What Scots Think Of Art

The Scots are a nation of stay-at-homes compared to the rest of the UK when it comes to art galleries, theatres and arts events, new research suggests. The figures were unveiled yesterday at a conference, Glasgow 20:20 Vision, which focused on how to increase audiences for the arts. In Scotland, only 21 per cent of people said they had visited a museum or art gallery in the last 12 months. In England and Wales, the figure was 37 per cent. The reason given by most Scots for not going to a gallery or museum was they were "not interested".
For the full story - click the title
Irish Art

Artist To Sue Over Jesus

Officials have removed several paintings from a Black History Month display in Orlando, Florida because of concerns the works were overtly religious. The works, which included a person wearing a cap that read "I Love Jesus," were taken down from the City Hall display last week.
Artist Lloyd Marcus said Wednesday the artwork is merely based on childhood memories of his father's Baltimore church and is not intended to make a political statement. "I feel like we are asked to tolerate every religion but anything with Jesus or any hint of Christianity is banned from the public square," Marcus said. The Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal advocacy group, said it plans to file a lawsuit later this week.
Irish Art

Picasso Art To Fetch $50 Million

A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress Dora Maar that has been in private hands for more than 40 years will be auctioned in New York in May and could raise more than $50 million, Sotheby's said on Thursday. "The portraits of Dora Maar are among the most popular and most important works that he did," Charles Moffett, vice chairman of Sotheby's, told Reuters. "For the better part of a decade she was his muse, his model, his intellectual companion, his intellectual sparring partner." The painting, "Dora Maar au chat," shows Maar seated in a chair with a small black cat perched behind her right shoulder. Moffett said the painting stands out for its vivid colors and its clawlike depiction of Maar's hands.
For the full story - click the title
Irish Art

Art Expert OK's Rembrandts

Two paintings from Warsaw's royal palace art collection are by the 17th- century artist Rembrandt, a Polish art official has said. Art historians have been arguing over the authenticity of the two paintings since 1969. Regina Dmowska, who is in charge of restoring the paintings, said Rembrandt art expert Ernst van den Wetering examined the works and declared them genuine.
For the full story - click the title
Irish Art

£258m At London Art Sales

Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the top two art sellers, raised a record 258.8 million pounds ($451 million) at their London winter art sales last week amid signs new art collectors are bidding up prices. The winter auctions, featuring artists from Edvard Munch to Francis Bacon, were London's biggest ever, exceeding 1989 totals before art prices last crashed. U.S. and Asianart buyers pushed sale totals 5 percent above auctioneers' top estimate of 245 million pounds. Last February's total was 170.6 million pounds. Star artists were Anthony Caro, Chaim Soutine, Egon Schiele and Munch. Some Andy Warhol prints took four times their estimates in another sign that so-called 20th-century art classics are attracting wealthy first-time buyers. Contemporary art values have nearly quadrupled since 1995. Most art sold last week will wind up in private collectors' hands, auctioneers said. Sotheby's and Christie's hold their next big art sales in New York in May, followed by June auctions in London.

Art Behind The Scream

Edvard Munch's painting The Scream has become a powerful metaphor for the dark agony of the 20th century. Yet outside his native Norway, little is known about the rest of his work or his life. Anyone wanting to correct this omission would be well advised to read this outstanding biography Behind The Scream which is full of insights into Munch's tortured family life (full of icy Protestant asceticism), fascinating asides (did you know that Munch's uncle is known as "the father of Norwegian history"?) and genuinely informative observations about the nature of Munch's art.

This is one of those old-fashioned, admirable biographies where the author carefully dissects the psychology of both the family and the individual and builds up an image which is so dense and intensely created that it feels more like a novel. The result is an image of a painter that seems to be a Scandinavian echo of the torment and emotional intensity of Van Gogh.