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).

News In Briefs

Yahoo is to buy social networking firm Tumblr for $1.1bn (CLICK). While the family of a deceased Hungarian art collector argued the toss about who was to get what, thieves stole 500 of the artworks in dispute (CLICK). The exhibition Houghton Revisited, which reinstates the art collection of Britain's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, sold to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1779 to pay debts, opened on Friday, courtesy of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg (CLICK, CLICK).

Google Blocker

This morning Google blocked me from my own blog, due to attempted sign-ins by third parties from foreign parts. London Art News must be getting popular! Two thirds of my readers are in America. Google asked for my telephone number in order to give me a code to validate my own sign-in. As soon as I clicked on my telephone number, the phone rang with the validation code. I was quite impressed. Not only had Google detected the third-party attempts to hijack my blog, but also had swiftly given me the solution.

Propaganda

The latest exhibition to open at the British Library is Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, a groundbreaking display of international state propaganda of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Uncle Sam's famous pointing finger, through Nazi hate to Potato Pete and the Green X Code. I love this daft Chinese film poster for The White-Haired Girl (1950). How to dance ballet holding a rifle!! Brits call this sort of thing "public information films". Only nasty foreigners dish out propaganda. The exhibition runs, skips and jumps until 17 September. Bad news is the price: £9 for adults. Under 18s are free (CLICK).
CLICK for a Nick Higham's video for BBC News.

Eleanor Slater Portrait

This impressionist oil painting caught my eye today: Portrait of Eleanor Slater (1911) by American artist Robert Henri. Who? you might ask. Eleanor was the granddaughter of Samuel Slater, known as the Father of the American Industrial Revolution. Look at her face and bearing. This is no bejewelled, coiffured, powder puff of a female. She is one powerful young lady you wouldn't want to mess with. This portrait - estimated value $35,000-$45,000 - is one of the treasures in the estate of the late Mrs Nat King Cole. The property comes up for auction in Australia in Mathesons' AA Auctions this weekend (CLICK).

Best of the Best

Yesterday evening the Natural History Museum in London was awarded the inaugural Best of the Best award at the Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence 2013. It also won a trophy for its Scott’s Last Expedition exhibition and commendations for its new permanent Treasures Cadogan Gallery and the marketing campaign for its Animal Inside Out exhibition (CLICK). In short, of all the museums in Britain, the Natural History Museum is the bees knees. It's been my favourite since I was boy. Shown is a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) photographed in the Sensational Butterflies exhibition (CLICK).

Dalí's Hasty Plum

Here's a turn-up for the book: 14 Salvador Dalí watercolours of "fruit" never seen before. They were commissioned by a private collector in 1969 and have remained in private hands ever since. Dalí took traditional 19th Century botanical lithographs and put his own surrealist interpretation on them. Shown is his Prunier hâtif (Hasty Plum) sprinting on legs of branch and blossom, estimated value £40,000 to £70,000. The complete series of "FruitDali" comes up for grabs in Bonhams Impressionist and Modern Art sale in London on 18th June. They are expected to fetch around £1m in total (CLICK).

Archikids Festival

Bored cherubs about the place? If they're 5-11 years old, you could volunteer them to become Archikids. From 17-19 May the Archikids Festival will be offering them over 50 free architectural activities in the City. Organised by Open-City, this festival aims to bring families into the buildings and spaces of the Square Mile. CLICK for a Festival Programme of fun things to do.

Japanese Netsuke

This delightful wooden netsuke of a female hare, carved by Toyomasa, fetched £43,250 at Bonhams London auction of the Adrienne Barbanson Collection. All lots of 58 Japanese netsuke were snapped up for a total of £611,213. To find out more about netsuke CLICK. If you want to view the real thing, rather than photos, you'll find netsuke in The British Museum, the V&A Museum and the Horniman Museum - all in London - and The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Car boot sales? You'll be lucky.