Two Of Frank Lloyd Wright Houses Up For Sale -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The LA Times had an article today about two Frank Lloyd Wright houses that can't find any buyers.  The Ennis House in LA and the Alice Millard House in Pasadena both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1920's are up for sale.  The Ennis House was originally put on the market last summer for $15 million and is now reduced to $7.5 million.  The Millard House is priced at $5 million down from $7.8 million.  Both houses are made of Wright's trademark textile-block building system and both show the influence of Mayan Architecture.  The foundations that oversee the historic homes found they could no longer afford the high cost of restoration and maintenance and are now looking for buyers.  What is more incredible than having two Wright houses up for sale at the same time is that there appears to be no buyers.  Could the housing market in California be that bad? GL

LA Times Article about the Houses for Sale

The Ennis House Website

The Alice Millard House Website

Hale Woodruff -- Happy Birthday -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Hale Woodruff - August 26, 1900 - September, 1980

This is the birthday of the great muralist Hale Woodruff.  Know as a painter and printmaker Mr. Woodruff spent most of his life working and teaching at many of Georgia's colleges. 

Tap into creative right brain through art -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Article from The Financial Times about the importance of creative expression in the development of right brain thinking.  Harvard Medical students are now taking 10-week art appreciation courses.  Critically analyzing paintings has been demonstrated to help future physicians hone skills in assessing a patient's symptoms. GL
Read More:The Financial Times

Art Dealer Helps Police Arrest Suspected Art Thieves in Coral Gables -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

A Miami couple who allegedly stole paintings from a warehouse in Miami were then caught in an FBI sting trying to sell the stolen paintings to a Miami art gallery. 

Article at WSVN TV News

It's amazing what walks through your doors as a gallery owner.  Fine art galleries, like jewelry and antique stores, get very sophisticated criminals and a fair share of idiot scam artists.  The first month I opened my gallery on Las Olas a man came in with a photograph of a painting he said he was willing to sell.  He claimed it was a small watercolor of northern Florida by Winslow Homer.  I was intrigued at first knowing the famous artist did come down to Florida for a short while.  When I asked for the price and how soon he could bring the painting into the gallery he began his big pitch.  You see he liked me, I know we just met, but he really really liked me.  The painting he claimed was worth $100,000 to $200,000 but because he liked me I could buy the painting from him for just $5,000.  Of course he would need the money immediately and would then ship the painting to me when he got back home.  I would have to trust him and buy the painting without even inspecting it, and why not, he really liked me.  I passed on that offer and many like that over the years.  What criminals don't know is that most art galleries are in touch with each other and the FBI.  We often share information about possible stolen works of art.  GL

MOMA App for the iPhone -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

MOMA in New York has a new application for the iPhone and iPad.  With the new app you will have access to the museum's extensive collection of modern and contemporary art and database plus a dictionary of art terms, calendar of exhibitions and playlists of audio tours.

I have been downloading audio tours for museum shows to my iPod for the past few years.  Sotheby's even has video podcasts now of their auction results.  It is great to see the visual artists take advantage of all these new media devices.  I would like to see all the great private and public collections easily accessible like MOMA's.   The impact of the artists' skills is often lost in a digital image but the possibility of watching a slide show with audio commentary of a newly opened exhibition half way around the world is very appealing. Of course nothing will ever take the place of seeing the work live.  GL


You can find the article here

St Pete Museum Gets a New Director -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

By Lennie Bennett, St Petersburg Times Art Critic

St. Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts names Kent Lydecker as new director

ST. PETERSBURG — The Museum of Fine Arts has a new director. Board of trustees president Seymour Gordon announced Monday that Kent Lydecker has been selected to head the institution, which has been a cultural anchor of the city since it opened in 1965.  This is the first directorship for Lydecker, 61, but he has held senior staff positions at major museums.  He replaces John Schloder, who retired in July after nine years as director. Lydecker plans to start in October. 
"I met the search committee in early July," he said. "It was my first time here. I was blown away. It's a beautiful city, a beautiful building with a wonderful collection."

Link to Article at the Times

"Video of the Week" -- Clyde Butcher -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Clyde Butcher is a great American artist living and working here in Florida.   I'm lucky to call him a friend.  Over the years I have sold his work, appraised his work and I have two of his pieces in my personal art collection.  It would be hard to have a collection of art focusing on Florida and not include his work.  The first thing I did after photography school is run to Clyde's studio out in the Everglades to see how he produced such large scale photographs.  I wanted to see his enlarger.  Clyde was gracious enough to show me around and answer all of my questions.  Over the years I would see him at Coconut Grove art show or when I went out to visit him in the Glades.   We talked about doing a show together but never have, maybe one day.

This is a promotional video of a show Clyde did in Saint Paul, MN this past year.  Although Clyde is known for his work in the Everglades he has completed work in all 50 States.  In the video Clyde describes his process and gives some personal history.  From this video the show in Saint Paul looked beautiful.  Clyde begins talking at about the 1:22 min mark.  GL

 

Clyde Butcher Website

George Bellows - Happy Birthday -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

George Bellows - August 12, 1882 - January 8, 1925

The Ashcan artist synonymous with New York City at the turn of the century was actually born in Ohio.  It's his gritty paintings of men boxing that made him famous.  I love the large bold white and red brushstrokes, stark flesh in movement against the murkness of the dark backgrounds.

George Bellows Website

Art Around the Web -- Historical Anatomies -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Historical Anatomies of the Web

I found a great website of historical anatomy drawings.  The two pictured above are by William Cheselden and were published in 1733.  The playfulness of both poses engaged me.  Every artist needs reference material and this website has collected studies of the human body through out the centuries.    

Historical Anatomies on the Web is a digital project designed to give the user access to high quality images from important anatomical atlases in The U.S. National Library of Medicine's collection.

Sorry but Bravo will not find "The Next Great Artist" on Reality TV -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

OK by now anyone who watches "reality TV" knows that the only reality they show are people forced into stressful situations, usually in the company of strangers, being followed by large camera crews.  Unless you're Lindsey Lohan this is not "reality".   That being said I looked forward to Bravo's new reality show Work of Art "The Next Great Artist".  In fact I blogged about it here, hoping to increase viewership.  The show's idea was to take 14 up and coming artists and follow them through a series of competitions, giving us a look inside the creative process.  How bad could it be?  

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT -- Maggie Taylor -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Maggie Taylor is a digital image artist and photographer working in Gainesville, Florida.  I first found Maggie’s work in a book on Adobe Master Photoshop techniques.  Her work impressed me and when I found out she was a Florida artist I had to find out more about her.  I went up last month to see a show by Maggie Taylor at the Brevard Art Museum in Melbourne, FL.  What I did not know and was pleasantly surprised to find out was that she was showing her work along side her husband and well-known art photographer Jerry Uelsman.  The show’s title was, “Just Suppose: The Other Worldly Images of Jerry Uelsman and Maggie Taylor.” Seeing Maggie's work along side Jerry's was especially satisfying.

Great Article about the New Dali Museum in St. Pete -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

I have not been over to Saint Petersburg to see the new construction of the Dali Museum which is set to open 01/11/11 at 11am.  I will be there for the opening!  I found a good article with great pictures about the construction on an Architectural Blog.  It looks spectacular and I love that they have constructed it with the strength of a bomb shelter so that the building and it's contents will survive a Cat 5 hurricane. GL




Check out the article and blog here

Highwaymen Art Walk in Mount Dora -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The 2010 Florida Highwaymen Art Walk

For 2 weeks starting Friday, July 30th you can experience the art of the legendary Florida Highwaymen as downtown historic Mount Dora becomes an art gallery.  25 shops and restaurants will be displaying original works of the twelve artists who will be LIVE in Mount Dora August 13, 14 & 15.

Mount Dora is a pretty little town just north of Orlando.  This should be a great event where you can meet and greet the living members of this group of famous Florida Artists.  I will soon be doing a whole write up about the Highwaymen and my experiences selling their works for the past two decades.  GL

Art Walk Website

Greek Islands Taverna -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Last Friday my wife Christine, my sister Kate our cousin Christine and I all met at one of our favorite restaurants, Greek Islands Taverna. Greek Islands is located on A1A in Fort Lauderdale just north of Oakland Park Blvd. My wife and I had not been in a long time and were looking forward to another great meal. We were not disappointed.