A Lesser-Known Venus Visits The U.S. In New Botticelli Exhibit
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Sabauda Gallery/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The famous Renaissance painting of the goddess Venus, standing nude on a clam shell, has been appropriated, satirized and riffed on so many times — by everyone from Andy Warhol, to Lady Gaga, toThe Simpsons — that it's easy to lose track of its origins.
Now, a major traveling exhibition tells the story of Italian painter Sandro Botticelli, who painted the Venus 500 years ago. "Botticelli and the Search for the Divine" features a different Venus — and many other works — visiting the U.S. for the first time. The show is a partnership between the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Va., and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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At $110.5 Million, Basquiat Painting Becomes Priciest Work Ever Sold By A U.S. Artist
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Jean-Michel Basquiat's untitled painting of a skull is displayed behind an official with Sotheby's, which offered the media a preview earlier this month. On Thursday, the work sold for $110.5 million — the highest sum ever paid at auction for a work by a U.S. artist.
Jean-Michel Basquiat joined "joined the pantheon of great, great artists" Thursday night, when the late painter's 1982 work Untitled sold for a record-breaking $110.5 million at auction — the highest sum ever paid at auction for a U.S.-produced artwork.
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Home Is Where The Art Is: The Unlikely Story Of Folk Artist Maud Lewis
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Maud Lewis, who never had any formal art training, painted the scenes she saw around her home in Nova Scotia. She painted Coastal Scene with Gulls on particleboard in the 1960s.
There's no rain in her clouds, no gray in her shadows; Maud Lewis' small paintings are bright with sunshine, and filled with blue skies, crystal snow and calm waters. Now, a new movie tells the true story of a painter from Nova Scotia whose joyful works hardly hint at the difficult life she led.
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With Chemistry And Care, Conservators Keep Masterpieces Looking Their Best
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Senior conservator of paintings Ann Hoenigswald works to fill in elements of Paul Cézanne's Riverbank c. 1895 in the National Gallery of Art's Paintings Conservation Lab in Washington, D.C.
Behind the scenes at major art museums, conservators are hard at work, keeping masterpieces looking their best. Their methods are meticulous — and sometimes surprising.
The painting conservation studio at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is filled with priceless works sitting on row after row of tall wooden easels, or lying on big, white-topped worktables.
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Richard Clayderman - Lyphard Melody
Richard Clayderman - Lyphard Melody
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Frida Kahlo Celebrated With An Attempt At A World Record
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Elisa Saldivar gets a Frida Kahlo-inspired look, courtesy of Reina Rebelde. The makeup line was helping participants in the record attempt get ready before the final tally.
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Alice Cooper Finds Andy Warhol Art After 40 Years In Storage
In the 1970s, Alice Cooper received a silkscreen by his friend Andy Warhol. Then he forgot about it. He and his manager dug it out of storage, and now it may be worth millions.
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Berkshire Museum announced it would sell 40 works
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The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass., announced it would sell 40 works to fund its renovation and endowment, raising concerns from museum organizations that the instiution is treating its collection "as a disposable financial asset." Above, an exhibit at the museum in 2003.
A museum in Western Massachusettts has found itself as the focus of a recurrent discussion in the art world: Is it ever okay for a museum to sell some of its works for financial reasons?
For Van Shields, executive director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, the answer is a firm yes.
In a press release, the museum outlined a funding strategy for a "reinvention plan" in which it has "a heightened emphasis on science and history as well as the arts." The museum wants to raise $60 million to carry out its new vision: $40 million to add to its endowment, and $20 million to renovate its building.
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