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Swiss Institute Annual Benefit‏

Swiss Institute Annual Benefit
Dinner & Auction 2011
Friday, November 4, 6PM–11PM

Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art
18 Wooster Street
Between Grand & Canal Streets, NYC

www.swissinstitute.net

 

SI Award 2011
Hans Ulrich Obrist

SI Artist Tribute 2011
John Armleder

Guest Speakers
Paul Chan
John Tremblay

Live auction by Simon de Pury, Chairman Phillips de Pury & Company

With artworks by:
John Armleder, Steven Baldi, Olaf Breuning, Valentin Carron, Emilie Ding, Nikolas Gambaroff, Ingo Giezendanner, Liam Gillick, Bob Gramsma, Evelyn Hofer, Das Institut, Karen Kilimnik, Juerg Lehni, Jason Loebs, Tobias Madison, Adam Marnie, Charles Mayton, Kaspar Muller, Marlo Pascual, Fabio Marco Pirovino, Grayson Revoir, Alex Rich, Pamela Rosenkranz, Olympia Scarry, Frank Schramm, Serge Spitzer, John Tremblay, Andro Wekua, et al.

View and bid online starting October 25

6:00PM Cocktails and Silent Auction
7:30PM Dinner and Live Auction
9:30PM Silent Auction continues until 10:30PM with dessert and open bar until 11:00PM

Buy your ticket(s) online
www.swissinstitute.net/benefitauction
Or contact us directly at (917) 677-7622, benefit@swissinstitute.net

SI Chairwoman
Fabienne Abrecht

SI Honorary Chairman
H.E. Ambassador François Barras

SI Director
Gianni Jetzer

SI Benefit Committee
Rita Ackermann, Maria Baibakova
and Payam Sharifi, Cristina and Thomas Bechtler, Anette and Sami Bollag-Rothschild, Mehdi Chouakri, Michaela
de Pury, Ulla Dreyfus-Best, Alex Gartenfeld, Liam Gillick, Amy Greenspon, Emma Hall, Matthew Higgs, Maja Hoffmann and Stanley Buchthal, Stefan Kalmar, Judith and Sam Keller, Young Kim, David Kordansky, Harmony Korine, Sean Landers and Michelle Reyes, Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann, David Lewis, Brett Litmann, Sarah Morris, Michelle Nicol, Carolina Nitsch and Dieter von Graffenried, Marc Payot, Janelle and Alden Pinnell, Beat Raaflaub, Michael Ringier, Pipilotti Rist, Scott Rothkopf, Olympia Scarry, Cindy Sherman, Lisa Spellman, Federica Simon and Sebastiano Andina, Neville Wakefield, Alice and Lawrence Weiner, Manuela and Iwan Wirth, Philip Michael Wolfson, Hikari Yokoyama

 

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Warhol foundation shuts its authentication board But will continue work on catalogue raisonné

 

NEW YORK. The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board will be dissolved in early 2012. The decision was announced today by the Andy Warhol Foundation after a strategic review of its core aims, according to foundation president Joel Wachs. The foundation will continue its work in establishing the complete catalogue raisonné.

 

The closure of the authentication board means more money can be spent on the foundation's charitable goals, Wachs has told The Art Newspaper. “It is a matter of priority, and our responsibility to Andy's mission. Our money should be going to artists, not lawyers,” says Wachs, referring to the astronomical sums that have been spent on legal fees defending the board's controversial decisions in the past.

The board was heavily criticised last year for spending nearly $7m defending an antitrust lawsuit brought by collector Joe Simon-Whelan, who accused the board of “engaging in a conspiracy to restrain and monopolise trade in the market for Warhol works”. Simon-Whelan also alleged that the board had denied the authenticity of a 1964 Warhol portrait he owned that had been widely accepted by other experts as a genuine work. Simon-Whelan dropped the case in October, saying that he could not afford to continue litigation. “Nobody was more angry than us at having to spend that money. It drove me nuts to have to do it,” says Wachs, adding that the not-for-profit board, which was formed by the Warhol Foundation in 1995, costs around $500,000 each year to run.

The Simon-Whelan case is not the only instance in which the board's decision-making has come under fire. It rejected a signed and dated work from the same series which had been owned by Warhol's former gallerist, Anthony d'Offay, despite the fact that the work had been included with the artist's knowledge in Rainer Crone’s 1970 catalogue raisonné. d'Offay had planned to include the 1964 self-portrait in the Artist Rooms collection of more than 700 works, which he gave to the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland in an unprecedented part-gift, part-purchase deal in 2008. The self-portrait, along with other works, was not ultimately included in the gift after discussions with the museums. The Tate told The Art Newspaper at the time that: "we agreed with Anthony that it would be better not to include any work, the provenance of which might in any way be questioned. However, we ourselves have no reason to doubt the authenticity of this painting."

The board's decision in October 2010 to downgrade more than 100 wooden Brillo boxes, which the late Pontus Hulten (the founding director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art) claimed had been made with Warhol’s express authorisation, was also heavily criticised. The board decided to label the works as “copies” despite having previously stamped some works in the series as authentic “Stockholm Type” boxes.

“Clearly, the foundation reached the conclusion that it was too expensive, too time-consuming and too debilitating to continue the project,” says Peter R. Stern of the law firm McLaughlin & Stern. “The Warhol people really don't need to have their reputations sullied every day of the week as being either incompetent or evil. I can easily see that they would rather spend money on their programmes than fighting expensive lawsuits,” adds Stern, who specialises in art authentication matters.

The foundation will continue to work on Warhol's catalogue raisonné, though Wachs is keen to stress that this serves a different function than a dedicated authentication board. “The catalogue raisonné serves a non-market purpose: Andy’s legacy and Warhol scholarship. The market seems to want to use the authentication board, but that can't be our concern,” says Wachs. He adds that the “catalogue raisonné is an effort to look at all the work Andy made, not just the few works people submit for authentication. It is much more comprehensive, and it is public. The only time authentication decisions are public is when someone is not happy, and they make a stink about it.”

The researchers will accept requests to review whether works should be included in the catalogue—but will do so in their own time. “They will get to works chronologically, and the project will probably go on for 20 years,” says Wachs. “Even spending $1m a year we are only on volume four—it is a huge undertaking.” It is anticipated that there will be “at least three more volumes for the 1970s, four for the 1980s, at least one for drawings and we have not even gotten to photographs,” adds Wachs.

The closure of the board appears to be a deliberate step back from the market. “In effect they are saying that they will not serve the market with a dedicated instrument which only does authentication. I don't blame them, frankly,” says Michael Findlay, the director of Acquavella Galleries, which deals in Warhol’s work on the secondary market. He adds that authentication requests are often driven by the desire to “make something worth a lot of money, not whether a work is an important part of the Warhol canon. It's whether it is something [collectors] can sell.”

Findlay believes that the board’s closure will not have an effect on the market “because the people doing the catalogue will continue—at whatever pace—to look at a work, and be prepared to tell that owner whether it is being put in the catalogue or not”. There are more than 100,000 works by Warhol, according to Wachs, who says that only around 6,000 of these have gone through the authentication process. “People put too much emphasis on it—around 95% of Andy's work is still out there.” He adds that “the market will have to take care of itself. We need to do what Andy wanted us to do.”

The decision to close the board pulls the focus back onto the charitable work done by the foundation, which was formed after Warhol's death in 1987. The foundation is financed by the sale of works from the Warhol estate and provides support for artists, galleries, exhibitions, publications and arts organisations. “We have spent the last six months or so seeing how we can maximise our charitable acts. We are hearing from everyone that things are rough out there, and funding is being cut. We want to focus on grant-giving,” says Wachs.

In a curious twist of fate, the announcement falls almost exactly 55 years to the day that the Museum of Modern Art in New York wrote to Warhol to reject a drawing, Shoe, which he had offered as a gift to the museum. “Let me explain that because of our severely limited gallery and storage space we must turn down many gifts offered, since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently,” wrote then-director Alfred Barr on 18 October 1956, adding: “The drawing may be picked up from the museum at your convenience.”

 

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Who owns this damaged masterpiece by Henry Moore? No one is taking responsibility for the work, which stands opposite the Houses of

 

One of Britain’s most important Henry Moore sculptures is deteriorating drastically—and nothing is being done because no one is accepting they own it.

Knife Edge Two Piece, 1962-65, which stands directly opposite the Houses of Parliament, was given to the nation in 1967. The work frequently appears in the background of televised news reports as the site is an ideal spot for interviewing politicians.

No one is taking responsibility for the bronze, which is badly discoloured and covered with incised graffiti. “It is the most damaged Moore that I have seen on display in Britain,” says Moore specialist John-Paul Stonard.

The British Council recently wanted to send the sculpture to Moscow to be displayed in the Kremlin’s public garden with other Moores. The idea was eventually dropped because of difficulties in getting permission to display sculpture at the Kremlin, while the council also found it complicated to establish to whom the loan request should be addressed. However, it now seems that there might have been no legal impediment to prevent the council from simply sending the sculpture to Russia.

Paper trail

Knife Edge Two Piece was donated by Henry Moore (who allowed it to be cast without an artist’s fee) and the Contemporary Art Society (which paid the £7,845 casting charge). The society initially hoped it would be unveiled by the Queen, but the role eventually passed to Robert Mellish, the Minister of Public Building and Works, who cut the ribbon on 1 November 1967. The press release said that the sculpture was “presented to the nation”.

As for ownership, Moore himself recorded it as belonging to the City of London. This was extremely unlikely, since it was placed in Abingdon Street Gardens, in neighbouring Westminster.

Both the Contemporary Art Society and the Henry Moore Foundation said that their records showed that it is owned by the City of Westminster (which is recorded in the official Moore catalogue raisonné). Westminster Council says this is not the case.

Our efforts to track down the owner led us on a Kafkaesque trail. Declassified government documents show that although the Ministry of Public Building and Works “accepted” delivery of the sculpture, it is unclear whether this involved ownership.

The Ministry of Public Building and Works was disbanded in 1970, when it was integrated into the Department for the Environment. Two years later its former “works” functions were transferred to the Property Services Agency, which later became Property Holdings. This was abolished in 1995, with its functions transferred to various government departments.

The present Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, formed in 2001, denies ownership of the Moore. So too does the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as well as two of its subsidiary bodies, English Heritage and the Government Art Collection. It was suggested we try the Greater London Authority, but they also deny they own the sculpture.

Neither the Henry Moore Foundation (which received many of the sculptor’s works and rights) nor the Contemporary Art Society are making a claim, since they gave the work away.

We asked Tate Britain, which lies just a few hundred yards from Knife Edge Two Piece. Chris Stephens, the curator of last year’s Henry Moore exhibition, had encouraged gallery visitors to go to see it, but could not help us on who might be the owner.

The land on which the sculpture stands is a former world war two bomb site, which belongs to the Parliamentary Estate. The Estate, along with the Parliamentary Art Collection, also denies owning the sculpture. The land beneath the Moore is an underground car park run by Westminster Council.

Melanie Unwin, the deputy curator of the Palace of Westminster, is now determined to solve the mystery. “I have not been able to find out who, if anyone, owns the Moore,” she says. “All the organisations I have approached have said it is not them. It is even possible that the sculpture does not have a legal owner, but this is something on which we will have to seek legal advice.”

On the open market, Knife Edge Two Piece might be worth around £5m. Fortunately, it lies on a site overlooked by the best security in the country. A larger and slightly different version of the work, Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece, 1976-78, stands at the entrance to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

The history of Knife Edge Two Piece

The fact that no one claims ownership of Knife Edge Two Piece explains why it is in such poor condition nearly half a century after the donation:

The Ministry of Public Building and Works, which “accepted” it, knew rather more about the maintenance of government offices than works of art. In 1968, when the Tate was holding a Moore exhibition, the ministry’s chief architect ordered that “the sculpture should be washed down with Fairy Snow”—a brand of household laundry detergent. This was hardly an auspicious start.

The four-metre-long bronze is covered in graffiti, much of which has been there for decades (for instance, one vandal inscribed his name and the date 21 September 1976). Its patina is now extremely corroded and much of the surface is completely black.

A pool of rainwater collects on the plinth at the base of the bronze. There is no plaque to tell visitors what the sculpture is: the plaque has been stolen at least twice.

Two years after it was unveiled in 1967, the Moore was moved to a different spot within Abingdon Street Gardens. It was then raised on a plinth, just under one metre high, although Moore specified that it should be seen at ground level. The position within the gardens was partly determined for structural reasons, since the three-tonne bronze had to be placed directly above one of the columns of the underground car park. The view of the sculpture from the pavement just opposite the Houses of Parliament is now hindered by ugly concrete vents from the car park.

In short, Knife Edge Two Piece requires a full restoration and ideally should be redisplayed in Abingdon Street Gardens in a more sympathetic way. Until an owner steps forward, little can be done.

 

(Fonte: Theartnewspaper) 

 

Fonte: Theartnewspaper)

 
Stolen Picassos recovered in Serbia

Swiss broadcaster SF is reporting that two stolen Pablo Picasso paintings worth millions of dollars have been found in Serbia.
SF cites a Swiss prosecutor saying the oil paintings, stolen three years ago, are in a safe location.
In a program aired Friday, prosecutor Charles Faessler told said that Switzerland has submitted a request to Serbia for the paintings to be returned.
He provided no information on the exact location of the paintings or possible suspects in the theft.
The works, Tête de cheval (Head of horse), created by Picasso in 1962 and Verre et pichet (Glass and pitcher), painted in 1944, were stolen from an exhibition in the small town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich, in February 2008.
They had been loaned there by the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany.
Fonte: cbc.ca
 
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Getty Acquires Ruscha Archive
 
Mike Boehm reports in the Los Angeles Times that the Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute have acquired an Ed Ruscha photo archive comprising seventy-four prints and two contact sheets. The archive was acquired from Gagosian Gallery for an undisclosed sum. Included in the acquisition are numerous images that Ruscha went on to use as source material for his paintings. The Getty has also acquired “The Streets of Los Angeles,” a second trove consisting of Ruscha’s personal materials pertaining to his 1966 book, Every Building on the Sunset Strip. Writes Boehm, “Thomas Gaehtgens, director of the research institute, said its contents are ‘virtually unknown’ and open ‘entirely new avenues for scholarship’ of both Ruscha’s art and the evolution of LA’s urban landscape.”

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White Cube art empire chalks up a record for gallery spaceVast warehouse in Bermondsey, south London, will become the biggest commercial art space in the UK
 
Even as workmen toil to complete the building, one thing is clear: the new gallery that White Cube is about to add to its empire is vast. When contemporary-art dealer Jay Jopling's latest venture opens on 12 October, at 5,400 sq metres, it will be the largest commercial art gallery in Britain: the Tate Modern of the for-profit art world.
White Cube Bermondsey – a stone's throw from Tate Modern and Renzo Piano's Shard building – will be Jopling's third outpost in London, adding a branch south of the river to galleries in the West End and Hackney. A fourth, in Hong Kong, is planned for early next year. What began in 1993 as one of the smallest galleries in London now employs more than 100 people.
The new gallery, converted from a 1970s warehouse once used as a distribution centre for the Radio Times, contains an array of new spaces for showing White Cube's roster of artists, who range from Damien Hirst and Gilbert and George to Anselm Kiefer and Doris Salcedo. The West End gallery has 464 sq metres to play with, the Hackney outpost 903 sq metres. Jopling's first gallery was just four sq metres.
The main "south galleries" in Bermondsey have the scale of of a respectable-size public museum and will, according to White Cube's director of exhibitions, Tim Marlow, provide the area for the main shows. But there are also three smaller galleries that will host one-off exhibitions by emerging artists not normally represented by White Cube, and a further, cube-shaped space measuring 9 x 9 x 9 metres.
"You should never keep things static," said Marlow. "The more interesting and the more varied spaces we can provide, the more excited artists get about working in them." He laughed off suggestions that such a hefty expansion could prove unsustainable. "It's definitely sustainable. London is a city where artists always want to be shown, to have representation. It is the equal of New York in terms of the art market. And we're not scrabbling around for shows. It's still going to be a struggle for our artists to have major exhibitions at White Cube more than once every three years."
Its current expansion presents an intriguing commentary on the vagaries of the art market. While smaller galleries, and those outside London, have suffered in the recession, with Glasgow's Sorcha Dallas the latest to bite the dust, White Cube appears to have withstood the downturn. Marlow says: "At the top end, the art market is a global market, and we have therefore been less affected than other people. It's also the case that when economic conditions are the toughest it is sometimes good to think about expansion."
White Cube is not alone among top-end galleries in having multiple outposts in London. Gagosian now has two spaces, in Kings Cross and the West End. Sadie Coles has two branches in Mayfair, as do Haunch of Venison and Hauser and Wirth.
But White Cube Bermondsey will be on a different scale. There will be a 60-seat auditorium for showing artists' films and hosting talks; an archive room that will be available to researchers; and a bookshop. It will cater for the casual, non-buying visitor almost as much as the millionaire collector who can afford a Jake and Dinos Chapman, or a Cerith Wyn Evans.
In time Marlow even hopes to establish an education programme of the kind more readily associated with publicly funded museums. "I hope it blurs the distinction between public and private galleries, though we always work in sympathy with and in dialogue with the public sector," he said. This blurring of boundaries makes commercial sense: one of the paradoxes of the commercial artworld is that the less obviously commercial a gallery appears to be, the more credibility it has.
The building will also accommodate a photographer's studio and a case-making workshop, art storage, and viewing rooms where favoured clients may inspect works in private. And, last but not least, a catering kitchen so that the gallery will be able to host the kind of exclusive dinners without which the art world would seemingly grind to a halt.

Southern aspect
Commercial galleries in London have tended to cluster in Mayfair and the East End; but White Cube's move south of the Thames offers advantages.
Tate Modern, which is nearby, stages its Damien Hirst retrospective next year. White Cube is likely to host a concurrent show devoted to the artist, whom it represents, in the new premises.
This patch of London has its own art scene, with not-for-profit spaces such as The Drawing Room, Auto Italia South East, and Cafe Gallery nearby. Southwark Playhouse and the Design Museum are also neighbours; meanwhile, the City, with all its spending power, is just a hop away over Tower Bridge.

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Pope Lets Raphael's Virgin Visit Her Sister in Germany, Christie's Puts a Bet on Young Mideast Buyers, and More Must-Read Art News
 
Pope to Take Raphael's Virgin on a Jaunt to Germany: Thanks to an act of papal intervention, Raphael's "Madonna of Foligno" will leave the Vatican and travel to Dresden, where she will show alongside her sister, the "Sistine Madonna," for the first time. Though the Madonna is one of a select group of artworks that is never supposed to leave the Vatican, the Pope made a once-in-a-lifetime exception because he wanted a "unique cultural event" to mark his upcoming official visit to Germany. [Bloomberg] 
– For Beginners: To diversify its foray into the Middle Eastern art market, Christie's will debut a new, lower-priced sale category in Dubai this fall to target young and emerging art collectors in the manner of Phillips de Pury's junior-varsity offerings. Taking place over two evenings in October, the auctions will focus on work by up-and-coming artists from the region, with the most affordable lots beginning at around $3,000. Overall Christie's expects to make as much as $9 million from the sales. [The National]  
– Chili Pepper Rides With Ruscha: The Getty really is pulling out all the stops to promote Pacific Standard Time. In a new promo video for the museum-fest, the frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Keidis, takes L.A. artist Ed Ruscha on a spin through their sprawling hometown as they talk about art. Sections of the Sunset Strip, which Ruscha famously photographed in the 1960s, stream by in the background. [LAT] 
Like what you see? Sign up for ARTINFO’s daily newsletter to get the latest on the market, emerging artists, auctions, galleries, museums, and more.
– Director of MIT's List Center for Visual Arts Named: Paul Ha, formerly the director of Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and executive director of White Columns, is the new director of MIT's List Center for Visual Arts. Ha will replace Jane Farver, who is retiring after 12 years at the post. [ITA] 
– Art Market Jitters?: Fears of a "double dip" recession have spread to the art market, according to a report in the Art Newspaper. While the art market may have recovered more quickly than other sectors following the 2008 financial downturn, it doesn't appear as buoyant this time around. Investors have placed their bets on gold and the Swiss franc rather than art — and Sotheby's stock, for one, has fallen 37 percent since July 7. One key factor underpinning the potential health of the art market is whether or not emerging economies, such as China, can pick up any slack should traditional markets falter — but can they? [TAN]
– Portrait of Boy Who Calmed Suicidal Freud Goes to Auction: A 1952 painting by Lucien Freud entitled "Boy's Head" is expected to bring in £4 million next month at Sotheby's in London. The painting depicts Charlie Lumley, a boy who lived down the street from Freud and forged a close relationship with him. (Friend's friends recruited Lumley to look after the artist as he weathered a deep depression over the state of his relationship with Lady Caroline Blackwood.) Lumley, now 79, remembers the time he spent with Freud vividly, remarking: "Francis [Bacon] said to me, for Christ's sake watch him because I'm afraid he's going to jump off the roof, so I had to babysit him for a while." [Independent]
– Museum of Dominican Resistance Opens: The new Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance brings into stark relief the years of repressive rule in the country. After decades of silence, the museum "all but shouts for the era's pain to be heard," showcasing an animated hologram of murdered dissidents, a bloodied shirt from one of the assassins who killed dictator Rafael Trujillo, and soon-to-be-added audio recordings of torture sessions from the era. [NYT]
– Has There Been a Great Work of 9/11 Art?: For almost two weeks, the Daily Beast has engaged in an ongoing discussion about whether there has been a great work of 9/11 art. (As the Beast quotes Salman Rushdie, "I think these great events have to rot down. Maybe another generation has to look at it.") Readers have submitted a variety of suggestions, including the WTC's memorial lights, Gerhard Richter's "September," and even South Park's "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants" episode. [Daily Dish] 
 
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SOTHEBY’S APPOINTS MARC MICHEL-AMADRY AS MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SOTHEBY’S SWITZERLAND 12
 
12 September 2011, London -- Sotheby’s announced the appointment of Marc Michel-Amadry as Managing Director of Sotheby’s Switzerland. Mr Michel-Amadry will divide his time between Sotheby’s Zurich and Geneva and will strengthen Sotheby’s existing team in Switzerland with his international experience in the luxury sector and strong record of general management across Switzerland. The re-establishment of a pan-Swiss management structure reflects the growing importance of Sotheby’s business in Switzerland and will enhance the company’s ability to provide
service to our clients, both buyers and sellers.
Speaking of the appointment Patrick van Maris, Managing Director of Sotheby’s Europe and the Middle East, said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Marc Michel-Amadry as Managing Director of Sotheby’s Switzerland. Marc brings to Sotheby’s outstanding managerial skills as well as a thorough understanding of the luxury business from a global perspective and an appreciation of the cultural/regional complexities in the Swiss marketplace. Through his valuable expertise Marc will strengthen Sotheby’s existing service to Swiss clients, buyers and sellers.” Mr Michel-Amadry joins Sotheby’s from his position as President and Creative Director of Ebel and Concord, two key brands at Movado Group Inc. He began his career at TAG Heuer, where he gained international experience working in Singapore managing the marketing of the brand for the

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Snap Up an Iconic Banksy at Bonhams Urban Art Sale

 

Several works by the renowned graffiti artist Banksy are to be sold at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of its Urban Art sale on 21 September 2011. Leading the way is a work featuring one of Banksy's most iconic images, the monkey, entitled Monkey Detonator, which has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £70,000 – 90,000. Executed in 2000, this canvas displays the typically dark sense of humour which has endeared Banksy to both art collectors and the general public.
Other original Banksy's featured in the sale include HMV Dog (estimate £10,000 – 15,000); Precision Bombing (£15,000 – 25,000); Watchtower Collaboration – Blu (estimate £10,000 – 15,000); and Balloon Girl (estimate £20,000 – 30,000).
Chinese Soldier by American contemporary artist and graphic designer, Shepard Fairey, one of only seven hand painted works produced by the artist, is another sale highlight, attracting a pre-sale estimate of £20,000 – 30,000. Fairey is best-known for his iconic Barack Obama Change poster in support of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and has recently featured in the first major US museum exhibition of the history of graffiti and street art at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles. The sale also features several other works by the artist, including Duality of Humanity (£15,000 – 20,000), Commandante 1, 2, 3 and 4 (estimate £10,000 – 15,000) and Blank Panther (£3,000 – 5,000).
An exciting addition to the auction scene is Joe Rush, a British artist best-known for his works using salvaged junk and industrial parts. His first two works to ever appear at auction, Boxer No 3 (Mad Jock) and Blue Boy, have attracted pre-sale estimates of £2,500 – 3,000 respectively. Rush, who, at the request of Banksy, exhibited his sculptures at Santa's Ghetto and MuTATE Britain, has worked extensively on the Festival circuit, this year winning 'best Festival field' at Glastonbury as voted for by the Telegraph.

A photocall will take place at Bonhams, New Bond Street on Friday 16 September – further details to be announced.
 
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas.For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com.
 
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Bonhams Offer Rare Persian 18th Century Celestial Globe - One of Only 200 Such Instruments in the World

 

Bonhams is to auction a rare and unique Zand Dynasty (1751-1794) gilded celestial Globe dated 1190AH/1776AD at its next sale of Indian and Islamic art on October 4th in New Bond Street. It is estimated to sell for £40,000 to £60,000.
Passed down through a private English family, the finely engraved globe contains the position of 83 stars and their Persian names as well as the Persian names for the North and South Poles. The only known dated example securely attributable to the Zand period, it is an important addition to the small surviving group of Persian celestial globes. The use of gold and the very fine script indicate the possibility that this globe was made for the Zand ruler Mohammad Karim Khan Zand (1751-1779).
The Zand period is remarkable for its short length and high artistic productivity. Spanning only 44 years, and an incredible seven rulers, it was a period of relative peace and economic growth when many territories previously lost to the Ottomans were recaptured. The British established a trading post in the port of Busehr, extending the influence of the British East India company in Iran. The art of this era is remarkable, producing a distinct school of painting, fine enamel work and calligraphy.
Celestial globes were used primarily for solving problems in celestial astronomy. Although known to have been used in Antiquity, the form of the celestial globe came into being in the Islamic world. Only 200 instruments remain in private and museum collection worldwide, the earliest dating to the 11th century.
The following stars are labelled:
al-judayy - the pole star [Polaris in Ursa Minor]
al-qafzah al-thaniyah - the 'second leap' [two stars in Ursa Major, but only one star indicated]
na'sh [4 stars in Ursa major]
banat [3 stars in the tail of Ursa Major]
saghir al-asad - an error for zahr al-asad 'the back of the lion' [1 star in Leo]
simak ramih - [Arcturus, in Bootes]
kaff al-khadib - the 'dyed hand' [5 stars in Cassiopeia]
simak 'azal [Spica, in Virgo]
al-ghafr - this is the name of the 15th lunar mansion; somewhat curious to have on the globe
fam al-qitus - 'the mouth of Cetus' [1 star in Cetus]
dhanab al-qitus - [Deneb Kaitos, in Cetus]
surrat al-faras - 'the navel of the horse' [Sirrah, in Pegasus]
janah al-faras - 'the wing of the horse' [Algenib in Pegasus]
fam al-faras - 'the mouth of the horse' [1 star in Pegasus]
dhanab al-dajajah - 'the tail of the bird' [Deneb in Cygnus]
minqar al-dajajah - 'the bird's beak' [1 star in Cygnus]
'ayn al-thawr - 'the eye of the bull' [Aldebaran in Taurus]
mankib al-faras - 'the shoulder of the horse' [1 star in Pegasus] -
this is an error. The star should be labelled mankib al-jawza' 'the shoulder of the giant' [Betelgeuse, in Orion]
mirfaq al-thurayya - the elbow of thurayya' [Mirfak in Perseus]
'ayyuq - [Capella, in Auriga]
shi'ra yamaniyah 'abur - [Sirius, in Canis Major]
shi'ra shamaniyah - [Procyon, in Canis Minor]
rijl jawza [probably al-yusra] - 'the foot of the giant'[Rigel, in Orion]
akhir al-nahr - 'the end of the river' [Achenar, in Eridanus]
sab - 'the wild beast' [the name of the constellation Lupus, not a star name]
dhanab - 'tail' [probably meant to be 'tail of the wild beast']
rijl Qinturus - 'foot of the centaur' [Rigil Kent in Centaurus]
ra's al-iklil - 'the top of the crown' one of the stars in Corona Australis (an unusual star name)
rukhat al-rami - 'the knee of the archer' [1 star in Sagittarius]
fam al-hut - 'the mouth of the fish' [1 star in Piscis Austrinus]

At the north celestial pole:
qutb shimal [the north pole], badly worn

At the south celestial pole:
sanah 1190 [year 1190] = 1776AD
qutb junubi [the south pole]