Master Drawings

Today the Ashmolean Museum attached to Oxford University opened Master Drawings, a summer exhibition of the Ashmolean's treasures of Western Art on paper (CLICK). Drawings by Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael are included, also Turner and Gwen John among the more moderns works. Admission prices are £5 for adults and £4 for silver surfers; under-18s are allowed in free.

Tornado Alley

Finding that the Discus Thrower is in the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas reminded me of Tornado Alley and that devasting twister which virtually wiped Moore, south of Oklahoma City, off the face of the map four days ago (CLICK). The photo shows teachers taking traumatized girls away from Briarwood Elementary School in south Oklahoma City. It's the most positive image I've seen of the disaster. They survived. Many didn't. My sympathies go out to all those who lost homes and loved ones. I checked on Texas and it is indeed in Tornado Alley and has more than twice the twisters of any other state, over 8,000 (CLICK)!

Brit. Museum in Texas

If you're wondering what's happened to The British Museum's famous marble Discus Thrower - a 2nd Century AD Roman copy of a lost Greek original -, it's gone to the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas until 6 October. DMA has come up with the catchy title: The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece: Masterworks from the British Museum (CLICK). It goes on to state that DMA is the first US museum to show this "international touring exhibition of more than 120 objects exploring the human form through exquisite works exclusively from the British Museum’s famed collection of Greek and Roman art". Treasures on display include marble and bronze sculptures, fine painted pottery, funerary monuments, terracotta and gold jewelry. Usually entry to DMA is free, but it will charge $16 for admission to this special exhibition. My advice to my American readers is to hotfoot it down to DMA. This is a golden opportunity.

Joaquin Sorolla Sold

Yesterday in London, Sotheby's led its sale of 19th Century European Paintings with Joaquin Sorolla's Niños en la playa (1916). A private buyer snapped it up for £2,770,500. It had remained in the artist's family until the sale, occasionally loaned to major Sorolla exhibitions and also featured on a Spanish stamp. Now it has vanished into a millionaire's vault, lost to public gaze (CLICK). There should be a law against it. The good news is that his complete works are available to view on the Internet: CLICK.

Atrocity Update

The soldier brutally slaughtered in Woolwich has been named as Drummer Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. His commanding officer Lt Col Jim Taylor described him as "an experienced and talented side drummer and machine gunner, he was a true warrior and served with distinction in Afghanistan, Germany and Cyprus" (CLICK). The Islamic lunatics who butchered him and charged the police probably hoped to wake up in Muslim heaven attended by 60 virgin girls. Instead they'll wake up to the NHS and a police guard! Two more Islamic nutters have been arrested for conspiracy to murder. Our politicians witter on with platitude after platitude, but have no idea how to deal with the menace of jihad. Making all our schools secular and removing religious instruction from the syllabus would be a start. The World Health Organisation recognises religiosity as a form of mental illness. All our children need to be protected from it.

Constable Bought

Tate Britain has bought John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) for the bargain price of £23.1m, thanks to major grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund, The Manton Foundation and Tate Members. This is one of his monumental six-foot canvases, painted shortly after his wife's death. It's been on loan to The National Gallery for 30 years. The bad news for London art lovers is that it will go on constant tour to Tate Britain's partners in the purchase: the National Museum of Wales, the National Galleries of Scotland, Colchester and Ipswich Museums and Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. But it has been saved for the nation. The heirs of Lord Ashton of Hyde might have sold it to an American museum (CLICK).

RA Summer Rubbish

Here's another import from Africa: El Anatsui's TSIATSIA (2013) being draped over the façade of Burlington house for the Royal Academy of Arts' Summer Exhibition. It's bling with bottle tops strung together with copper wire. I assume it was commissioned by the RA, because it took a year to make and Ghanaian-born sculptor El Anatsui is sought after by anti-art establishments around the world. He lives and works in Nigeria, where he holds a professorship in sculpture at the University of Nigeria. CLICK for a BBC interview. The 245th RA Summer Exhibition limps along from 10 June to 18 August, admission £10 for adults, £9 for silver surfers (90%). Pensioners in London are expected to be rich (CLICK).

Terrorists in Woolwich

You've heard the phrase "caught red-handed". This is what it means in reality. The graphic is a still from an ITV exclusive video which shows an Islamic nutter before he was shot by police in Woolwich, south-east London. Garbled details are still coming in. According to local MP Nick Raynsford, the victim was an off-duty soldier from Woolwich Barracks. He was wearing a Help For Heroes T-shirt. The attack took place in John Wilson Street at about 2.20pm. The two killers drove their car at the soldier, probably killing him instantly, judging by the crumpled state of the vehicle. They then got out and beheaded him, using long knives and a butcher's meat cleaver. They shouted the Islamic slogan which translates as "God is great". When police arrived, one of the killers produced a gun and they both ran toward the police. They were shot and wounded and are now under arrest in hospital. One of them is from Nigeria, where Islamic group Boko Haram has been under attack by the Nigerian army. COBRA meets again tomorrow (CLICK).

Evil in Hong Kong

Despite all their guff about anti-consumerism, brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman - much loved by the Brit. Anti-art Establishment - are following the money around. They tried their hand in Russia, got the raspberry and vowed never to return. Now they've unveiled their latest show in White Cube's gallery in Hong Kong to coincide with Art Basel opening a Hong Kong fair, which Jake Chapman hypocritically dismissed as a "shop". The big European auction houses are already there. Yes, it's all move to grab a fistful of yen or whatever currency the Chinese use. The Chapman brothers' diabolical tosh The Sum of all Evil features skeletons, Nazi soldiers and crucified Ronald McDonalds (CLICK). So far the most popular modern "art" to have sailed into Hong Kong is Florentijn Hofman's inflatable Rubber Duck, which has been floating round Victoria Harbour and brought the tourists flocking to see it and buy little replicas (CLICK).

London Art Week

Sadly, Gustav Klimt is famous for his tawdry bling, rather than for the quality of his art; but this delightful drawing Annerl, thought to be from a photo of his 5-year-old sister who died 10 years earlier, shows what a fine artist he was (CLICK). The drawing comes up for sale during the inaugural London Art Week, which combines Master Paintings Week and Master Drawings and Sculpture Week, from 28 June to 5 July 2013. Specialist art dealers in St James and Mayfair will exhibit a wide range of artworks from the 1st century BC to the 20th century (CLICK). Have a gawk at treasures you can't afford.

Quinn's Michael Jackson

Yesterday I mentioned Marc Quinn's statue of a naked Michael Jackson (scroll down or CLICK). In case you haven't come across it before, here it is: Quinn's Michael Jackson after Michelangelo's David. I don't know whether this statue was commissioned by the warbler himself as part of his self-deluding ego trip or whether it arose from Quinn's sense of humour. Either way, I think the statue would have looked better among the garden gnomes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show than Quinn's jumbo orchid. Gold medal winner?

Quinn at Chelsea

Today royalty, celebrities and the press descended on the Royal Horticultural Society's 100th Chelsea Flower Show. Garden gnomes are rampant this year as a centenary joke and will be banned for the next 99 years. British artist Marc Quinn unveiled his latest sculpture, a Giant Orchid, which was lost among the floral displays. His statue of a naked Michael Jackson would have looked better, lurking in the foliage. Tomorrow sees the medals awarded. Tickets for the public are already sold out (CLICK).

Ashmolean Gets Ruskin

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has acquired John Everett Millais' Portrait of John Ruskin (1853) under the Acceptance in Lieu of Inheritance scheme (CLICK). This is the portrait that destroyed the art critic's marriage. While painting the portrait, posed during the friends' holiday in Scotland, Millais fell in love with Ruskin's teenage wife, Effie. The following year the marriage was annulled and a year later Millais and Effie wed. Oh, the scandal! But by today's standards it was all very prim and proper. The story has recently been turned into a movie starring Dakota Fanning (CLICK).