Archives for December 2009

Birthday candles on the facade of Thailand’s Royal Throne Hall? Yup. For 9 days this month, the building has been the scene of a sound and light art installation — It began on Saturday and runs through Dec. 13 and was commissioned in honor of the king’s 82nd birthday.

Heck of a way to celebrate…Berlin-based Philipp Geist is the artist, and he has used images of King Bhumibol and his “social” works, plus natural and cultural images, to make a one-hour show. The animations are in 3-D.

Geist regularly projects his work onto facades. In 2007, he did an installion at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, and in 2008, he sited one on the piazetta of the Berlin Kulturforum for “Long Museum Nights.” You can view some of them here and here.

I have never seen Geist’s work and have learned that next year, he’ll do an installation in Richmond, Va., though not a public art one — rather, it’s at Russel Projects. He also plans to show at the Montreal Mutek Festival next June. 

Mutek describes itself as “dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art. Its mandate is to provide a platform for the most original and visionary artists currently working in their fields, with the intent of providing an outlet of initiation and discovery for the audiences we seek to develop.” Read more about it here.

And here’s another photo of the Thai work, plus a link to video:

 
 

Sad News: Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum, has died.

Michael Gross (author of Rogues’ Gallery, about the Met) has posted the news on his website, including the information that “In the days just before his death, his long-time antagonists in the administration of the museum “buried the hatchet” with him…”

Read the rest here.

Hoving’s books — Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc. — were entertaining. But for my money, the best was Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization, an illustrated book I refer to again and again. Before I travel, I often get it out to make sure I see whatever Hoving recommended in the city I’m visiting.

12/9 — 3:30 p.m.: The New York Times has now posted an obit for Hoving.

I’m delighted to tell you that I was wrong: The elegant self-portrait by Antony van Dyck, which I thought might be undervalued (here), sold at Sotheby’s in London last night for 8.3 million GBP, more than double the presale estimate of 2- to 3 milliom GBP (but including the buyer’s premium). That’s the good news. The bad, or disappointing, news is that it sold to Alfred Bader, in partnership with Philip Mould. Bader is a long-time collector.

Sotheby’s total tonight was GBP 15 million, or about $24.5 million, far below last night’s total at Christie’s. About 42% of the lots did not sell.

The results from Sotheby’s are here.

Whether I eat crow…matter of opinion.

Doug McLennan, AJ’s founder, once told a couple of us bloggers that if you really want to get traffic on a website, write about food. Last night finally gave me an excuse — without too much of a stretch from Real Clear Arts.

The Guggenheim Museum opened the doors of its new restaurant, The Wright, to the media for a taste of what will be on offer.

And there’s another reason to write about this: Almost 10 years ago, I moderated a dialogue between Thomas Krens, then head of the Guggenheim, and Philippe de Montebello, then head of the Metropolitan Museum, for The New York Times. As part of the final article, I asked each to name the ten components of a “great 21st Century museum.” The idea came from a speech I saw Krens give. Among his answers was: “Two eating opportunities.” Food did not appear on PdM’s list.

Good excuse to talk about food here, right (no pun intended)? I didn’t ask Richard Armstrong, Krens’ successor, how he felt about the matter — though he did briefly show his face last night before leaving (probably for a real dinner!).

First the scene: the Wright is wedged into a small corner of the Guggenheim, off the rotunda, in a space that has (I believe) previously held a gift shop and then a cafe. Now it’s a real restaurant, sleek, largely white, with blue leather seating, and enlivened with a site-specific sculpture called The horizon produced by a factory once it had stopped producing views by Liam Gilick.   

[Read more…] about What’s New At The Guggenheim: Food

Back in September, I wondered here whether the prices for Old Master works, vs. those by many contemporary artists, were seriously out-of-whack. The occasion was an estimate set by Sotheby’s for a rare self-portrait of Antony van Dyck — a seemingly low £2-3 million, or less than $5 million.

That sale takes place tomorrow.

But tonight came word from London that Christie’s had completed an auction of Old Masters that set the record for the highest total in that category — $112.4 million — despite the fact that only 65% of the works in the sale were sold. The previous record sale was $110.2 million in 2007.

On the other hand, this sale included 19th Century works as well as Old Masters, so it’s not directly comparable.

Equally interesting, though, the sale posted a world record at auction for any work on paper — $47.9 million for Head of A Muse, a drawing by Raphael (above), which is also the second highest total at auction for any Old Master work, painting or drawing. (The record is $77.2 million for Rubens’s The Massacre of the Innocents, set in 2002.)

And it set a world record at auction for a Rembrandt — $33.2 million for Portrait of A Man With Arms Akimbo (right). The previous record was nearly $28.7 million, paid by Rose Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, whom I profiled here. 

Maybe the market is righting itself…tastes are adjusting. Of, it may be that the market is simply back with strength.

BTW, Christie’s said 46% of the buyers were European vs. 43% American, and 11% from Asia and the Middle east.

Photos: Courtesy Christie’s