Edvard Munch Thieves Convicted

Three works stolen from the Malmo Art Museum including a 1.2 million dollar painting by the Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch.”Two Friends.” were recovered when Swedish police investigating other crimes stumbled upon stolen art. The thieves were convicted by the Swedish court on Wednesday jailing one of the unidentified men for six months and fining the other two. The judge ordered all three to pay damages amounting to 33,000 kronor.  Read More......

Dan Flavin Work Classified By EU as Light fittings

Works by the late American sculptor Dan Flavin have had VAT applied as EU says works are 'light fittings' The sculptures shown at the Haunch Of Venison Gallery in London have been classified as light fixtures rather than art and £36,000 in VAT has been applied which remains outstanding while the dispute continues. As sculptures, the pieces would be subject to only 5 per cent VAT.In its ruling, the European Court said Flavin’s work has “the characteristics of lighting fittings … and is therefore to be classified … as wall lighting fittings".Read More...

Falling Water Gingerbread House Unveiled

The most original design for a gingerbread house this year has to go Melodie and Brenton, for the ‘Falling Water Gingerbread House’ a model of Frank Lloyd Wright's well known work, from 1935.The original house, in rural Pennsylvania stands as one of Wright's greatest masterpieces, both for its dynamism and for its integration with the striking natural surroundings. Read More....

Warhol Foundation Founder Dies

John Warhola, elder brother of artist Andy Warhol has died, on Christmas Eve, in Pittsburgh, from pneumonia. He was 85.  Warhola, was one of the three founding members of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and guardian of his legacy. He was a driving force and spearheaded the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh an archive that holds many of Warhol’s work along with original studio contents and letters. A third brother, Paul became an artist, late in life with public exhibitions and widespread interest, Donald Warhola said his dad preferred to focus on the museums and his three children.  Read More...

Arts Council England Absorbs Museums Libraries and Archives Council

These things always happen just before the holiday break.The Department for Culture,Media and Sport (DCMS) under the new Coalition Government, as part of the spending review announced in October, has placed Arts Council England in charge of the budgets of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Read More...

ICA Lambasted By Independent Report

A confidential, independent report leaked this week has revealed that the ICA suffered poor leadership under the rein of  (Director) Ekow Eshun and former BBC One Controller, (Chairman) Alan Yentob. Both have now departed and the Gallery is attempting damage limitation, reeling from a £700,000 plunge into the red, in 2009.The likely reason for the crisis stems from financial decisions taken by Eshun and Guy Perricone, the former managing director at the ICA, who resigned in October 2009.
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AA Bronson National Portrait Gallery Protest Latest

AA Bronson’s poignant wall-size color portrait of artist/colleague Felix Partz, a few hours after he died of complications from AIDS,will remain displayed in the exhibition, “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” at The American National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, despite Bronson’s recent request for the portrait to be  removed as a protest over the censoring of a video segment by David Wojnarowicz titled “A Fire in My Belly,.” The video contains an eleven second segment depicting ants crawling atop a crucifix and has been criticised by the powerful Catholic League, a right-wing conservative religious organization. Read More....

City of Sculpture Festival Wows London Christmas Shoppers

Park Lane, known as Monopoly's most expensive street is now hosting ‘The City of Sculpture Festival’ which transforms the heart of the capital's outdoor parks into a world class art gallery by displaying 60 works of contemporary sculpture.The exhibition has been a hit with Christmas shoppers and it looks set to be one of London's top free cultural events of 2010. 
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Ai Weiwei Exhibition At London’s Lisson Gallery Spring 2011

The Lisson Gallery in London have announced that they will be representing Ai Weiwei the Chinese dissident artist responsible for the artistic embellishments displayed on the ‘Birds Nest’ stadium at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He was also this years Unilever commission winner where his ‘Sunflower Seeds' project, filled the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. Weiwei is widely regarded on an international level.  Read More.....


photo: MATTHEW MILES © 2010

9/11 Sculpture for London’s Southbank

An 8-meter sculpture fashioned from girders reclaimed from the world trade centre site is to be erected on Potters Fields Park outside the new City Hall in London’s Southbank. The sculpture designed by American, Miya Ando will incorporate girders from sections of the ruined skyscrapers. They have been donated by the New York Port Authority for the project. This will commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and be unveiled at the precise time of the atrocity, creating a permanent tribute to honour the attack’s 2,977 victims. Read More...

Captain Beefheart Dies At 69

Captain Beefheart AKA Don Van Vliet a legendary figure in both music and the visual arts has died age 69. Growing up in Glendale, California, Van Vliet gained notoriety as a sculptor of life-like animal forms depicted in clay. He would continue to draw, paint and sculpt throughout his life, and in later years painted works which could be compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat. In the early 1960s music became his main passion. Performing under the stage name Captain Beefheart, together with his Magic Band Don Van Vliet produced a number of highly unconventional blues- and rock-inspired albums. He also collaborated with Frank Zappa a friend and fellow student at high school. Van Vliet ultimately secured a place in music history as one of the most original recording artists of his day. After two decades in the spotlight as an avant-garde rock composer and performer, Don Van Vliet turned his back on the music industry and from the early 1980s devoted his entire efforts to painting. Read More.....

Christmas Time At Goldman Sachs

$111million in bonuses are to be paid out to top Goldman Sachs executives despite the $10 billion of U.S. bailout money given in 2008. This deal still goes ahead, in the face of the worst world recession for 80 years. Read More.....

Tacita Dean Next Unilever Artist Tate Modern

Tate Modern and Unilever have announced that Tacita Dean will create the twelfth commission in The Unilever Series for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The work will be unveiled on 11 October 2011. Tacita Dean is one of the most respected artists working today. Her practice encompasses artist’s books, drawing, found objects, photography and sound installations, but she is best known for her use of 16mm film. Read More.....

Jeremy Hunt Announces US Style Philanthropy Plan

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt who will always be best remembered for James Naughtie and Andrew Marr’s four-letter slip up has announced that the government is to make available an £80m 'matching fund' for arts organisations. The idea behind this move is not rocket science, or even science. It is simply a price matching exercise, which forces organizations to go out and prove themselves, before acquiring any form of Government funding. These funds will in theory come from private donations, than the government will apparently match this donation. Read Full Article....

Museum of Everything Goes to Russia

The Museum of Everything, AKA the international museum for non-traditional and self-taught art will collaborate with, The Garage a Moscow venue, designed in 1926 by the Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov. The gallery is run by Daria Zhukova, the 29-year-old girlfriend of Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. Read Full Article .....

Picasso Auction Disputed in Paris

 Cancelled Auction raises ownership questions

An auction, which included several works by the master, Pablo Picasso was cancelled yesterday after questions were raised about the ownership of the lots on offer. The auction of 143 pieces by Picasso belong to the estate of his former driver, Maurice Bresnu, all were dated between 1967 and 1973. The Paris auction house 'Blanchet and Associates', connected to Hotel Drouot, stated that works, including one of Picasso’s palettes has been withdrawn until further notice.  Read More....

Brooke Shields Nude Photographer Garry Gross Dies

Should we morn the passing of Garry Gross? For those who think the name vaguely rings a bell, he was the exploitive creator of the original image of a ten-year-old Brooke Shields who posed in the buff dressed as a turn of the century Lolita. This image was taken in a shoot arranged by her mother, of all people. It passed without a blink of an eye in the 1970’s when Playboy published it in a book titled, "Sugar and Spice" but became a cause de celebre when Shields sued the photographer after becoming famous. Gross who exited the States for Italy until 2006,won the case on appeal.US Artist Richard Prince Read Full Story..

Olympic Artists Announced For 2012

David Hockney Photo © ArtLyst 2009

David Hockney, Lucian Freud, Rachel Whiteread and Martin Creed are some of the visual artists the DCMS has announced to officially represent London during the 2012 Olympics. More than 1,000 nationwide events ranging from dance, music, theater, the visual arts, film and digital innovation are planned with the aim of pulling in over three million people. The Festival will leave a lasting legacy for the arts in the UK. The visual arts include special commissions in development by contemporary artists as well as major exhibitions. Read Full Article....

London Art Fair 2011

London Art Fair presents over 100 galleries featuring the great names of 20th Century British art and exceptional contemporary work from leading figures and emerging talent.

This January over 100 leading Modern British and contemporary art galleries will be brought together for the 23rd edition of the London Art Fair – the UK’s largest Modern British and
Contemporary art fair – at the Business Design Centre, Islington.
Every year, 23,000 visitors enjoy the work of over 1,000 leading artists ranging from Modern British masters to the most recent contemporary talent. Galleries are chosen by a selection  Read More....

Christmas Art Exhibitions In London

The Free ArtLyst App will help you find all of the interesting art exhibitions in London over the holiday period. Download our featured App from the App Store Today!!!!

 ArtLyst has developed a new App for your iPhone.This innovative App is the most comprehensive listings guide for sourcing Art Exhibitions, Art Fairs and Art Auctions in London. The App also features breaking Art News, Top Art Features and Reviews. Download today FREE @ the App Store.
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Susan Philipsz Wins Turner Prize 2010

Susan Philipsz Awarded Turner Prize At Tate Britain

The 2010 Turner Prize outcome reflects the necessity to select more women candidates for this coveted award. This year, two of the four candidates were women and the favourite Susan Philipsz, has won. Her moody sound installations, which are less about superficial appearance and more about the processes of swimming in the experience of sound convinced the jury. I have to say her installation work is better suited to the outdoor urban environment, than closed into a white room at Tate Britain.Susan Philipsz’s work is far more sublime and visually it barely exists. She paints with sound and emotive melancholy. Her work at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and in Mirrors, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Spain captured the critics attention. Philipsz uses her own singing voice to create uniquely evocative sound installations that respond to the character of specific, often out-of-the-way spaces. The work installed at Tate Britain puts her work into a “Public Art context” Her current exhibition presented by Artangle, “SURROUND ME A Song Cycle for the City of London” is open Saturdays & Sundays only, 10am - 5pm
 9 until 2 January 2011. This will give the visitor a better idea of what Susan Philipsz is about. Read Full Leaked Report...

Turner Prize 2010 Latest News

The 2010 Turner Prize will be announced live on Channel 4 sometime after 7:00 pm Monday 6 December. The winner is often a surprise and difficult to predict. Last years winner, Richard Wright was an outsider. It was thought Roger Hiorns would win for his installation, "Seizure" a vast room compiled of copper sulphate crystals, but the prize was handed to Wright, for his more traditional wall and floor pieces. This year it is thought that Susan Philipsz  will walk away with the honour for her sound installations.  Read More Watch Video ....

Turner Prize 2010 Bookies Odds - Fancy a Flutter

Which artist will take home the controversial Turner Prize? The Turner Prize is awarded to new artists with an aim to celebrate younger talent and to focus attention on new developments in the visual arts in Britain. The shortlist of four Artists representing the Jurors decision for 2010 are: The painterly installations of Angela de la Cruz, sound artist Susan Philipsz, film installation artists, The Otolith Group and the more traditional painter, Dexter Dalwood. But what are the Bookies predictions?  Read More....

Government Art Collection On View At Whitechapel

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Prime Minister’s wife Samantha Cameron, Lord Mandelson and the British Ambassador to Moscow are among the high profile figures to select work for the first ever public exhibition of the Government Art Collection, opening at the Whitechapel Gallery on 3rd June 2011.Highlights from the Collection will be shown in a series of five successive displays, marking the first time the collection has been shown in a public gallery in its 113 year history. It is part of the Whitechapel Gallery’s ongoing programme of opening up collections that are rarely seen by the public in the UK and will be free to attend.The diverse nature of the Collection and its role promoting British culture on the world stage is the subject of a total of five displays at the Whitechapel Gallery.  Read More....

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize shortlist announced

 The Photographers Gallery have announced the shortlist for the annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. The award honours a living photographer for their significant contribution to photography over the last year. Now in its 15th year, The Photographers’ Gallery’s annual prize of £30,000 is open to any nationality and awarded for the most significant contribution to photography in Europe. The prize exhibition is held 2 - 29 April.  Read More....

Picasso Hoard Discovered in Garage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

271 undocumented works by Pablo Picasso estimated to be worth at least €60 million (£50 million) have been discovered in the South of France. A retired French electrician and his wife have revealed the paintings drawings and prints, which had been stored in a garage for over 30 years. Read More....

BFI Takes Over UK Film Council funding Role

The BFI (British Film Institute) is set to take over the funding role previously managed by the UK Film Council. It was controversially removed in July with the abolition of the body. The new responsibilities will start in April 2011 and the BFI will also distribute lottery money to filmmakers based in the UK. Regional agency Film London will take on the Film Council's role in promoting the UK as a filmmaking destination.

Culture Minster Ed Vaizey set out a package of measures today to ‘support’ UK filmmakers, creating financial stability and a more direct and open relationship with the Government. The key parts of the proposal include:

The BFI will take on a key role as the lead strategic film body and distributor of Lottery funds to UK filmmakers.
Lottery funds for film will rise from around £27m today to around £43m annually by 2014; and
Film London will be given a UK-wide responsibility to promote this country as the best place to invest in film.
DCMS and BFI will lead a review on how to build a more sustainable film industry and develop audiences for British films.
The BFI will work with Film London, BAFTA and to consider the role BAFTA and BBC Worldwide could play to support the distribution of British films abroad; and English Regional Screen Agencies are transforming their network into Creative England, a more efficient structure with an expanded remit to support the creative industries. Read More.....

Turner Prize Goes To Londonderry In 2013

The 2013 Turner Prize is to be hosted in Londonderry Northern Ireland as part of its city of culture celebrations. The UK City of Culture also stands to host The Booker and the Brits. The three-month-long Turner Prize exhibition will highlight the 5 shortlisted artists, and culminate with the prize giving ceremony announcing the winner. It is expected to attract up to 100,000 visitors to the city. The Tate, which runs the Turner Prize, said showing it outside London would “attract new audiences around the country and bring the prize to a wider and more diverse audience outside the capital. Read More.....

Lélia Pissarro - THE COLOURS OF SILENCE - Stern Pissarro Gallery

New Works
The subject of this series of snow paintings is Yeyette Lebatard’s house, in the heart of the Calvados village of Clécy, a motif Lélia visited five years ago but explores again with a fresh eye, a fresh mind and a different technique.

Again, Lélia concentrates on the exploration of variation within a single subject, achievable only through a series of repetitions, each one finely yet distinctly different from the preceding canvas.

Lélia Pissarro has painted since the age of 4, having been educated by her grandfather Paulémile and her father H.Claude Pissarro Read More....

Lord Chadlington Appointed New Chairman of LAPADA

LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers has announced the appointment of Lord Chadlington as their new Chairman.  The founder of PR giant Shandwick, Lord Chadlington is currently Chief Executive of Huntsworth plc, the international public relations and healthcare communications company, a former Director of Halifax plc, and was made a Life Peer in 1996.  His knowledge of communications, business and politics provides a sound depth of experience with which to lead LAPADA through the current economic climate.  Next week a formal announcement will be made with regards to the appointment of the Association’s new Chairman. Read More.....

Government Encourages Museums to Sell off Some Family Treasures

Does the new Coalition Government want Museums to sell off some of the family treasures? In late October, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey was asked by the Museum journal, Should cash strapped Museums be allowed to sell from collections, in order to stay open? and as repugnant as it sounds to all of us insiders, the minister from the DCMS has said that museums should not “shy away from disposal” as a way of refreshing collections but added that museums being forced to sell collections in order to stay open would be a “terrible thing”. Vaizey response acknowledged that selling collections is a “hugely emotional” issue.
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Whitney Biennial Choses Curators

The seventy-sixth Whitney Biennial in 2012 will be co-curated by Independent curator Jay Sanders and the Whitney’s Elisabeth Sussman. The series of annual and biennial exhibitions was inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and has continued to be a fixture of important international art events for the last 80 years.  Read More....

Leading UK Museum Director Resigns

Sir Mark Jones, The Victoria & Albert Museum director, is leaving his job to become Master of St Cross College Oxford. The London museum made the announcement on Friday. The former director of the National Museums of Scotland was knighted in the 2010 New Year's honours list for services to the arts and has been the director at the V&A since 2001. Read More....

Banksy Oscar Nomination

Exit Through the Gift Shop, the Banksy documentary that was released earlier this year, has been placed on the long-list, for an Oscar in the category of, Best Documentary Film. The feature, which is narrated by Welsh Actor, Rhys Ifans and is really more about the American Graffiti Artist/Fan Thierry Guetta, is an engaging and extremely watchable film. The outsider status of graffiti artist Banksy may be further challenged but the bottom line is, this is a very good film. Read More.....

Cindy Sherman Becomes Honorary Member The Royal Academy of Arts

Photographer Cindy Sherman, has been invited by The Royal Academy Of Arts in London, to become an honourary member. This rare token has been given to only a handful of elite American and international Artists, in the last century. Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1954. She studied art at Buffalo State College (1972–6) specializing in photography. Her photographs are portraits of herself in various scenarios that parody stereotypes of woman. Numerous characters and settings are drawn from sources of popular culture: old movies, television soaps and pulp magazines. While the mood of Sherman's early works ranges from quiet introspection to provocative sensuality, there are elements of horror and decay.  Read More....

Eight UK Museums Lose Government Funding

The DCMS as part of its four-year business plan, has announced, it will no longer fund eight Museums that it currently sponsors. It will scrap national funding of “museums that should be the responsibility of local communities”. This affects eight non-national museums: the Design Museum; the Geffrye Museum; the Horniman Museum and Gardens; the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester; the National Coal Mining Museum for England; the National Football Museum; the People’s History Museum; and Tyne and Wear Museums. These institutions will now be turned over to their local communities and own resources for funding. If this is unworkable and private funding unavailable, they may simply shut. Read More...

Neville Gabie Appointed Artist In Residence For 2012 Olympics

Artist Neville Gabie  has been appointed by the  ODE (Olympic Delivery Authority) as  the Artist in residence for the 2012 Olympic park, in East London. The Authority will work alongside the park's diverse communities in order to create a memorable cultural experience. A similar honour was awarded to Chinese dissident Artist, Ai Weiwei for the recent 2008 Beijing Olympics. Read More....

LIU XIAOBO 10 WAYS to FREE the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER

In light of the Global Action plan to run a Media campaign on the 3rd of Dec 2010 and a Peaceful Demonstration day on the 5th of Dec 2010, to Free the Nobel Peace Prize Winner. HKalliance (www.alliance.org.hk) has 10 Practical Action plans for those who wish to protest against an unfair rule of law that permits “political prisoner jails” in CCPcontrolled China: By Cecilia W Yu (余詠詩)  Read More...

£53 Million “Pinner” Chinese Vase Sets Auction Record

An auction record was set this week for a piece of Chinese art, when a 16 inch high ceramic vase decorated with 4 circular cartouches, each masterfully carved and enameled with carp (a symbol of plenty) beneath a primrose yellow trumpet neck sold through the small suburban auction room, Bainbridges in Ruislip, Middlesex UK. Read More.....

Christie's Record Breaking Contemporary Art Sale

Auction News    

The highest total for a Post-War and Contemporary Art sale was achieved yesterday when Christie’s New York led by an exceptional group of works from Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Gerhard Richter pushed prices even higher into the art world stratosphere. A total of $272,873,000/£169,181,260 /€199,197,290, selling 93% by lot and 92% by value was achieved. Read More....

Jack Levine Social Realist Painter Dies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Levine the American Social Realist Painter has died, he was 95. Levine was born in Boston on January 3, 1915 and grew up on the rough, teeming streets of Boston's South End, a predominantly Irish area of town.In the depths of the Depression, his mother made lunches for the bootleggers in the neighbourhood. Read More....

Stuart Cary Welch Collection Of Islamic and Indian Art Offered By Sotheby's

Sotheby’s has announced today the sale of works from the personal collection of Indian and Islamic Art acquired by the late American academic, Stuart Cary Welch. This renowned collector pioneered this area of art collecting as early as 1952. He was also a curator, scholar and gifted teacher. Read More..

Museums Denied Access To Private Donations By Treasury

The British Museum and the National Gallery are finding it difficult to access over £50m given by private donors because of changes to Treasury regulations implemented under the last government. The scale of the problem is widespread, as the reserves for all national museums total over £285m. The museums have not openly admitted that a problem exists fearing repercussions from a Treasury who has already cut their budgets by up to 30%. It has been agreed that national museums can have access to half their reserves, amounting to  £143m. Although in theory museums should now have access to half their £285m of reserves, DCMS has not yet told them how the new system will actually work.  Read More......

Artist Ai Weiwei Under House Arrest

Ai Weiwei The Chinese Artist responsible for the Sunflower seed installation, this years Unilever sponsored exhibit in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, has been placed under house arrest in his residence in Beijing. It was reported on Sunday afternoon that three men in plainclothes in a minivan with no license plates was blocking the entrance to Ai's home in an artists colony on the eastern edge of the city. "I'm under house arrest to prevent me from going to Shanghai. You can never really argue with this government". Read More....

Arts Council England To Cut 100 Organisations

More than 100 smaller organisations are likely to lose their Arts Council funding. The announcement follows the government’s decision to slash funding for the arts by 29.6% as part of the comprehensive spending review. Tate,V&A, British Museum, ICA, National Gallery as well as the The Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet are among the organisations supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England currently distributes cash to about 850 groups. They want to make recipients more accountable and open up the process to new organisations. Read More....

Kengo Kuma To Design V&A Museum Dundee

The Japanese architectural firm Kengo Kuma & Associates have been chosen to design a new museum in Dundee. The project, sponsored by the V&A, was put to tender by an international competition. Which included  The six shortlisted firms, chosen from more than 120 entries by firms around the globe.  Read More...

Zaha Hadid,New Serpentine Gallery Building For 2012

The Serpentine Gallery along with the Royal Parks have agreed to a contract for a new venue
in Kensington Gardens. This will work along side the already existing Serpentine 'Magazine' building.
The project, to be known as the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, has been made possible by The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation which has given the largest single gift the Serpentine
Gallery has received in its 40 year history. It is rumored that Zaha Hadid is to renovate the existing building to create a new and exciting venue for contemporary art. Read Full Story

RCA SECRET 2010

COLLECT A PIECE OF ART HISTORY FOR JUST £45 

It's November again and this means it's time for the RCA Secret annual contemporary art exhibition. ArtLyst will keep you up to date with all of the exhibition information. We may even hold your place in the queue if you need to pop out for a coffee! This sale consisting of around 2,500 original postcard-sized artworks, made and donated by professional artists, designers and illustrators, plus up-and-coming students and alumni from the Royal College of Art.  The cards are all sold to the public in a huge sale, with every postcard costing just £45, regardless of whether it has been made by a famous name or a young art student.

 What’s the Secret?  Each postcard is signed on the back, so collectors don’t know the identity of the artist until they have made their purchase. Although it can help to know the difference between a drawing by Tracey Emin and a sketch by Sir Paul Smith, a lot of it is down to pure luck and many collectors don’t realise whose work they have chosen until they hand over their cash on the sale day. 

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