Quick Takes - January 2010
1. DALLAS, TX.- The second annual Dallas Art Fair presented by Veuve Clicquot will return to the city on Friday, February 5 through Sunday, February 7, 2010. A preview Gala will be held on Thursday evening, February 4, From mid-morning to early evening over the three days of the fair, visitors may visit and purchase art from renowned art dealers and experts from across the United States and Great Britain. Celebrating modern and contemporary art, the 2010 Dallas Art Fair will showcase paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints and photographs from post war artists represented by more than 50 prominent art dealers. . Located at the Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.), within walking distance of world-class cultural institutions of the Dallas Arts District including the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Meyerson Symphony Center and the newly-opened AT&T Performing Arts Center, this event will again draw established and aspiring art collectors and enthusiasts from throughout the Southwest. “The positive response the galleries had to participating in and being part of the first Dallas Art Fair was underlined by their cultivation of new patrons,” said Chris Byrne, co-founder of the Dallas Art Fair and noted art dealer. “Testimony to the success is the great number of returning galleries along with spectacular new additions. Dallas is a vibrant cultural center and important galleries want to be a part of the burgeoning art community here.” Along with co-founder and Brook Partners CEO John Sughrue, Byrne envisioned giving those attending the 2009 fair an experience usually found at Art Basel Miami or London’s Frieze Art Fair. Over 5,500 people attended the inaugural Dallas Art Fair event. “I was delighted that the community embraced the Dallas Art Fair as much as they did. It was a defining moment in the Dallas art scene and we are confident that the 2010 event will be an even greater success. The Dallas Arts District has become an international cultural destination due to the excitement and support Dallas has given us and cultural centers such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center and the AT&T Performing Arts Center,” said John Sughrue. The Dallas Art Fair will once again host an art-centric Symposium Series, with scheduled presentations on Saturday and Sunday. The two-day event, “Finding Frida,” will bring together an international panel of experts to debate the authenticity of the Noyola collection of approximately 1,200 drawings, journals, letters, paintings and other items whose owners maintain they are handmade by Frida Kahlo, but which others have denounced as fakes. The panel also will present an overview of the methods and challenges of authenticating newly discovered art works. Admission to each symposium is included with the purchase of a Dallas Art Fair ticket.2. HONG KONG.- Christie’s announced today that it will continue developing
its business in Asia by strengthening its senior management lineup. To enhance the business-getting capability of our Chairman’s offices in Asia, François Curiel, currently Chairman of Christie’s Europe and France as well as International Head of the Jewellery Department, has been appointed as President, Asia and will relocate to Hong Kong at the end of January to fulfil this role and continue his leading role in the Jewellery Department. Andrew Foster, previously President, Asia, has been promoted to International Managing
its business in Asia by strengthening its senior management lineup. To enhance the business-getting capability of our Chairman’s offices in Asia, François Curiel, currently Chairman of Christie’s Europe and France as well as International Head of the Jewellery Department, has been appointed as President, Asia and will relocate to Hong Kong at the end of January to fulfil this role and continue his leading role in the Jewellery Department. Andrew Foster, previously President, Asia, has been promoted to International Managing 3. NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning in April 2010, Sotheby’s New York will have the privilege of offering the James S. Copley Library, an astonishing survey in original manuscripts of American histor
y and worldwide literary, artistic and scientific achievement. The core of the collection is its remarkable range of handwritten letters, documents, and other manuscripts which trace this history of America from the earliest incursions of Jesuit missionaries into California through the archive of letters sent by General Eisenhower to his wife from the battlefields of Europe. The depth and breadth of the library is astounding, reflecting the interest and passions of an inspired collector and newspaper publisher along with a dedicated curator who together sought the finest works available. Assembled primarily during the 1960s and 70s, a ‘Golden Age’ for manuscript collecting, the Library numbers approximately 2,000 works on paper.
y and worldwide literary, artistic and scientific achievement. The core of the collection is its remarkable range of handwritten letters, documents, and other manuscripts which trace this history of America from the earliest incursions of Jesuit missionaries into California through the archive of letters sent by General Eisenhower to his wife from the battlefields of Europe. The depth and breadth of the library is astounding, reflecting the interest and passions of an inspired collector and newspaper publisher along with a dedicated curator who together sought the finest works available. Assembled primarily during the 1960s and 70s, a ‘Golden Age’ for manuscript collecting, the Library numbers approximately 2,000 works on paper.4. LONDON.- This spring, the British Museum will explore the artistic traditions which flourished at Ife in central Nigeria, West. "Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa" (4th March - 6th June 2010) will tell the story of the legendary city of Ife through some of the most refined and beautiful sculptures ever to be found in Africa, created between the 12th and 15th centuries.
5. LONDON, - The Cyrus Cylinder, often regarded as the world's first declaration of human rights (Photo courtesy the British Museum)
The British Museum’s (BM) loan of the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran has been delayed, because of a major discovery in London. Part of Cyrus the Great’s text has been found on two fragments of inscribed
clay tablets.
The first fragment was identified on 31 December by Wilfred Lambert, a retired professor from Birmingham University, who was going through some of the 130,000 tablets at the museum. Although it had been seen by earlier scholars, no one had linked the text to the Cyrus Cylinder.
BM curator Irving Finkel later found a second fragment which had once been part of the same tablet. Both fragments (slightly smaller than matchboxes) had been excavated by a BM team in 1879 at Dailem, south of Babylon, in what was then the Ottoman Empire (and now Iraq). Two years later the fragments were accessioned into the BM’s collection.
The British Museum’s (BM) loan of the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran has been delayed, because of a major discovery in London. Part of Cyrus the Great’s text has been found on two fragments of inscribed
clay tablets.The first fragment was identified on 31 December by Wilfred Lambert, a retired professor from Birmingham University, who was going through some of the 130,000 tablets at the museum. Although it had been seen by earlier scholars, no one had linked the text to the Cyrus Cylinder.
BM curator Irving Finkel later found a second fragment which had once been part of the same tablet. Both fragments (slightly smaller than matchboxes) had been excavated by a BM team in 1879 at Dailem, south of Babylon, in what was then the Ottoman Empire (and now Iraq). Two years later the fragments were accessioned into the BM’s collection.