New Masters' Painting Discovered!

A previously unknown work by the painter usually considered to be the true father of modern art, Don Francisco de Goya y Lucientes has been discovered in Malaga, Spain by a local art restorer.

Read the story here - thanks AJ.

We are lucky to have many Goyas in Washington, DC at the NGA.

Tip for Photography Collectors

One of the best ways to acquire terrific deals in contemporary photography is through the Photo Review Benefit Auction.

The Photo Review Benefit Auction is now on-line here. You can preview the work and submit absentee bids.

A special preview will be held in New York City at the Sarah Morthland Gallery, from Tuesday-Thursday, October 12-14, 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

A preview at the University of the Arts, Dorrance-Hamilton Building, Broad and Pine Streets, in Philadelphia, will be held on Friday, November 5 from 11 - 5 PM, and on Saturday, November 6 from 11 - 6 PM.

The auction will take place on Saturday, November 8 at 7 PM at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Among the work featured are rare vintage prints by Francis Frith, Milton Greene, Philippe Halsman, Lewis Hine, Eadweard Muybridge, August Sander, Lou Stoumen, Josef Sudek, and Weegee, as well as Barbara Morgan's famous image of Martha Graham: Letter to the World (The Kick).

Among the contemporary photo stars whose work will go on the block are Shelby Lee Adams, Elinor Carucci, Lois Greenfield, Michael Kenna, Cindy Sherman, Jock Sturges, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Alex Webb, and William Wegman. In addition, a broad range of 19th-century photographs are up for bid.

The annual auction is free of charge. A fully illustrated catalogue is available for $12 from The Photo Review, 140 East Richardson Avenue, Suite 301, Langhorne, PA 19047-2824.

Last Friday we had our best opening night ever, in the fourth solo show at Fraser Bethesda by New York painter David FeBland.

FeBland's last solo immediately preceeding this show, at Galerie Barbara von Stechow in Germany, sold out; another bit of evidence of how hot painting is in Europe.

You can view the show online here.

Want to ask Charles Saatchi a question?

To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Saatchi gallery, the advertising genius turned art collector, Charles Saatchi has agreed to answer The Art Newspaper’s questions as well as your own in their January 2005 issue. Email a question to Saatchi here.

Deadline for questions is December 6, 2004.

Jacqueline Trescott in the Washington Post: The DC City Museum will close its exhibit galleries to the general public next spring.

Tomorrow, Sunday October 10, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. is the Bethesda Artists' Market, with 25-35 area artists (some are coming from as far north as New York now) selling their artwork.

The market is on Bethesda Plaza, right outside and around the Fraser Gallery Bethesda, one and a half blocks north of the Bethesda Metro stop on the Red Line.

See you there!

"Funky Furniture" Controversy making worldwide news

The "Funky Furniture" controversy, first discussed here a few days ago, and subsequently in the Washington Post has made worldwide news and even the BBC has picked up the story!

One of the show's curators (Chad Alan) told me yesterday that a protest outside the City Museum was being organized for next week - I will let you know as soon as details are available.

This is a PERFECT opportunity for an area exhibition venue to step up and offer up space to host this exhibition. It is sort of a replay of the "Mapplethorpe at the Corcoran" controversy of the past. Except that this time, of course, it is the perfect opportunity for the Corcoran to step up to the plate and offer up its empty ground floor space (the empty space to the right when you first enter the museum) to host "Funky Furniture."

The exhibit is designed to look like a "living room," and so it would be a perfect fit into that Corcoran ground floor empty space.

And you can't buy publicity like this controversy has generated. So the ball is in the Corcoran's court, I think.