Art news - Latest evolutions in the art world

	After Twenty-Seven Years and $45 Million, Taiwan Restores Ornate 19th Century Mansion WUFENG (AP) - Twenty-seven years in the making, the $45 million renovation of a 150-year-old Taiwanese homestead is finally nearing completion. The Lin Family Mansion — a complex of five buildings on 7.4 acres (3 hectares) — is one of Taiwan's most important historical sites, a rare example of the ornate architectural style favored by nobles from southern China in the waning years of the Qing dynasty. 04 August '11 www.artdaily.com
	Property from the Xu Hanqing Collection to Be Offered at Christie's Asian Art Week NEW YORK, NY - Christie’s announced the single-owner sale of A Connoisseur’s Vision: Property from the Xu Hanqing Collection, which will be offered on September 15, 2011 during Christie's Asian Art Week. This elite group of 150 objects includes rare and important examples of ancient Chinese paintings, rare calligraphy, lustrous jades, an assortment of luxurious seals and other sophisticated scholar’s objects and is expected to realize in the region of $7 million. 04 August '11 www.artdaily.com
	Works from 5000 Years of African Art and Culture on View in Enhanced Galleries for African Art STANFORD, CA. - Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University presents "Expanding Views of Africa," opening August 3, 2011. This enlarged and enhanced reinstallation, which includes 200 works from the collection and key loans, broadens conventional views of African art, from ancient cultures before the dynasties of the Egyptian Pharaohs to contemporary artists. Admission to the Cantor Arts Center and to the exhibition is free. 04 August '11 www.artdaily.com
	Ai Weiwei Describes Mental Torment in Captivity BEIJING - Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, who has been under gag orders since his release from arbitrary detention last month, has for the first time revealed some of the unpleasant details of his detention. 04 August '11 www.theepochtimes.com
	Cover-up on broken artefact exposed BEIJING - A laboratory researcher and his boss at the Palace Museum in Beijing were finally punished nearly a month after a precious 1,000-year-old artefact was broken - but only after a cover-up was exposed. 04 August '11 www.scmp.com
	Russian icons discovered in Egypt SINAI - Researchers attribute the unique climate of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as a leading factor in the preservation of a treasure trove of Russian icons and liturgical objects recently found in St Catherine’s Monastery. 03 August '11
	Museum blamed for relic damage BEIJING - Questions have arisen about the Palace Museum's managerial ability and integrity after a 1,000-year-old artefact was broken by a laboratory researcher. 02 August '11 www.scmp.com
	A Large Number of Prestigious International Galleries Announced at 2011 Edition of FIAC PARIS - FIAC 2011 will bring together 1681 galleries of modern and contemporary art, coming from 21 countries. 31 July '11
	Gallery system is structurally weak A new report by the non-profit dealers’ federation Cinoa finds that fair-led and online business is taking over as the main source of revenue. 30 July '11
	The making of London's Leonardo show This winter's groundbreaking Leonardo da Vinci exhibition runs for three months, but took years to put together. 30 July '11
	Eskenazi to Show Chinese Huanghuali Furniture During 14th Asian Art in London LONDON - A superb private collection of Chinese furniture, all made of the South-east Asian hardwood that has come to be known as huanghuali, will be exhibited at Eskenazi, one of the world’s leading dealers in Chinese works of art, at 10 Clifford Street, London W1, from Thursday 3 to Friday 25 November 2011. 30 July '11
	Tate and Vodafone Begin New Partnership by Launching Tate Debates LONDON - Tate and Vodafone announced a new partnership to develop online and mobile technologies for Tate’s galleries and website. The partnership launches with Tate Debates, a weekly online discussion on Tate’s blog to encourage people to share their ideas and opinions about art. 30 July '11
	London’s summer fairs scene remains in flux In yet another change to the London summer fairs scene, Haughton International Fairs have announced that Art Antiques London next year will run over the later dates of June 13 to 20. 28 July '11
	'Snapshot' Exhibition at Van Gogh Museum will Zoom in on Artists' Everyday Lives AMSTERDAM - At the end of the nineteenth century, the enthusiastic users of the earliest amateur cameras included many artists. What role did photography play in their lives and how did it influence their work? 28 July '11
	The personal touch can still pay off To adapt to an increasingly competitive market, dealers have expanded the channels through which they sell works. 28 July '11
	Tornabuoni Art to Bring Major Italian Art Figures to FIAC to Be Held at the Grand Palais PARIS - For its tenth participation in the FIAC from 20 to 23 October 2011, Tornabuoni Art is designing an exhibit featuring the big names in Italian art from the second half of the 20th century, such as Alighiero Boetti, Agostino Bonalumi, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Pino Pascali, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mimmo Rotella, Emilio Vedova… 27 July '11
	Amsterdam's De Appel Center Launches the World's First Graduate Program for Art Dealers For decades, aspiring art dealers have conventionally followed a tried-and-true path to success: graduate from college with a BA in art history, start off as a gallery assistant, rise through the ranks to become a gallery director, and maybe, one day, break off and found a new gallery. This has been the system for years — but a new program from Amsterdam arts center de Appel is out to change it. 27 July '11
	Exhibition of Archaeological Wonder of the World Teotihuacan Opens at CaixaForum Madrid MADRID - For eight hundred years (from the 2nd century BC to the 7th AD), Teotihuacan was the cultural, political and religious centre of a powerful civilisation. Lying 45 kilometres from Mexico City, the city, which rose to become the sixth-largest in the world in its day, is now an archaeological wonder of the world, catalogued as World Heritage by UNESCO. 27 July '11
	Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82 at the Steven Kasher Gallery NEW YORK, NY - Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82 is the first New York exhibition surveying the extraordinary diversity of Punk and Post-Punk graphic design. The exhibition showcases a wide range of American and British artistry, with influences that include the Bauhaus, Futurism, Dadaism, Pop Art, Constructivism and Expressionism. The exhibition features over 200 rare posters, along with fanzines, flyers, clothing, badges and stickers. 27 July '11
	Hollywood Engineer's Kissed, Autographed Marilyn Monroe 1952 Yankees Baseball Surfaces at Sale ROSEMONT, IL - New York Yankees team-signed baseball, signed by both Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, and still bearing Marilyn's lipstick, kept in a box in a closet for years, is expected to bring in excess of $20,000 when it is offered as part of Heritage Auctions Aug. 4 Signature(r) Vintage Sports Collectibles Platinum Auction, held in conjunction with the 32nd Annual National Sports Collectors Convention in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, IL. 26 July '11
	Bonhams to Sell Maharaja's Tiger Hunting Rolls Royce Complete with Cannon, Machine Gun and Rifle Stand SAN FRANCISCO - A truly unique, handmade automobile will be auctioned by Bonhams at its forthcoming Quail Lodge sale, held each August in Carmel, California during the world-famous Pebble Beach Car Week 26 July '11
	The Städel Museum to Present the Exhibition Beckmann & America in October FRANKFURT - The last loans have been secured, technical and logistic preparations are in full swing: Frankfurt’s Städel Museum will present Max Beckmann’s (1884–1950) condensed late work against the background of the last years of his life and his artistic production in the USA in a major special exhibition starting on October 7, 2011. 26 July '11
	A Collection of Chinese Rhinoceros Horn Cups Sets Antiques Roadshow Record NEW YORK (REUTERS).- A collection of Chinese cups carved from rhinoceros horns has become the most valuable find in the 16-year history of the television program "Antiques Roadshow" in the United States. 26 July '11
	Titanosaur Nest on View in Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History NEW YORK, NY.- They are some of the rarest of rare artifacts: fossil dinosaur eggs with the embryo still inside. And they are prized for what they can tell paleontologists about the adults that laid them. 26 July '11
	Metropolitan Museum Highlights Frans Hals Paintings from Collection in Exhibition NEW YORK, NY - The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds the most important collection of paintings in America by the celebrated Dutch artist Frans Hals (1582/83-1666), whose portraits and genre scenes were famous in his lifetime for their immediacy and dazzling brushwork. Frans Hals in the Metropolitan Museum—on view from July 26, through October 10, 2011—presents 13 paintings by Hals, including two lent from private collections, and several works by other Netherlandish masters. 26 July '11
	Rare Seven Foot Stone Horse from the Chinese Ming Dynasty Expected to Fetch Up to £100,000 DORCHESTER - As the director of one of Switzerland’ leading luxury stores and a renowned collector himself, Hans Leu, alongside his broker, Mr. Lee of Hollywood Street, Hong Kong, were responsible for the export to the West of many oriental artefacts during the 1970’s and 1980’s. His close relationship with the Chinese government allowed him to act as an official conduit for antiques exported from the East and marketed for sale in the West. Of particular interest to Langhard were early Chinese antiquities from the Tang and Ming dynasties, many of which came to light during the numerous tomb excavations taking place at this time, notably the excavations in the early 1980’s of the burial site built by Zhu Yuan Zhang for his forbears between 1386 and 1413. 26 July '11
	Rare Gold Bell Discovered by Archaeologists from Israel in Excavations in Jerusalem JERUSALEM - A rare gold bell with a small loop at its end was discovered during an archaeological excavation in the drainage channel that begins in the Shiloah Pool and continues from the City of David to the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, near the Western Wall. The excavations are being conducted at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and underwritten by Ir David Foundation. 26 July '11 www.artdaily.com
	Herzog & de Meuron to Build Asia's Largest Modern Art Museum in Kolkata CALCUTTA - Unlike New Delhi and Mumbai, the city of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) has no modern art museum, despite its traditional status as a center of art and culture. That is about to change — and in a big way — as the city prepares to build the largest museum of modern art in Asia, to be completed in 2015. 25 July '11
	Paris Photo 2011 Takes African Photography as Its Special Theme for This Year's Edition PARIS - Held this year from 10 to 13 November, Paris Photo celebrates its 15th anniversary by moving to a new location, the Nave of the Grand Palais, a spectacular venue like no other in the French capital for presenting works by photographic artists, thus marking a major turning point for this important international event. 25 July '11
	The $29 Million Turner Scheme? New Tell-All by Former Tate Official Raises Awkward Questions About an Old Art Heist LONDON - The gripping book "Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners" isn't coming out until next month, but it's already making big waves in England. Its author, current National Portrait Gallery director and former Tate Gallery program director Sandy Nairne, has told a firsthand tale of his sudden transformation from curator to art sleuth after two J.M.W. Turner paintings belonging to the Tate were stolen while on loan to Frankfurt in 1994. 25 July '11 www.artinfo.com