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News:

Auction Results Reported - At Christie's auction of impressionist and post-impressionist art, $20.9 million won the bid for Monet's Nypheas, part of his water lily series. A record was set for Caillebotte's L'homme au balcon, boulevard Haussmann, at $14.3 million. At the 20^th Century art auction, Picasso's Nature morte au tulipes, a portrait of his mistress, fetched the tenth highest price for any piece of art ever sold at $28.6 million. A record was set for Matisse' drawing Study for Pink Nude at $2.6 mil. Meanwhile, at Sotheby's sale of impressionist and modern art, 42 of 50 lots were sold for an impressive total of $140.3 million.

Memorials Dedicated - The Ronald Reagan Peace Garden, which commemorates the end of the cold war, has been dedicated at Eureka College in Illinois. The former President was a 1932 graduate of the college.

--The Oklahoma City National Memorial was recently dedicated in Oklahoma City. Visitors pass through a bronze gate to a field below with 168 stone chairs, each engraved with the name of a victim of the bombing of the federal office building. The husband and wife team of architects are Torrey and Hans-Ekkehard Butzer.

New Program Founded - The Ford Foundation has established a program called New Directions/New Donors that will provide $40 million in one-time challenge grants to 28 arts institutions that have creative new programs. Included in the visual arts realm are the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, and SITE Santa Fe.

Wax Sculptures Coming Your Way - You'll soon be able to see your favorite celebrities and public figures in wax. Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum is under construction in New York at 234 West 42^nd Street and is tentatively scheduled to open in October. Artisans who take 250 intricate measurements of body proportions and create the sculptures from visual observation and photographic analysis will create the likenesses of the 200 figures. The company expects 1.8 million visitors a year to view these incredibly accurate images.

Prize Winners Announced - The winners of the annual Rome Prize Competition have been announced by the American Academy in Rome. Among the various categories, Visual Arts winners are Dara Friedman, Lyle Ashton Harris, Gary Hill, and Donald Lipski; and History of Art winners include Jennifer R. Bethke, Charles M. Rosenberg, and Stefanie Walker.--The Whitney Museum of American Art announced that its first Bucksbaum Award goes to Paul Pfeiffer, a New York artist who will receive a $100,00 stipend and a residency.

Exhibitions:

San Francisco, CA--Legion of Honor--Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective--This first major retrospective in nearly two decades brings together 100 of the artist's major oil paintings, watercolors and pastels drawn from numerous public and private collections. Opening June 10 through Sept. 3. Travels to Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

New Orleans, LA--Museum of Art--Half-Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks--Opening June 3 through August 27; and The Golden Years of Faberge: Objects and Drawings by Henrik Wigstrom--Opening June 17 through August 20.

Stockbridge, MA - Chesterwood - The 2000 season offers an exciting menu of events, tours and programs that are made to order for lovers of American history and art.

• The c.1820 barn has been renovated to accommodate the installation of a major new exhibition, Daniel Chester French: Transforming a Nation Through Sculpture.
• The 19^th Annual Chesterwood Flower Show, June 25 and 26, Summer's Compliments, features floral arrangements in the historic rooms and porches of the residence and studio.
• Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood '00, opening July 1^st through October 13^th, allows visitors to compare diverse styles and materials, both past and present. Guest curator is art critic Donald Kuspit, who has assembled a group show of work by members of the Sculptors Guild, a national association of professional sculptors.
• Andrew DeVries Sculptor-in-Residence Program: Demonstrations, Exhibition and Lectures, July 1--September 3, will feature the noted sculptor in a presentation of bronze casting demos and an exhibit of his works, as well as demos and lectures by other sculptors and artisans on such topics as marble carving, enlarging sculpture and mold-making.

For info on these and other programs and events, call (413) 298-3579, Ext. 215; www.chesterwood.org.

Chicago - The Public Art Program was established to implement the city's Percent for Art Ordinance, enacted in 1978.

• Riverwalk Murals: A series of ceramic murals by artist Ellen Lanyon installed on the SE end of the Riverwalk consist of 16 narrative panels and 12 decorative panels installed along parallel walls of the Riverwalk Gateway. They trace the history of the Chicago River from the explorations of Marquette and Joliet to the modern day.
• City Gallery in the Historic Water Tower: Through August 2000, City 2000 features a continually changing exhibition of photographs taken to document Chicago In The Year (CITY) 2000. About 100 photographers are creating a visual diary of the year, focusing on all of the city's 176 neighborhoods.
• Adler Planetarium: Featured outside is America's Courtyard by Brazilian artists Denise Milan and Ary Perez. This symbolizes a harmonious partnership of the Americas and consists of a 30-foot-wide area of four concentric circles of hand-cut granite with white marble centers.

Mountainville, NY - Storm King Art Center - Joining the impressive collection of works at this outdoor sculpture garden is a special exhibition by Andy Goldsworthy through November 15. Developed from three years of the artist's experiences in the Center's landscape, the monumental commissioned sculpture Wall That Went for a Walk (Storm King Wall) at 2,278 feet long and comprised of 1,579 tons of field stones--is accompanied by photos, drawings, and ephemeral works. www.stormkingartcenter.org.

June Birthdays:

  6    Diego Velasquez
11    John Constable
        Julia Margaret Cameron
13    Christo
17    Charles Eames
28    Peter Paul Rubens

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 10 No. 8 -- June 2000