Art Around the Web -- Mark Ryden -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

There are two artists' work that I dream about one day having in my personal collection.  Both are way out of my price range and will be forever, but I can dream.  The first would be a small bronze by Henry Moore, one of his sculptures that can fit in the palm of your hand, preferable one of a mother with child.  The second is anything by Mark Ryden.  As far as I'm concerned Mr. Ryden is one of the greatest living painters.  

Chihuly Museum now in St. Petersburg, Florida -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

St Petersburg, Florida is quickly becoming a serious arts destination.  The new Salvador Dali Museum is posed to open in January, 2011 and now the Chihuly Collection, a magnificent 10,000 square foot museum designed by award-winning architect Albert Alfonso, has just opened. The Collection is located on the city’s waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg on Beach Drive, within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts, a multitude of galleries, restaurants and shops and the new Dali Museum.

U.S. Army To Unveil a Collection of Soldiers' War Paintings -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

"Art of the American Soldier" is a new exhibition of about 300 paintings by U.S. servicemen and women that will be unveiled to the public for the first time at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center in September. The paintings have been selected from about 15,000 collected by the U.S. Army since the 1840s. Most have never been on public display.  The paintings all focus on the duties, sacrifices, and everyday lives of troops, and covers every conflict from WWI, to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ansel Adams Heirs Challenge Garage-Sale Negatives -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

A man from Fresno, California bought a box full of old negatives at a yard sale for $45 and now believes they are original Ansel Adams' negatives worth $200 million.  Are they real?  And what is a negative worth?  Are the negatives of a famous photographer as valuable as the prints?  Can you print and sell someone else's negatives?  If you own the negative do you own the image?  These questions are discussed in this NPR interview with Andy Grundberg, chair of photography department at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, in Washington, D.C. He used to be the director of the Ansel Adams Center for Photography in San Francisco.  GL

Transcript of NPR Interview

Paintings Taken by Serviceman in WWII Return to Germany -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

So your Great-Uncle leaves you, in his will, several paintings that look like they are of European origin, possibly German.  You know your Great-Uncle was stationed in Germany during WWII.  There are no receipts or any paperwork accompanying the paintings.  What do you do?  Well if you are Beth Ann McFadden, the grand-niece of former Army sergeant Harry Gursky, you conduct extensive research on the paintings' provenance.  She and a friend discovered that the paintings were among 40 in the Pirmasen municipal museum's collection that were missing from a storage area under the local school building after World War II.  Gursky, who died in 1988, was stationed in Pirmasens after the initial invasion.  McFadden then contacted German authorities who informed her that ICE had an open investigation. Now the paintings are on their way home to Pirmasens Museum in Germany.  "Without the integrity and good will of Beth Ann McFadden, the repatriation of these paintings to the Pirmasens Museum could not have taken place," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara. "Each work of art returned symbolizes an act of justice, bringing us one step closer to the goal of repatriating all of the surviving pieces taken from museums during World War II."  The paintings are each valued in the tens of thousands.  GL


Paintings Taken by Serviceman in WWII Return to Germany

Purvis Young at Miami Art Museum -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

July 30 to November 7, 2010
MAM is having an exhibition of Purvis Young

One of my favorite museums is showing one of my favorite artists.  This is the first show of Purvis that MAM has ever put on.  In thinking about this exhibition I was struck by the fact that the present location of MAM (MAM is moving by 2013) is downtown Miami very close to Overtown Purvis' home.  The subject of Purvis' work through out his lifetime was the downtown area of Miami known as Overtown.  You can't get a more urban museum or artist anywhere in America.  It is nice to see the two have come together.  I can't wait to see how the museum handles the work.  GL

Thursday July 29th Opening Preview night.
With a viewing of the award winning documentary "Purvis of Overtown."

MAM Website
Purvis Young Exhibit

"Video of the Week" -- Iraq’s Imperiled Modern Art -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Fascinating video and article from the New York Times about Iraq's troubled art museums.  It would be great if the world's top museums came together and lent support to this growing problem.  GL

Iraq’s Imperiled Modern Art

Secrets Of Mona Lisa Painting Revealed -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

New information about the world's most famous painting. A new noninvasive technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the paint layers and their chemical composition. Researchers found a technique called “sfumato”, which uses successive ultra-thin layers of paint and glaze to achieve a dream-like quality and give the painting depth and shadow.  GL

Secrets Of Mona Lisa Painting Revealed

What's good for the arts also good for developers -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

It's a familiar story, artists move into low rent warehouse districts, clean up and gentrify the area with galleries and small retail shops. Investors follow and soon it becomes the hottest place in town, rents skyrocket and the artists are forced to move and find the next cheap place. In their wake they leave whole city blocks, that once were underutilized, fresh and hip for developers to exploit.  GL

What's good for the arts also good for developers

South Florida Lawyer Donates Sculpture -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Pictured above is Frederick Goldstein, an accomplished attorney and sculptor living in South Florida, standing in front of a large sculpture he donated to the Fort Lauderdale office of Florida's Department of Children and Families.  The six-foot-tall Parents and Child sculpture is made of steel and coated with copper, and depicts a child nestled between two adults as they hold hands.  Fred has a few large public sculptures located around South Florida.  A wonderful large piece of his stands down by the water in front of the Performing Arts Center in Fort Lauderdale and another large piece honoring our soldiers stands in front of Dania City Hall.  Fred has a brother Steven, who is a columnist for the Sun Sentinel.  Dr. Steven Goldstein also hosts a current events show on TV in South Florida.  Both brothers are strong supporters of the arts, always volunteering time and talent when asked.  Fred was included in the first artist auction I helped organize to benefit the Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale years ago, and his brother Steven helped promote the benefit.  It is great that local artists like Fred have the opportunity to show their work in public places. GL

South Florida Lawyer Donates Sculpture

Art Around the Web - Color Scheme Designer 3 -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Here is a great color scheme designer I found. It has lots of different options and you can save all of your settings. I'm always looking for new color schemes and this web tool really helps. The colors are noted in RBG. A simple RBG to CMYK converter for printing can be found here. GL

Color Scheme Designer 3

"Video of the Week" with Jeff Koons -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

Interesting YouTube with Jeff Koons showing his factory like process.  The train sculpture, Jeff explains in the video, was a commission piece for the Los Angeles County Museum that was set to open in 2011.  Thanks to slow fundraising the date has been pushed back to no earlier than 2014, if ever.  The 25 million dollar price tag would have been the most expensive public art project ever.  With the current economy and the fact that the museum is 100 million dollars in debt it would take a private donation for the whole amount to get the project back on track.  I think it would be quite an experience to stand under a full scale 70 foot long 1944 Baldwin train locomotive suspended from a 161 foot tall crane, which would be moving its wheels, blowing its whistle and letting off steam.  Lets hope someone writes the check.  GL

Is There Art on YouTube? Guggenheim Wants to Find Out -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The Guggenheim Museum is teaming up with YouTube in partnership with HP to discover the art of YouTube videos. Tasked with uncovering the "most creative video in the world," the companies have launched an international search by way of YouTube Play, a specially branded YouTube channel that will feature the entries in this new competition.
Anyone is invited to submit a video to YouTube Play, even video creators themselves, and the submission deadline is July 31. The videos may consist of animation, motion graphics, narrative, non-narrative, or documentary work, music videos and even "entirely new art forms" that challenge the perception of what's possible to do with video, explains the YouTube blog post about this unique collaboration project.


Is There Art on YouTube? Guggenheim Wants to Find Out - NYTimes.com

Miami Art Museum Names Thomas "Thom" Collins as Director -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

MAM names Thomas Collins as new director. Thomas “Thom” Collins, an arts administrator, art historian, educator and author with more than 15 years of experience serving as a director and curator at several of America’s top museums, has been named as the new director of Miami Art Museum (MAM). Collins will join MAM after serving for five years as director of the Neuberger Museum of Art in Westchester County , New York . Collins’ appointment comes just as MAM begins to transition into a new Herzog & de Meuron-designed building located in downtown Miami ’s Museum Park . Groundbreaking on the project is scheduled to take place in late 2010, with the Museum’s opening set for 2013.


Miami Art Museum Names Thomas "Thom" Collins as Director

City Scales Back Plan to Thin Out Art Vendors -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

This is a follow up to a story I posted earlier. (post can be found here) It seems the city has decided to allow more of the artist vendors to stay in the parks, after listening to the artists' input. This will allow artists to stay in the parks while still allowing the city to better control the parks' traffic. GL

City Scales Back Plan to Thin Out Art Vendors - NYTimes.com