Celebrity Life

Coravin, the wine lover's dream device that lets you pour wine without uncorking, is back with brand new models.

As fans of the smart wine preservation system, we have observed Coravin for some time and seen the brand expand with new technology every year. Now, they have extended their product lineup with the launch of new systems -- Models Three and Six. What's more, all new and existing models have been equipped with SmartClamps™, which, prior to the launch, was only available on Model Eleven. The new easy-on and easy-off clamps are designed to go over the neck of the bottle and push down firmly on the handle in one fluid motion, making the system even easier to use.

Coravin's wine access technology is all down to the hollow needle that is inserted through the cork, before the system pressurises the bottle with Argon (an inert, colourless and odourless) gas, to pour the wine out. Once poured, and the Coravin is taken off the bottle, the cork reseals naturally -- allowing wine to stay fresh for months on end, and years if needed.

The new systems also comes with a Coravin Screw Cap which allows users to enjoy new world wine (with screw caps) the same way as old world wine (cork) bottles, preserving them for up to three months.

So, with four Coravin Models in total, Model Three, Five, Six and Eleven, which model is the right one for you? Well, let's find out shall we.

Coravin Model Three

Details: Model Three is an upgraded version of Coravin's Model One and features a clean and simple, user-friendly and functional design in matte texture.
Perfect for: the everyday wine drinker.
Price: HK$2,080

Coravin Model Five

Details: Model Five is not available for retail as it has been made specifically for trade. The design is simply elegant but durable.
Perfect for: those in the industry who favour classic design with metallic accents.
Price: email for trade price

Coravin Model Six

Details: Model Six is the upgraded version of the popular Model Two Elite edition, it also features vibrant colours with chrome accents.
Perfect for: luxury style and fashion lovers.
Price: HK$3,580

Coravin Model Eleven

Details: Model Eleven is the smartest device of the Coravin family. It is the first bluetooth connected and fully automatic system. It comes with LED display, glass pour optimisation, and connection to the Coravin Moments app, which tracks system statistics and advises on wine pairings with food, music and more.
Perfect for: technology and gadget enthusiasts who love a varied wine experience.
Price: HK$6,880

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Born in Adelaide as Margaret Rose McPherson in 1875, the painter and printmaker Margaret Preston is regarded as one of Australia’s pioneering modernist artists. She saw her work as a quest to develop an Australian “national art” and was one of the first non-indigenous Australian artists to use Aboriginal motifs in her work.

After her family moved to Sydney in 1885, Preston attended Fort Street Girl’s High School, a selective government institution for gifted students where her interest in art was kindled. In the following years she received one the best art educations to be had in the country, including the National Gallery of Victoria Art School under Frederick McCubbin from 1889 to 1894 then later the Adelaide School of Design in the city of her birth. Preston supported herself through scholarships and tutoring, with some of her students becoming notable artists in their own right.

[caption id="attachment_208121" align="alignnone" width="1665"] Sydney Heads, hand-coloured woodcut, 1925.[/caption]

In 1904, Preston and a former student, Bessie Davidson, set off for Europe where they remained until 1907. They travelled widely, but Preston was particularly taken with Paris where her interest in modernism was influenced by Cezanne, Gauguin and Matisse as well as Japanese art and design she viewed at the Guimet Museum with its notable collection of Asian art. It was Preston’s introduction to the Japanese print tradition of Ukiyo-e that informed much of her own work throughout her career.

Preston returned to France in 1912 with Gladys Reynell, another former student from Adelaide, but when World War I broke out they moved to Britain. In London Preston studied pottery and the principles of Modernist design at the Omega Workshops of Roger Fry, of the Bloomsbury group. Preston, along with Reynell, later taught pottery and basket-weaving as therapy for shell-shocked soldiers at the Seale Hayne Military Hospital in Devonshire. She exhibited her work in both London and Paris during this period.

[caption id="attachment_208119" align="alignnone" width="1608"] Fuchsias, 1928.[/caption]

On her way back from a visit to the United States, Preston met her future husband, William Preston, a recently decommissioned Australian Army lieutenant who had served in France. They were married on the last day of 2019, by which time William had returned to a successful business career that allowed Margaret the freedom to continue her work with financial security. They lived mostly in Sydney’s delightful harbourside suburb of Mosman, home to many of the city’s notable artists. They moved for seven-year interlude to the bush suburb of Berowra on the Hawkesbury River during the 1930s – a move that inspired her produce more landscape paintings. They later returned to Mosman.

Preston grew increasingly aware recognition of the connection between country and art in Aboriginal culture, which informed her work prompted to study sites of Aboriginal rock painting around Australia. Preston held her last major exhibition in 1953 and gave her last public lecture at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1958. She died in May 1963.

[caption id="attachment_208120" align="alignnone" width="1721"] Margaret Preston, self portrait 1930.[/caption]

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Hong Kong's ever-changing dining scene is constantly evolving.

So much so, that it can get a little difficult to keep track of it all, let alone remember to book and try the new restaurants that have caught your eye. From brand new concepts to fresh venues and additional locations, here is our guide to seven of Hong Kong's most promising new restaurants to try right now.

Well, what are you waiting for...

The post Arty Facts: The Prince Among Prints Japanese Artist Hokusai appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's ever-changing dining scene is constantly evolving.

So much so, that it can get a little difficult to keep track of it all, let alone remember to book and try the new restaurants that have caught your eye. From brand new concepts to fresh venues and additional locations, here is our guide to seven of Hong Kong's most promising new restaurants to try right now.

Well, what are you waiting for...

The post Contemporary Artist Mathias Kiss on Heritage, Craft, Anger and Subversion appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's ever-changing dining scene is constantly evolving.

So much so, that it can get a little difficult to keep track of it all, let alone remember to book and try the new restaurants that have caught your eye. From brand new concepts to fresh venues and additional locations, here is our guide to seven of Hong Kong's most promising new restaurants to try right now.

Well, what are you waiting for...

The post The Donum Estate is a True Marriage of Wine and Art appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The international art world was saddened to learn of the passing of one of its truly great characters, the Bulgarian-born sculptor and concept artist Christo, who died at home in New York on 31 May.

Christo and his wife Jeann-Claude were famous for wrapping up giant objects ­– famous buildings, landmarks and even entire landscapes. So right off the bat is our first Arty Fact: Both Christo Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon were on the same day, 13 June 1935, but at opposite ends of the Mediterranean – he in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and she in Casablanca, Morocco. Jean-Claude died of a stroke on 18 November 2009, also in New York. Both used their first names and were among the most famous working artistic couples.

[caption id="attachment_207478" align="alignnone" width="1105"] Christo and Jeanne-Claude_Wolfgang Volz | Image: Wolfgang Volz[/caption]

“Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible but realising it,” a statement from his office read. “Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artwork brought people together in shared experiences across the globe, and their work lives on in our hearts and memories.”

Christo was working on perhaps his most ambitious project ever, to wrap Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in 269,097 square feet of fabric. The couple first conceived the idea in 1962, and the project is still expected to be executed in September 2021 after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[caption id="attachment_207479" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Floating Piers, 18 June to 3 July 2016, on Lake Iseo, Italy.[/caption]

The act of wrapping was only one facet of each project, which included the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont Nuef bridge in Paris, a giant curtain across a canyon in Colorado, and their largest work, Surrounded Islands in Biscayne Bay Florida in 1988. The couple considered the bureaucratic wrangling required to realise such works —as well as related documentation including environmental impact reports, drawings, and diagrams— to also be a part of the works.

[caption id="attachment_207480" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Reichstag, Berlin, 1994.[/caption]

According to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s official website, the couple wrapped the Berlin Reichstag building in 1995 after 24 years of lobbying officials across six Bundestag presidents: “The wrapping became symbolic of unified Germany and marked Berlin's return as a world city. Christo's Wrapped Objects explore the transformative effect fabric and tactile surfaces have when wrapped around familiar objects. The concealment caused by the fabric challenges the viewer to reappraise the objects beneath and the space in which it exists.”

The post Arty Facts: Bulgarian Artist Christo Wraps Up Marvellous Career appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

How the most famous image of surrealism was a collaboration between a great painter and a brilliant photographer.

“There was never any competition. Dali was an artist, a painter, and my father was a photographer. Dali never wanted to be a photographer, Philippe never wanted to pick up a paint brush but together they made the most outrageous pictures,” says Irene Halsman, daughter of the esteemed photographer Philippe Halsman, one of the most respected and prolific photographers on both sides of the Atlantic before and after the second world war. “They wanted to forge something new together Dali was always full of wild ideas so Philippe really had to use his imagination and creativity. Philippe would direct Dali and Dali was always happy to oblige. It was a true, true collaboration that lasted 37 years.”

Born in Latvia, Philippe Halsman moved to Paris in 1930 at when he was 24, where he quickly established his reputation as a photographer. When the Nazis invaded the city in 1940, Halsman obtained a rare emergency visa to the United States with the help of Albert Einstein, who knew Halsman’s sister. In New York Halsman joined Life magazine when the publication was just six years old. Halsman shot 101 covers for Life – more than any other photographer – until the magazine ceased weekly publication in 1972. Halsman joined the famed Magnum Photos collective in 1951, becoming a contributing member in 1956.

Halsman most famous photographs were probably with the doyen of surrealism doyen Salvador Dalí, whom he met in 1941 and enjoyed a 37-year collaboration. The most famous of these was the iconic image Dali Atomicus, which was planned and executed at  Halsman’s apartment and studio in New York in 1948. In the accompanying 5-minute video, Halsman’s daughter Irene describes the near magic of producing an image, that had to be taken in one shot but required 26 takes, involving levitating furniture, bending columns of water and flying cats:

The post Arty Facts: Dali’s Flying Cats appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

A group exhibition co-presented by the National Museum of Art, Osaka and Singapore Art Museum titled They Do Not Understand Each Other is currently on view at Tai Kwun’s art galleries in JC Contemporary.

Taking its name from an artwork in the exhibition by Japanese artist Tsubasa Kato, They Do Not Understand Each Other brings together commissions and artworks from the collections of the National Museum of Art, Osaka (NMAO), and the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) -- two institutions that have built extensive national collections of contemporary art within their regions -- which revolve around the theme of the exchange of culture. The exhibition features works in various media such as videos, mixed-media works, paintings, sculptures, textiles, stories, performances, kinetic installations and photography and presents two new commissioned pieces and 23 artworks from the existing collections of NMAO and SAM. The selection of artists hail from Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Puerto Rico and beyond, bringing diverse and unique perspectives on representation and cultural exchange.

This is a unique chance to see some of the most contemporary works of these two major Asian museums. Taking the idea of understanding and collaboration as a foundation, the exhibition also shows how much intangible artworks like photography, video and performance entered important institutions and are now seen as an essential part of our cultural heritage. – Tobias Berger, Head of Art at Tai Kwun

[gallery ids="207332,207333,207334,207336,207337,207338,207339,207340"]

If culture is shown through representation, then cultural exchange is naturally based upon understanding. Thus, through this exhibition, viewers are able to appreciate cultural exchange in various forms and intensities; Tai Kwun explains it as speaking "to boundaries, borders, gaps, spaces, surfaces, interfaces, and divisions that exist because of – for lack of a better word – an unevenness in encounters between individuals, peoples and things”. Curator of NAMO, Yuka Uematsu, agrees with, “cultural exchange is not about perfect understanding, but rather opening up a dialogue via unique perspectives”.

This is shown through the title piece -- also named They Do Not Understand Each Other -- is a performance artwork that takes place on Tsushima islands, an archipelago that lies between Japan and Korea. Here, two figures are seen carrying out a simple task together while not being able to understand the others' native language. The piece delineates the success achieved through the cooperation of the artist and his Korean counterpart attributed not only to their mutual patience and good humour, but also to an understanding that transcends language. The artists appear as mediators in acting to intercede and reconcile disparate cultures, helping us to understand each other better.

They Do Not Understand Each Other is curated by Yuka Uematsu, Curator at the National Museum of Art, Osaka and Dr. June Yap, Director of Curatorial, Collections and Programmes at Singapore Art Museum. It is currently on view until September 13.

The post Tai Kwun’s Latest Exhibition ‘They Do Not Understand Each Other’ is Now Open appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

To adapt to the fast-changing landscape of our day and age, covid-19 being part of this, auction houses have had to swiftly change their strategies to keep up with how to best connect with their clientele. From changes in the nature and scope of artworks offered, to shifts in timing of their sales, every auction house has responded differently.

Of all the heavyweight auction houses, Phillips is the first to present an online auction which includes all categories that are traditionally separated into individual sales. Titled Refresh:Reload, the mix of collecting categories is enticing at the very first glance. Curated in two complementary parts, Refresh embodies a more lighthearted and romantic aesthetic, bringing together colourful and fun contemporary artworks such as works by Katherine Bernhardt and Genieve Figgis along with elegant jewellery and timepieces by jewelers such as Graff. The second part, Reload, will unveil cutting-edge jewellery and watches presented alongside fresh, trend-setting art, editions and collectibles, with the standout piece being a KAWS x Ikepod Horizon Watch. Phillips’ response has been almost exclusively digital – “our global Spring calendar this year is made up entirely of online-only sales and we have seen strong participation already.” According to Delissa Handoko, Head of Online Sales at Phillips Hong Kong, they “have seen a great deal of cross-category collecting as collectors’ tastes continue to evolve globally.” Perhaps this sale, then, will be the answer to collectors' concerns as auction houses and art galleries turn to online solutions.

[gallery ids="207267,207268,207269,207270,207271,207272,207273"]

Refresh:Reload includes 180 lots and selected highlights will be exhibited in Phillips’ Hong Kong Gallery (by appointment only) and bidding is currently ongoing and will close on May 28^that 6pm HKT. The entire collection is available to browse on their website.

The post Phillips Asia Presents its First Ever Cross-Category Online Auction appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

To find out the story of one of the world’s most iconic paintings, and how it keeps yielding its secrets, you should visit a small museum in the Dutch city of the Hague.

The compact Mauritshuis (Maurice House) is dedicated to artists of the Dutch Golden Age, from roughly 1580 to 1670, when this small nation facing the North Sea was a major maritime power on the top of its game in trade, science, military and art.

The collection covers most of the masters of the era, notably Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer. Rembrandt, who died at about age 60 in 1669, mastered not just painting but drawing and printmaking. In contrast, Vermeer left only 34 known paintings, of which three are in the Mauritshuis – including the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Vermeer spent his entire but relatively short life, from about 1632 to 1675, in the Delft in the western Netherlands. In this, leafy canal city famed for its tapestries, porcelain and breweries, the artist painted scenes of middle class life. Not only did he not venture far from Delft, he produced all of his paintings in two rooms of his house. Only three paintings were of outside scenes, including the much acclaimed landscape, A view of Delft.  The fact that Vermeer had at least 10 children, that he spent many months completing each painting and preferred to paint with expensive pigments, meant that he died in debt – all of this the midst of the six-year Franco Dutch War.

Following his death Vermeer remained largely forgotten in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Many of his works were included in important collections and fetched high prices, but were often attributed to other artists, a state of affairs that did not change until about 1850, when Vermeer was rediscovered by the German museum director Gustav Waagen and the French journalist and critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger.

Girl with a Pearl Earring remained unknown until 1881, when it appeared at an auction in The Hague. The art collector Arnoldus Andries des Tombe bought the neglected painting for a mere two guilders, plus the buyer’s premium of 30 cents. Des Tombe died in 1902, and with no heirs,  bequeathed 12 paintings to the Mauritshuis, including Girl with a Pearl Earring.

To this day, the painting continues to raise questions among art lovers and historians. New research discovered that Vermeer made changes to the composition as he painted: the position of the ear, the top of the headscarf and the back of the neck were shifted.

“The research identified and accurately mapped Vermeer’s colour palette in this painting for the first time,” says Abbie Vandivere, Head of The Girl in the Spotlight project and conservator at the Mauritshuis, on the museum’s website.

“The raw materials for the colours came from all over the world: regions that today belong to Mexico and Central America, England and possibly Asia or the West Indies. Vermeer’s liberal use of high-quality ultramarine in the headscarf and the jacket is striking.

“Made from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli that came from what is now Afghanistan, the preparation of natural ultramarine was time-consuming and laborious. In the 17th century, the pigment was more precious than gold. One discovery from the recent project is that the stone may have first been heated at a high temperature, which made it easier to grind and produced a more intense blue colour.”

At the time Vermeer painted, the Dutch were a major maritime trading nation, and such pigments would have been available in Delft, although lapis lazuli – of which he used a fair amount to paint the girl’s turban –  would have been extremely expensive.

Technically Girl with a Pearl Earring is not a portrait, but a type of study referred to in Vermeer’s day as a tronie. They depict a certain type of character, not a specific person, often caught in a candid moment. In this case the girl is wearing an oriental turban and an enormous pearl in her ear.

The Girl with a Pearl Earring was title of a 1999 novel by Tracey Chevalier and was adapted to film in 2003, starring Scarlett Johansson as Griet, a young servant in the household of Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. It received generally favourable reviews and grossed US$31.4 million worldwide. It was nominated for 10 British Academy Film Awards, three Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

One mystery that still remains, perhaps forever, is the identity of the girl – or if indeed she ever existed. But such is its fame that staff at the Mauritshuis refer to the painting as “she”. The museum has been closed during the coronavirus crisis, but plans to reopen on June 1.

The post Arty Facts: The Search for Vermeer’s Pearl Girl appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Take a break from the screens and fill your time with books for a change.

Maybe you've been going back to old favourites, breaking into a brand new book you carefully flip through to protect its book spines, or looking for recommendations online. And if you need a few more, Goodreads has done the work for you with a list of the most popular books published in 2020 that people have added onto the social sharing site for literature.

The post Recommended Reads: Goodreads’ 10 Most Popular Books of 2020 appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Christie's introduce a new series of thematic online auctions featuring works from Post-War and Contemporary Art departments.

Titled Vice + Virtue, the new online auctions are reflective of the two opposing sides of human nature. In a statement, the auction house explained "Vice captures the myriad ways of worldly escape in its selection, reflecting our long-held humanistic tendency to chase pleasure, while Virtue turns inward, featuring art indicative of hope, wisdom, happiness and warmth from worlds both real and imagined"

[caption id="attachment_207176" align="alignnone" width="1582"] Damien Hirst, Beautiful Shattering Shuddering Can You Feel the Earth Move? Painting, household gloss on canvas | Image: Christie's[/caption]

Vice opens for bidding from 12 May to 12 June, while Virtue opens later from 29 May to 12 June 2020, both of which feature some incredible pieces of art from the likes of KAWS, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst, Jean Dubuffet and more.

[caption id="attachment_207173" align="alignnone" width="1398"] Roy Lichtenstein, Ceramic Sculpture 13 | Image: Christie's[/caption]

Vice

Highlights from Vice section include a signed and dated KAWSBOB (Open Mouth), Package Painting Series which is expected to fetch up to HK$1.16 million (US$150,000); as well as a glazed ceramic sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein, entitled Ceramic Sculpture 13, which is estimated to go under the virtual hammer for HK$2.32 million to HK$3.87 million (US$300,000 and US$500,000).

Two works by Andy Warhol are also hitting the Vice auction block: Work Boots (Positive) is estimated to sell for up to HK$2.71 million (US$350,000), while Electric Chair (Retrospective Series) is estimated to go for a more accessible HK$387,000 (US$50,000).

[caption id="attachment_207172" align="alignnone" width="1265"] Andy Warhol (1928–1987) Chris Evert [Sixteen Works], acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, in sixteen parts | Image: Christie's[/caption]

Virtue

This part of the auction will focus on the idea of virtue as a creative escape. Virtue will include a selection of works that play with visual iterations of themes like prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice, faith, hope, and love.

The legendary pop artist's silkscreen portrait of Chris Evert, entitled "Chris Evert [Sixteen Works]," is rumoured to fetch between HK$2.32 million to HK$3.87 million (US$300,000 to US$500,000), while a painting by French artist Jean Dubuffet --  Cafetière et petit chaudron avec clef -- is likely to fetch up to HK$2.71 million (or US$350,000).

[caption id="attachment_207175" align="alignnone" width="1458"] Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) Cafetière et petit chaudron avec clef, vinyl on paper mounted on canvas | Image: Christie's[/caption]

The full catalogue of the digital auction will be released in the coming weeks on Christie's website, where the Vice + Virtue viewing room is currently available.

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