Masterpiece

Redevelopment of the former Department of Lands building on Sydney’s Bridge Street wins National Trust heritage awardIt was once a grand old sandstone masterpiece, where returned soldiers would cram into marble corridors to anxiously await lottery draws that could change their lives.Then the 20th century happened. Continue reading...

Sotheby’s said collection of billionaire Spurs’ owner Joe Lewis and daughter Vivienne expected to fetch more than £150m in June saleA major group of masterpieces by some of modern art’s biggest names is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in what is expected to be the most valuable collection ever offered in London.The works, consigned by Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne – whose family owns Tottenham Hotspur – include paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Chaïm Soutine, Lucian Freud, and Gustave Caillebotte. Sotheby’s said the group is expected to realise more than £150m. Continue reading...

Cultural figures sign open letter asking government for clarity on how long landmark collection will remain abroadOne of the world’s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, is set to be exported to Spain under an agreement with Banco Santander, sparking outrage among Mexico’s cultural community.Nearly 400 cultural professionals have signed an open letter calling on the Mexican government to offer greater clarity on what the deal means for the masterpieces, particularly the works by Kahlo, which the Mexican state has declared an “artistic monument”. Continue reading...

Piece by late South African artist Dumile Feni is part of new series History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme On the second floor of the Reina Sofía, in the very spot where Picasso’s Guernica was first exhibited when it arrived in the Madrid museum 34 years ago, there now hangs a smaller, near-namesake of the Spanish artist’s most famous work.While African Guernica, which was drawn by the late South African artist Dumile Feni in 1967, may lack the scale of Picasso’s masterpiece, its depth, anger and unnerving juxtaposition of man and beast, light and dark, and innocence and cruelty, are every bit as disturbing. Continue reading...