Ebullient Duo: Auctioneer and Sotheby's contemporary art head Tobias Meyer speaks, while Sotheby's Impressionist/Modern co-chair David Norman beams, at last night's press conferenceFears of a new art-market nosedive were put to rest last night at Sotheby's, with an impressive Impressionist/Modern sale that was as lively as Tuesday's Christie's auction was deadly. The consensus … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Restores Market Confidence: $36-Million Klimt Bidding War
News Flash: Sotheby’s Keeps Matisse “Backs” Together, Sold Privately UPDATED
Bye-Bye "Back": David Norman, Sotheby's Impressionist/Modern co-chair, extols the virtues of Matisse's "Back I" during last week's press preview for the evening sales.I was poised to compose a post deploring the four-sale, two-city (New York and London) dispersal through Sotheby's of Matisse's bronze reliefs, "The Backs" (scheduled to commence tonight), when the auction house … [Read more...] about News Flash: Sotheby’s Keeps Matisse “Backs” Together, Sold Privately UPDATED
BlogBack: Max Hollein on the Städel Museum’s Nazi-Era History
The Städel Museum, Frankfurt Photo: Norbert Miguletz Max Hollein, director of the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, responds to Städel Museum's Expansion, Nazi-Era History: I understand that you might have gotten the impression of my being too hesitant answering your question about "What's next?" during our discussion about the research on the Städel's history during the Nazi … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Max Hollein on the Städel Museum’s Nazi-Era History
Bloodbath at Christie’s Impressionist/Modern Auction: “Fair Warning Indeed!”
Expensive Failure: Degas' "Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans," executed in wax c. 1879-81 and cast in bronze "at a later date," as described in Christie's catalogueThe quote in my headline was uttered by Christie's struggling auctioneer, Christopher Burge, at the moment when he was poised to bring down the hammer on the star lot of this evening's Impressionist/Modern … [Read more...] about Bloodbath at Christie’s Impressionist/Modern Auction: “Fair Warning Indeed!”
Holing Up with Hollein: Städel’s Current Expansion, Nazi-Era History (plus Whitney’s David Smith show)
Max Hollein, director of Frankfurt's Städel Museum, Schirn Kunsthalle and Sculpture Collection of the Liebieghaus Photo: Gaby Gerster © Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt/Gabi Gerster I'm always peskily pointing a finger at other peoples' mistakes, so I guess I should own up to one of my own. As CultureGrrl readers may remember (although I probably shouldn't remind you), I … [Read more...] about Holing Up with Hollein: Städel’s Current Expansion, Nazi-Era History (plus Whitney’s David Smith show)
MeTube: Clyfford Stills Hyped at Sotheby’s Auction Preview
Installation at Sotheby's of four Clyfford Stills being sold by the City of Denver to benefit the new Clyfford Still MuseumSimon Shaw, senior vice president of Sotheby's, apparently agrees with me that Fall 2011 is (as I recently called it) "The Season of Deaccessions." At the press preview today for his auction house's upcomng Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary sales (Nov. … [Read more...] about MeTube: Clyfford Stills Hyped at Sotheby’s Auction Preview
Crystal Bridges: The Collection (and how to see it)
Hudson Hills Press logo Cover image (from Hartley's "Hall of the Mountain King") of the collection highlights catalogue for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art In my June 16 CultureGrrl post about Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum, I stated that Moshe Safdie's "wow" architecture (a work-in-progress when I visited Bentonville, AR, last May) could get the museum only … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges: The Collection (and how to see it)
“Gross Clinic” Redux? Philadelphia Museum Rescues Peale’s Portrait of Former Slave UPDATED
Charles Willson Peale, "Yarrow Mamout," 1819I started having traumatic flashbacks to the "Gross Clinic" morass, after reading Stephan Salisbury's two excellent in-depth articles in the Phladelphia Inquirer about the Philadelphia Museum of Art's purchase of the above portrait, sold by the Philadelphia History Museum at Atwater Kent. The proceeds, according to Salisbury, are … [Read more...] about “Gross Clinic” Redux? Philadelphia Museum Rescues Peale’s Portrait of Former Slave UPDATED
Global Guggenheim: Abu Dhabi Slowdown, Helsinki Progress
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, digital rendering of the east elevation According to the Associated Press, the just-announced decision by Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development & Investment Co. (TDIC) to start over in soliciting bids for concrete work on the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is "raising questions about the future of the high profile project." But TDIC asserts … [Read more...] about Global Guggenheim: Abu Dhabi Slowdown, Helsinki Progress
Constitutional Questions: Mike Boehm on California Resale Royalty Litigation CORRECTED
[CORRECTION: A previous version of this post wrongly attributed the LA Times' "insightful, incisive analysis" of the legal issues surrounding the resale royalty issue to Jori Finkel, who had written the LA Times' initial report on the artists' lawsuits against Sotheby's and Christie's (claiming resale royalties), as well as this follow-up. But the article discussed (and … [Read more...] about Constitutional Questions: Mike Boehm on California Resale Royalty Litigation CORRECTED
BlogBack: Michael Botwinick’s Sixties Flashback to Artists’ Cockroach Installation at the Met
Julia Bryan-Wilson's recent book chronicling the Art Workers Coalition I'm not the only one having traumatic Sixties flashbacks to the Art Workers Coalition, brought on by the Occupy Museums protest (covered here by Philip Boroff and Katya Kazakina of Bloomberg).Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum, who was the Metropolitan Museum's assistant curator-in-chief … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Botwinick’s Sixties Flashback to Artists’ Cockroach Installation at the Met
Max Does Dallas: Anderson Leaves Indianapolis for Dallas Museum of Art
Maxwell Anderson, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art since 2006, is moving on (effective Jan. 9) to the directorship of the Dallas Museum of Art, which Bonnie PItman left for health reasons earlier this year. The DMA's announcement of the appointment is here.Despite his embrace of his adopted Midwestern community, I always thought that it was a stop on Max's return to … [Read more...] about Max Does Dallas: Anderson Leaves Indianapolis for Dallas Museum of Art
“Occupy Museums”: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Art Workers Coalition, "Art Workers Won't Kiss Ass," 1969 Help! I'm getting traumatic Sixties flashbacks! Does anyone remember the Art Workers Coalition? I started my art-journalism career as editor/writer for the Art Workers News, which grew out of the AWC and also counted a young Adam Weinberg, now the Whitney's director, among its staffers. (We were both there, however, in … [Read more...] about “Occupy Museums”: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Artists vs. Auction Houses: Litigating the California Resale Royalty Law
First page of California Arts Council's pamphlet on the Resale Royalty Act Let me say this for the record (and then prepare to dodge the brickbats): I'm in favor of resale royalties for artists. The fact that California's Resale Royalty Act is "little known" (as the Wall Street Journal's Kelly Crow describes it in her article today) is no excuse for ignoring it. This law … [Read more...] about Artists vs. Auction Houses: Litigating the California Resale Royalty Law
It’s the Pits: MoMA’s Tamayo “Watermelon Slices” Joins the “Season of Deaccessions”
From MoMA to Sotheby's: Rufino Tamayo, "Watermelon Slices," 1950 Presale estimate: $1.5-2 millionNovember is rapidly becoming Deaccession Month, with the Museum of Modern Art now joining the Brooklyn Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Clyfford Still Museum (via the City of Denver), in selling museum-quality work from the "permanent" collection to fund future acquisitions. … [Read more...] about It’s the Pits: MoMA’s Tamayo “Watermelon Slices” Joins the “Season of Deaccessions”