Man jailed for defacing Mark Rothko

Black on Maroon - Mark Rothko

Polish national Wlodzimierz Umaniec was yesterday jailed for two years for defacing Mark Rothko's 'Black on Maroon,' worth tens of millions of pounds, at the Tate Modern. On October 7th gallery visitors saw the man casually walk up to the painting and scrawl 'Vladimir Umanets, 12, A Potential Piece of Yellowism' before fleeing the gallery. Mr Umaniec pleaded guilty but insisted he was not a vandal as he had added to the work's value?!

The Tate have said the damage was much worse that initially feared and could take up to 20 months to restore and cost about £200,000.

Mr Umaniec co-founded the bizarre artistic movement 'Yellowism.' What on earth is that I hear you ask, well you may well ask, its described as 'neither art, nor anti-art,' something I can't quite make sense of, all it makes me think of is Coldplay.

Black on Maroon was donated to the Tate in 1969 by Rothko himself. Earlier this year one of his works sold for £53.8m, the highest price paid for a piece of post-War art at auction.

Record selling price of any drawing, ever!

Head of an Apostle, 1519 - Raphael

As a result of crashing the Sotheby's Christmas party on Monday night I was lucky enough to have a close look at Raphael's 'Head of an Apostle,' 1519. Tucked away from the main rooms, dimly  lit, I found myself utterly transfixed on this beautiful drawing...delicious apple and pear martini in hand which I was terrified of sloshing over it. I remember thinking this was something very special and it turns out I wasn't the only one...

The drawing sold at auction yesterday for a record breaking 29.7 million, the most any drawing has ever sold for in art history. The man in charge of the auction said he was not confident it would go for even half of this as its estimate suggests. The small scale chalk drawing was a study for Raphael's Transfiguration and was part of a private collection at Chatsworth House.

Last chance to see 'Bronze'

The Pharisee, St John the Baptist and The Levite from The
Sermon of Saint John the Baptist, 1511
Giovanfrancesco Rustici  

I went to see the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy last month and highly recommend going before it closes on December 9th if you haven't already.

Not surprisingly this blockbuster exhibition celebrates Bronze, bringing together  more than 150 works spanning three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, and 5,000 years - never has there been an exhibition of this medium on such vast scale. Iconic works date back to the Ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan periods, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, right up to the 19th century and today.

Bronze is an alloy in which copper is usually mixed with tin and is both durable and ductile meaning artists can achieve gravity defying sculptural effects that would be impossible in stone. In addition, artists working in bronze can create supple surfaces with great detail thanks to the 'lost-wax technique.' This complex process which was first used by the ancients allows artists to perfectly replicate a wax model in bronze.

Instead of exhibiting the works in chronological order they have been arranged thematically with each room focusing on something different, one is full of figures, another of faces, groups, reliefs, animals, gods, heads, busts. What this means is works from completely different time periods and movements, though of the same subject, can be seen next to each other, making it possible to contrast and compare a Greek Satyr against a futuristic figure by Boccioni. 'The resulting chronological confusion is discombobulating, exhilarating and educational by turns.'

Dancing Satyr, Greek, Hellenistic period,
C4th BCE

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913
Umberto Boccioni

Curator Professor David Ekserdjian said, 'The idea sprang to me by considering the relationships and correspondences that are especially evident with bronze - it has both range and kinship across different cultures.'  He had dreamed of putting this show for around 20 years though was unsure anyone would accept it given the wide range of works and sheer number of institutions involved in lending them. There were of course lots of works that were 'too iconic' to move and this is therefore a selection of a huge genre.

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Subscribe and win a ticket to the Manet exhibition preview!

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere 1882

All subscribers will have the chance of accompanying me to the evening preview of the 'Manet: Portraying Life' exhibition on January 23rd at the Royal Academy.  Winner to be announced next week!

Edouart Manet, 1832-1883, was a French painter and one of the first 19th century artists to approach modern-life subjects. He played a key part in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

New Orleans to Notting Hill

Henry Butler live at Preservation Hall, New Orleans

Last night I went to the private view of a fantastic exhibition of Music Photography held by two friends at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill. Edu Hawkins and Jamie Foale of Foale & Sons collaborated to bring together the music photography of Edu, combined with the innovative gilding technique of Foale & Sons. The exhibition depicts music photography from New Orleans to Notting Hill, via music events from around the world.

After Foale & Sons' debut exhibition at the Tabernacle in November 2011, Jamie approached Edu with the idea of holding an exhibition that would combine their gilding technique with his musical photographs.

Edu and Jamie met at Leeds University, since graduating Edu has been working as a photographer, capturing some of the biggest names in the music world, both in concert and behind the scenes. During this time Jamie established the arts company Foale & Son with his mother and brother. Their aim was to experiment with different gilding techniques, applying them to art and furniture, all of which is handmade from their studio in Kensal Rise. After investing in a high quality inkjet printer they developed a technique of mounting printed images onto acrylic and gilding behind them with silver leaf. 

This process added another dimension to the photographs, giving them a real depth and luminosity which they previously didn't have. Most of the photos portray Jazz musicians, hence the exhibition being held during the London Jazz Festival.  

Musicians you can expect to see are, Gil Scott-Heron, BB King, VV Brown, Lauren Hill, Abram Wilson, Henry Butler, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Friendly Fires, Mumford & Sons plus many more.

The image illustrated at the top of this post was one of my favourites, it shows Henry Butler, a blind New Orleans pianist, playing an intimate midnight show in New Orleans' most famous venue, Preservation Hall. Butler is described by possibly the greatest living ambassador for New Orleans music, Dr John, as "the pride of New Orleans...a visionistical down-home cat and hellified piano plunker to boot." Another favourite of mine was this image,

Gil Scott Heron Portrait

Scott Heron is regarded as one of the pioneers of hip-hop and rap, often referred to as 'The Godfather of Rap,' a title he shunned. Above is an exclusive dressing room portrait following his final performance in the UK before his death in May 2011, aged 62. This image clearly shows off the gilding process behind the photo, really bringing it to life! 

Happy Birthday Rodin!

The 172nd birthday of August Rodin, widely thought to be the father of modern sculpture, has been celebrated with a Google Doodle. The search engine has replaced the multicoloured Google logo on its homepage with an illustration depicting Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker.

Rodin's Thinker is perhaps his best known monumental work, first conceived c 1880-1881 as a depiction of a poet Dante although the image evolved until it no longer represented Dante but all poets/creators.