“For the Love of God” 2007, platinum diamond and human teeth. Image via White Cube Gallery, Beyond Belief exhibition.

“For the Love of God,” Damien Hirst‘s globally recognized piece in which he encrusted a circa-1800 AD skull with 8,601 diamonds (including a £4 million pear-shaped pink diamond embedded in the forehead), is now on display through May 1, 2011 in the Palazzo Vecchio – the massive Renaissance fortification and historic seat of the Florentine government.  The 2007 work, an iconic symbol of the last art boom, has not been displayed publicly in recent years.

The Pallazzo Vecchio, the current home of Damien Hirst’s diamond skull.  Image via Turismo Intoscana.

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‘Newspeak: British Art Now,’ all images are via Charles Saatchi Gallery unless otherwise noted

Currently on view at the Saatchi Gallery is ‘Newspeak: British Art Now,’ an exhibition featuring more than 30 young British artists whose work is represented in the collection of Charles Saatchi. The European premiere of the show was held at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia in October 2009.

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The Education of the Virgin, circa 1617, oil on canvas, which was recently reattributed to Diego Velázquez, at the Yale University Art Gallery. Image courtesy Yale University.–>

Just days after a Caravaggio masterpiece that had been stolen two years ago was recovered in Berlin, Yale University reported today that they have discovered a painting in their museum’s storage which could be attributed to 17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. In a statement released from the university, they relate that the discovery was made in the midst of a “multi-year preparation for a major renovation and expansion currently underway.”

In a thorough review of their vast holdings, this unsigned painting seems to have slipped under the radar, having been previously attributed to an “unknown 17th-century Spanish painter.” The work was donated to the Yale University Art Gallery in 1925 by two brothers, wealthy Yale alumni Henry and Raynham Townshend, whose family, from New Haven, had owned it for more than 40 years. At the time of donation, the provenance reports stated that the painting was 300+ years old and in poor condition, but after six years of recent study, the work has now been reattributed to the Spanish master himself, whose Las Meninas (1656) is one of the jewels of the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.

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Nikolaevsky Hall, via State Hermitage Museum

Currently on view at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is a collaborative project between the renowned London based Saatchi Gallery and the initiative “Hermitage 20/21” titled “Newspeak: British Art Now.”  The exhibition features works by British artists that recently gained recognition in the United Kingdom through their alliance with Charles Saatchi. The exhibition at the State Hermitage is their international debut.

Steven Claydon

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Tacita Dean’s Christmas tree, ‘Weihnachtsbaum‘ at Tate Britain via Zimbio

The Tate has been embracing the Christmas spirit this week with a series of headlining seasonal happenings.  The Tate Christmas Tree 2009, “Weihnachtsbaum” designed by Tacita Dean, shocked critics by actually appearing “Christmassy”[Bloomberg]  This weekend, Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall was taken over by Rob Pruitt‘s festive ‘Flea Market’ – originally held at Gavin Brown’s Passerby gallery in New York in the late 1990s, this event was programmed to coincide with the Tate Modern exhibition Pop Life: Art in a Material World, in which Pruitt also appears [POP Magazine]

Italian police have seized works of art belonging to Carlisto Tanzi – founder of the Italian firm Parmalat who collapsed in a massive fraud scandal in 2003. The 19 paintings and drawings, included works by Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh, and is estimated to be worth more than 100million euros [BBC News]

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Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon that will appear in New York’s Madison Square Park in March 2010 via ArtInfo

Antony Gormley has announced plans to install 31 nude sculptures cast from his own body in and around Madison Square Park in Manhattan’s Flatiron District beginning March 26 [NY Times]

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Hermitage Amsterdam, via HUM3.

The Hermitage Amsterdam opened its doors on June 20, the first branch of the State Museum in the West.  Housed in the Amstelhof, originally built as a charitable home in the the 1680’s, the Hermitage Amsterdam “is the culmination of nearly two decades of planning,” says Ernst W. Veen, Managing Director of Hermitage Amsterdam.  The museum itself will be supported by sponsorship and admission, functioning, continues Veen, as “a continuation of more than 300 years of close ties between Amsterdam and St Petersburg.”  Accordingly, The inaugural exhibition presents over 1,800 works drawn from the holdings of the State Hermitage Museum.  Per Hermitage Amsterdam, the show is “a scholarly researched exploration of the opulent material culture, elaborate social hierarchy and richly layered traditions of the Tsarist court at its height in the 19th century.”

Related links:
Hermitage Amsterdam
The State Hermitage Museum
Ghostly walk among the Tsars [FT]
Carousel of treasures [Economist]

Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna at the Grand Church of the Winterpalace (1895, oil painting), at Hermitage Amsterdam.

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Ben Lewis BBC reporter for ‘The Great Contemporary Art Bubble’ via The Age

A video player of the BBC documentary: ‘The Great Contemporary Art Bubble’ which, though scathing, gained extraordinary access to collectors such as Adam Lindemann, Aby Rosen and the Mugrabi’s.  Of note is that the documentary filmmaker Ben Lewis actually admits to being the source that leaked White Cube’s unsold inventory prior to the famous Damien Hirst Sotheby’s Auction of 2008 [BBC]

The Guggenheim Museum via Guggenheim.org

The Guggenheim Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary with an exhibition on Frank Lloyd Wright [NYTimes]
The Wall Street Journal calls a possible art price floor based on NY Spring auction activity being the “smallest in 5 years” [Wall Street Journal]
A lawsuit is filed against Christie’s over $3.2 million accepted bid alledgedly made after another accepted phone bid [Bloomberg]
On the austere outlook for recent art school graduates [Financial Times]

Supermarkets censor Manic Street Preachers album cover by Jenny Saville [BBC]
On Art in America owner Peter Brandt’s new exhibition space / festivities at his Greenwich estate [Art Forum]

A digital rendering of Karl Haendel’s ‘Scribble’ on 441 Broadway via NY Times

Art Production Fund sponsors a by-hand, massive “scribble” (on wall once used by Banksy) on Howard Street in Soho, New York [NY Times]
An article on the effect at auction of the duration of artists’ careers as well as how prolific they are [NYMag]
The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA cuts four exhibitions and 17 more jobs [LATimes]
The Fine Art Fund Group sets up to bid on 2 corporate art collections worth up to $65 million and holding works by Picasso and Cindy Sherman [Financial Times]

Maria Baibakova via WWD

24-year old Russian Heiress Maria Baibakova is launching new contemporary shows in Moscow [WWD]
The Obama family redecorates the White House with works by Jasper Johns,Richard Diebenkorn, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg [Wall Street Journal]

Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell in her Soho loft via NYMag

On the salon-like atmosphere at Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell’s Soho, New York apartment [NYMag]
Steve McQueen has lunch with the FT, speaks on his film ‘Hunger’ and the Venice Biennial [Financial Times]

The Museum Brandhorst in Munich via Cubeme.com

Munich’s Brandhorst Museum opens, housing works by Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Damien Hirst and Gerhard Richter [The Art Newspaper]

A trip photo by Rita Ackermann in Marfa via Blackbook

Rita Ackermann documents her artist in residence in Marfa, home of Donald Judd’s Chianti Foundation [BlackBook]

101 Spring Street, the former home and studio of artist Donald Judd in Soho, New York

In related, the Judd Foundation will restore 101 Spring Street, a cast iron building that was the home and studio of artist Donald Judd. [ArtDaily]

The artist Dash Snow in his Bowery Studio via the Fashionisto

Artist Dash Snow profiled in Muse Magazine [Muse]
Nearly 11,000 people have applied to be part of Antony Gormley’s interactive sculpture on London’s Fourth Plinth, to run from July to October [Independent]
‘Sold Out,’ the original title for ‘The Warhol Effect,’ the Tate Modern’s autumn show featuring Hirst, Koons and Haring , was rumored to have been vetoed by one of the artists due to its double meaning [GuardianUK]
Damien Hirst is the Art Curator for ‘Boogie Woogie,’ a new fictional film on the inside of the art world [TimesUK]
And Hirst opens a show of his work in Prague [RadioPrague]

The Torment of Saint Anthony, reportedly by Michelangelo

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas purchases what it believes to be Michelangelo’s first painting, which he completed when he was 12 or 13 years old [DallasNews]
The Hermitage and the State Russian Museum are accused of tax evasion by the Federal Tax Police [The St. Petersburg Times] via ArtinAmerica

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing via ArtInfo

The 264,000 square foot Renzo Piano designed Modern Wing of The Art Institute of Chicago opens, making the museum the second largest in the US [ChicagoTribune]
A £3 million, 2-ton Henry Moore sculpture stolen in 2005 was most likely melted down and sold for £1,500 worth of scrap metal [GuardianUK]
President Sarkozy will attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the controversial Louvre in Abu Dhabi [ArtNewspaper]

Richard Prince’s ‘After Dark’ Tapestry on the Hong Kong Museum of Art via Wallpaper

Richard Prince covers the Hong Kong Museum of Art in pulp-fiction novel covers to commemorate the exhibition “Louis Vuitton : A Passion for Creation” [ArtDaily]
In related, with a 31% attendance increase and strong sales, the 2nd Hong Kong International Art Fair is deemed a success [HongKongArtFair]

The New home of Hauser and Wirth New York at 32 East 69th Street via ArtInfo

Gallerist David Zwirner will open a new gallery in Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter House on West 19th Street and, uptown, Hauser & Wirth New York (following last month’s debut of Swallow Street, its London exhibition space for emerging artists) will open an Annabelle Selldorf-designed space in the building that was formerly occupied by Zwirner and Wirth on 32 East 69th Street [ArtReview]
The Albion Gallery in London closes in bankruptcy [Artinfo]
Roughly 25 out of 388 galleries in Chelsea have closed but at least 10 new galleries have opened, with more are on the way [Crain’s]

Charles Saatchi, photo via Welt

British art collector, Charles Saatchi, famous for launching the now established careers of “Young British Artists” of the 1990’s such as Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin and others, is set to preside over a new reality television show on BBC2, described as the Art X Factor.

In an attempt to be the next YBA Hirst or Emin, artists over the age of 18 and residing in the UK will submit their work online.  All artistic genres, from painting to conceptual, will be accepted.  A panel of art world experts will narrow the entries down to approximately 50 which will then be presented to Saatchi in the form of an exhibition.  Saatchi, himself, will then select six of these artists to participate in the TV show “Saatchi’s Best of British.”

Charles Saatchi is indisputably one of the most significant figures in the art world.  In 1970, Saatchi founded the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother Maurice.  By 1986 Saatchi and Saatchi grew to be the largest ad agency in the world, with over 600 offices.  Yet Saatchi is as much famous perhaps for his direct influence in the art market, establishing the Saatchi Gallery in 1985 in London.  He recently opened his new space in October of last year at Duke of York Headquarters Building in Chelsea, London (as covered by Art Observed here).  In 1997 he mounted an exhibition at the Royal Academy titled Sensation, which travelled to Berlin and New York ruffling feathers along the way and causing the regognition of the artists in the show to in most cases shift to an entirely higher plane.

Jonathan Jones: Reality TV has nothing to offer the art world [Guardian]
Saatchi to front art talent show [BBC]
BBC and Charles Saatchi Launch Reality Show [Art Daily]
Charles Saatchi to host Art X-Factor [Times]
TV show hunts for next Damien Hirst [Metro]
Reality show taps Saatchi [CBC]
X Factor for budding artists [Marie Claire]

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Francis Bacon image courtesy of Reuters UK

Christie’s claims Bacon to fetch ₤25 million ($49 million) [Reuters UK]
Former corporate attorney accuses Samsung of massive Art Fraud [The Art Newspaper]
Hermitage secures Hirst Skull for March [Bloomberg]
Chapman Bros., Jake and Dinos – to spruce up Big Brother house [ Times Online UK]
Hugo Boss Prize Finalists Named [NYT]