Contested Terrains

Tate Modern has gone all African in its latest show in the Level 2 Gallery: Contested Terrains, curated by Tate Modern and the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos (CCA). Tate has the notion that novel modern art is to be found in Africa. There are four artists in the show. This example is Adolphus Opara's Orisa Egbe [deity of destiny] Mrs Osun-yita from Emissaries of an Iconic Religion 2009. The others are Kader Attia, Sammy Baloji and Michael MacGarry. Entry is free. Might be worth a look in your lunch hour. Click the title link.

Arnie Museum

The village of Thal in Austria is so proud of its local hero that it has turned his childhood home into the Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum. Its website is in Austrian or German or whatever they speak over there (CLICK), but the exhibits will have universal appeal to Arnie's fans. His childhood, his body-building days, his movie career and his rise to Governor of California are all represented. Bethany Bell has taken a peek inside the museum for a BBC News video (title link).

Hackney WickED

The 3-day art festival Hackney WickED, now in its 4th year, opened yesterday and runs until tomorrow. Art studios, galleries, pop-up spaces and site-specific installations will be open to the public throughout Hackney Wick and Fish Island. East End art is thriving. The festival attracted 25,000 people last year. Click the title link for a map showing all the events and shows. BBC London News has posted a depressingly awful video of the festival: CLICK. Don't let it put you off.

Horses and Nudes

The Mall Galleries opens two exhibitions on Tuesday 2 August. The first is The Horse in Art: Society of Equestrian Artists International Open Exhibition. This is the Society’s 32nd year and its second open exhibition. It is the largest exhibition of equestrian art in London. Suzie Whitcombe's terrific Marwari Mare won Best in Show 2010. The second show is the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society Annual Exhibition. This is London’s largest life-drawing society and has been holding weekly drawing classes since 1930. So expect nudes. Paintings, that is. The excellent portrait shown here is Simon Whittle's Sonrisa. Both exhibitions run to Sunday 7 August, admission free.

Artists' Rights

The Artist's Resale Right will be fully established on 1 January 2012, aligning it with all other EU member states. At present, the Right allows visual artists a modest royalty when their works are resold through auction houses, galleries and art dealers. The final implementation of the Right will extend royalties to deceased artists' families and beneficiaries. To learn more, click the title link for the website of the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS). There is a petition to sign as well.

Space Trail

The Science Museum in London invites kids to Spend Your Summer in Space in its latest exhibition. Cute graphics (title link). You pick up a passport and follow the space trail through the museum's displays, collecting codes for your passport as you go. The space trail passes through the Exploring Space gallery, allowing people to marvel at rockets and satellites as well as a full-sized replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander that took astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon in 1969.The museum is first class at making education fun, and its collection is superb. It connects to the Natural History Museum (CLICK) and is opposite the V&A Museum (CLICK). Three of the world's finest museums, all free. These are a must for the school holidays.

Precious Light

BBC News has posted a video previewing David Mach's juggernaut of a show at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh: David Mach - Precious Light: a celebration of the King James Bible 1611-2011. This is his largest show to date, turning fables from the Bible into modern art. He will burn his match-head sculpture of the Devil in the courtyard of the Edinburgh College of Art at 10pm on Thursday the 4th of August. He intends to burn Christ as well. Admission to the exhibition costs £5.00 for adults, £3.50 for silver surfers and £2.50 for children aged 5 to 16 (CLICK). This daft project took 3 years. His next project is the Kama Sutra (CLICK). Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Freud Museum

Today the Freud Museum in London is celebrating its 25th anniversary by giving free admission and free guided tours for this day only (title link). The museum is currently showing an art exhibition Les Paris sont Ouverts / The Killing Pictures, a group exhibition curated by Caroline May. Paul P's Attachment is one of the paintings in the show, which runs until 4 September.

Olympic Gold

The London 2012 Olympic medals were unveiled in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday evening as part of the hullabaloo marking the one-year countdown. Bored though I am with all the coverage on London TV News, I do take an interest in some design features. Here is David Watkins' design for the Olympic Gold Medal 2012, featuring Nike on the obverse (not the overpriced shoes, but the Winged Goddess of Victory) and the River Thames on the reverse. It's the biggest gold medal in the history of the games, measuring 85 milli thingies across - over 3¼ inches - and weighing 400 grams. Nike is a big-breasted copy of the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 medals, but winners won't worry about this uninspired design. Click the title link to compare previous medals.

Fireleap

The Sprovieri Gallery in Heddon street, London, is showing a photographic exhibition by Nan Goldin - FireLeap - until 6 August. Above is Ava Twirling, NYC 2007, a Cibachrome print. Twirling is what Ava is doing. It isn't her surname! Click the title link for details.

Boy With Frog

Charles Ray's magnificent 8-ft tall sculpture Boy With Frog (2008) has moved from François Pinault's Punta della Dogana museum in Venice to the Getty Center in Los Angeles, where it will be perfectly in keeping with the museum's Renaissance masterpieces. This, the original, is made of fibre glass painted white. Ray has recently completed a second version made of stainless steel, also painted white to give the appearance of marble. Royal Academicians, eat your hearts out. This is art.

Paint Jobs

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint by Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson that L'Oreal adverts were "misleading", because the faces of actress Julia Roberts and model Christy Turlington had been airbrushed to make them look perfect. The ASA has banned these ads (title link). The retouching artist is an unsung hero in the battle to present female facial perfection on the covers of magazines and in adverts. His work is everywhere. So the ASA ban must have come as a bit of a shock to L'Oreal. But it is one thing to strive for perfection and another to make cosmetics look more effective than they are. For "We're worth it" read "Your bank accounts are worth it".

Jameel Show at V&A

BBC News has released a video in which Salma Tuqan, curator of contemporary Middle Eastern art at the V&A Museum in London, witters on about the 10 artists shortlisted for the £25,000 ($40,000) Jameel Prize, which is awarded to contemporary works inspired by Islamic art (title link). Mostly it's what you would expect: modern nonsense with an Islamic twist. One interesting artist is Soody Sharifi, who creates digital collages using enlarged scans of original Persian miniatures in which she inserts her own photographic images, creating what she calls "Maxiatures". The example shown is Fashion Week (2010). CLICK to see the complete shortlist. The winner will be announced in September.

Canary Wharf Show

In stark contrast to the beautiful art in the next post down, here is a sculpture by Christopher Le Brun RA. It is immediately obvious why I despair of the current crop of Royal Academicians. This is tripe. It's the latest addition to the Canary Wharf public art programme, unveiled this week. You'll find it in Le Brun's exhibition of bronze and plaster sculptures in the lobby of One Canada Square until 2 September. Don't think I'll bother, thanks.

Calvin Nicholls Art

Believe it or not, this Chameleon is a sculpture made out of coloured paper. Forget Origami. Award-winning Canadian artist Calvin Nicholls painstakingly makes his sculptures out of cut slivers of paper. Each sculpture takes him from a month to two years to make. The Telegraph has posted an unmissable slide show of his paper animal sculptures (title link). You may also visit his website to see more of his work or to contact him; limited edition prints are available: CLICK.

Polish Threat to NG

In a vague TV report BBC London News says that the recent spraying of red paint on two of Nicholas Poussin's paintings in the National Gallery (CLICK) has prompted a Polish Museum to threaten to withhold a Leonardo painting from NT's Autumn blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan unless security is improved. It took me only a few minutes of research to find out that the museum in question is the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, the painting it doesn't want to send to London is Lady with an Ermine and the paint spraying is an excuse. Polish conservation experts have been going bananas over this loan, because the painting on a wooden panel is so fragile it could be irreparably damaged in transit. They've been arguing against the loan since last year (title link). NG's problem is that its advert for the show uses this painting (CLICK).

Road to 2012

I am so bored with the Establishment trying to whip up excitement for the London 2012 Olympic Games. As for that farce the Cultural Olympiad, I haven't glimpsed one event that gives me the urge to attend. Today the National Portrait Gallery opened its latest effort Road to 2012: Changing Pace, an exhibition of uninspiring photos by Finlay MacKay and Emma Hardy which drags on until 25 September (title link). The one good thing about it is that admission is free. So, if you have cherubs bursting with enthusiasm for the Games, it won't cost you an arm and a leg to take them to the show. The photo is of Chris Holmes by Emma Hardy.

Tripe in Camden

The Camden Arts Centre is still wasting money on rubbish it claims to be art. Its latest load of codswallop is Mathilde Rosier: Necklace of Fake Teeth. This is Mathilde's first solo show in the UK. Let's hope it's her last. Why import tripe from France? Haven't we enough of our own? Above is one of her installation thingies: Supports et sentiments (2010). If you want to read the bull that goes with this show, click the title link. Remember Coxsoft's rule of thumb: The more pretentious the bull, the worse the art. This is a perfect example.

Clockwork Insects

The Telegraph has posted an online gallery of unusual works from Mike Libby's Insect Lab Studio (title link for slide show). This one is Lampridae (2011). Mike combines real insects with old watch parts and other technological components. They don't move, but they do attract the eye. Each insect is individually hand adorned and original. You may commission them from Mike or buy limited edition prints from his website (CLICK).

Armed Forces Art

The next show at the Mall Galleries in London is the 77th Armed Forces Art Society Annual Exhibition, which runs from 26 to 31 July. Admission is free (title link). Members share a past or present Armed Forces background. The Patron of the Society is HRH The Prince of Wales, who is no mean artist himself. Sculptor Robert Mileham will be exhibiting a number of bronze statues, including this beautiful young lady Anne Of Buckinghamshire and also Ice Breaker. CLICK for Robert's website. CLICK for the AFAS website.

Kate's Wedding Dress

Buckingham Palace opened to the public for the summer today. Among the highlights is the Royal Wedding Dress worn by Kate Middleton when she married Prince William (title link). Yesterday, Kate and the Queen previewed the wedding display and Her Majesty was heard to comment on the way the dress had been displayed "It's horrid" (CLICK). Isn't it great when the smug curator hears the truth! It is the woman who wears the dress, not the dress the woman, and without Kate inside it, the dress is empty. It doesn't even have a mannequin inside it. The tiara is suspended above the empty dress, which is brilliantly lit in a dim space. The effect is spooky, like a headless ghost.

Comic-Con 2011

"Just a few more bucks, Pa. These comics are collectors' items and they're half price." Cameron Addis, aged 10, is one of thousands of fans who have descended on San Diego for Comic-Con 2011, the annual comic and movie convention. Many of the fans wear weird and wonderful costumes: cosplay, superhero, steampunk and manga. The Telegraph has posted a gallery of these strange garbs (title link) plus celebrities at the show (CLICK).

More Olympic Stamps

For those of you who aren't already sick of the non-event of 2012, the Royal Mail has published a new set of 10 stamps to mark the one-year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It claims the stamps are based on "vibrant illustrations by leading artists", but omits to name them. My favourite is this Athletics Field 1st Class Stamp showing a female athlete performing the famous Fosbury Flop, perfected by American Olympian Dick Fosbury in the 1968 Summer Olympics. Click the title link to view the range of goodies on offer.

Pierre Joseph Redouté

This magnificent watercolour over graphite on vellum of Magnolia Metrosyderos glauca (1812) is by Pierre Joseph Redouté, the "Raphael of flowers". The finest botanical draughtsman of his age, he worked for both Marie-Antoinette and the Empress Joséphine. His school of botanical drawing in Paris attracted more than 80 pupils. This week The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge opened Flower Drawings: Redouté and his Pupils, which runs until 30 October. You'll find it in the Shiba Gallery (title link). Check the other exhibitions too.

Lucian Freud RIP

Lucian Freud died on Wednesday, aged 88. New York art dealer William Acquavella reports he died at his London home after an unspecified illness. As a painter, Freud could turn the most beautiful model into an ugly nude, as you can see from his Naked Portrait of a pregnant Kate Moss. This ability endeared him to the Brit. Anti-art Establishment. The BBC has posted a grovelling video by David Sillito about the great man and his art (title link). CLICK for a BBC slide show.

Jessica Ennis Waxwork

Madame Tussauds in London has excelled itself with its new waxwork of British heptathlon Olympian Jessica Ennis, unveiled today. The waxwork took four months to complete and cost £150,000. The kit was donated by Jessica, who is delighted with her likeness. Click the title link for a Madame Tussauds' video of the creation.

RIBA Shortlist

Designed by Hopkins Architects, the Olympic Velodrome in Stratford, east London, is one of the 6 shortlisted entries for the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize 2011. It's the bookies' favourite for the £20,000 award. The others in the shortlist are the Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton, the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, the Angel Building in London and An Gaeláras in Derry, Northern Ireland. Click the title link for a BBC slide show of the shortlisted entries.

Making Britain Modern

What's the difference between modern design and modern art? Modern design tries to be elegant, functional, desirable and easily mass produced. Modern art doesn't give a damn. Yesterday the Design Museum in London opened Kenneth Grange: Making Britain Modern, a retrospective of his work over 50 years. The Adshell Bench (1972) shown here is one of his classic designs. Parking meters, Kodak cameras, Kenwood food mixers, Parker pens and the new London Taxi Cab are merely a handful of his many designs. The exhibition runs until 30 October. Price? The museum is offering a two-for-the-price-of-one deal: this and the Brit Insurance Designs Awards for £10 (title link).

Badger Bash

Now that Rupert Murdoch has gone home with egg, if not shaving foam, all over his face, it's time to ask why the BBC is so cosy with the National Farmers Union (NFU). Is it because BBC directors own farms? Is it some forelock tugging toward the royal family? Whatever the reason, the BBC seems unable to be objective or scientific about badger culling. Before Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman addressed the House yesterday, BBC News was trumpeting "Government 'to back badger cull for South West'" (CLICK). Later, it reported "There will be no culling of badgers in England this year to curb cattle tuberculosis" (CLICK). Curb? There is no evidence that killing badgers will curb anything. The NFU's headline is "Industry's sigh of relief at progress on bTB" (CLICK). Progress? The prospect of pointless slaughter is progress? Ireland has virtually exterminated badgers, but it has a higher incidence of bovine TB than we have. Badgers are sedentary. Some of their sets date back to the Middle Ages. Cattle are moved up and down the country. Ergo, it is cattle that spread TB, not badgers. But the NFU needs its scapegoat and Government and the BBC suck up to this powerful lobby. The BBC's latest ploy, shown on its News and on Countryfile, is to have some nice farmer say how much he likes badgers, "but something's got to be done". That is devious propaganda from the Badger Bashing Corporation. Click the title link for more BBC propaganda: "Are we silly to be so sentimental?"

Press Photos 2011

Congratulations to Charles McQuillan for winning the top prize Photograph of the Year in the Press Photographer’s Year 2011 awards, beating nearly 8,000 other entries. At first glance his winning photo seems too chocolate-boxy for a press photo award, but look closer and you'll see that the girl on the left is a facsimile - a "reborn" - of the girl on the right, whose name is Sara. Suddenly the image takes on a creepy feel, like a location photo from the Village of The Damned (1960). The news story: Glenda Ewart's Yellow Cottage Nursery creates these infant "reborns" for parents wanting a permanent memento of their child's early years. The Press Photographer’s Year 2011 opened recently at the National Theatre, South Bank, London, and runs until 4 September (CLICK). The Telegraph has posted a slide show of winning entries: CLICK. The title link takes you to the official website and the list of category winners.

Cornel Lucas Photos

How to look saucy and angelic at the same time. This enchanting portrait of Brigitte Bardot by London photographer Cornel Lucas is one of the exhibits in a new show at the Chris Beetles Fine Photography Gallery in Swallow Street, London, W1B 4DE (CLICK). Cornel Lucas, now 91, is the only photographer to have been awarded a BAFTA for his services to the British film industry. Alice Bhandhukravi interviewed him for BBC London News and he tells an amusing story of his first encounter with Marlene Dietrich (title link). The exhibition Cornel Lucas runs from 20 July to 27 August.

Private Eye at 50

The V&A Museum in London will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Private Eye magazine from 19 October to 8 January 2012: Private Eye at 50. Founded in - you guessed it - 1961, Private Eye has employed many top British cartoonists, including Willie Rushton, Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe, in its unique mix of satirical humour and serious investigative journalism. It made our politicians quiver long before the News of the World started hacking them. Whether they quivered with laughter or fear was up to them. Admission to this merriment is free. Find it in the Studio Gallery, Rooms 17a and 18a (title link). The V&A will also be opening a new photograph gallery in the Autumn (CLICK). It was the first museum to collect and exhibit photographs.

New Art Database

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, has announced a new online database of its collection, which already has 7500 objects and 7917 images available to view. I dipped into it and found this painting by Frederic S. Remington: The Grass Fire (1908). The collection also includes some bronze statues by Remington. If you fancy a browse, click the title link.

Vandal Sprays Poussin

Yesterday afternoon, a nutter in The National Gallery, London, sprayed red paint on two paintings by Nicholas Poussin: The Adoration of the Golden Calf (above) and The Adoration of the Shepherds, both hung in Room 19. A gallery assistant swiftly raised the alarm; police were called and a man arrested. Neither of the paintings - both dating from 1633/34 - was permanently damaged. They were cleaned and re-hung in their usual place (title link). The Guardian has already posted a photo of the actual red paint (CLICK). I wonder whom it bribed to get that.

Cameron in Africa

With old chums Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks under arrest and with Sir Paul Stephenson's shock resignation reverberating around Westminster, it's good to know that PM David Cameron has his priorities sorted out and is in Johannesburg flogging British goods to Africa (title link). While he's there, he might even grab a photo opportunity to wish Nelson Mandela a happy 93rd birthday (CLICK). He can add that to his curriculum vitae. The skinny child is Aden Salaad, in hospital, a victim of the drought and famine in East Africa.

Rebekah Arrested

The latest in the hacking saga is that ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and bribery at the News of the World (title link). One aspect of all this that nobody has mentioned is the Daily Telegraph's sting on Vince Cable, who was wise to the ways of Murdoch and determined to block his bid for BSkyB (CLICK). If this sting had come from the News International stable, everyone would have seen Murdoch's hand in it. But why did the rival Daily Telegraph do Murdoch the favour of sending pretty girls Holly Watt and Laura Roberts to bamboozle Cable?

Four By Four

Coming soon to the The L-13 Light Industrial Workshop and Private Ladies and Gentlemen's Club for Art, Leisure and the Disruptive Betterment of Culture in Clerkenwell, London, is Four By Four, an exhibition sponsored by The Rebel Magazine and curated by Harry Pye. There are four artists in the show Emma Coleman, Tom Pounder, Edward Todd and Aleksandra Wojcik, each represented by four works. Four critics ... you get the picture: it's four of everything. The exhibition lasts four weeks from 29 July to 28 August.

Forever Marilyn 2

Photographers and the public have been flocking to view Seward Johnson's 26-foot-tall sculpture Forever Marilyn (2011) in Chicago. "Work of art or a pervert's paradise?" wonders the Mail's Amy Oliver. The Mail then crams as many shots of the statue's lace panties as it can into one web page (title link)! It even adds a clip from the movie The Seven Year Itch. The rag specializes in paparazzi photos of celebrities in bikinis, celebrities in hot pants, celebrities losing their bras and celebrities with baby bumps. If there's a "pervert's paradise", it's the Mail, and you work for it, Amy. I assume you haven't seen many classical works of art. "Risqué"? Try Michelangelo's David. Would you like to put a pair of Y-fronts on him? Or maybe a fig leaf?
Update: now that the weekend is over, BBC News has belatedly posted a slide show of Forever Marilyn: CLICK. Not too risqué for you, Auntie?

Aviation Artists

Next Tuesday 19 July the Guild of Aviation Artists opens its Annual Summer Exhibition Aviation Paintings of the Year, which continues for less than a week, until 24 July. This is the world’s largest exhibition of aviation art, depicting early flight to the latest civil and military aircraft. Roy Garner's dramatic Showtime! gives you an idea of the very high standard of art to expect. (See, we do have many fine artists in the UK; but their work is overshadowed by gimmicky junk peddlers with RA after their names.) Admission is free (title link). This is a must for boys of all ages. If you can't visit the exhibition, CLICK for the GAvA website and more superb art.

Ivy Brown

This is Ivy Brown. I've enhanced the photo. Police warn he poses a "high risk of violence to members of the public". He was released on licence from an Edinburgh prison, failed to report to social workers and is no longer taking his medication. He is known to have travelled to Kings Cross Station in London and may be in the Luton area. He has two distinctive gold front teeth. A tattoo on his left hand reads "done one". Don't approach him. Contact the police. Click the title link for details.

The Impressionists

The BBC is obsessed with the Impressionists and it can always find somebody to witter on about them. Tonight at 8pm on BBC Two, Waldemar Januszczak explores their "revolutionary achievements" in a new series The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution (title link). Who? He's been art critic and arts editor of The Guardian, Head of Arts at Channel 4 TV and art critic for The Sunday Times. Twice the Press Association has voted him Critic of the Year. His father, a polish refugee, worked as a railway carriage cleaner and died when a train ran over him at Basingstoke Station. I think I'll skip this one. Let me know if I missed anything worthwhile. The painting Januszczak is posed against is Street in Paris - a Rainy Day (1877) by Gustave Caillebotte.

Ramayana on Stilts

The Horniman Museum in London invites you to its Free Summer Holiday Events from 25 July to 2 September. Among the events on offer, I noticed Ramayana on Stilts by the Foundation for Indian Performing Arts on Friday 19 August at 12.30-1.15pm and 3.30pm-4.15pm (graphic shown above). The mind boggles. Click the title link for a host of kiddie-suitable shows at the Horniman Museum.

Forever Marilyn

While I was bemoaning the sad state of British "art" yesterday - at least as promoted by the Brit. Anti-art Establishment -, Seward Johnson's 26-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe was being unveiled on Michigan Avenue, Chicago, nicknamed the Windy City. Painted in realistic tones, Forever Marilyn (2011) recreates that iconic scene in The Seven Year Itch when Marilyn's dress is blown upward by the breeze from a subway grate. Click the title link for a much bigger graphic showing Forever Marilyn from the side.

White Cube Trash

Today the latest load of trash from Jake and Dinos Chapman opened at White Cube in Hoxton Square and Mason's Yard, London. Nazi mannequins wearing smiley-face armbands are part of the show. Another set of figures look as though they were inspired by the creatures in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. And there's something that looks like a member of the Ku Klux Klan lurking about the place. The Telegraph has posted a slide show of this rubbish (title link). It's Ku Klux Klan, Telegraph, not "Klu Klux Klan". Your reporter can't spell.

Summer Exhibition

The Alan Cristea Gallery in Cork Street, London, has opened its own Summer Exhibition featuring the tripe of Royal Academicians, including those commissioned to design posters for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games (title link). Prices range from £750 to £50,000. Royal Academicians once represented the crème de la crème of British art. Now they're a joke for anyone outside their elite circle. Pop along to Cork Street to see for yourself.

Sammy Ofer Wing

Yesterday the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, opened its new Sammy Ofer Wing, which cost £35m. Of this vast sum £20m was donated by shipping magnate and philanthropist Sammy Ofer and £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. I can't say I'm impressed by its first temporary exhibition High Arctic, but its heart is in the right place: showing the loss of glaciers due to global warming. Click the title link for a BBC News video with David Sillito and see what you think.

Picasso Update

Police in Hoboken, New Jersey, have raided the home of Mark Lugo - the man accused of stealing Picasso's Tête de femme from the Weinstein Gallery last week (CLICK) - and found $500,000 worth of stolen artwork, including another Picasso drawing worth $350,000 stolen from a New York hotel. They also found stolen wine worth $6,000. Lugo has worked as a wine steward. His attorney reckons he may have "psychological issues". No kidding!

Somnambulist Sold

I mentioned Bolton Council's forthcoming sale of John Everett Millais' The Somnambulist a few days ago (CLICK). It fetched £74,400 at Bonhams auction today, less than the estimated value of £80,000 to £100,000. The council bought The Somnambulist in 1969 for £400. So it has made a handsome profit; but who owns it now and will it ever been seen by the British public again?