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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