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… [Read more...] about COMING TOMORROW: CultureGrrl’s Top-Six Picks to Succeed Philippe at the Met

A blog about which I was previously unaware, NYC Opera Fanatic, calls CultureGrrl a soul sister for my Stupid Met Tricks. I'd tell you the name of this blogger (you know CultureGrrl credits writers whenever she can), but I couldn't find it on his site. All I can tell you is that he's a redhead and has moved to Philadelphia (and thus calls himself "NYC Opera Fanatic in Exile"). … [Read more...] about Three Additions to My Blogroll and One New Blogging Fan

This from Gert-Jan van den Bergh, attorney for Marina Mahler (granddaughter of the composer), in her successful claim for restitution by Austria of Munch's "Summer Night on the Beach": This is a total victory. The claim was a test of how well the restitution laws functions. We need to study the contents of the decision but understand that it has been based on the latest … [Read more...] about Mahler’s Lawyer: The Significance of Austria’s Munch Restitution

Sotheby's Impressionist/modern auction Tuesday night would have been considered a great sale...if it hadn't been trounced the next night by Christie's. That, coupled with yesterday's report of its third-quarter results, appears to have sent the auction company's publicly traded stock into a nosedive, as of the start of trading this morning. Analysts who had dialed into … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Stock Heads South

Someone please stop general manager Peter Gelb, before he turns the Metropolitan Opera into a laughingstock. Proud of yesterday's embarrassingly lame debut on the "Late Show with David Letterman," the Met has posted this inane backstage look at the singers' preparations for a televised excerpt from Rossini's "Barber of Seville." We learn, to our consternation, that "Gelb, … [Read more...] about Stupid Met Tricks: Dave Does Opera

CultureGrrl is clearly no good at predicting the direction of the art market, but I sure do know how to predict the life of Broadway musicals, from merely listening to the radio ads. After the reviews of the Twyla Tharp/Bob Dylan Broadway bomb hit the newsstands, I observed that the best Dylan show in New York was the exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum, which (running … [Read more...] about The Show It Is A-Closin’

No, I'm not talking about antiquities. For that, you can read today's NY Times update, wherein Hugh Eakin (the "Mens Vogue" coverboy) and Elisabetta Povoledo provide more details on the parlous state of the Getty's negotiations with Italy (which CultureGrrl readers first learned about more than two weeks ago). What I'm zeroing in on is a lack of figures---not statues of Greek … [Read more...] about More Obfuscation from the Getty

I know I'm supposed to lead with the fact that Christie's auction of Impressionist and modern art last night totaled $491.47 million, by far the highest grossing art auction in history, even without Andrew Lloyd Webber's withdrawn Picasso. Among the nine new auction records were prices for Klimt ($87.94 million for "Adele Bloch-Bauer II," making him second only to Picasso at … [Read more...] about Christie’s Historic Night: Christopher Burge Does It Right

Christie's is doing the prudent, if painful, thing---withdrawing Picasso's "Angel Fernández de Soto" from tonight's auction. Because of the threat of continued legal wrangling over the painting's Nazi-era past, there is a "cloud over title that makes it difficult to sell the painting," conceded Carey Ramos, attorney for Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation, which owns it. Both the … [Read more...] about Lloyd Webber’s Picasso Withdrawn; Foundation’s Lawyer Says Plaintiffs Sought Cash Settlement

Why does Carol Vogel in today's NY Times say that the sale total for Sotheby's Impressionist/modern auction last night was "right in the middle of its estimate," while CultureGrrl says that the sale total was "slightly below the sale's presale estimate"? Because Carol Vogel (and we might as well add Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff, in today's Bloomberg) is wrong. As Sotheby's … [Read more...] about False Comparisons: Auction Scribes Perpetrate Inflation-By-Premium

CultureGrrl, your intrepid art-combat correspondent, has just returned from the York Avenue bidding skirmishes. It was a businesslike and subdued affair. But the polished, if impersonal, auctioneer Tobias Meyer got the job done, with a total sold hammer price of $212.07 million, slightly below the sale's presale estimate of $219.6-299.8 million. (For a complete price list, go … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Takes Care of Business: Impressionist/Modern Results

According to its press office, Christie's, at this writing, has not yet decided whether to go ahead with the sale tomorrow night of the blue-period Picasso owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation, in the wake of an unsuccessful attempt in U.S. District Court to stop the sale. Here is the latest statement released by Christies: Christie's is pleased that Judge Rakoff has … [Read more...] about The Latest on Lloyd Webber’s Picasso

CultureGrrl has heard the best museum curators around the country expound on the masterpieces in their museums, but no one beats David Norman, Sotheby's head of Impressionist and modern art, when it comes to a close reading of what to admire in a painting. If you don't believe me, just surf to Sotheby's engaging online multimedia presentation of the highlight of tonight's sale, … [Read more...] about David Norman Does It Right

The AP reported, just minutes ago, that U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff has just ruled that the sale tomorrow night at Christie's of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blue-period Picasso can proceed. The AP story gave further details about the allegations surrounding the Nazi-era history of the painting. Now the question is whether this last-minute ownership controversy will have any … [Read more...] about This Just In: Judge Allows Sale of Lloyd Webber’s Picasso

Bloomberg's Linda Sandler outstrips CultureGrrl today in extracting more detailed information about the amounts of Sotheby's and Christie's guarantees in its evening sales. She reports that Sotheby's guarantees for tonight's sale total $93 million. Christie's, for tomorrow night's sale, has granted guarantees totaling $165 million, Sandler reports. But buried in her story is a … [Read more...] about More on the Upcoming Auctions