British artist Tracey Emin is founding a revolutionary art school and museum in her beloved hometown of Margate. Emin’s foray into property development will see the seaside town, long afflicted by a high poverty rate, transform into an artist’s sanctuary.
Continue readingTag: Art news
New AI tool identifies artists’ “fingerprint” brushstrokes
Are the days of art forgers finally numbered? A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool might just provide the answer. Art historians and physicists at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Ohio have joined forces and trained a computer system to reportedly identify the unique brushstrokes of artists with 96% accuracy.
Continue readingA “literary cornucopia” saved for the nation by the Friends of the National Libraries
Following the announcement earlier this year that Sotheby’s would sell the Honresfield Library, a collection which includes important works relating to the Brontë sisters, the Friends of the National Libraries (FNL) organisation has raised a staggering £15 million to acquire the collection for the U.K.
Continue readingIsle of Man displayed rare Viking brooches just in time for Christmas
Discovered on the Isle of Man in 2018, a pair of ancient ornate brooches are now casting doubt on the long-held theory that only male Vikings ventured to the remote island. Like an early Christmas gift to the island, the brooches were put on display for the first time at the Manx National Heritage museum in Douglas earlier this month.
Continue readingOwner left “in shock” when a sixteenth-century globe she purchased for £150 sold for over £100,000
Last Thursday, a carved wood and paper globe dating to the 1550s or 1560s sold at Hansons Auctioneers for £116,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £20,000-30,000, a huge sum considering the owner had purchased it recently for just £150.
Continue readingItaly reinstates 100 rarely-seen artworks to original sites
100 paintings, sculptures and artefacts hidden away in Italian storage facilities will be redistributed to less widely known state museums across the peninsula. “This project gives new life to works of art that are in fact not very visible,” explained Dario Franceschini, Italy’s culture minister.
Continue readingRijksmuseum set to acquire €175 million Rembrandt painting
One of the few portraits by Rembrandt left in private hands is likely to be purchased by the Rijksmuseum with assistance from the Dutch government. The total price of the painting is €175 million ($198 million), with the Rembrandt Association contributing €15 million and the Rijksmuseum Fund providing €10 million. The Dutch Government is set to pay the remaining €150 million, although final approvement from parliament is yet to be granted.
Continue readingAziz Hazara’s video installation wins $100,000 Future Generation Art Prize
Young artist Aziz Hazara has been awarded the Future Generation Art Prize of US$100,000 (£76,000) for his video installation documenting the resilience of people in Afghanistan. Through his work Hazara draws attention to his hometown of Kabul, one of the many cities ravaged by war since US military intervention began after 2001.
Continue readingUS billionaire ordered to return looted antiquities worth $70 million (£53 million)
US billionaire Michael Steinhardt has surrendered his collection of antiquities worth US$70 million (£53 million), after a lengthy investigation found they had been looted or illegally smuggled into the country.
Continue readingJeff Koons sued for copying another artist’s sculpture
Renowned American pop artist Jeff Koons faces an infringement lawsuit for allegedly copying a sculptural stage setting of a serpent wrapped around a rock designed by another artist, which Koons used for his series “Made in Heaven”.
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