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Auctioneer Christopher Burge consults with Guy Bennett (left), Christie's international co-head of Impressionist/modern art, before last night's auction.In a kind of French poetic justice, yesterday's big Impressionist/modern sale at Christie's was another gray night, except for Gris. Pun intended, for those of you who know what "Livre, Pipe et Verres" means. That's the title … [Read more...] about Christie’s Does Well with Gris on a Gray Night

Michael Crichton's 1977 Whitney Museum CatalogueEveryone knows Michael Crichton as the author of page-turners like "The Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park." But the author, who died Tuesday at the age of 66, was also a collector of works by Jasper Johns, who chose Crichton to author the catalogue (revised and reissued in 1994) for his 1977 retrospective at the Whitney … [Read more...] about Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns Catalogue Author (and best-selling novelist) Dies

Alice Neel, "Robert Smithson," 1962Remember Christie's Wild and Wacky Night? That was then; this is now:When asked about the prospects for the big New York sales, for an article published earlier today by the Assocated Press, Guy Bennett, Christie's co-head of Impressionist and modern art said:I think we found the right balance in terms of price points and also the quality of … [Read more...] about Christie’s Wan and Woeful Night

I take it back.A couple of weeks ago I blasted (without naming it) the new book Loot, a chronicle of the recent antiquities wars, by former NY Times culture reporter Sharon Waxman. The only thing I then knew about the book's contents was the outrageously irrelevant bit of tabloid journalism that was excerpted for advance publication on Tina Brown's recently launched … [Read more...] about Sharon Waxman’s “Loot”: A Definitive History of the Antiquities Wars

HELP ME! Auctioneer Tobias Meyer, about to be possessed by the "Vampire" behind himFair warning. Last chance. Passed.That, or some variation on that, was heard 25 times as Tobias Meyer dutifully slogged through what must have been his roughest outing ever on the Sotheby's podium. ("Passed," of course, means that the work failed to sell because bids didn't reach the level of the … [Read more...] about Curse of the “Vampire”: A Scary Night at Sotheby’s

It's the beginning of New York's big auction season, art-lings, and lots more than the lots is at stake. Just remember that in these financially challenging times, anything short of a bloodbath will be touted as evidence that there's still some money around for quality art. The auction houses have reportedly been hammering down consignors' expectations in an attempt to lower … [Read more...] about Auction-House Cryptography: What the “∆□OV” Are These Crazy Symbols?

The Met's Tom Campbell: Role model for curators-turned-directors The Center for Curatorial Leadership has just named its second class of curators who wish to be groomed for leadership positions. Actually, two of the 10, listed below, already have "director" in their titles. I guess they're hoping for bigger and better things, or more expertise in handling their current … [Read more...] about Who Wants to Be a Museum Director? New Crop of CCL Fellows

Ganesha Stele, 11th century (Pala period), India, newly acquired by Portland Art MuseumRemember the Association of Art Museum Directors' objectless Objects Registry, created last June to disclose (to the public and potential claimants) new acquisitions by member institutions of "archaeological material and ancient art lacking complete provenance after November 1970"?It has, at … [Read more...] about Portland’s Incomplete-Provenance Stele: First Entry on AAMD’s Antiquities Registry

Jennifer Stockman, Guggenheim president and art-market player Carol Vogel's detailed revelations (in her "Arts & Leisure" piece for this Sunday's NY Times) about the wheeling-and-dealing leading up to next month's big Impressionist/modern and contemporary auctions make for some riveting reading. Her report is packed with juicy details, including information on the … [Read more...] about Conflicts of Interest: Museum Trustees Play the Market

New meaning for the Global Guggenheim? Frank Lloyd Wright's curves serve as backdrop in online trailer for a shoot-'em-up bank-conspiracy movie, coming to a theater near you.Is this any way to treat an art museum?Below are some moments from the online trailer (which you can view in full here) for "The International," a film opening in February, starring Clive Owen and Naomi … [Read more...] about Murder and Mayhem at the Guggenheim (Hollywood Style)

For sale at $50 million: the purported Pollock of the film, "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?"Who the "#$&%" needs Sotheby's or Christie's, when you've got Gallery Delisle?The six-month-old Toronto gallery, more accustomed to offering works by Canadian artists who sell in the four-figure range, next month will be offering the purported Jackson Pollock that an American … [Read more...] about Toronto Gallery Offers the “#$&%” Pollock for $50 Million

Memo to the Presidential Candidates:It's time to put the artists back into the National Endowment for the Arts.Specifically, it's time we put the culture wars of the 1990s behind us. We need to resume providing grants to the people who matter most to the our national cultural life---those who create the art. Like Christo's "The Gates" that finally got installed in Central Park … [Read more...] about Cultural Policy Memo to the New President: Revive Artist Fellowships

Picasso, "Arlequin," 1909, precipitously withdrawn from Sotheby's Impressionist/modern sale in New York At least the Dow went up 889 points yesterday.That may have softened the blow of yet another art-market confidence-killer, as chronicled in yesterday's NY Times by Carol Vogel: An important Cubist Picasso painting of a harlequin (above), which for 50 years had been owned by … [Read more...] about Withdrawn Picasso: Any Bailouts for the Art Market?

Farnworth House after the September 14 floodThe Farnsworth House Blog reports (here and here) that the Mies van der Rohe masterpiece in Plano, IL, flooded by severe rainstorms on Sept. 14, reopened for tours earlier this month. Original post-flood plans had called for it to be closed for the remainder of the 2008 season. Tours will now run on select days through Nov. 26. … [Read more...] about Flood-Damaged Farnsworth House Reopens for Tours (to benefit restoration)

Philippe de Montebello, addressing the press at his eponymous exhibition.There's no point quarreling with the organizing principle behind the Metropolitan Museum's The Philippe de Montebello Years, the tribute exhibition honoring its long-time director.Arranging by order of acquisition some 300 objects acquired on Philippe's watch by the museum's 17 curatorial departments may … [Read more...] about The Eye of Philippe de Montebello: Let’s Go to the Audio Tape