Latest news with #artlover
BBC News
30-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'I tend Surrealist painter's forgotten grave in Dorset'
For three years, an art lover has been tending the forgotten grave of a Surrealist painter after he discovered it overgrown and obscured by Hillier RA lies in the parish churchyard of Glanvilles Wootton in north Dorset but the reason he is buried there is his grave is regularly cleaned by journalist Seth Dellow, from Ilminster, Somerset, who has also tried to track down the artist's said he decided to care for the plot because he liked Surrealism and found it "weird and bizarre" that Hillier would be buried there. Hillier was a member of the Unit One modernist group of the 1930s, along with Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and founder Paul of his paintings were inspired by the landscapes of north Dorset and Somerset and, following his death in Bristol in 1983, he was buried at St Mary's in Glanvilles Wootton. Mr Dellow said when he found the gravestone it was "completely neglected, covered in lichen, the grass had completely overgrown it"."The lichen was very thick so I thought I'd start cleaning it up - that was a few years ago now," he Dellow contacted the parish clerk and churchwarden, hoping to track down the artist's family but without success."I think what really needs doing is the gold lettering," he said. "The weather has had an effect. It's starting to disappear and there's a risk that one day you won't be able to read what it says." Hillier was born in China, the son of a diplomat, but attended school in lived for more than two decades in France and served in the Royal Navy during World War Two before settling in East Pennard, 20 miles away from his final resting Dellow said: "He was painting rural scenes. You don't really get many British Surrealists who are painting those scenes, especially in Somerset and north Dorset."I don't know why he's buried here but he did paint parts of Dorset - in the area near Sherborne, Wincanton, and places like Cucklington, near the border."For some reason he was very attracted to those areas."I really like Surrealism as an art form. It was a time when Britain had just been to war and it was a difficult time for the country."It's just a surreal story to have a Surrealist from Somerset and Dorset buried here, that's what I find really weird and bizarre, but I love it." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Malay Mail
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Picasso ceramics, once hidden, now up for grabs in Geneva
GENEVA, June 16 — A clutch of one-off and hitherto unseen ceramic plates and dishes by Pablo Picasso are going under the hammer in Geneva on June 19. Emblematic motifs from Picasso's artistic universe — pigeons, fish, a goat, a bull, and a bird adorn the colourful plates and dishes. 'It's a truly exceptional collection. The plates and dishes we have here are real Picasso works,' Bernard Piguet, director of the Piguet auction house in Geneva, told AFP. 'These unique pieces belonged to Picasso's estate, and in the early 1980s, his heirs gave them to one of their friends,' he said. The close friend, a French art lover whose name has not been revealed, kept them until his death. His heirs have decided to put the ceramics up for sale. Made between 1947 and 1963 in the Madoura workshop in Vallauris on the southeast French coast, the ceramic artworks are being exhibited to the general public for the first time ahead of Thursday's auction. 'Reasonable' prices The seven pieces are being sold in separate lots. Two large platters decorated with pigeons are both expected to fetch between 30,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs (RM157,000-RM261,700). A third plate depicting three blue, pink, and brick-coloured fish on a white background, resembling a child's drawing, is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 francs. A thin brick, titled 'Head of a Bearded Man', and painted with ceramic pastels in yellow, white, garnet, brown, blue orange and green, has the same estimate. Glazed on a painted background in shades of grey, brown, and black, a terracotta plate depicting a goat's head bears the prestigious stamp 'Original Picasso print' on the back. It is valued at 20,000-30,000 francs. The two others feature a bull on a hexagonal terracotta tile (15,000-20,000 francs), and a stylised bird on a plate painted in black and white (15,000-25,000 francs). 'It's a lot,' Piguet said of the price. 'But don't forget that these are works of art in their own right and unique pieces' without replicas. 'If you step back from Picasso's work and his drawings, which are becoming practically unaffordable today, you have here original works by Picasso that command a reasonable estimate.' New outlet Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. The prolific Spanish painter died in 1973, aged 91. This photograph taken on June 5, 2025 shows the white earthenware plate 'Bird' (2.6.1963) by Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer Pablo Picasso, at the Piguet auction house in Geneva, prior to the auction of seven unique and never-before-seen ceramic works by the artist. — AFP pic He created thousands of plates, platters, vases, pitchers, and other earthenware utensils in the Madoura ceramics studio, run by the pottery couple Georges and Suzanne Ramie. After World War II, 'Picasso was already an internationally-renowned artist,' said Adeline Bisch Balerna, head of paintings and sculptures at Piguet. 'He had already opened up a huge number of avenues for all artists; the great, well-known works had been created, and he was seeking new means of expression for his art.' Picasso would visit the Madoura studio, meet Georges Ranie, and be 'captivated by all the possibilities offered' by this new artistic outlet, she explained. Piguet is also auctioning two Picasso works 'never before seen on the art market', from the same family friend's collection: 'Serenade' (1919), an Indian ink and watercolour painting estimated at 20,000-30,000 francs, and the pencil drawing 'Famille balzacienne' (1962), valued at 80,000-120,000 francs. Unseen Klein Meanwhile the contemporary art in Thursday's sale includes one of French artist Yves Klein's first blue monochromes, in what is its first appearance on the art market, according to Piguet auction house. From 1959, 'Monochrome bleu sans titre (IKB 328)', estimated at 100,000-150,000 francs, is painted in International Klein Blue, the deep blue hue developed by the artist himself. 'In daylight, it really has this luminous blue, this completely fascinating Klein blue. And when you put it indoors, you see it as a dark blue, almost midnight blue,' said Bernard Piguet. Klein died in 1962 aged 34, following a series of heart attacks. The work comes from the collection of the Swiss artist couple Muriel and Gerald Minkoff, who liked to exchange their works with their contemporaries. It was discovered by their successors in their Geneva apartment, according to Piguet. — AFP
