International Art Market Spring 2015

1. NEW YORK, NY.- This Spring, vintage Moroccan rugs have been experiencing a surge in popularity: From fashion houses like Lanvin and Tory Burch, who referenced traditional Moroccan

weaving in their recent collections, to top interior designers like Markham Roberts and Tom Scheerer, who utilize the minimalist, contemporary look of Moroccan rugs in their clients homes,
today's most stylish professionals are drawing inspiration from this traditional African craft. More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/77541/Vintage-Moroccan-rugs-offer-a-
contemporary-look-with-traditional-cultural-appeal#.VSWxWBPF-UA

2.. LONDON Everyone likes a one man's trash is another man's treasure story.  But what can these stories tell us about collectors, collecting habits and the art market in antiquities in the 20th century in  the UK? In November 2014, the family of a deceased elderly woman, Doreen Liddell, hired the services of an estate sale company, Penzance Auction House to go through the painful disposal of
unwanted things us humans tend to accumulate over our lifetimes and that relatives frequently don't have the place for, or the emotional strength to actively sift through. More Information:
http://art-crime.blogspot.com/2015/02/where-did-kitty-and-mummy-go-british.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arcablog+%28ARCAblog%29

3.. GAZA CITY (AFP).- World-renowned graffiti artist Banksy has caused a stir in the Gaza Strip, apparently secretly travelling to the Palestinian territory and painting murals on buildings
ruined by the latest conflict. The artist, whose chooses to remain anonymous, released an online video entitled "Make this the year YOU discover a new destination", that purports to show him
travelling to Gaza by commercial flight and then through smuggling tunnels -- possibly underneath the Egyptian border. More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/76778/Graffiti-artist-
Banksy-releases-an-online-video--Leaves-his-mark-in-war-ravaged-Gaza#.VTgmva3BzGc

4. MAASTRICHT, the Netherlands — With the background beat of The TEFAF Art Market Report 2015 announcing record global art sales of €51 billion, Europe’s fanciest art fair opened
Thursday with great expectations. Unlike most contemporary themed art fairs that rely on make or break sales in the first few hours of the V.I.P. opening, TEFAF (aka The European Fine Art
Fair) is a slow-brewing, 10-day-long event embracing categories from antiquities and jewelry to Old Master paintings and where “art sells at a snail’s pace,” said New York dealer Paul Kasmin,
“and usually at the end of the fair or even a week after.”  For the fair goer, you’re choosing one or the other.”with so much visual candy on offer, it is relatively difficult to make a big impression at TEFAF, though this iteration, the 27th, had a wow factor entry, with the curated display of Shaker
furniture at Paris based Galerie Downtown, brilliantly organized and installed as a mini Shaker Village home by Francois Laffanour and Philippe Segalot. The art dealers also collaborated with
the Shaker Museum in Mount Lebanon, New York, and had a handful of loaned works. Apart from those minimal and beautifully crafted primarily wood objects, the rest of the stand sold out or
had pieces placed on hold during the first few hours at relatively modest prices ranging from $10,000 for a rocking chair to $300,000 for a great, multi-drawer cupboard. More... http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1115853/tefaf-opens-with-steady-sales?utm_source=BLOUIN+ARTINFO+Newsletters&utm_campaign=10110a2695-

5. NEW YORK, NY.- The Madison Ancient and Tribal Arts Fair May 14th—17th at the Arader Galleries townhouse at 1016 Madison Avenue is a singular opportunity to shop distinguished
collections of the antique sculptural and figurative arts of Africa, Oceania and the ancient Americas.
Wood sculptures and carvings, fiber works, masks, beadwork, and body objects created by remote cultures for use in daily life, sport and ritual will be on view. The MATA Fair is a vetted show,
offering only authentic and museum quality items. Several of the dealers rarely show publicly, making the Fair unique.
http://artdaily.com/news/77623/New-York-s-Madison-Ancient-Tribal-Arts-Fair-slated-for-May-14-17th-at-the-Arader-Galleries-Mansion#.VUETEa1Viko

6. CANBERRA.- The National Portrait Gallery unveiled an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed
to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits. More Information:
http://artdaily.com/news/77696/Australia-s-National-Portrait-Gallery-acquires-painting-attributed-to-John-Webber#.VSWyWBPF-UA

7.The Stakes are in the Stroke: "Made in China: A Doug Fishbone Project"
In 1811 Sir John Soane drew up the blueprint for Dulwich Picture Gallery, Britain’s first public art gallery. That is, Sir Radical Soane drew up a template for how to house Francis Bourgeois’ first-class private collection: open its Bourgeois doors to the public. Two centuries on and the template—save for the ticket price—has not been tampered with. For where the conceptual artist, Doug Fishbone, today asks the public to discern the dud in the gallery’s Permanent Collection of Claude’s to Canaletto’s, its welcome mat is down. But a dud, mind you, that is meant to spark—spark intrigue, in anyone who has ever suspected that a Christmas gift was too-leather-good-to be-true. Intrigue in you, the sceptic. Spotting the fake from the fortune is not reserved for the BBC-coiffed-likes of Fiona Bruce as she uncovers, in the attic, ancestors with considerable assets. Spotting the fake from the fortune is as good a guess yours as it is theirs. http://art-crime.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-stakes-are-in-stroke-made-in-china.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arcablog+%28ARCAblog%29

8. ABU DHABI - Why the Louvre Abu Dhabi is worth celebrating, despite its dark side. The accusations of migrant worker exploitation have marred Jean Nouvel’s architectural masterpiece in the Middle East. Nonetheless, it is a turning point in cultural history . The Louvre Abu Dhabi looks set to open in 2016, as work on Jean Nouvel’s colossal construction speeds up and his vision of a modern medina starts to crystallise on what was once a desert island. This vast project has been stupendously controversial. Bertolt Brecht’s question about a much earlier age of architectural grandeur leaves a bad taste in the mouth when applied to the Louvre Abu Dhabi: Who built Thebes of the 7 gates? In the books you will read the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? The answer in this case, according to damning investigations, is that Abu Dhabi’s new cultural centre is being built by exploited and abused migrant workers. These workers, the Guardian reported recently, “are subject to destitution, summary arrest and deportation if they complain about their squalid and unsafe conditions, an investigation by Human Rights Watch has found.” Yet the question asked by Brecht has a converse. Seeing ancient monuments, we tend to forget the toil and suffering of the builders. Fifty years from now, when the Louvre Abu Dhabi has established itself as one of the world’s great museums, how clearly will its dark beginnings be remembered?
Nothing excuses the inhuman working conditions that have been reported. But I suspect that when it opens, this audacious new museum will be admired as a world destination and artistic treasure house. And so it should be. Great museums have traditionally been identified with Europe and the US. I am talking about the really grand ones, those living encyclopedias of everything. These include – as well as the Paris Louvre itself – New York’s Metropolitan Museum, London’s British Museum, St Petersburg’s Hermitage and Berlin’s Museum Island. To create a new global museum in the Arab world with an Arab perspective is a revolutionary subversion of the old European imperialism of knowledge. With any luck, this is the beginning of a global spread of great museums. The world needs a network of cultural oases on every continent, perhaps one day sharing all their collections. That would vindicate the democratic educational dream of the Enlightenment, from which the first world museums grew. It is right to be concerned about worker abuses. But it would be deeply destructive to refuse for that reason to celebrate an eye-opening new museum.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/mar/09/louvre-abu-dhabi-worth-celebrating-jean-nouvel-human-rights