview with founding Director, Graeme Sturgeon. It originally aired on ABC TV, 23 August 1980. Here
=================
Thirty three years later, Artbank has launched a bi-annual art magazine and website named after Sturgeon.
"The launch of Australian government art rental agency Artbank’s new biannual (sic) magazine, Sturgeon, is a major milestone for the organization (sic), which functions as a platform for the support and promotion of contemporary Australian art through its art rental program as well as through commissioned artworks. " and "To complement the magazine, Artbank have launched a great new website (sturgeonmagazine.com.au) that features article previews, additional web-only content, and information on upcoming issues. "
http://www.sturgeonmagazine.com.au/archive/
12 November, 2013
Perry on Taste 2
This is the second post on Grayson Perry's Tapestries
Part 1 on the working class is here
http://printaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/perry-on-taste-1.html
Part 2 Middle Class Tunbridge Wells
a
The Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close
The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal
Part 1 on the working class is here
http://printaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/perry-on-taste-1.html
Part 2 Middle Class Tunbridge Wells
a
The Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close
The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal
Perry on Taste 1
The first of three posts on Grayson Perry's Tapestries
"The Vanity of Small Differences, a series of six exuberant tapestries by Grayson Perry have been bought by the Arts Council Collection and British Council.
Bursting with colour, cultural references and Perry’s trademark wit, the six monumental works narrate the story of social mobility and cultural taste across the classes in contemporary British society. Created alongside the popular Channel 4 series All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry, the artist took his inspiration from Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress.
The tapestries chart the ‘class journey’ made by young Tim Rakewell and include many of the characters, incidents and objects Grayson Perry encountered on journeys through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and The Cotswolds for the series.
The medium on which these tableaus of British taste have been captured is of course very apt; Perry has literally woven the threads of society into his vivid and humorous vision of the ‘rich tapestry of life’."
http://www.artfund.org/news/2012/11/30/grayson-perry-tapestries-secured-for-the-nation
Grayson Perry explains The Vanity of Small Differences, the series of six tapestries he's created alongside the television series. Here
---------------------------------------------
Part 1: Working Class Sunderland
The Adoration of the Cage Fighters 2012
The Agony in the Car Park 2012
"The Vanity of Small Differences, a series of six exuberant tapestries by Grayson Perry have been bought by the Arts Council Collection and British Council.
Bursting with colour, cultural references and Perry’s trademark wit, the six monumental works narrate the story of social mobility and cultural taste across the classes in contemporary British society. Created alongside the popular Channel 4 series All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry, the artist took his inspiration from Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress.
The tapestries chart the ‘class journey’ made by young Tim Rakewell and include many of the characters, incidents and objects Grayson Perry encountered on journeys through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and The Cotswolds for the series.
The medium on which these tableaus of British taste have been captured is of course very apt; Perry has literally woven the threads of society into his vivid and humorous vision of the ‘rich tapestry of life’."
http://www.artfund.org/news/2012/11/30/grayson-perry-tapestries-secured-for-the-nation
Grayson Perry explains The Vanity of Small Differences, the series of six tapestries he's created alongside the television series. Here
---------------------------------------------
Part 1: Working Class Sunderland
The Adoration of the Cage Fighters 2012
The Agony in the Car Park 2012
02 November, 2013
Art Animation
Published on 25 Oct 2013
The Elegant Gentleman's guide to Knife Fighting is an Australian sketch show- they came to me and said "you love Terry Gilliam, right?"
26 October, 2013
David Bailey
More on Bailey
'The 60s have never ended'
Uploaded on 8 Apr 2010
Whether it was John Lennon, Michael Caine or Andy Warhol, David Bailey's photographs of 1960s celebrities defined the decade. As a retrospective of his most famous images goes on show at Bonhams, he talks to Sarfraz Manzoor about Picasso, body language and his dread of photographing modern celebrities
"I saw Picasso's paintings and that changed my life ... there was no rules and I liked that"
'The 60s have never ended'
Uploaded on 8 Apr 2010
Whether it was John Lennon, Michael Caine or Andy Warhol, David Bailey's photographs of 1960s celebrities defined the decade. As a retrospective of his most famous images goes on show at Bonhams, he talks to Sarfraz Manzoor about Picasso, body language and his dread of photographing modern celebrities
"I saw Picasso's paintings and that changed my life ... there was no rules and I liked that"
Louise Bourgeois: Edinburgh
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art –
Louise Bourgeois, A Woman Without Secrets,
Modern One, 26 October 2013 – 18 May 2014
The National Galleries of Scotland is proud to announce a major presentation of works by the great French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) in an exhibition entitled Louise Bourgeois, A Woman Without Secrets at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Highlighting her late work, the exhibition is a first showing of an outstanding collection of works by Louise Bourgeois now on loan to the national ARTIST ROOMS programme, including Poids (1993), Couple I (1996), Cell XIV (Portrait) (2000), Eyes (2001-2005), and two late masterpieces, the cycle of 16 monumental drawings A L'Infini (2008-2009) and the artist’s final vitrine, Untitled (2010). These works will be augmented by important loans from Tate, The Easton Foundation and private collections. This exhibition will reveal how Bourgeois, working in a variety of materials and scales, explores the mystery and beauty of human emotions.
website
Highlights
Events
Future Bourgeois: A Symposium and Workshop for new work on Louise Bourgeois
Friday 7 February 2014
more info
==============================
Fruitmarket Gallery
Louise Bourgeois is one of the greatest and most influential artists of our time. In a career spanning seven decades, from the 1940s until her death in 2010, she produced some of contemporary art’s most enduring images, making sculptures, installations, writings and drawings which, in mining her own psyche, have entered the collective unconscious.
Bourgeois’s work is personal yet universal, rooted in the details of her own life, but reaching out to touch the lives of others. This exhibition of work on paper presents some of her most intimate work, both drawing and writing.
The exhibition begins with a labyrinthine presentation of Bourgeois’s Insomnia Drawings, a remarkable suite of 220 drawings and writings made between November 1994 and June 1995. Created in the suspended state between sleeping and waking, The Insomnia Drawings contain all the major themes of Bourgeois’s work and reveal the close link between drawing and writing that is such a key part of her practice. Also in the exhibition are two suites of large-scale works on paper, When Did This Happen? from 2007, and I Give Everything Away, made right at the end of the artist’s life in 2010. A mix of writing, drawing and printmaking, these large works are both haunted and haunting.
website http://fruitmarket.co.uk/exhibitions/current/
Book - Louise Borgeois Catalogue
Has the day invaded the night or the night invaded the day?
Insomnia in the work of Louise Bourgeois £15 (special exhibition price)
Published by The Fruitmarket Gallery to accompany the exhibition, this book focuses on the themes and ideas in the exhibition. The book is illustrated with a selection of Bourgeois’s Insomnia Drawings and of her writings, and also includes new texts by Frances Morris and Philip Larratt-Smith.
Events
Curator’s Talk
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 6.30pm. Free.
Exhibition curator Frances Morris (Tate) considers the work in the exhibition in light of the artist’s larger practice in conversation with Fiona Bradley, Director of The Fruitmarket Gallery.
Future Bourgeois: Panel Discussion
Friday 7 February 2014, 6pm. £5/£3 conc. (or free if attending symposium). Refreshments provided.
The artist Phyllida Barlow, the writer Elisabeth Lebovici (EHESS, Paris) and Professor Mignon Nixon (Courtauld, London) consider the current state of research on Louise Bourgeois in this panel discussion. The event brings to a close a collaborative one-day student symposium organised by the ARTIST ROOMS RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP, The Fruitmarket Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland (and held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Modern One) that showcases new research on the artist.
Kabuki Prints: NMS
Kabuki
Japanese Theatre Prints
4 October 2013 – 2 February 2014
NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF SCOTLAND
Come face to face with Kabuki theatre’s most famous warriors, villains, heroes and heroines through 61 of the finest Japanese woodblock prints from the Museum’s collection. Meet the larger-than-life characters of Kabuki theatre to find out why these rare and beautiful prints became a cultural phenomenon in 19th century Japan.
Open daily 10:00–17:00
Website
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/kabuki.aspx
CATALOGUE here
GOOGLE IMAGES OF KABUKI PRINTS
======================================
About the exhibition
These striking designs present vivid depictions of Kabuki, the popular form of traditional, all-male, Japanese theatre which combines drama, music, dance and acrobatics in convoluted plots concerning dramatic emotional conflicts and feats of derring-do.
Much like magazines and posters today, these woodblock prints were a cheap and colourful medium of entertainment. Their visual style will be familiar to fans of Manga comics, Japanese cinema and even Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. Publishing houses commissioned designs from the very greatest artists of the era, but the prints were affordable to the average person on the street.
This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view these beautiful images and to learn more about a fascinating cultural and social period in Japanese history.
Pictures of the Exhibition
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/kabuki/inside_the_exhibition.aspx
================
events
Moku Hanga: Introduction to Japanese Woodblock Printing
Date: Fri 22 November
Time: 12:30 (3hrs)
Cost: £5
Take inspiration from our exhibition, Kabuki: Japanese Theatre Prints, to make your own woodblock print with artist and printmaker, Elspeth Lamb. Moku Hanga is the unique Japanese art-form of printing blocks with water-based pigments, known for its intense application of colour. One of the beauties of this technique is that it does not require solvents or a printing press – so the technique can be applied at home without expensive equipment. All materials will be supplied but please bring along a simple line drawing to work from.
more info
Japanese Theatre Prints
4 October 2013 – 2 February 2014
NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF SCOTLAND
Come face to face with Kabuki theatre’s most famous warriors, villains, heroes and heroines through 61 of the finest Japanese woodblock prints from the Museum’s collection. Meet the larger-than-life characters of Kabuki theatre to find out why these rare and beautiful prints became a cultural phenomenon in 19th century Japan.
Open daily 10:00–17:00
Website
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/kabuki.aspx
CATALOGUE here
GOOGLE IMAGES OF KABUKI PRINTS
======================================
About the exhibition
These striking designs present vivid depictions of Kabuki, the popular form of traditional, all-male, Japanese theatre which combines drama, music, dance and acrobatics in convoluted plots concerning dramatic emotional conflicts and feats of derring-do.
Much like magazines and posters today, these woodblock prints were a cheap and colourful medium of entertainment. Their visual style will be familiar to fans of Manga comics, Japanese cinema and even Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. Publishing houses commissioned designs from the very greatest artists of the era, but the prints were affordable to the average person on the street.
This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view these beautiful images and to learn more about a fascinating cultural and social period in Japanese history.
Pictures of the Exhibition
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/kabuki/inside_the_exhibition.aspx
================
events
Moku Hanga: Introduction to Japanese Woodblock Printing
Date: Fri 22 November
Time: 12:30 (3hrs)
Cost: £5
Take inspiration from our exhibition, Kabuki: Japanese Theatre Prints, to make your own woodblock print with artist and printmaker, Elspeth Lamb. Moku Hanga is the unique Japanese art-form of printing blocks with water-based pigments, known for its intense application of colour. One of the beauties of this technique is that it does not require solvents or a printing press – so the technique can be applied at home without expensive equipment. All materials will be supplied but please bring along a simple line drawing to work from.
more info
Leonardo Madonna of the Yarnwinder
Leonardo is documented as working on a small picture of The Madonna of the Yarnwinder in 1501, after his return to Milan from Florence, for the French Secretary of State, Florimond Robertet who appears to have received his picture in Blois in 1507.
The subject is known today from several versions of which two, called the Buccleuch Madonna and the Lansdowne Madonna, are thought to be partly by Leonardo’s hand. The underdrawings of both paintings show similar experimental changes made to the composition (or pentimenti), suggesting that both evolved concurrently in Leonardo’s workshop.
The version of this painting often regarded as the most likely to be by Leonardo is now in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, on loan from the Duke of Buccleuch. It hung in his ancestral home in Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, until it was stolen in 2003. It entered the Buccleuch collection in 1767, with the marriage of the 3rd Duke to Lady Elizabeth Montagu, the heiress to a substantial collection of works assembled by her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Montagu. This Madonna of the Yarnwinder was bought at auction in Paris in 1756 from a sale of the collection of Marie-Joseph duc d’Hostun et de Tallard, its earliest documented owner.
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_the_Yarnwinder
Wiki lists around thirty copies of this work.
=====================================
Current Frame
"the Leonardo painting was taken out of its old (but by no means original) frame immediately following the theft, and the frame discarded by the fleeing thieves. It was recovered, but never reunited with the painting. The present frame is a much more important and appropriate one, dating from the sixteenth century. It was purchased by the Duke for the painting following its recovery .... the inscription is the opening words of the Introitus of the Tridentine Common Mass of the Blessed Virgin:
‘Salve, sancta parens, enixa puerpera Regem qui caelum terramque regit’
‘Hail, Holy Mother who in childbirth brought forth the King who rules the heaven and the earth’"
Information provided by Aidan Weston-Lewis, Chief Curator and Head of the Print Room, Scottish National Gallery
=====================================
Madonna of the Yarnwinder c1501-07 ( The Buccleuch Madonna)
This is one of two paintings of the same subject associated with Leonardo. The attribution of this small panel continues to be the subject of debate, with most scholars denying an attribution to the master himself in favour of workshop assistants. However, the results of recent scientific examination indicate that the overall design of the work is likely to be the work of Leonardo, as are some areas of the composition, such as the finely modelled head of the Christchild and the skilfully painted rocks in the foreground.
Infrared reflectography has revealed a range of pentimenti, or “small changes” in the underdrawing, which is characteristic of Leonardo and his compositional drawing practice. Minor adjustments have been made to the limbs of the Christchild and to the contours of the Virgin’s face and features. Originally the neckline of her dress was drawn marginally higher and her left foot included at the base of the panel.
The background of the painting is significantly different to the underdrawn design. To the left of the Virgin, a door or window was drawn together with a series of diagonal lines that appear to relate to a building and other forms drawn in perspective. Under the sky to the right of her head a series of curved lines perhaps relate to a mountainous landscape. The large scale of the Christchild is entirely characteristic of Leonardo as a means of emphasizing Christ’s importance as is the interest in transparent fabrics and the sfumato or “smoky” effect achieved in the fleshtones of the Virgin’s face. While the distant seascape is rather untypical of the artist’s work, it may be seen in this context as a reference to the Virgin as “Stella Maris” or star of the sea - a metaphor from the Song of Songs in the Bible.
source http://www.universalleonardo.org/work.php?id=312
======================================
Madonna of the Yarnwinder (The Lansdowne Madonna) 1501-07
This is one of two versions of the same subject associated with Leonardo. The artist was documented as working on a small picture of this subject in 1501, after his return to Milan from Florence, for the French Secretary of State, Florimond Robertet. It is not clear which of the two paintings went to Robertet, but he appears to have received his picture in Blois in 1507. The theme of the painting, which is likely to have been made for private devotional purposes, focuses on the mother’s love for her child, showing her gazing down at her son, and on the future passion of Christ. Jesus is completely preoccupied with a yarn-winder which, by virtue of its similarity to a crucifix, is regarded as a symbol of his death.
Mary with her right hand raised in protection, seems to want to draw the child back from the yarn-winder. But the child turns away from his mother’s loving gaze, as his entire attention is focused on the symbol of his future passion. The basic disposition and dimensions of the figure group in this painting correspond quite closely in both versions, but not so precisely as to suggest direct repetition. Technical examination has revealed strikingly complex and similar underdrawings in both these versions of the painting, indicating Leonardo’s direct involvement in the design of both pictures.
Given the disparity of the painting technique employed in the background, it seems likely that this picture was completed in the master’s studio by another artist sometime after the other Madonna of the Yarnwinder (Duke of Buccleuch) painting under Leonardo’s control, perhaps with his active participation in the final execution of the figure group. The production of multiple versions of the same theme in Leonardo’s studio may have been a regular practice in response to the demand for images of this popular type.
source http://www.universalleonardo.org/work.php?id=313
======================================
The Theft
The room from which the painting was stolen (BBC) The painting hung in the staircase hall of the castle, an area open to the public.
In August 2003, two men dressed as tourists taking a public tour of Drumlanrig Castle, Scotland, overpowered a young tour guide and stole Leonardo Da Vinci's, Madonna with the Yarnwinder. Accompanied by two accomplices, the men escaped in a white Volkswagen Golf, abandoned nearby.
Recalling the day of the robbery, tour guide Alison Russell, 25, told the High Court in Edinburgh how two men had come into the castle shortly after opening time. "One of them put his hand over my mouth and asked me to get down on the ground," she said. "He came from behind, put his hand over my mouth and told me I had to lie down on the ground or they would kill me."
Sarah Skene, 73, a shop assistant at the castle, described hearing a "commotion". "I went into the Staircase Gallery to see what was happening," she said "There was a male standing in front of the painting with an axe in his hand."It was just threatening, I think." The court heard how another man then pulled the painting from the wall and the raiders escaped through a window as alarms sounded. The jury was also shown CCTV images of the two robbery suspects.
John Chrystie, 50, was weeding in the grounds of the Drumlanrig estate when he saw three men with Leonardo da Vinci's the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Mr Chrystie, who had worked for the Duke of Buccleuch in south west Scotland for 20 years, said he heard "banging and then alarm bells" on the day of the raid. He told the High Court in Edinburgh he then saw a man wearing a white sombrero-type hat carrying something square. The gardener said that from the colours he recognised it as the Leonardo da Vinci painting. "When I realised what was happening I was going to have a go at one of them and he pulled an axe from his jacket, a small hand axe," he said. "I veered off and just ran up the banking."
source
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Recovery
Robbie Graham and Jack Doyle from the Liverpool area ran two businesses called Crown Private Investigations and Stolen Stuff Re-United. Stolen Stuff Re-United had a dodgy-sounding name but was legitimate. It was internet-based: a kind of posting-board for information aimed at getting stolen goods back to their rightful owners in return for a reward or finder's fee.
Graham and Doyle had been approached in a pub by a man called "J" who knew a man called "Frank" who knew people with possible access to the painting. J told them it had been given to someone as security on a £700,000 loan for a property deal which collapsed. The person stuck with it wanted his money back. The Scouse pals did not know if it was something they could get involved with legally so they went to their solicitor Marshall Ronald, who practised in nearby Skelmersdale.
The crime involved a picture stolen in Scotland from a Scottish owner and was being investigated by a Scottish police force. Ronald decided to seek Scottish legal advice and phoned David Boyce, a solicitor. Ronald, Graham, Doyle, Boyce and a fifth man, Calum Jones, attended a meeting in Glasgow on 30 July 2007. Jones was a fellow partner of Boyce at Boyd's solicitors which, a few days later, was to merge with a much bigger law firm, HBJ Gateley Wareing. His advice to Marshall Ronald was to make contact with Mark Dalrymple, the man known to be the loss adjuster acting for the painting's insurers. At the time of the theft Dalrymple had publicised a "substantial reward" for information leading to its return. The first question Ronald needed Dalrymple to answer was: Would any reward be more than the £700,000 needed to acquire the painting? If not, it wasn't viable to become involved.
Ronald wrote to Dalrymple requesting a meeting but, instead of agreeing, Dalrymple went to the police who put in place a pre-arranged ruse. Ronald was phoned by a man calling himself "John Craig" who said he had taken over the case from Mark Dalrymple and was acting as the direct representative of the Duke of Buccleuch. Craig was, in reality, an undercover policeman whose story was a complete fabrication. By Ronald's own admission he fell for it "hook, line and sinker". In a series of taped phone calls he went on to negotiate a payment of £2m: £700,000 for the possessor of the painting and the rest to be split between himself, Graham, Doyle, J and Frank. Later, Ronald negotiated a further £2.25m all for himself which no-one else was to know about. That cash was to be paid into a Swiss bank account.
Ronald raided his firm's client account for £350,000 required as an upfront payment to get possession of the painting. He last saw it disappearing into the boot of Graham's Jaguar as he drove off to retrieve the picture from J in the car park of The Child of Hale pub on Merseyside.
Robert Graham, 57, of Lancashire, told Edinburgh High Court that he met an underworld figure in a Liverpool car park and paid £350,000 for the canvas. The arrangement led to him travelling to the pub car park in Hale with £350,000 in the boot of his Jaguar to hand to an underworld figure who was in touch with the people who had the painting. Some hours later the man known to the trial only as Karl returned with the painting, covered by a white sheet, in a sponge-lined container.
Next day, 4 October 2007, Graham and Doyle delivered the painting to the boardroom of HBJ Gateley Wareing in West Regent Street. They handed it over to John Craig, posing beside it for photographs. Minutes later, the room was raided by police who took possession of the painting and arrested those involved in its return. Ultimately, the key to the whole case was the interpretation of John Craig's actions. The police said he was briefed to infiltrate and play along with an existing conspiracy. The defendants insisted that no conspiracy existed before Craig got involved and that he led five well-intentioned men, by the nose, into a trap.
source
A jury took eight hours to deliver its verdict after a trial lasting more than seven weeks. The case was found not proven against Marshall Ronald, Robert Graham and John Doyle, all from Lancashire. Glasgow solicitors Calum Jones and David Boyce were found not guilty.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Graham said the case should never have gone to court. "I do believe we are entitled to a reward," added his business partner Mr Doyle. "What we did was to bring back a culturally-significant masterpiece, which is something neither the police nor the insurers could do."We brought it back and we have been through two-and-a-half years of hell since."
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary also said they accepted the decision of the court. Det Supt Kate Thomson added that the theft of the painting remained a live investigation.
source1
source2
=======================================
Catching the theives
POLICE probing a £50million Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece heist have a DNA clue to one of the suspects. Police say it matches a sample recovered from a break-in bid at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow two years earlier. And there could be links to the theft of a £3million Cezanne from an Oxford art gallery at the millennium. Police hope the breakthrough will lead them to the gang behind the theft of the Madonna Of The Yarnwinder from the Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire in 2003. A police source said: "This is a really positive development. We are working throughout Europe to try to identify the DNA profile."It is clear the gang involved are serious organised criminals and that they targeted both Kelvingrove and Drumlanrig."Undoubtedly they have been involved in other art thefts.
source
=============================
The Law Case February 2013
Marshall Ronald, 56 of Skelmersdale, in Lancashire, is suing the Duke of Buccleuch for £4.25million. He has launched an action against the Duke and the chief constable of Dumfries and Galloway. Ronald and four others were cleared in April 2010 of conspiring to extort £4.25million for the painting’s return.
The duke and Mr Shearer are both defending the action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The court heard that Mr Ronald was struck off as a solicitor in England after his trial. A discipline tribunal said he had allowed himself to become involved in "a dubious transaction" and had withdrawn money from a client account without authority.
He has now resorted to the civil courts to pursue a compensation claim. In it he claims that under the terms of an alleged contract between him and an undercover officer, known as John Craig, it was agreed he would arrange for the return of the painting in return for sums totalling £4.25m being paid. He maintains that some of the money was being paid to people who could assist in the recovery of the painting and that it included a sum of £2m being transferred to a Swiss bank account in the name of Mr Ronald.
Andrew Young QC, for the Duke of Buccleuch, called it "a rather bizarre attempt" to fix a contract on the duke for something an undercover officer did in the execution of his normal investigatory role.
Maria Maguire QC, for chief constable Patrick Shearer, said "It is patently obvious that John Craig was an undercover officer who was acting at all times within that role." She added: "It cannot be possibly held with any degree of credibility that he was at any time acting as an agent of the Duke of Buccleuch or that he was entering an agreement on behalf of the chief constable of Dumfries and Galloway with this individual."She said the summons was "plainly irrelevant and quite frankly nonsense".
Alan Cowan, for Mr Ronald, told the court that a legal aid application had been made but a decision was not expected until March and sought to have a stay put on proceedings until then. Lord Doherty said he was not prepared to exercise his discretion to put a stay on the action and awarded expenses against Mr Ronald.
source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-21383555
===========================================
The subject is known today from several versions of which two, called the Buccleuch Madonna and the Lansdowne Madonna, are thought to be partly by Leonardo’s hand. The underdrawings of both paintings show similar experimental changes made to the composition (or pentimenti), suggesting that both evolved concurrently in Leonardo’s workshop.
The version of this painting often regarded as the most likely to be by Leonardo is now in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, on loan from the Duke of Buccleuch. It hung in his ancestral home in Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, until it was stolen in 2003. It entered the Buccleuch collection in 1767, with the marriage of the 3rd Duke to Lady Elizabeth Montagu, the heiress to a substantial collection of works assembled by her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Montagu. This Madonna of the Yarnwinder was bought at auction in Paris in 1756 from a sale of the collection of Marie-Joseph duc d’Hostun et de Tallard, its earliest documented owner.
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_the_Yarnwinder
Wiki lists around thirty copies of this work.
=====================================
Current Frame
"the Leonardo painting was taken out of its old (but by no means original) frame immediately following the theft, and the frame discarded by the fleeing thieves. It was recovered, but never reunited with the painting. The present frame is a much more important and appropriate one, dating from the sixteenth century. It was purchased by the Duke for the painting following its recovery .... the inscription is the opening words of the Introitus of the Tridentine Common Mass of the Blessed Virgin:
‘Salve, sancta parens, enixa puerpera Regem qui caelum terramque regit’
‘Hail, Holy Mother who in childbirth brought forth the King who rules the heaven and the earth’"
Information provided by Aidan Weston-Lewis, Chief Curator and Head of the Print Room, Scottish National Gallery
=====================================
Madonna of the Yarnwinder c1501-07 ( The Buccleuch Madonna)
This is one of two paintings of the same subject associated with Leonardo. The attribution of this small panel continues to be the subject of debate, with most scholars denying an attribution to the master himself in favour of workshop assistants. However, the results of recent scientific examination indicate that the overall design of the work is likely to be the work of Leonardo, as are some areas of the composition, such as the finely modelled head of the Christchild and the skilfully painted rocks in the foreground.
Infrared reflectography has revealed a range of pentimenti, or “small changes” in the underdrawing, which is characteristic of Leonardo and his compositional drawing practice. Minor adjustments have been made to the limbs of the Christchild and to the contours of the Virgin’s face and features. Originally the neckline of her dress was drawn marginally higher and her left foot included at the base of the panel.
The background of the painting is significantly different to the underdrawn design. To the left of the Virgin, a door or window was drawn together with a series of diagonal lines that appear to relate to a building and other forms drawn in perspective. Under the sky to the right of her head a series of curved lines perhaps relate to a mountainous landscape. The large scale of the Christchild is entirely characteristic of Leonardo as a means of emphasizing Christ’s importance as is the interest in transparent fabrics and the sfumato or “smoky” effect achieved in the fleshtones of the Virgin’s face. While the distant seascape is rather untypical of the artist’s work, it may be seen in this context as a reference to the Virgin as “Stella Maris” or star of the sea - a metaphor from the Song of Songs in the Bible.
source http://www.universalleonardo.org/work.php?id=312
======================================
Madonna of the Yarnwinder (The Lansdowne Madonna) 1501-07
This is one of two versions of the same subject associated with Leonardo. The artist was documented as working on a small picture of this subject in 1501, after his return to Milan from Florence, for the French Secretary of State, Florimond Robertet. It is not clear which of the two paintings went to Robertet, but he appears to have received his picture in Blois in 1507. The theme of the painting, which is likely to have been made for private devotional purposes, focuses on the mother’s love for her child, showing her gazing down at her son, and on the future passion of Christ. Jesus is completely preoccupied with a yarn-winder which, by virtue of its similarity to a crucifix, is regarded as a symbol of his death.
Mary with her right hand raised in protection, seems to want to draw the child back from the yarn-winder. But the child turns away from his mother’s loving gaze, as his entire attention is focused on the symbol of his future passion. The basic disposition and dimensions of the figure group in this painting correspond quite closely in both versions, but not so precisely as to suggest direct repetition. Technical examination has revealed strikingly complex and similar underdrawings in both these versions of the painting, indicating Leonardo’s direct involvement in the design of both pictures.
Given the disparity of the painting technique employed in the background, it seems likely that this picture was completed in the master’s studio by another artist sometime after the other Madonna of the Yarnwinder (Duke of Buccleuch) painting under Leonardo’s control, perhaps with his active participation in the final execution of the figure group. The production of multiple versions of the same theme in Leonardo’s studio may have been a regular practice in response to the demand for images of this popular type.
source http://www.universalleonardo.org/work.php?id=313
======================================
The Theft
The room from which the painting was stolen (BBC) The painting hung in the staircase hall of the castle, an area open to the public.
In August 2003, two men dressed as tourists taking a public tour of Drumlanrig Castle, Scotland, overpowered a young tour guide and stole Leonardo Da Vinci's, Madonna with the Yarnwinder. Accompanied by two accomplices, the men escaped in a white Volkswagen Golf, abandoned nearby.
Recalling the day of the robbery, tour guide Alison Russell, 25, told the High Court in Edinburgh how two men had come into the castle shortly after opening time. "One of them put his hand over my mouth and asked me to get down on the ground," she said. "He came from behind, put his hand over my mouth and told me I had to lie down on the ground or they would kill me."
Sarah Skene, 73, a shop assistant at the castle, described hearing a "commotion". "I went into the Staircase Gallery to see what was happening," she said "There was a male standing in front of the painting with an axe in his hand."It was just threatening, I think." The court heard how another man then pulled the painting from the wall and the raiders escaped through a window as alarms sounded. The jury was also shown CCTV images of the two robbery suspects.
John Chrystie, 50, was weeding in the grounds of the Drumlanrig estate when he saw three men with Leonardo da Vinci's the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Mr Chrystie, who had worked for the Duke of Buccleuch in south west Scotland for 20 years, said he heard "banging and then alarm bells" on the day of the raid. He told the High Court in Edinburgh he then saw a man wearing a white sombrero-type hat carrying something square. The gardener said that from the colours he recognised it as the Leonardo da Vinci painting. "When I realised what was happening I was going to have a go at one of them and he pulled an axe from his jacket, a small hand axe," he said. "I veered off and just ran up the banking."
source
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Recovery
Robbie Graham and Jack Doyle from the Liverpool area ran two businesses called Crown Private Investigations and Stolen Stuff Re-United. Stolen Stuff Re-United had a dodgy-sounding name but was legitimate. It was internet-based: a kind of posting-board for information aimed at getting stolen goods back to their rightful owners in return for a reward or finder's fee.
Graham and Doyle had been approached in a pub by a man called "J" who knew a man called "Frank" who knew people with possible access to the painting. J told them it had been given to someone as security on a £700,000 loan for a property deal which collapsed. The person stuck with it wanted his money back. The Scouse pals did not know if it was something they could get involved with legally so they went to their solicitor Marshall Ronald, who practised in nearby Skelmersdale.
The crime involved a picture stolen in Scotland from a Scottish owner and was being investigated by a Scottish police force. Ronald decided to seek Scottish legal advice and phoned David Boyce, a solicitor. Ronald, Graham, Doyle, Boyce and a fifth man, Calum Jones, attended a meeting in Glasgow on 30 July 2007. Jones was a fellow partner of Boyce at Boyd's solicitors which, a few days later, was to merge with a much bigger law firm, HBJ Gateley Wareing. His advice to Marshall Ronald was to make contact with Mark Dalrymple, the man known to be the loss adjuster acting for the painting's insurers. At the time of the theft Dalrymple had publicised a "substantial reward" for information leading to its return. The first question Ronald needed Dalrymple to answer was: Would any reward be more than the £700,000 needed to acquire the painting? If not, it wasn't viable to become involved.
Ronald wrote to Dalrymple requesting a meeting but, instead of agreeing, Dalrymple went to the police who put in place a pre-arranged ruse. Ronald was phoned by a man calling himself "John Craig" who said he had taken over the case from Mark Dalrymple and was acting as the direct representative of the Duke of Buccleuch. Craig was, in reality, an undercover policeman whose story was a complete fabrication. By Ronald's own admission he fell for it "hook, line and sinker". In a series of taped phone calls he went on to negotiate a payment of £2m: £700,000 for the possessor of the painting and the rest to be split between himself, Graham, Doyle, J and Frank. Later, Ronald negotiated a further £2.25m all for himself which no-one else was to know about. That cash was to be paid into a Swiss bank account.
Ronald raided his firm's client account for £350,000 required as an upfront payment to get possession of the painting. He last saw it disappearing into the boot of Graham's Jaguar as he drove off to retrieve the picture from J in the car park of The Child of Hale pub on Merseyside.
Robert Graham, 57, of Lancashire, told Edinburgh High Court that he met an underworld figure in a Liverpool car park and paid £350,000 for the canvas. The arrangement led to him travelling to the pub car park in Hale with £350,000 in the boot of his Jaguar to hand to an underworld figure who was in touch with the people who had the painting. Some hours later the man known to the trial only as Karl returned with the painting, covered by a white sheet, in a sponge-lined container.
Next day, 4 October 2007, Graham and Doyle delivered the painting to the boardroom of HBJ Gateley Wareing in West Regent Street. They handed it over to John Craig, posing beside it for photographs. Minutes later, the room was raided by police who took possession of the painting and arrested those involved in its return. Ultimately, the key to the whole case was the interpretation of John Craig's actions. The police said he was briefed to infiltrate and play along with an existing conspiracy. The defendants insisted that no conspiracy existed before Craig got involved and that he led five well-intentioned men, by the nose, into a trap.
source
A jury took eight hours to deliver its verdict after a trial lasting more than seven weeks. The case was found not proven against Marshall Ronald, Robert Graham and John Doyle, all from Lancashire. Glasgow solicitors Calum Jones and David Boyce were found not guilty.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Graham said the case should never have gone to court. "I do believe we are entitled to a reward," added his business partner Mr Doyle. "What we did was to bring back a culturally-significant masterpiece, which is something neither the police nor the insurers could do."We brought it back and we have been through two-and-a-half years of hell since."
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary also said they accepted the decision of the court. Det Supt Kate Thomson added that the theft of the painting remained a live investigation.
source1
source2
=======================================
Catching the theives
POLICE probing a £50million Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece heist have a DNA clue to one of the suspects. Police say it matches a sample recovered from a break-in bid at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow two years earlier. And there could be links to the theft of a £3million Cezanne from an Oxford art gallery at the millennium. Police hope the breakthrough will lead them to the gang behind the theft of the Madonna Of The Yarnwinder from the Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire in 2003. A police source said: "This is a really positive development. We are working throughout Europe to try to identify the DNA profile."It is clear the gang involved are serious organised criminals and that they targeted both Kelvingrove and Drumlanrig."Undoubtedly they have been involved in other art thefts.
source
=============================
The Law Case February 2013
Marshall Ronald, 56 of Skelmersdale, in Lancashire, is suing the Duke of Buccleuch for £4.25million. He has launched an action against the Duke and the chief constable of Dumfries and Galloway. Ronald and four others were cleared in April 2010 of conspiring to extort £4.25million for the painting’s return.
The duke and Mr Shearer are both defending the action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The court heard that Mr Ronald was struck off as a solicitor in England after his trial. A discipline tribunal said he had allowed himself to become involved in "a dubious transaction" and had withdrawn money from a client account without authority.
He has now resorted to the civil courts to pursue a compensation claim. In it he claims that under the terms of an alleged contract between him and an undercover officer, known as John Craig, it was agreed he would arrange for the return of the painting in return for sums totalling £4.25m being paid. He maintains that some of the money was being paid to people who could assist in the recovery of the painting and that it included a sum of £2m being transferred to a Swiss bank account in the name of Mr Ronald.
Andrew Young QC, for the Duke of Buccleuch, called it "a rather bizarre attempt" to fix a contract on the duke for something an undercover officer did in the execution of his normal investigatory role.
Maria Maguire QC, for chief constable Patrick Shearer, said "It is patently obvious that John Craig was an undercover officer who was acting at all times within that role." She added: "It cannot be possibly held with any degree of credibility that he was at any time acting as an agent of the Duke of Buccleuch or that he was entering an agreement on behalf of the chief constable of Dumfries and Galloway with this individual."She said the summons was "plainly irrelevant and quite frankly nonsense".
Alan Cowan, for Mr Ronald, told the court that a legal aid application had been made but a decision was not expected until March and sought to have a stay put on proceedings until then. Lord Doherty said he was not prepared to exercise his discretion to put a stay on the action and awarded expenses against Mr Ronald.
source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-21383555
===========================================
25 October, 2013
Grayson Perry: Reith Lectures
The Reith Lectures
John Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest.
Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9
Live Blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt/live
Grayson Perry on Bellebyrd
http://printaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/grayson-perry-speaks.html
====================================
Lecture One: Democracy Has Bad Taste
In the first of four lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Tate Modern in London, the artist Grayson Perry reflects on the idea of quality and examines who and what defines what we see and value as art. He argues that there is no empirical way to judge quality in art. Instead the validation of quality rests in the hands of a tightknit group of people at the heart of the art world including curators, dealers, collectors and critics who decide in the end what ends up in galleries and museums. Often the last to have a say are the public.
Perry examines the words and language that have developed around art critique, including what he sees as the growing tendency to over-intellectualise the response to art. He analyses the art market and quotes - with some irony - an insider who says that certain colours sell better than others. He queries whether familiarity makes us like certain artworks more, and encourages the public to learn to appreciate different forms of art through exploration and open-mindedness.
Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and is known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry as well as for his cross-dressing and alter-ego, Claire.
Transcript: Lecture One Download
Download Audio http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/reith/reith_20131015-1023c.mp3
==================================
Lecture Two : Beating the Bounds
The award-winning artist Grayson Perry asks whether it is really true that anything can be art. We live in an age when many contemporary artists follow the example of Marcel Duchamp, who famously declared that a urinal was a work of art. It sometimes seems that anything qualifies, from a pile of sweets on a gallery floor to an Oscar-winning actress asleep in a box. How does the ordinary art lover decide?
In a lecture delivered amidst the Victorian splendour of St. George's Hall in Liverpool, Perry analyses with characteristic wit the common tests - from commercial worth to public popularity to aesthetic value. He admits the inadequacies of such yardsticks, especially when applied to much conceptual and performance art. And he concludes that in his opinion, the quality most valued in the art world is seriousness.
Transcript, Lecture two Download
Download Audio http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/reith/reith_20131022-0940a.mp3
==================================
Lecture Three (to come)
==================================
Lecture Four (to come)
=================================
Video clips
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt/clips
=================================
John Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest.
Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9
Live Blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt/live
Grayson Perry on Bellebyrd
http://printaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/grayson-perry-speaks.html
====================================
Lecture One: Democracy Has Bad Taste
In the first of four lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Tate Modern in London, the artist Grayson Perry reflects on the idea of quality and examines who and what defines what we see and value as art. He argues that there is no empirical way to judge quality in art. Instead the validation of quality rests in the hands of a tightknit group of people at the heart of the art world including curators, dealers, collectors and critics who decide in the end what ends up in galleries and museums. Often the last to have a say are the public.
Perry examines the words and language that have developed around art critique, including what he sees as the growing tendency to over-intellectualise the response to art. He analyses the art market and quotes - with some irony - an insider who says that certain colours sell better than others. He queries whether familiarity makes us like certain artworks more, and encourages the public to learn to appreciate different forms of art through exploration and open-mindedness.
Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and is known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry as well as for his cross-dressing and alter-ego, Claire.
Transcript: Lecture One Download
Download Audio http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/reith/reith_20131015-1023c.mp3
==================================
Lecture Two : Beating the Bounds
The award-winning artist Grayson Perry asks whether it is really true that anything can be art. We live in an age when many contemporary artists follow the example of Marcel Duchamp, who famously declared that a urinal was a work of art. It sometimes seems that anything qualifies, from a pile of sweets on a gallery floor to an Oscar-winning actress asleep in a box. How does the ordinary art lover decide?
In a lecture delivered amidst the Victorian splendour of St. George's Hall in Liverpool, Perry analyses with characteristic wit the common tests - from commercial worth to public popularity to aesthetic value. He admits the inadequacies of such yardsticks, especially when applied to much conceptual and performance art. And he concludes that in his opinion, the quality most valued in the art world is seriousness.
Transcript, Lecture two Download
Download Audio http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/reith/reith_20131022-0940a.mp3
==================================
Lecture Three (to come)
==================================
Lecture Four (to come)
=================================
Video clips
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt/clips
=================================
Grayson Perry Speaks
Grayson Perry a self confessed "transvestite potter" who has "come out as a craftsman". Currently delivering the Reith Lectures at the Tate. This collection of videos presents a background to the lectures. There are two slide lectures by the artist about his work, one in Sydney and one on his home turf in London, separated by several years and the work produced in that time. An interview hosted by the Guardian where he answers audience questions. Most telling perhaps is the "In confidence" interview which goes beyond the artist-performer persona and provides glimpses of the man beneath the dress. There are repetitions of ideas, explanations and examples and you are left wondering how much of this is the man and how much is the therapy.
(image: screenshot, skateboarding through the V&A) =====================================
Published on 23 Sep 2013
Grayson Perry in Confidence
In Confidence is a British television series presented by Laurie Taylor and executive produced by Victor Lewis-Smith, in which a one-on-one in depth interview with a public figure takes place over the course of about an hour. The object of the interview is to try to get to the bottom of who the subject really is and how they think. The show airs on Sky Arts in the UK. wiki
=====================================
Published on 13 Apr 2012
Grayson Perry in conversation with Decca Aitkenhead at the Guardian Open Weekend. The Turner prize-winning artist took to the stage to answer readers' searching -- and often surprising -- questions about his life and work
=====================================
Published on 11 Aug 2013
Recorded by the University of Western Sydney
Grayson Perry Live at the MCA 2005 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney)
=====================================
Uploaded on 13 Jan 2010
A talk at Central Saint Martins by the artist known for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. The talk was entitled 'My Civilisation' and took place on Monday 16th November 2009 in the Cochrane Theatre.
part one
part two
part three question time
=====================================
Grayson Perry Wiki
at Saatchi see more info articles etc
http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/grayson_perry.htm
27 September, 2013
Scottish Printmaking: lecture
Lecture by Murdo Macdonald
'Printmaking and the Scottish GÃ idhealtac'
Filmed on 25 October 2012 at Edinburgh Printmakers
"Printmaking which refers to the culture of the Scottish Gà idhealtachd has been at the heart of Scottish art since the pioneering 'Ossian' etchings by Alexander Runciman in the late 18th Century. I'll explore this tradition up to the present, not least through the prints made in 2002 for An Leabhar Mòr / The Great Book of Gaelic, by artists such as Norman Shaw and Frances Walker.
Murdo Macdonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee. He is a former editor of Edinburgh Review. He is author of Scottish Art in Thames and Hudson's World of Art series. His recent research has explored the art of the Scottish GÃ idhealtachd, the cultural milieu of Patrick Geddes, and Robert Burns and visual thinking. He is an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy."
'Printmaking and the Scottish GÃ idhealtac'
Filmed on 25 October 2012 at Edinburgh Printmakers
"Printmaking which refers to the culture of the Scottish Gà idhealtachd has been at the heart of Scottish art since the pioneering 'Ossian' etchings by Alexander Runciman in the late 18th Century. I'll explore this tradition up to the present, not least through the prints made in 2002 for An Leabhar Mòr / The Great Book of Gaelic, by artists such as Norman Shaw and Frances Walker.
Murdo Macdonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee. He is a former editor of Edinburgh Review. He is author of Scottish Art in Thames and Hudson's World of Art series. His recent research has explored the art of the Scottish GÃ idhealtachd, the cultural milieu of Patrick Geddes, and Robert Burns and visual thinking. He is an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy."
Chauvet Cave : Art
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a 2010 3D documentary film by Werner Herzog, about the Chauvet Cave, a cavern in southern France that contains the oldest human-painted images yet discovered, some as old as 32,000 years.
============
The cave was discovered in December 1994 by three French cavers, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire. Following an air current coming from the cliff, they dug and crawled their way into the cave, which had been sealed tight for some 20,000 years. After finally making their way to an enormous chamber, Ms. Deschamps held up her lamp and, seeing an image of a mammoth, cried out, “They were here,” a glorious moment of discovery that closed the distance between our lost human past and our present.
source
============
also on vimeo without subtitles here
24 September, 2013
The Aviary on Facebook
The Aviary on Facebook.
PAGES
Bellebyrd
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellebyrd/192046857585986
This is an arts news site similar to Bellebyrd Blog
Print Australia
https://www.facebook.com/PrintAustralia
The official facebook page for Print Australia
Blakkbyrd
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blakkbyrd/153198931006
Blakkbyrd's artwork and exhibitions
GROUP
Print Australia Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/129979006463/
The offical Facebook group for Print Australia
HOME TIMELINE
Blakk Byrd
https://www.facebook.com/blakkbyrd
Blakkbyrd's wall
PAGES
Bellebyrd
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellebyrd/192046857585986
This is an arts news site similar to Bellebyrd Blog
Print Australia
https://www.facebook.com/PrintAustralia
The official facebook page for Print Australia
Blakkbyrd
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blakkbyrd/153198931006
Blakkbyrd's artwork and exhibitions
GROUP
Print Australia Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/129979006463/
The offical Facebook group for Print Australia
HOME TIMELINE
Blakk Byrd
https://www.facebook.com/blakkbyrd
Blakkbyrd's wall
Subject Index Dec 2012 - Aug 2013
Subject Index
December 2012 - August 2013
The Aviary
Subject Index Oct 2011 - Nov 2012
Printmaking
PRINTFEST UK
London Original Print Fair
3D printed reproduction
Artists/
Rosemarie Trockel
Joseph Loughborough
Cigdem Aydemir
David Hockney: Interview
Peter Doig
John Lennon, Yoko Ono; Interview
Lecture: William Kentridge
Painters Painting: Documentary
Exhibitions
Kunstrai Amsterdam
Cutlog NY 2013
NADA NYC 2013
Pulse NY 2013
Frieze Art Fair NY 2013
Theory
Art Criticism: Symposium
The Trouble with Art Criticism: Conference
The Trouble with Curating: Conference
Art Market and Art Fairs
Books
e-flux Journal
December 2012 - August 2013
The Aviary
Subject Index Oct 2011 - Nov 2012
Printmaking
PRINTFEST UK
London Original Print Fair
3D printed reproduction
Artists/
Rosemarie Trockel
Joseph Loughborough
Cigdem Aydemir
David Hockney: Interview
Peter Doig
John Lennon, Yoko Ono; Interview
Lecture: William Kentridge
Painters Painting: Documentary
Exhibitions
Kunstrai Amsterdam
Cutlog NY 2013
NADA NYC 2013
Pulse NY 2013
Frieze Art Fair NY 2013
Theory
Art Criticism: Symposium
The Trouble with Art Criticism: Conference
The Trouble with Curating: Conference
Art Market and Art Fairs
Books
e-flux Journal
22 September, 2013
Master Editions : Print Exhibition
Master Editions
Halcyon Gallery, London
19 Sep 2013 - 10 Nov 2013
http://www.halcyongallery.com/exhibitions/master-editions
"Ranging from the Old Masters, with works by Rembrandt, the Impressionists, and Modern Masters including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Joan Miró; the exhibition features leading artists from Europe and America. Exceptional pieces by Andy Warhol are also on show, as well as other contemporaneous artists including Robert Motherwell, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring."
Catalogues
Volume I
Volume II
Halcyon Gallery, London
19 Sep 2013 - 10 Nov 2013
http://www.halcyongallery.com/exhibitions/master-editions
"Ranging from the Old Masters, with works by Rembrandt, the Impressionists, and Modern Masters including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Joan Miró; the exhibition features leading artists from Europe and America. Exceptional pieces by Andy Warhol are also on show, as well as other contemporaneous artists including Robert Motherwell, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring."
Catalogues
Volume I
Volume II
Lecture: John Phillips 'Limited Imagination'
Lecture by John Phillips 'Limited Imagination'
@ Edinburgh Printmakers
From 31 January 2013
"At the heart of contemporary printmaking sits a glaring contradiction. Twisting common ubiquity into elitist rarity, practitioners who create limited editions almost universally celebrate print's democratic availability.
John Phillips, director of London Print Studio, will explore how and why this dilemma arose, and ask if, given changes to production and distribution wrought by new media, it is likely to remain in the future."
=========================
An illustrated discussion on the "limited edition" from a uk-centric viewpoint, as you would expect from a London based printmaker.
@ Edinburgh Printmakers
From 31 January 2013
"At the heart of contemporary printmaking sits a glaring contradiction. Twisting common ubiquity into elitist rarity, practitioners who create limited editions almost universally celebrate print's democratic availability.
John Phillips, director of London Print Studio, will explore how and why this dilemma arose, and ask if, given changes to production and distribution wrought by new media, it is likely to remain in the future."
=========================
An illustrated discussion on the "limited edition" from a uk-centric viewpoint, as you would expect from a London based printmaker.
20 September, 2013
Warhol and Candy : Robert Hughes
This interview featuring Andy Warhol and Candy Darling is narrated by Robert Hughes.
Talk: Mid-level Galleries in the Age of the Mega-gallery
Salon | Art Market Talk | The Place of Mid-level Galleries in the Age of the Mega-gallery
Filmed on June 13 2013 at Art Basel
Elizabeth Dee, Founder and President, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, Co-Founder and President of The Independent, New York
Edward Winkleman, Founder and President of Winkleman Gallery, New York, and Co-Founder of Moving Image Art Fair, New York/London
Moderator: Josh Baer, Art Advisor and Publisher of Baer Faxt, New York
What is a "Mid-Level Gallery"? What is a "Mega-Gallery"? How does the relationship between the artist and the gallery work? Are you as an artist getting this type of service from your gallery?
09 September, 2013
Degenerate Art
Entartete Kunst or Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937
“DEGENERATE ART: A POWERFUL STORY OF THE NAZIS' VILIFICATION OF THE AVANT-GARDE AND THEIR ATTACK ON MODERN CULTURE,”
Directed by David Grubin and narrated by David McCullough, this program examines the infamous Entartete Kunst (degenerate art) exhibition mounted by the Nazis in Munich in 1937
(with some commentary by Robert Hughes)
"The exhibit opened in Munich and then traveled to eleven other cities in Germany and Austria. In each installation, the works were poorly hung and surrounded by graffiti and hand written labels mocking the artists and their creations. Over three million visitors attended making it the first "blockbuster" exhibition. "
====================
In Munich, Julien Bryan documented the spirited Nazi assault on modern art when he visited the infamous and popular Entartete Kunst [Degenerate Art] exhibition. This exhibition featured over 650 paintings, sculptures, prints, and books which had been confiscated from German public museums, including the works of some important 20th century artists like Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Emil Nolde, Georg Grosz, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The pieces were chaotically hung with accompanying criticism and derisive text, in order to clarify to the German people what type of art was considered unacceptable. Afterwards, many works were sorted out for sale and sold at auction. Some were acquired by museums, and others by private collectors. Certain pieces were appropriated by Nazi officials and some were burned. Josef Goebbels ordered a more thorough scouring of German art collections after the exhibition, bringing the total number of modern works seized by the Nazis to over 16,000.
see original film here
======================
More informaton here
http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artdegen.htm
06 September, 2013
Howard Hodgkin
Andrew Graham-Dixon talks to Howard Hodgkin at Modern art Oxford
Hodgkin website: http://www.howard-hodgkin.com/
more interviews
http://www.howard-hodgkin.com/interviews
Hodgkin website: http://www.howard-hodgkin.com/
more interviews
http://www.howard-hodgkin.com/interviews
Global Art: Symposium
Symposium on Global Art in Salzburg
Salzburg, 30 June 2011, Art Media Agency (AMA).
The Swiss and Austrian departements of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts are hosting a symposium on global art from 29 July to 30 July 2011.
The symposium will engage with the way in which art is globalising, like all other sectors. Several questions will be approached, such as: “Does global art refer generally to art created no longer from the standpoint of western cultural superiority, but from the experience of globality and under the conditions of globalisation?” (xerem.org). Does international art exist? Does global art have an influence on contemporary art?
In spite of the steady development of Chinese art, the West has always imposed itself on the art market. For instance, Japanese contemporary art has not really spread to Western countries and African art has only recently attained recognition as an art form.
However, it is noteworthy that auction prices for Japanese art have risen since China’s domination of the art market, sparking an international interest in Asian ancient and contemporary art.
The guest speakers at the symposium will be: Nancy Adajania, Hans Belting, Bassam El Baroni, Peter Friedl, Samuel Herzog, Monica Juneja, Jitish Kallat, Maria Lind, Gerardo Mosquera, Senam Okudzeto and Simone Wille.
source
=====================
GLOBAL ARTS SYMPOSIUM:
Globalisation is generally taken to refer to an economic process. But what does this worldwide development signify for art? Are we at the beginning of a new development, which we might call global art -- and what do we understand by this? How far do the new living conditions of globality influence contemporary art? Since art has been internationally linked for centuries, is there now some new quality that distinguishes global art? How does what we might call global art relate to the debate on post-colonialism?
==================
Introduction: Hildagund Amand
==================
Hans Belting - "World art and global art. A new challenge to art history";
Lecture at the 29 July 2011 @ GLOBAL ART SYMPOSIUM 2011; ©2011 Laura Kokoshka, Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Hans Belting
Hans Belting, art historian, professor emeritus at the State University of Arts and Design, Karlsruhe.
==================
The remaining videos can be found on the Summer Academy site.
04 September, 2013
David Bailey:Andy Warhol
In the early 1970s, David Bailey, a renowned photographer began to work in film and began making high-profile documentaries for ATV. His reputation allowed him unprecedented access to some amazing people and places one of which was Andy Warhol and his followers. Exploring his art work and work in film, this documentary features candid discussions revolving around sexuality, Warhol’s life at The Factory and his experience of being shot. It was initially banned for being ‘offensive’, that ban was later overturned.
=========
"In bed with Warhol
In 1973 David Bailey got into bed with Andy Warhol. One was making a film about the other, but not the way around you’d expect. The film was due to be screened on TV but was pulled hours before broadcast, declared “offensive and indecent”. Well naturally.
Filmed as part of a triptych of fly-on-the-wall documentaries, the iconic photographer David Bailey interviewed Warhol, the film director Luchino Visconti (The Leopard) and the photographer Cecil Beaton. Bailey met Warhol before he was famous, even had tea with his mother. The bed scenario? “It was sort of a joke. Andy being camp.” Screened at Hamptons International Film Festival on Friday, the documentary reveals more about the artist than most attempts – there’s no secrets between the sheets. Working hard to project his art as nothing much in particular, nothing beyond its surface, and himself in the same way, Warhol is one of the most intriguing, beguiling characters in art history. But here he is in bed, with Bailey.
Last week, i-D Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Terry Jones met Bailey at Frieze and got talking about the documentary. Given the subject matter, Interview-style seemed fitting…
TJ: Look at the camera.
Bailey: I can see this blowing in the wind.
TJ: Have you heard that whole story about your dad sleeping with Andy?
Sacha Bailey: Warhol? Yeah sort of…
Bailey: It was for my art.
TJ: Art. Do people know the whole story?
Bailey: I doubt it. You want me to tell it now? I love the way he [Terry] thinks he’s getting around. It was sinful, Andy said I won’t do a film with you unless you go to bed with me so I said great, we can do the interview in bed together.
TJ: Did you keep your pants on?
Bailey: Oh I don’t remember. He wouldn’t show his scars, his Dior stitches. He always said, “I’m never naked because I look like a Dior dress, too many stitches.”
TJ: But that was the one where you were getting close in conversation with him?
Bailey: I think in all modesty, it’s the film where Warhol speaks the most out of all the films he’s ever done. He never really said anything. I had a bit of an advantage because I knew him ten years before he made the film, I knew him ten years before he got famous. It’s always easier if you know them before.
TJ: Was his mother around?
Bailey: Yeah, I had tea with her.
TJ: Why did he only want to do the interview in bed?
Bailey: It was sort of a joke, Andy being camp.
TJ: How long is the film?
Bailey: A television hour, 52 minutes, might have been an hour then. The film they’ve got left now is not a complete film, it has been cut about and chopped about, it’s still alright, in a way it gives it more of a history when it’s not the original, things have been taken out for censors and put back in the wrong place. It’s a bit of a hodge-podge but I quite like that.
TJ: What did you film it on?
Bailey: 16MM. "
source: http://i-donline.com/2011/10/in-bed-with-warhol/
=========
"In bed with Warhol
In 1973 David Bailey got into bed with Andy Warhol. One was making a film about the other, but not the way around you’d expect. The film was due to be screened on TV but was pulled hours before broadcast, declared “offensive and indecent”. Well naturally.
Filmed as part of a triptych of fly-on-the-wall documentaries, the iconic photographer David Bailey interviewed Warhol, the film director Luchino Visconti (The Leopard) and the photographer Cecil Beaton. Bailey met Warhol before he was famous, even had tea with his mother. The bed scenario? “It was sort of a joke. Andy being camp.” Screened at Hamptons International Film Festival on Friday, the documentary reveals more about the artist than most attempts – there’s no secrets between the sheets. Working hard to project his art as nothing much in particular, nothing beyond its surface, and himself in the same way, Warhol is one of the most intriguing, beguiling characters in art history. But here he is in bed, with Bailey.
Last week, i-D Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Terry Jones met Bailey at Frieze and got talking about the documentary. Given the subject matter, Interview-style seemed fitting…
TJ: Look at the camera.
Bailey: I can see this blowing in the wind.
TJ: Have you heard that whole story about your dad sleeping with Andy?
Sacha Bailey: Warhol? Yeah sort of…
Bailey: It was for my art.
TJ: Art. Do people know the whole story?
Bailey: I doubt it. You want me to tell it now? I love the way he [Terry] thinks he’s getting around. It was sinful, Andy said I won’t do a film with you unless you go to bed with me so I said great, we can do the interview in bed together.
TJ: Did you keep your pants on?
Bailey: Oh I don’t remember. He wouldn’t show his scars, his Dior stitches. He always said, “I’m never naked because I look like a Dior dress, too many stitches.”
TJ: But that was the one where you were getting close in conversation with him?
Bailey: I think in all modesty, it’s the film where Warhol speaks the most out of all the films he’s ever done. He never really said anything. I had a bit of an advantage because I knew him ten years before he made the film, I knew him ten years before he got famous. It’s always easier if you know them before.
TJ: Was his mother around?
Bailey: Yeah, I had tea with her.
TJ: Why did he only want to do the interview in bed?
Bailey: It was sort of a joke, Andy being camp.
TJ: How long is the film?
Bailey: A television hour, 52 minutes, might have been an hour then. The film they’ve got left now is not a complete film, it has been cut about and chopped about, it’s still alright, in a way it gives it more of a history when it’s not the original, things have been taken out for censors and put back in the wrong place. It’s a bit of a hodge-podge but I quite like that.
TJ: What did you film it on?
Bailey: 16MM. "
source: http://i-donline.com/2011/10/in-bed-with-warhol/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)