Response to a contemporary artwork - Libeskind Piano

     I'm not really sure how to go about evaluating this piece of art because it is an architectural piano, but imma try.
     Daniel Libeskind is a Polish-born American architect who is widely known for his 'unbuildable' designs. In 2008, he began working with the German company Schimmel Pianos to design a jagged, working, grand piano.

     This is the famous (or infamous to some architects) Libeskind Piano. As you can see, it definitely isn't what you think of when speaking of normal grand pianos. Upon looking through the principles and elements of art, I realized it was a lot different with 3D pieces than with 2D. 

     Obviously, line played a big role to Libeskind in designing this piece. The basis for all of his buildings or furniture, is the jagged deconstructing of everything. He uses line to create those sharp, uncomfortable edges to enhance the fact that this is not your usual boring piano. 

     The colors of the piano, though it may have been just a coincidence being the normal colors of a piano, are another element which I think add to the strange, awkward feeling you get when looking at (and probably playing) the piano. It also serves to relate it to a normal piano by being a bit similar but then it tares down all normalcy at the same time. 

     Form is another easily relatable element to use here. To be a little bit more redundant, Libeskind has succeeded in emphasizing that fact that this piano is ridiculously weird and unnatural. 

     I can never tell whether I truly like Libeskind's designs or if I'm just simply amazed that they could be built in the first place. Like I said earlier, he is known for his almost unbuildable blueprints. Here are some of his other buildings, maybe you can make more of a decision than me.

Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Denver Colorado

The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, Covington, Kentucky (greater Cincinnati area)

New York Tower, New York, New York

So, the Nazis really like Gustav Klimt.

This is an art related article review of the piece on BBC News, "Klimt painting fetches $40.4m"

So, as my title so aptly tells, a 1915 painting by the Austrian artist Klimt was stolen by the Nazis and recently sold at a New York auction for $40.4 million. In July, Salzburg's Museum of Modern Art returned the piece to the owner's grandson, who is now 83 years old.

The artwork, Litzlberg on the Attersee, a painting of a lake in western Austria, was originally owned by Austrian iron magnate Viktor Zuckerkandl before being passed on to his sister, Amalie Redlich, when he died in 1927. In 1941, Redlich was deported and the Nazis seized her collection. The painting went for the most money of all the artworks at the auction, which included works by Gustave Caillebotte ($9.3m), and Tamara de Lempicka ($8.5m). Surprisingly though on the same night another auction house failed to find buyers for quite a few famous works of art which included a Picasso and Degas' sculpture of the teenage dancer. 

Degas' sculpture

I chose this article because I find it very interesting, as a person who likes art and is interested in WWII. I'm just truly surprised though, not that the Klimt painting sold for so much because I love Klimt, but that the Picasso and the Degas' sculpture did not sell at all. In fact, the bids on the sculpture didn't even get to half the price it was expected to sell for. Even more so, it was the only sculpture he ever exhibited in his life time. To find the BBC News article on that auction, click here.