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The election to the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association was held on Friday amid much enthusiasm among the voters.
   Premises of the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation wore a festive look with continued crowding of the enthusiastic voters.
   According to sources, the election was held peacefully with 92 per cent voter turnout.
   Two panels- one led by Ahmed Sharif and Omit Hassan and another led by Miju Ahmed and Rubel contested the polls for the term 2009-2011.
   520 voters out of 564 cast their votes in the election that continued from 9:00 am to 5:00pm.
   The voting over, jubilant supporters of the candidates were seen bringing out processions with applause hinting at their victory.
   Ahmed Sharif contested for the post of president from the Ahmed Sharif-Omit Hassan panel while Omit Hassan ran for the post of general secretary.
   Miju Ahmed, also incumbent president of the association, battled for the post of president from the Miju Ahmed-Rubel panel while Rubel contested for the post of general secretary.
   ‘Whichever panel, whether it is of mine or the other, is elected, my expectation from it is just doing works for uplift of the fate of the artistes who are members of the society,’ said Prabir Mitra, a vice-president candidate from the Miju-Rubel panel.
   ‘The main work of the next elected body would be to drop the fake voters who were enlisted depriving some life-term members of the association,’ said Nazma Chowdhury, a member of the film artistes association.
   Vote counting was going on while filing of this report at 9:00 pm.

Two top New York galleries have reached a deal allowing them to keep Picasso paintings once owned by a Jewish banker, whose family said they were sold under duress in Nazi Germany.
   The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum Wednesday announced an out-of-court deal with the family of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who died in Germany in 1935 shortly after selling the works.
   The financial details of the agreement, reached ahead of a court judgment, where not made public.
   The ‘Boy Leading a Horse’ and ‘Le Moulin de la Galette’ were painted by the Spanish artist at the turn of the 20th Century.
   ‘The continued ownership of these masterpieces by the museums ensures that members of the public, including millions of visitors, students, scholars, and others, will continue to enjoy them for generations to come,’ the directors of both galleries said in a statement.
   After being sold by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the works passed into the hands of Justin Thannhause, a Jewish businessman who fled to Switzerland.
   He sold ‘Boy Leading a Horse’ to a representative of the MoMA in 1936 and ‘Le Moulin de la Galette’ in 1963 to the Guggenheim.
   According to the New York Times, the decision to keep the details of the deal secret was criticized by Judge Jed Rakoff, who was to rule on the case.

A week-long solo photography exhibition by Suman Shams ends today at the Zainul Gallery of the fine arts faculty of Dhaka University.
   About the show the artist said, ‘This is my first show. A lot of people have visited the gallery and encouraged me to continue the job’.
   I am really grateful to some people who have bought my work, he said.
   A total of 35 photographs on various subjects are on display at the exhibition that will remain open to all till 8:00pm.
   All the photos are on sale and the price range is from Tk 3000 to Tk 10000, he said.
   The Dhaka University vice-chancellor, Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, inaugurated the exhibition on February 1.

Claude Monet’s painting ‘Dans La Prairie’ was sold at auction in London Wednesday for more than 11 million pounds, falling short of its guide price of 15 million, Christie’s auctioneers said.
   The 1876 painting of the French artist’s wife, Camille, reading in a meadow full of flowers was first exhibited in Paris in 1877. It sold for 11,241,250 pounds at the sale Wednesday evening.
   ‘Les deux filles’, a double portrait by Amedeo Modigliani, beat its guide price of 3.5-5.5 million pounds and sold for 6.537 million pounds. It was the first time the painting has ever been up for auction.
   Elsewhere, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s ‘L’abandon (Les deux amies)’ sold within its guide price for 6.2 million pounds.
   ‘Les couturieres’ by Edouard Vuillard, painted in 1890 when the artist was just 21 years old, fell short of its guide price of 5.5-7.5 million pounds and was auctioned off at 5.081 million pounds.