New York, Nov 16 (AP) — A painting by the British artist David Hockney fetched $90.3 million at Christie's on Thursday night, easily breaking the record for a work by a living artist sold at auction.

Among his famous "pool paintings," ''Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" is considered one of his premier works. The previous record by a living artist was set by Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog," which sold for $58.4 million in 2013.

The 1972 painting by Hockney, now 81, is "the holy grail of his paintings, from both the historical and the market perspectives," Alex Rotter, co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's, said in September. He noted that it reflects both the European and the American perspectives of an artist who came to live in sunny California in the '60s, and saw himself as living on both continents.

"It has all the elements that you would want in a Hockney painting," Rotter said in an interview. He noted that writers have referred to the swimming pool as being sort of a self-portrait of Hockney, though he never confirmed that, just saying he was fascinated to paint moving water.

The painting, whose buyer was not immediately revealed, had been long held by a private collector.

A depiction of two men — one swimming the breaststroke underwater, the other standing by the pool looking down — the painting was originally inspired, according to background provided by Christie's, by two photographs Hockney found juxtaposed on his studio floor, one of a swimmer in Hollywood in 1966, and another of a boy staring at something on the ground.

The rocky landscape is in southern France, and the standing figure is said to represent Peter Schlesinger, whom the artist met in 1966, when the younger man was a student in one of Hockney's art classes at UCLA. For the next five years, according to Christie's, he was both "the great love of Hockney's life" and one of his favorite models.

The relationship ended in 1971. Hockney had already begun the painting and he abandoned it, starting again the following year.

Dhaka, Nov 17 (UNB) - The country's biggest folk festival passed its second day on Friday with the mesmerizing presentation of folk music.

The performers from home and abroad showed their deep-rooted folk presentation in the Army Stadium where Rajshahi-originated local folk-fusion band Swarobanjo started on the second night of the folk festival.

The folk-fusion band Swarobanjo was formed in 2014 and has shared all of its music under Creative Commons License, non-commercially. Though this band is an open group, they have a stable band lineup. In continuation of that belief, they inaugurated ‘Copyleft Movement’ in Bangladesh.

This band sings about the protest of common people and about their hurdles since their interception. This band has so far published two albums namely ‘Gan-Bajna’ and ‘Haoar Chithi’ released in 2015 and 2016, but these two albums are not available in the market.

Majaz, a band formed in 2013, originally from Bahrain, located in the Arabian Peninsula came to stage after the performance of Swarobanjo.

Bringing out the best vibe to the listeners is the best possible attribute of the progressive fusion band Majaz as they executed the same thing in Dhaka. Initially, the band’s name was ‘Mazaj’, later it was converted to ‘Majaz’ for creative purpose.

The songs of the heritage of Arabian music amazed the audience very much by their soulful creations and their instrumental arrangement.

Lately, they performed in the biggest music festival ‘Spring of Culture’ of Bahrain. The band members are Jehad Al Halal (Cello), Abdulla Faisal (Percussions), Salah Sharakhat (Bass), Hameed Al Saeed (Guitar).

The Raghu Dixit Project from India also performed the mixture of modern and international music with Indian folk music.

This band brought out the rooted and earthy sound of modern India which gave the excitement to the listeners and folk lovers.

Raghupathi Dwarakanath Dixit is a singer, musician, music producer and a famous name among the folk genre of India who formed the group ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ in 2005.

The world-renowned Glastonbury festival and many more concerts around the world was heated with the beats of The Raghu Dixit Project. They were featured the BBC’s ‘Later with Jules Holland’, Sydney Opera House for their folk songs.

The Raghu Dixit Project made every song vibrant as they believe that no listener should engulf into sadness while listening to songs that is why their every performance creates a feeling of enthusiasm among each and every listener.

The rhythm of Conjunto-based Songs did not disappoint to cheer up the mood of listeners of Dhaka in the jam-packed stadium. The music of this band led the listeners to a joyful ride as they are the masters of Tehano/Tex-Mex.

Los Texmaniacs, 2010 Grammy Award winner on the category of ‘Best Tejano Music’, also performed twice on the festival of ‘Smithsonian Folklife Festival’.

The folk lovers also experienced the Josh Baca’s amazing accordion playing and skill in the fundamental conjunto tradition while the drummer Lorenzo Martínez brought Mexican and Chicano influence in the band.

The queen of folk music in Bangladesh Momtaz Begum placed a powerful performance in front of people and was successfully able to satisfy the listeners.

Momtaz Begum, the jewel of Bangladeshi folk music, also served as the Member of Parliament in Bangladesh. She took music lessons from an early age from her father Modhu Boyati. Later, she became the protégé of Matal Kobi Razzak Dewan and Abdur Rashid Sarkar.

The audience was crazy over on the occasion for her performances which celebrates the rich culture of Bangla folk music. She has been appreciated for her performances in UK, USA, and many more. 

New York, Nov 16 (AP/UNB) — The Statue of Liberty's original torch, which has been housed in the base of the statue since a replica replaced it in the 1980s, was moved across Liberty Island on Thursday to its new home in a museum that will open next year.

Visitors watched as the base and the detached flame of the 3,600-pound (1,633-kilogram) torch were trucked slowly and carefully to the museum construction site about 100 yards (91 meters) from the statue.

Officials with the National Park Service and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation said the torch was removed in 1984 because it was too badly damaged to restore.

"Taking it down was very frightening," said Stephen Briganti, president and CEO of the foundation. "We had the largest freestanding scaffolding that at that point had ever been built."

Thursday's brief trip to the museum site was the latest chapter for an icon that "has crossed many miles in its lifetime," Briganti said.

The torch left France in 1876 for the United States, where it was exhibited at the Centennial celebration in Philadelphia and then in New York City's Madison Square Park. The trip was intended to raise funds to pay for the statue's pedestal, Briganti said.

It went back to Paris in 1882, then returned to the New York Harbor along with other crated pieces of the statue in 1885.

The torch was held high by Lady Liberty from 1886 to 1984, but modifications to the flame changed its original design over the years.

The flame resembled a stained-glass sculpture lying on its specially designed flatbed truck. That's because the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who also designed Mount Rushmore, "put all the holes in it with amber glass" during a 1916 redesign, park Superintendent John Piltzecker said. "It led to the flame's deterioration."

The torch was further weakened in July of that year by the Black Tom explosion, an act of German sabotage at a munitions plant nearby in Jersey City.

The 1980s gilt flame that the statue is holding now restores sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's original design, officials said.

The old torch, meanwhile, made another fundraising trip at the end of 1984, traveling to Pasadena, where it starred in the Rose Parade.

A trench was dug under the statue so that the 16-foot (4.9-meter) original torch could be moved into the pedestal when it returned to New York.

It couldn't depart the pedestal that way Thursday, Piltzecker said. "It had to come out in two pieces."

Joining the torch's two pieces was a full-scale copper replica of the statue's face. The torch and the face will be highlights of the new $100 million museum, which is scheduled to open in May 2019.

Dhaka, Nov 15 (UNB) – Dhaka International Folk Festival commences Thursday evening with Bhabna, a dance troupe, from Bangladesh presenting the inaugural show from 6pm.

Dikanda from Poland, Wadali Brothers from India, Abdul Hai Dewan from Bangladesh, and Satyaki Banerjee will also perform on the first day of the three day long folk fest.

Sun Communications in association with Sun Foundation is organizing the festival in the country for the fourth year.

Anjan Chowdhury, Chairman of Sun Communications LTD and Sun Foundation, said that their mission is to conserve and patronize the folk genre, make it popular among people, secure the legal rights of Bangladeshi folk artistes and ensure royalties due to them through this festival.

The performances will run from November 15 -17 at Bangladesh Army Stadium every day from 6pm to 12am.

Some 174 artistes from 7 countries including Bangladesh are gathering in one stage to celebrate the music of the heart.

Prominent artists Momotaz Begom, Baul Kabir Shah, Arnob, Nakshikatha, Swarobanjo and Bhabna Nritya Dol will be performing from Bangladesh in the rest of day.

The Raghu Dixit Project, Shafqat Amanat Ali from Pakistan, Majaz from Bahrain, Grammy award winner Los Texmaniacs from the USA, and Las Migas from Spain will come to this bustling city to celebrate the spirit of folk music.

The audience needs to print their Entry Pass for each day to enter the festival with the photocopy of NID, Passport.

The audience will also be able to enjoy the programme through Grameenphone online video streaming service ‘Bioscope Live’.

Dhaka, Nov 15 (UNB) – The two-day long “Jatiya Nabanna Utsab” kicked off on Thursday at Bakultala of the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University (DU) as part of the countrywide celebrations with this year's theme "Esho Mili Shobe Nabanyer Utshobe".

Jatiya Nabanna Utsab Udjapan Parishad, the celebration committee of the festival, chalked out different day-long cultural activities including Folk songs, Lalon giti, Tagore song and dance to welcome the first day of Bengali month Agrahayan. 

Eminent Cultural personality Ramendra Majumder officially inaugurated the cultural programme around 7:00 am.

Poets, painters, musicians, bauls and people from all walks of life joined together at the DU campus to celebrate the festival. 

First part of the celebration was ended following a ‘Nabanya Shobhajatra' that started from Charukala around 9:30 am and paraded the entire campus.

President of Sommilito Sangskritik Jote, Golam Kuddus, organiser Laila Hasan and convener of the organising body Shahriar Salam, among others, attended the inauguration session. 

A total of 1200 artistes of 68 cultural organisations are participating in the two-day long celebration.