Archives for 2010

In connection with yesterday's rattling of the tin cup, I should mention that I've lately been told that there are a number of arts professionals in my core audience who would love to support the blog, but would want to do so anonymously, so as not to appear to be trying to buy favorable coverage by clicking my "Donate" button. It's conflict-of-interest in reverse.You KNOW that … [Read more...] about Blogger Accounting: How to Donate Anonymously

With all my recent posts about the art market's high finance, I'm feeling more disconsolate than usual about CultureGrrl's low finance.So, arithmetic art-lings, here's a bit of Blogger Algebra:No Ads + No Donations = Zero PostsAny sum of CultureGrrl Classifieds or Donations that totals up to at least 5 shows of support (in any amount) breaks my silence. You KNOW that I've got a … [Read more...] about Blogger Accounting: Millions for Picasso, Zero for CultureGrrl

Workers adding pieces to "Big Bambú," a continuing work-in-progress I was looking forward to today's press luncheon at the Metropolitan Museum with more than my usual breathless anticipation, because the pre-chicken reception was located on the Roof Garden, where Doug + Mike Starn's scaleable bamboo forest, Big Bambú, is installed (and will continue rising to more complex … [Read more...] about Bamboozled by Bamboo: No Climbing for the Scribe Tribe on Met’s “Big Bambú”

I was in listen-only mode for Sotheby's conference call with stock analysts late Thursday to see if Bill Ruprecht, the firm's president and chief executive, would venture to repeat his misleading claim about Wednesday evening's Impressionist/modern sale results.He didn't.While he twice boasted that Sotheby's Impressionist/modern total was three times what it had been last year, … [Read more...] about Truth-in-Accounting: Bill Ruprecht Gets the Message

Final Hammer: The $95-million (plus buyer's premium) PicassoIt's so easy to be cynical about moguls who lavish incredible sums of money on works of art, especially if you happen to be an impecunious art critic who can't afford a square inch of a 1932 Picasso. (I surely fall into that category.)If you read Holland Cotter's jaded commentary in today's NY Times about the … [Read more...] about Megabucks Collectors: Are They Trophy-Hunting Philistines?

Bill Ruprecht, Sotheby's presidentI've said it before in the Wall Street Journal (and numerous times on CultureGrrl). But it looks like I'm going have to say it again. Even Bill Ruprecht, the financially savvy president and chief executive of Sotheby's, hasn't yet gotten the message. So let's review:If you're going to compare sale totals to presale estimates, you've got to use … [Read more...] about Statistical Shenanigans: Misrepresenting Auction-Sale Results

Matisse, "Bouquet de Fleurs pour le Quatorze Juillet," 1919Poor Tobias Meyer was pulling teeth at tonight's Impressionist/modern sale at Sotheby's, trying to extract a few extra increments from bidders who finally managed to cough up $25.5 million (slightly above the $18 million to $25 million presale estimate) for the top lot---Matisse's decorative "Bouquet de Fleurs Pour le … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Slog: Excruciatingly Slow Bidding at Impressionist/Modern Sale

James MurdochAt its annual shareholders meeting tomorrow, Sotheby's intends to add a new member to its board---James Murdoch, son of Rupert, who, according to Fortune magazine, is "the likely successor to take over his father's empire." That empire, of course, is News Corp.---the media giant that owns (among many other news organizations), the Wall Street Journal. James is … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Nominates James Murdoch (Rupert’s son) to its Board

Two knowledgeable Christie's sources (NOT Conor Jordan, above) this morning informed me (on the record but not for attribution by name) that the anonymous $106.48-million purchaser of Picasso's portrait of his sleeping paramour, Marie-Thérèse Walter, was NOT the same party who received a financing fee from the auction house for being the third-party guarantor of the coveted … [Read more...] about The $106.48-Million Mistress: No Asterisk for Record Picasso Price

Christie's catalogue for the Brody CollectionAs an addendum to my auction post earlier today, I should let you know that I have an unrelated event to attend tonight and will not be joining the press scrum at Christie's. Nor will I be following the action online in real time. In fact, because I'm on deadline for an article I'm writing that is related to my recent Southern … [Read more...] about Question for Christie’s Press Conference: Should Picasso Price Get an Asterisk?

Record Breaker? Picasso, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," 1932, offered tonight at Christie's It seems to me that many art-market reporters have been too gullible in buying the auctioneers' and dealers' spin that art prices are going to come roaring back during the coming round of evening Impressionist/modern and contemporary sales. Consider this from Carol Vogel of the NY … [Read more...] about Bullish Art-Market Predictions: Irrational Exuberance? Tilted Playing Field?

ArtsJournal's downtime last week was due to dastardly technological deeds involving the ad server for our blogs' righthand columns. Those columns are still down at this writing. In the event that you actually took seriously my invitation last week to welcome me back from my travels "by decorating my bare ad space and activating my dormant 'Donate' button," the benefaction … [Read more...] about Filling An ArtsJournal Void: Images on CultureGrrl Classifieds!

Part of the site for the planned Downtown Whitney, as seen from the High Line Getting back to my New York roots after my Southern sojourn, I need to keep my prior promise to take on art critic Roberta Smith's recent Whitney screed, which followed close upon another negative bit of prominently placed NY Times coverage by Carol Vogel and Kate Taylor that raised doubts about some … [Read more...] about Downtown Whitney: NY Times-Generated Crisis of Confidence—Part II

I'm back from my Southern sojourn, y'all, and coincidentally, so is ArtsJournal---again available to all art-lings on every web browser known to man and in four of the five continents. (No Antarctican art-lings yet, to my knowledge.) I missed you and hope some of you missed me. I do see from my traffic stats that many of you (like me) have returned to your blog addiction.So … [Read more...] about MeTube: The Grrl is Back (with some Tinterow Tintinabulation)!

So what's going on with the ArtsJournal site and, by extension, CultureGrrl, which is still sending you scary messages instead of my smiling face if you try to access me on Firefox or Safari? (It's fine on Internet Explorer, minus the righthand column.) All I can tell you is that the head of ArtsJournal, Doug McLennan, has posted (on a non-AJ site) a very detailed … [Read more...] about Where is CultureGrrl? Still in Limbo (but back soon)