Wynn Some, Lose Some
No one (as far as I know) has pointed up this irony about Steve Wynn's elbow-jab to his own Picasso:
Back in 2002, Wynn refused to lend "Le Rêve" to the landmark "Matisse Picasso" show that appeared at the Tate Modern, the Grand Palais and the Museum of Modern Art. He believed that the proposed insurance coverage for the painting was inadequate.
It turns out that it would have been safer at the museum show than it was in his own office.
In 2003, Carol Vogel of the NY Times interviewed Wynn about his decision not to lend:
''I was too afraid,'' Mr. Wynn said. ''There are still too many gaps in the insurance coverage. I can't replace this picture. There's not another painting like it.''
Mr. Wynn purchased the painting, ''Le Rêve'' (''The Dream''), two years ago for a reported $42 million. The painting, which depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of Picasso's mistresses, asleep in an armchair, is one of his most celebrated portraits.
''It's not like it's in my living room; it's on public view,'' Mr. Wynn said, referring to his art gallery in the lobby of what was the Desert Inn. So precious is this painting to Mr. Wynn that he is naming his new casino Le Rêve.
Vogel also noted that no one else had withdrawn work selected for the show, despite the terrorism fears that were then making everyone nervous. "The Modern was so hopeful" that Wynn would relent, Vogel wrote, that it reproduced his painting on catalog's cover. Then it had to revisit the printer to re-do the cover, featuring a different Picasso. (CultureGrrl owns a copy of the first printing. Is this a collector's item?)
Wynn's wife Elaine chose to regard Marie-Thérèse Walter's wound as "a sign" that they should hold onto the painting, rather than sell it, as had been planned.
Maybe it was really a sign that they should have lent it.
Categories:
About
KEEP CULTUREGRRL BLOGGING! Please Contribute (Secure transaction via PayPal): (You do not need to have your own PayPal account: Click the "continue" link at lower left of the donation page.)
ADVERTISE on CultureGrrl MUSEUMS, GALLERIES, AUCTION HOUSES, ART PUBLICATIONS, ARTS PROGRAMS---Please go here and click the "CultureGrrl" box to place an ad. For more information on advertising, e-mail here. more
LEE ROSENBAUM
I'm a veteran cultural journalist who writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal's "Leisure & Arts" page. I've been a regular cultural contributor on New York Public Radio (WNYC). I've appeared as an art-market commentator on BBC-TV and have published numerous Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I am author of The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf) and have lectured on cultural property issues at the New Acropolis Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, on deaccessioning at Columbia Law School, the University of Iowa and the annual conference of the Museum Association of New York, and on museum governance and cultural property issues at Seton Hall University. more
Contact me
Click here to send me an email...
moreBlogroll
About Last Night
Art History Newsletter
Art Law Blog
Art Observed
The Art Tribune (France)
Artblog.net
Articulations (Smithsonian)
Artopia
Design Observer
A Don's Life
Edward Lifson
Exhibitionist (Boston)
Eye Level (SAAM)
Foot in Mouth (dance)
Greg.org
LA Observed (Los Angeles)
Looking Around (Time)
Looting Matters
Modern Kicks
New Curator
NewYorkology--Architecture
NewYorkology--Museums
NYC Opera Fanatic
Opera Chic
Slog (Seattle)
Tropolism
Walker
AJ Ads
AJ Arts Blog Ads
Now you can reach the most discerning arts blog readers on the internet. Target individual blogs or topics in the ArtsJournal ad network.
Advertise Here
AJ Blogs
AJBlogCentral | rssculture
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture
rock culture approximately
Laura Collins-Hughes on arts, culture and coverage
Richard Kessler on arts education
Douglas McLennan's blog
Dalouge Smith advocates for the Arts
Art from the American Outback
For immediate release: the arts are marketable
No genre is the new genre
David Jays on theatre and dance
Paul Levy measures the Angles
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
John Rockwell on the arts
Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude
dance
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
jazz
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
media
Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology
Martha Bayles on Film...
classical music
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
Exploring Orchestras w/ Henry Fogel
Harvey Sachs on music, and various digressions
Bruce Brubaker on all things Piano
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds
publishing
Jerome Weeks on Books
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera
theatre
Wendy Rosenfield: covering drama, onstage and off
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
visual
Public Art, Public Space
Regina Hackett takes her Art To Go
John Perreault's art diary
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
Tyler Green's modern & contemporary art blog

Leave a comment