Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Artworks

Coming Soon: A Test of the Hopper Market

Two bits of news this week got me thinking about the Hopper market. First, Crystal Bridges Museum announced that it had purchased Blackwell’s Island, which will soon go on view in its early 20th Century gallery. Great addition, I thought. Painted in 1928, it is a view of what is now known as Roosevelt Island, just off midtown Manhattan in the East River. It’s a sizeable piece, measuring 34-1/2 inches by 59-1/2 inches.

Hopper_Blackwells_IslandSaid the museum’s President Don Bacigalupi in the press release: “This is a most ambitious composition for Hopper. He painted this work at the height of his powers and it exemplifies some of the best of Hopper’s style: a complex architectural composition with a full range of light and shadow, few people and the drama of the past colliding with the present in the form of historic architecture meeting modern.” Previously owned by a private collector, the work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art; The Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute; the Art Institute of Chicago, and in the big retrospective for Hopper at the Grand Palais in Paris, which drew major crowds when it ran from October last year through February of this.

Though Crystal Bridges didn’t announce the price, it was easy to discover that the painting sold at Christie’s last May for nearly $19.2 million, including the commission, against a presale estimate of $15- to $20 million.

Hopper-EastWindOverWeehaukenThen, within hours, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts announced that it was deaccessioning one of its two Hoppers,  East Wind over Weehawken, from 1934. Uh oh, I thought — would Crystal Bridges have wanted that one? It will also be offered at Christie’s (in December) and its presale estimate is $22– to $28 million.

Uh oh, too, because although PAFA is planning to use the proceeds to fund an acquisitions endowment, “which will be used both to acquire contemporary artworks and to fill gaps in the collection of historic art,” per its press release, Hopper is a very big star. It’s like selling a Picasso or van Gogh, almost, as if one ever has too many. Although the sale meets museum ethics policies, it’s worth noting that PAFA has only one other Hopper: Apartment Houses from 1923.

The PAFA Hopper is a bit smaller than Crystal Bridges’s: 34 1/8 x 50 3/16 inches. PAFE director Harry Philbrick said he chose it for sale because “Hopper prices are rising fast in the marketplace. Also, the academy acquired the painting with its own money; no donor restrictions govern its disposition,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

So Christie’s is being very aggressive here — probably hoping that the museum connection will draw higher bids than s. Both paintings are lovely, but which would you pay more for? We’ll see in December.

 

Mount Holyoke Buys In To Chihuly

ChihulyHolyokeWhen John Stomberg took the job as director of the Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, expectations were that he’d take it in a more contemporary direction. That was his area of expertise at Williams College, where he was chief curator. He is doing that. As he said in a video posted online, the Mount Holyoke museum has always skewed toward Renaissance and ancient art, and needs to fill out the collection with contemporary works.

But I was surprised by the announcement — to be unveiled officially on Sept. 3 — of the “major–and gorgeous– “ sculpture it has just acquired. It’s by Dale Chihuly. It is very stunning [pictured at left], but it’s far from cutting edge. Clear and Gold Tower  “resembles tongues of pale fire, shimmering plant tendrils, or wisps of mist, all spiraling improbably upward as if embodying the aspirations of the Mount Holyoke community,” the description sent to me says. It’s 12 feet tall and will reside in the museum’s courtyard.  It was, in fact, commissioned by the college, a gift of the Centennial Class of 1937.

It consists of more than 450 handblown glass elements, with each section highlighted by fragments of 24-carat gold foil, “creating a shining sculpture that seems to move organically. Sophisticated theatrical lighting will vary with the ebb and flow of natural light, ensuring that the sculpture sparkles day and night.” Pretty poetic language.

(BTW, this is another big Chihuly presence in Massachusetts: the MFA, Boston, bought one just about two years ago.)

Stomberg — in the video — took up the theme that many college art museums share: that art is central to the learning experience, no matter what a student’s major is, because it helps spur creativity. “It’s a visual world out there,” he says, adding that the college must “teach our students to be smart visual thinkers.”

‘Tis a desire devoutly to be wished, there and everywhere.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, © Chihuly Studio, 2013

 

Cupid Strikes, And Worcester Gets A Great Gift

Hester Diamond, well-known as a collector of Old Masters, has made a nice gift to the Worcester Museum of Art — it’s a tale that shows both her and Matthias Waschek, the museum’s director, to be pretty crafty.

WAMVeroneseUnframedFirst the gift: it’s a painting by Veronese titled Venus Disarming Cupid, circa 1560, and according to the Worcester museum is “one of the few works by the famed Renaissance master still in private hands.” It shows a smiling Venus playfully taking away the bow of her son Cupid, stopping him in his tracks. The work is currently valued at about $3.5 million, according to a knowledgeable source.

Waschek, who became the museum’s director in fall, 2011, called the gift a “game changer” for the museum, because “While the Museum’s collection includes exceptional Italian Renaissance masterworks by artists such as Andrea Del Sarto and Piero di Cosimo, it has traditionally been stronger in northern European works. This Veronese shifts the spotlight to the south, and reflects our desire to grow and expand the scope and diversity of the Museum’s collection.”

Diamond has only one connection to the Worcester museum — her stepdaughter, dealer Rachel Kaminsky, who joined its board in 2012. She had no connection until then either, but Waschek smartly set out to expand the museum’s connections and increase its support base. He invited Kaminsky to become a trustee. She accepted. The gift ensued, as she and Diamond got to know the museum.

Diamond was also smart to acquire the work at Christie’s in January, 1990. It had been consigned by its owner as “Circle of François Boucher.” But before the sale, art historian and Veronese expert Terisio Pignatti reattributed it to Veronese. When he published it in 1991, he noted the collector’s stamp on the reverse of the canvas, which suggested that the painting was once in the collection of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, a county and principality in southwestern Germany.

At Christie’s, it was estimated at $800,000-$1,200,000, and Diamond paid $2,970,000. She placed it on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in late 2006, in the permanent collection galleries. It was also included in the exhibition Venus: Bilder einer Göttin (Images of a Goddess) at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich in 2001. (All this from the press release, which I will link to when it is posted online.)

Diamond said that aside from honoring Kaminsky she had another motive for giving this particular painting to Worcester: “I have always believed that the best public home for a work of art is within an institution where it adds something new to the collection and helps bring in new audiences. Over the years, my collection has evolved, incorporating art from many periods, genres and styles. The Worcester Museum’s willingness to explore new ideas for encouraging audiences of every age to think differently about art reflects the arc of my own collecting.”

Disarming Cupid will go on view at the Worcester Art Museum on September 20, as part of the upcoming exhibition [remastered] — a new installation of its Old Master paintings.

How sweet.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum 

Cleveland’s Copper Coup

There is something about enamel on copper that has always appealed to me. The clarity and the intensity of the color stand out. So I was thrilled just now to catch up on my museum reading and learn that the Cleveland Museum of Art has a acquired a copy of a Titian on enamel.

BoneCopperYou heard that right; it’s a copy, and at first I thought, what? Why would Cleveland, home to a collection of gems — limited but all high quality — want a copy? Then I saw it — even a picture of it is outstanding (at right). Imagine what it looks like in person.

Christie’s London offered the work, a 16-by-18 inch painting made in 1811 by Henry Bone of England, who copied Titian’s 16th-century masterpiece Bacchus and Ariadne on copper, in its Fourth of July Exceptional sale. Cleveland curator Jon Seydl bid for it by phone from a London hotel. Calling is a highlight of the sale, here’s what Christie’s said in its post-sale release:

An enamel plaque by Henry Bone, R.A. (1755 – 1834) depicting Bacchus and Ariadne, the artist’s largest and greatest work, realised £313,875/$478,346/€367,548 (estimate: £80,000 – 120,000) setting a world auction record price for a work by the artist at auction. Henry Bone’s success as an enamellist was cemented when he was officially appointed Enamel Painter to the Prince of Wales, later Prince Regent, and to George III. Bacchus and Ariadne was purchased by George Bowles, an enthusiastic collector of Bone’s work, from the artist for 2,200 guineas in 1811.

Unfortunately, I cannot convert 1811 guineas to dollars today…but clearly Seydl wasn’t the only person with an eye for Bone.

BoneCopper-framedThe Cleveland Plain Dealer caught up with the news yesterday, writing:

“I was so excited!” Seydl said today in Cleveland. “This is so unique. Thousands of people went to see this work in his [Bone’s] studio. It was a huge sensation in his day.” …

…The dimensions of the enamel don’t include the work’s elaborate gilt-wood and gesso frame, which features neoclassical motifs including palmettes, oak-leaf clusters, leopard heads and acanthus leaves. [at left]

“It has a lot of presence as a thing,” Seydl said. “It’s perfect. It’s as showy and grand as the enamel itself.” …

…“It’s not just a copy, but an enormous technical achievement on its own,” Seydl said of the Bone. “You want works by this incredible enamellist, who is literally doing something that had not been done before.”

Enamels are produced by fusing glass to metal under high heat. For each color in Bone’s version of the Titian, the artist had to reheat the copper plate numerous times, a process that risked destroying previous applications of enamel if the plate were overheated.

“To do something this complicated and to keep it from cracking, splitting or breaking is in itself an accomplishment,” Seydl said.

The work and the frame are both fragile, and there’s one more hurdle: the museum has to procure an export license from British authorities. Let’s hope that, unlike a few recent examples, this one is allowed quickly and easily.

BTW, the Cleveland Museum announced other recent acquisitions several weeks ago, including a Max Beckmann.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Plain Dealer

 

First Impressions: The Met’s New European Paintings Galleries

When the Metropolitan Museum* opened its new Islamic wing in in 2011, more a million visitors flooded into it within 14 and a half months. I am sure that number must be hanging out there as, if not a goal for the new European paintings reinstallation, a possibility. Should they draw that many, fast? You bet they should. They are spectacular. The curators, led by Keith Christiansen, created a logical path through European art history with marvelous moments and juxtapositions. There’s no one path from gallery to gallery, and you’ll have to doubleback from time to time, but that’s the nature of the galleries.

1111Also, there is a guide, but since I was there for the opening, I did not pick it up.

Among the things I noticed on that first visit:

  • Bruegel’s Harvesters looks fresh and beautiful on a wall of its own.
  • Vermeer gets a room of his own, almost, with five of his paintings in one gallery that illuminate his range — from an early picture to one of his latest, from a religious allegory to two interiors with a figure, and a tronie. Christiansen says “That means that, in the Metropolitan’s collection, “you can encounter Vermeer from beginning to end, undertaking virtually all the kinds of pictures that he did,” something no other museum can claim, he adds. Fair enough, but maybe a slight exaggeration because the Met has nothing like View of Delft.
  • The Italian section — two suites leading off the first gallery — has never looked better, and rightly occupy the center of the galleries.
  • Depth in works by such artists as Giovanni di Paolo, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Goya, Rembrandt, Rubens, and other has never been more obvious, though a few holes are also inescapable: Raphael being a big one, as the Met has only an altarpiece donated by J.P. Morgan and a small panel that was once part of its base. We need a Madonna (badly).
  • Paintings, genres, artists you thought you knew — you will see with fresh eyes.
  • You’ll look at a painting, and wonder why you never noticed it before: to wit, I never recall seeing A Panoramic Landscape with a Country Estate by Philip Koninck (at right) before — though the Met has owned it since 1911. That’s just one examples of many.
  • The room with Flemish portraits has marvelous juxtapositions — one wall features several work with people whose hands are all posed in the same way until — near the end — the woman in a matched pair (by Memling as I recall, but I wasn’t taking notes) has hands placed in the opposite direction.
  • The atmospherics do well by the art: the galleries are all painted a rich grey, a unifying tactic, but one that does not deaden the paintings (as I think that beige does in the American paintings galleries).
  • A few fabulous acquisitions — notably a double-side painting by Hans Schäufelein, the Dormition of the Virgin and Christ Carrying the Cross.
  • Strategic loans — notably, in the first gallery, Orazio Gentileschi’s spectacular Danaë, lent by dealer Richard Feigen — number about two dozen, not so many as it sounds considering that more than 700 paintings are on view in this go-round.
  • Technology is used sparingly in the galleries, thankfully — for example, to explicate an altarpiece on one small screen.
  • Although there was talk of blending sculpture and decorative arts into these galleries, it is very spare — they are paintings galleries, with few departures, and they are good ones. Especially a 17th-century Amsterdam cabinet in a side room once used as a reading room.

2222Those are all first impressions, subject to change when I go back for more.

In the meantime, go, and if you can’t get there right away take a look at what the Met has put online:

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Met (top)

*I consult to a foundation that supports the Met.