Art News

"A friend of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and other great contemporary artists, Roy Newell is firmly rooted in the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, but his name is largely unknown today. Ahead of Sotheby’s selling exhibition titled 'Roy Newell: Works from the Archive’ open from 5 May 2017 to 9 June 2017 in New York, Artist and friend Richard Dupont discusses Newell’s complex process." Credit: Sotheby's   

"Experience J.M.W. Turner’s celebrated masterpiece, Ehrenbreitstein, in a stunning new way. CGI animation takes you on a journey through the magisterial landscape as legendary English actor Steven Berkoff recites lines from Lord Byron’s epic poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Exhibited in 1835 at the Royal Academy alongside lines from the poem, Turner realises the vision of Byron’s world-weary hero as the travels down the River Rhine. Ehrenbreitstein is the highlight of Sotheby’s Old Masters Evening Sale on 5 July in London." Credit: Sotheby's  

"Discover how Joan Miró was inspired by the landscape of a French coastal town to create one of the most ground breaking contributions to modern art. Miró’s fabled Constellations series has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful and poignant answers to the tragedy of the Second World War and inspired Alberto Giacometti to provide his own answer to the trauma of war. Giacometti’s unique bronze Grande Figure and Miró’s Femme et oiseaux are highlights of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London on 21 June." Credit: Sotheby's   

"Wassily Kandinsky painted BILD MIT WEISSEN LINIEN in 1913—a year that is widely recognized as one of the most important in the development of modern art. During this year, Kandinsky created the most celebrated series of abstract paintings in the history of early 20th-century art. Bild mit weissen Linien, executed on a grand scale and in dazzling colours, is one of the most important paintings by Kandinsky from this crucial year and leads Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 21 June in London." Credit: Sotheby's 

"MURNAU - LANDSCHAFT MIT GRÜNEM HAUS from 1909 represents the height of Wassily Kandinsky’s expressionist moment, shortly before the artist abandoned figuration entirely and brought full abstraction into the 20th century.This work reveals Kandinsky’s fascination with color and its power. It was acquired by the family of the present owner nearly a century ago and has never appeared at auction. MURNAU - LANDSCHAFT MIT GRÜNEM HAUS is a highlight of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 21 June in London." Credit: Sotheby's 

"Old Master Paintings specialist Jonquil O’Reilly uses fashion to reveal the wider context of paintings. In her debut video, ‘The Costumist’ introduces Barbara Schwarz, wife of Matthäus Schwarz, a fascinating 16th-century personality who meticulously documented his favourite outfits in a ‘Trachtenbuch’ or costume book. Despite her exclusion, Christoph Amberger captured a portrait of the Augsburg society woman and her highly fashionable costume, a highlight of Sotheby’s upcoming Old Masters Evening sale on 5 July in London." Credit: Sotheby's 

Coming to auction later this month at Christie’s in London is an early nineteenth-century walking stick that belonged to the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott. Made of malacca, or East Indian rattan palm, this walking stick was given by Scott to the Scottish painter, William Allan in 1831, just a year before the author’s death.

Photographer Mathew Brady (1822-1896) is mostly remembered today for his Civil War images—wounded soldiers resting under trees, prisoners awaiting transportation, scores of dead combatants lying in bloody fields—and is considered one of the pioneers of photojournalism.

"Watch beautiful Old Master paintings come to life through amazing morphing animation. The portraits of rulers, reformers, gentlemen and fools, by artists including Lucas Cranach the Elder, Jacopo de’ Barbari and Jan Sanders van Hemessen, represent the full array of celebrity in early modern life. All are highlights of Sotheby’s Old Masters Evening Sale on 6 July in London." Credit: Sotheby's

Japanese artist Takuji Hamanaka takes us inside his Brooklyn studio to explain why he adopted a centuries-old technique to create contemporary woodblock prints.