NEW YORK | Fri Feb 8, 2013 5:17pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paintings from the private collection of U.S. singer Andy Williams, amassed over six decades, could fetch more than $30 million when they are sold at auction in May, Christie's said on Friday.

Works by Willem de Kooning and Richard Diebenkorn are expected to be the top sellers of the portion of the collection that will be auctioned at Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on May 15-16.

De Kooning's 1984 "Untitled XVII" and Diebenkorn's 1976 "Ocean Park #92" are expected to sell for about $5 million each.

"Williams' highly personal choices in Post War and Contemporary artworks reflect the dynamic energy of New York and Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s," Robert Manley, an international director at Christie's, said in a statement.

Christie's described de Kooning's "Untitled XVII" as a masterpiece of his final years of painting.

"The lyrical 1984 work demonstrates the artist's supreme confidence at the height of his fame, after six decades of painting," the auction house said.

Williams, best known for his rendition of the song "Moon River," died in September at the age of 84. The paintings in the collection are from his two homes and his Moon River Theater in Branson, Missouri.

Williams was first interested in Modern Art and had purchased works by Picasso, Paul Klee and Henry Moore before turning to the other painters.

Picasso's 1927 painting "Figure Feminine Sur la Plage," from Williams' collection, will be up for sale during Christie's Impressionist & Modern Art sale in New York on May 8-9.

"He had the exceptional ability to recognize quality in every category that he turned his attention to - a rare gift among collectors," Manley said about Williams.

The remainder of the collection will be sold this year in sales in New York, London and Paris.

(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Beech)

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NEW YORK | Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:01pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman Henry Kravis and his wife have sued art collector Donald L. Bryant Jr. over three paintings by the renowned artist Jasper Johns that the Kravises say they bought jointly with Bryant with the intention of sharing them, then eventually donating them to New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Kravis, co-founder of New York-based private equity firm KKR & Co., and his wife, Marie Josee, decided to purchase the "Tantric Detail" series with Bryant in 2008, according to the lawsuit, filed on Thursday in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

They all agreed to transfer possession of the works to one another's chosen residence annually, so they each could enjoy displaying them until they were donated to the museum, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says the arrangement worked from 2008 through 2012. But it charges that Bryant refused to transfer the works to the Kravises on January 14 this year.

Instead, the Kravises say, Bryant is holding the works "hostage," until he gets a new agreement without the pledge to give the works to the museum.

"The pledge was a condition of the sale of the art works," the lawsuit says, "which Mr. Bryant now selfishly insists on disregarding."

A message left for Bryant, founder and chairman emeritus of the Bryant Group, a St. Louis employee benefits firm, was not immediately returned. A MoMa spokeswoman declined comment.

The museum announced the acquisition of the Johns works in a 2008 press release that said the trio of paintings were a "promised gift" of Bryant, then a MoMA trustee, and Marie Josee Kravis, president of the board of the museum, and her husband, Henry.

(Reporting By Karen Freifeld; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and David Gregoiro)

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Snow in Jerusalem 2012 by artist Paul Benney is seen in this undated handout photograph released in London October 2, 2012. ''Night Paintings'' is a new exhibition at London's Somerset House staged in the underground ''deadhouse'' caverns and featuring the work of Paul Benney.

LONDON | Tue Oct 2, 2012 1:30pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Above ground Somerset House boasts one of London's most famous courtyards, a neo-classical gem used for film sets, fashion shows and a glamorous skating venue in the winter.

Beneath the spectacular square are little-known underground passageways called the "Deadhouse", which this week open to the public for the first exhibition of paintings ever to be held there.

Somerset House's resident artist Paul Benney is exhibiting his paintings in a free show running from October 4 to December 9, and in the dingy subterranean chambers they hang alongside the headstones of French courtiers buried there in the 17th century.

"This was a space that I had come across by accident as I was wandering about finding my way around and getting used to the building," Benney told Reuters in a dark vault surrounded by his works.

Traditionally, he would have held the exhibition above ground in a naturally lit gallery running along one of the four sides of the courtyard.

"It gave me the idea that ... this might be a better place to try to see whether it would work for my work, and as it turns out I think it does."

Benney, who has had a studio at Somerset House for 2-1/2 years, has produced a series of eerie, elemental images including a Pan figure floating above a forest, a naked man "emerging" from thick fog and a face whose shaved head has burst into flames.

"I don't set out to make eerie or unsettling work," said the artist, also a well-known portrait painter. "It does eventually come across as that, I think, as a coincidence, as a result of me finding imagery that makes sense to me.

"My influences range from 20th century cinema like (Russian director Andrei) Tarkovsky right through to Rembrandt and Goya. Generally, of all those artists I am drawn to the subterranean subject matter."

That includes Goya's "Black Paintings", the Spanish artist's haunting canvases that include Saturn devouring his son and two ghoulish old men eating soup.

GRAVES DISTURBED

As well as the Deadhouse, a handful of Benney's works hang inside alcoves along the "lightwells", deep, paved alleyways that run along three sides of the court above.

Officials at Somerset House are hoping the combination of an innovative space unknown to most visitors and the art on display will make the "Night Paintings" show a major draw.

The Deadhouse has been used before as a party venue and for a sound installation, but damp conditions, and the fact that it is a service tunnel used by the venue, limit its potential as a permanent art space.

Somerset House Trust was set up in 1997 to conserve and develop the site and open it up to the public.

"We were only set up 15 years ago and opened to public in 2000, and we have been investigating how to show different parts of the building to the public," said trust director Gwyn Miles.

"We have used (the Deadhouse) for events - we've had some fabulous parties down there and we will use it probably more."

The headstones were set in the walls of the tunnel when Somerset House was rebuilt by William Chambers at the end of the 18th century.

When the old buildings were demolished to make way for the buildings that survive today, the graves of members of the queen's court were disturbed.

The headstones date back to 1637, when Henrietta Maria of France, who married Charles I, used what was then called Denmark House and had a Roman Catholic chapel built - a deeply unpopular move at the time.

Henrietta fled to France during the English Civil War in which her husband Charles I was executed, but returned to Denmark House as Dowager Queen after the restoration of Charles II in 1660, and launched a new phase of expansion.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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LOS ANGELES | Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:29pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police recovered a multimillion-dollar collection of paintings stolen from the Southern California home of superstar bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach, and two men are in jail on suspicion of possessing the stolen property, authorities said on Thursday.

The 13 paintings, which included works by Jasper Johns and Piet Mondrian, were taken from Gundlach's home in the coastal city of Santa Monica between September 12 and September 14, officials with the city's police department said.

Gundlach, who was in New York at the time, put forward a $1.7 million reward earlier this week for the recovery of all his stolen art, increasing his previous offer of $200,000.

Officers arrested Jeffrey Nieto, 45, at Al & Ed's Autosound in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena on Wednesday in connection with the theft, and recovered most of the paintings at that business, where Nieto is the manager, police said.

They took the second man, Wilmer Cadiz, 40, into custody at his home in nearby San Gabriel and found another four paintings there, police said. The last painting was recovered at a home in the Los Angeles bedroom community of Glendale. The person who had that painting has been interviewed and is cooperating with investigators, police said.

Police are still investigating the case, including whether Nieto and Cadiz committed the actual burglary at Gundlach's home, Santa Monica police spokesman Sergeant Richard Lewis said.

It was not immediately clear if Nieto or Cadiz have attorneys to represent them.

Gundlach, who is chief executive officer and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, in a statement thanked the Santa Monica Police Department for "apprehending the criminals" and recovering "all of the artwork stolen."

"This is a great day for the art world and all those who seek order and justice in our society," Gundlach said. A representative for Gundlach did not immediately respond to an email about payment of the reward in the case.

The stolen art pieces included works by Frank Stella, Guy Rose, Hanson Duvall Puthuff and other artists.

The painting by Jasper Johns, who last year received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is his 1956 "Green Target." The piece by the late Dutch artist Piet Mondrian is his 1936 "Composition (A) En Rouge Et Blanc."

The Mondrian piece alone is worth between $10 million and $15 million, Lewis said. The total value of the stolen paintings could be up to $39 million, but police initially valued all the items stolen from Gundlach's home at $10 million to be conservative about the price tag, Lewis said.

Police have not recovered a Porsche Carrera 4S sports car taken from Gundlach's home, nor have they found several luxury watches, a handgun and some wine that was also stolen, Lewis said. The car originally sold for $120,000 and the wine was worth $100,000, he said.

Nieto was being held in jail on bail of $500,000 and Cadiz was being held on $20,000, according to Los Angeles County inmate records.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

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