Asia Week Features Chinese Ceramics

The excitement of Asia Week New York, with its multitude of lectures, exhibitions and other special events, has attracted knowledgeable buyers from the Far East to Manhattan for the past seven years.
Now dedicated Asian art aficionados who spend as long as 16 hours on an airplane to reach the US East Coast have a very tempting reason to add a Los Angeles layover to their itineraries.
The I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills will be hosting a March 17 auction of Important Chinese Ceramics and Asian Works of Art to welcome those travelers to US shores, ArtDaily said.
“Many outbound flights from Asia to New York make a stop in California along the way. Since we were unable to participate in Asia Week this year due to the unavailability of a suitable auction space in New York, we decided to conduct our annual Asia Week sale right here in our Beverly Hills gallery,” said Chait founder Isadore M. Chait.
Chait explained that Asia Week’s agenda has expanded to the point that exhibition space is now difficult to secure--in his words, “a good thing, in one way, as it is a clear indication that the economy is improving and the Asian art market is robust.” The I.M. Chait family and staff have left no stone unturned in preparing for the March 17 live auction, which also will be available to bidders via phone, Internet and absentee methods.
The 295-lot sale is led by a premier Park Avenue (New York) collection of carved jades, early Chinese bronzes, ivories and fine ceramics. Also highlighting the event are Ming Dynasty porcelains (including 15th- and 16th-century examples) and carved jades from a second prestigious East Coast collection; and a collection of rare contemporary carved netsuke and Ojime pieces.

(Photo by Mohammad Hossein Taaqi)

Eslamieh village is located 30 kilometers south west of Yazd province.

‘Tehran 2121’ for Norouz

Arts & Culture Desk

The first Iranian animated comedy ‘Tehran 2121’ will be screened nationwide during the Norouz (New Iranian year) holidays starting March 21.
Producer Mohammad Reza Abolhassani said the film was to debut in 2012, however it was postponed due to a number of problems.
Directed by Bahram Azimi, ‘Tehran 2121’ depicts the modern life of Tehran citizens coexisting with humanoid robots in 2121. Azimi said the film will mark a turning point in animation industry in Iran.
The director used the technique of rotoscoping to make ‘Tehran 2121’. Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action
film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.
‘Tehran 2121’ tells the story of a 160-year-old Akbar and his granddaughter
who studies in Mars. The story of this animation takes place in the year 2121, when robots live alongside people who live for over 160 years due to progress in medical science.
Azimi is in the vanguard of modern animation in Iran. He is best known for
his animations on traffic education aired on national TV.

Ifilm Banned

The Iranian Ifilm and Al-Kowsar networks were banned from broadcasting under direct pressure from Eutelsat.
According to the reports, Nilesat, a satellite communication company in Egypt responsible for airing Iranian networks, has been told to stop the broadcast, Press TV said.
Satellite service company, Galaxy 19, also stopped broadcasting of Ifilm on February 8.
Gordon Duff, the US political analyst told Press TV last December that the Israeli extremist groups dictate the agenda for Eutelsat, a French based company.
He said “Eutelsat is not a company, it is a person. Eutelsat says it is a European company, but in fact it is an Israeli company. Michel de Rosen is a French façade, he is an Israeli citizen who has managed the company with Israeli shareholders; the company has had long history of taking orders from the extremist groups in Israel.”

Fajr Music Winners Named

Winners of the 28th Fajr International Music Festival were announced during a ceremony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Tuesday evening.
Although a few foreign groups including the German-French group, the Tarkovsky Quartet, participated in the festival, none of them groups were among the winners.
First prize in the classical group category went to the Baran Guitar Quartet, which is led by Amid Asgari, and the Cadence String Quartet led by Puya Boluri won second prize. No group deserved third prize in this category.
Qazvin Sama led by Feriedun Mohammadbeigi was the group in the traditional Iranian music category. The Chang Band led by Ramin Safaii won second prize and Nasim Group led by Nasim Ahmadian received third prize.
No group deserved first prize in the choral music section, but second prize was shared by the Bahman Cultural Center’s Group conducted by Arash Fallahi, and Mehr-e Vatan Group conducted Masud Nekuii.
In addition, the Melal Group conducted by Donna Qavami and Sonat Group conducted by Mohsen Bafandeh shared third prize in this category.
The organizers also honored several composers in various categories.
A flute quintet by Shervin Abbasi won first prize in the classical music section and two string quartets by Javad Abraheh and Amin Rafiei received honorable mention.
‘The Grieves of the Dancing Plain’ by Hamid Moradian won first prize in the traditional Iranian music category. Second prize went to Hossein Khoshchehreh for “The Town Pious”, and Ali Omidi won third prize for “Hidden as Spirit”.
A number of Iranian pop bands also performed in the noncompetition section of the festival.

174th Art Book of the Month Released

The last issue of Art Book of the Month features articles on architecture.
The editorial of the 174th issue deals with the dominance of orientalists in Iran’s art research, IBNA wrote.
With focus on the art of architecture, this issue features articles such as ‘A glimpse on religious beliefs of domicile’ by Reza Afhami and Sahar Zaman Soltani, ‘Similarities and Differences of Modern and Postmodern Architecture’ by Mohammad Asqari and Vahid Shafiei, ‘Application of Islamic View of Education in locating and designing universities’ by Navid Khaleqi Moqaddam, and ‘Identifying elements and ornaments of Shiraz Architecture based on the 9th Century Miniatures’ by Shahriar Asadi, Hossein Abhar and Sara Eslamzadeh.

Iconic Diana Dresses Up for Auction

Ten dresses belonging to Britain’s late Princess Diana, including a gown she famously wore while dancing with actor John Travolta, are to be sold in London next month, an auction house said Wednesday.
The collection, due to go under the hammer on March 19, is believed to be worth at least £600,000 ($919,000, 687,000 euros), a spokeswoman for Kerry Taylor Auctions told AFP.
The auction house said the lots included some of the “most important and iconic” dresses worn by Prince Charles’s glamorous former wife, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
“Some of the gowns were worn for official state visits to Austria, Australia, Brazil, India, South Korea and the United States of America,” said the auction house, which specializes in vintage fashion sales.
“Diana was photographed wearing them by not only by the paparazzi, but by some of the leading photographers of the day--including Mario Testino and Lord Snowdon.”
The collection includes a midnight blue velvet gown by Victor Edelstein which Diana wore to a 1985 state dinner at the White House--where she twirled around the dance floor with “Saturday Night Fever” star Travolta. “These elegant couture creations were made by some of her favorite designers--Zandra Rhodes, Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield and Victor Edelstein,” said Kerry Taylor Auctions.
“One of them, a dark green velvet dinner gown, has what appears to be the print of a small hand on the skirt--possibly that of a young prince?” Diana, who became a global style icon and was famed for her charity work, wed heir to the throne Prince Charles in a lavish ceremony in 1981.
They had two sons, William and Harry, but divorced in 1996. At Diana’s request, the ten dresses were originally sold in a charity auction in New York in June 1997, just two months before she died.