Archives for May 2016

Unlike the 2008 meltdown, there's currently no major economic recession in the U.S. to blame for the recent epidemic of belt-tightening by three major New York City art museums---the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum. While the long-term viability of those institutions is not in doubt, a fourth---the National Academy Museum---intends to shut its … [Read more...] about Hard Times at NYC Museums: National Academy Homeless (with video); Staffing Cuts at the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA

One of my favorite parts of the Frick Collection's controversial expansion plans was the commitment to opening to the public the historic upstairs rooms where the Frick clan lived 100 years ago. Now that I've had the chance to climb those stairs, thanks to a tour that director Ian Wardropper offered to me and two other writers after yesterday's press lunch, my excitement has … [Read more...] about Frick Flick: CultureGrrl Video Tour of Off-Limits Upstairs Living Quarters at Frick Collection

While the annual meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors (in Cleveland through tomorrow) focuses on ways "to increase diversity throughout the field," Kaywin Feldman, director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and former AAMD president, has noticed a major change among her fellow attendees at the directors' conclave. She tweeted this insight: Majority of … [Read more...] about “Tidal Wave of Change”: The Sudden Turnover of U.S. Art Museum Directors (towards contemporary)

In the provocative spirit of CultureGrrl, come join me, faithful art-lings, in an unconventional commemoration of Art Museum Day, spotlighting some unlikely pairings that have recently hit the news. Whether conceived in a spirit of innovation or desperation, they've caught our attention by being unexpected and a little eyebrow-raising: ---There have been new developments in … [Read more...] about Art Museum Day’s Odd Couples: Corcoran/GWU, MASS MoCA/Crystal Bridges, Smithsonian/Hebrew University

When is an "auction record" not really an auction record? That's a question that may be raised regarding a wobbly Twombly benchmark set at Sotheby's last November. In her Bloomberg report on that auction house's $242.19-million evening Contemporary sale last week, Katya Kazakina unpacked the back story for this untitled Christopher Wool, for which the bidding inched up to … [Read more...] about An Asterisk for Twombly Record* at Sotheby’s? Bloomberg Reports Payment by Art-Swap

I don't know about you, but I'm experiencing severe auction fatigue, which is not nearly as rewarding as museum fatigue. So let's cut to the chase and get right to my Twitter account of tonight's dull, workmanlike Impressionist/Modern sale at Christie's, which, despite its record for Frida Kahlo, lacked electricity. Even Frida's nudes, nestled in this lush landscape, look … [Read more...] about Are We Still Awake? My Live Tweets on Christie’s Impressionist/Modern Snooze

After its rocky night Monday, it looked like Sotheby's could become a distant also-ran in the art-auction sweepstakes. But tonight, with a little help from some late-breaking irrevocable bids (likely accompanied by lowered reserves), it glided through a smooth Contemporary sale, with an impressive 95.4% sold by lot and 98.6% sold by value. The price levels, for the most … [Read more...] about Competition Lives! My Live Tweets on Sotheby’s Creditable Contemporary Sale

The headline for my last post was: Christie's Gets It Done. At the press preview for last night's confidence-restoring contemporary sale, Brett Gorvy, Christie's chairman of Post-War and Contemporary art, told me how he had worked to achieve that. With the benefit of hindsight, his strategy worked, but with some added help from the previous night's disappointing Sotheby's sale … [Read more...] about “Contemporary Confidence” Game: Brett Gorvy Tells How Christie’s Got it Done

Christie's tonight pulled the art market out of its Sotheby's-induced funk with a Post-War/Contemporary sale that hummed along nicely from beginning to end, with one manic moment---a new auction record for this untitled 1982 Basquiat, which sold for $57.29 million with buyer's premium: Here's my running commentary on Christie's spirited sale (thanks to the lively … [Read more...] about Christie’s Gets It Done: My Live Tweets on Tonight’s Solid Contemporary Sale

If Sotheby's is trying to restore buyer confidence, tonight's mediocre Impressionist/Modern sale wasn't the way to do it. Only 66.1% of the works sold, and the sold total by hammer price total was considerably below the presale estimate of hammer price. Here's my running Twitter commentary on how it went down: … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Slump: My Live Tweets from Tonight’s Painful Impressionist/Modern Sale

How do you restore investor confidence in a company whose first-quarter results show a net loss of $25.9 million (compared to net income of $5.2 million for the same period the previous year), with a 35% decrease in net auction sales and 33% decrease in auction revenues in this year's first quarter compared to last years? You try to show that this was an anomaly (because the … [Read more...] about “Cautious Optimism,” Depressed Results: Sotheby’s Spins the Art-Market Slump for Analysts

The operative words for the art market this season are "correction" and "contraction." So Sotheby's can be forgiven for seeking comfort in nostalgia, via this Monday tweet, recalling a past triumph: #OnThisDay in 2012, Sotheby's sold Edvard Munch's 1895 'The Scream' for a record $120 million #SothebysImpMod pic.twitter.com/VO0i1XxsPc — Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 2, … [Read more...] about Contraction Action: Sotheby’s & Christie’s Confront New Market Reality (plus Koons “Deflatable”)

Are we seeing a trend here? Anne Pasternak at the Brooklyn Museum; James Rondeau at the Art Institute of Chicago; now Christopher Bedford at the Baltimore Museum of Art. In all three recent cases, a contemporary art specialist was chosen for the top spot at a museum with distinguished historic collections. (Notably bucking that trend were the Detroit Institute of Arts and … [Read more...] about Bedford in Baltimore: Christopher is Third Contemporary Expert Recently Tapped to Lead a Major Art Museum