Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

News Behind the Headline: Where That Rubens Crucifixion Is Headed — UPDATED

You know the headline: One of the most impressive works of art at TEFAF in Maastricht was Rubens’s Crucifixion, painted around 1618-1620. It was snapped up within the first hour of the fair by Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, collectors you know if you read RCA regularly (see here and here for example).

But I have the news about where the painting is going — and it is not their home. The van Otterloos think this dramatic work belongs in a museum and so there it will go. But which museum? Therein lies a tale.

First, let me paint the scene: I wandered into the Colnaghi booth on Thursday just in time to watch as the owner, Konrad O. Bernheimer, gave a little lecture on the piece to what was clearly a museum group, which turned out to be from the Hermitage, escorted by Michael Piotrowski, the director. Bernheimer pointed out the way Rubens had used four, not the traditional three, nails to affix Christ to the cross. Rubens also departed from other traditional depictions of the scene, painting a cross that looks more like a tree trunk (for the Tree of Life) than a plank and omitting Christ’s crown of thorns. The asking price was 3.5 million Euros, or about $4.6 million. Bernheimer brought it to Maastricht fresh and hadn’t shown it to anyone until the pictures vetting committee for TEFAF saw it two days before the fair opened.

Soon thereafter, another small crowd gathered around the picture, including the van Otterloos. They didn’t notice me at first, so I watched as Eijk said something about a little overpainting on the upper right, and Rose-Marie said that no painting from that period was perfect. Then they did see me, and Eijk said, “We just bought it.” They told me that they had never seen the work before, but had quickly agreed that they wanted it. Neither they nor Bernheimer would tell me the final price.

I asked Eijk where the painting would go, offering “to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,” where they recently deposited about 40 of their treasures? No, he said, probably not — because of a Massachusetts law that would levy a use tax on the painting if they lent to to the MFA. I haven’t had time to research all the ins and outs of the dispute the couple has with Massachusetts, and whether they are residents of that state or Florida, where they also have a home.

But because of the dispute, the new Rubens will — Eijk says — probably be placed at the Currier Museum in Manchester, N.H., which he said also has a couple other works on display from their collection. Lucky New Hampshire.

UPDATE: The Currier says it’s displaying two paintings from the van Otterloo collection in connection with its coming show, Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt (September 29, 2012 – January 6, 2013): The Apulian Shepherd by Joachim Wtewael (1566–1638) and The Cardplayers by Jan Steen (c. 1625–1679.) “Hanging alongside the Currier’s paintings by Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Molenaer and Balthasar van der Ast, the van Otterloo pictures provide visitors with a greater appreciation for the leading role Dutch artists played in developing the subjects of still life, landscape, narrative and genre painting,” says the spokeswoman, Vicky Jaffe.

While I’m Away, News In the NYT Museums Section

Today’s New York Times includes the annual special section on museums. Since I am away, I haven’t seen it. But I have two articles in the section that you may be interested in.

The first is on museums that have special endowments for making acquisitions. I did a survey, while some museums, like the Metropolitan, have substantial funds, many have virtually none. I’ll have more to say on this topic another time, but meantime here’s a link to the article, “How an Acquisition Fund Burnishes Reputations.” There’s an omission in the chart that I was unable to catch before the section went to press — the Albright-Knox Art Gallery has an $86 million acquisitions fund, which would make it #9, ahead of the Art Institute of Chicago. (There’s a correction in the paper somewhere…) UPDATE: The Carnegie Museum of Art tells me its acquisitions endowment is $41 million, so it too would have made the list. (Please keep in mind that there’s no source for this info — I canvassed all the museums that seemed likely suspects and I asked outside sources to review the list for potential omissions. This is why I want the Association of Art Museum Directors to gather such information from members.)

I also wrote about the Terra Foundation, which is having more influence spreading the gospel of American art around the world than Terra’s original idea, of museums, ever would have. “Spreading American Art Beyond Its Borders” tells the story, and I also have outtakes from that reporting that I’ll share when I return to my home and notes.

Maastricht, btw, is living up to expectations. More on that soon, too.

 

 

There’s Nothing Like the TEFAF Art Fair in Maastricht

The TEFAF art fair in Maastricht turns 25 years old tomorrow, and in its lifetime, it has become the world’s best art fair. It’s known, of course, for showing Old Masters (experts estimate that some 70% of Old Masters on the market are shown first at Maastricht), but it has grown to include modern works. Now, 46 of the 260 dealers at the fair show 20th and 21st century works. Plus, there’s jewelry; in 2009, a design section was added. And it now admits six young galleries for a one-time presence.

Last March, nearly 74,000 people, including representatives from 225 museums, made the trek to Maastricht – vs. about 65,000 for Art Basel and about 50,000 for Art Basel Miami Beach.

This year, I decided to join the crowd. I haven’t been in ages, though in 1998, I wrote an article for The New York Times about the strict vetting of offerings in Maastricht headlined “The Old Masters? They’re the Ones Inspecting the Art; At the Maastricht Fair, Security Teams Come With Magnifying Glasses.” This seemed to be the year to return.

To celebrate this year’s jubilee, TEFAF is publishing a book illuminating some of the best items sold there, for example:

  • In 2008, a private collector bought van Gogh’s portrait, “The Child with an Orange,” at right, which he painted during the last weeks of his life, from Dickinson of London and New York. It had not been on the market for more than 90 years, and had an asking price of more than $30 million.
  • In 2002, an American collector purchase a recently rediscovered drawing by Michelangelo from by Jean-Luc Baroni of London, “Mourning Woman,” which was priced at €13 million. It had been found pasted into an album of otherwise undistinguished drawings in the library at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, and is one of the earliest works on paper by Michelangelo to have survived.
  • In 2003, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston purchased a previously unrecorded Regency Bed attributed to Thomas Hope and dating from c1805 – one of the most original pieces in English furniture.

I’m expecting even better this year (it runs through Mar. 25).

This all means that I may not post daily during the next few days, though I will if I have time.

How Yves Saint Laurent Got To Travel To Denver

Exhibitions happen in all sorts of ways, even quite by accident. Surprisingly, that’s how the big spring show — a restrospective of the works of Yves Saint Laurent — at the Denver Art Museum came about.

The exhibition, which begins on Mar. 25, will display more than 200 haute couture outfits by Saint Laurent, drawn from his 40-year careers. Curated by Florence Müller, with the cooperation of the Fondation Pierre Bergè-Yves Saint Laurent, it was first shown at the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, in 2010. In the city of light on a visit, Christophe Heinrich, DAM’s director, decided to have a look-see. Eying the long line, he tried to use his director’s pass to avoid the wait. Petit Palais officials refused him, and sent him to the back. Though there was a two-and-a-half hour wait, Heinrich pulled out his smart phone, handled his emails and remained patient.

As he told me on a recent visit to New York, he loved the show, and decided to inquire about bringing it to Denver. At the time, the organizers had no plans to travel it to the U.S. When Heinrich asked, they offered to send a smaller version. He perservered.  Long negotiations about content (he wanted everything; the organizers didn’t want to send all of it) and cost ensued. In the end, the DAM got the whole show — for how much, I do not know.

I am not always big on fashion exhibitions, but Saint Laurent passes muster, in my book. In the course of his career, he made  made gorgeous and innovative creations that have given the exhibition shape.  One section, for example, deals with the freedom he brought to women’s clothing, while another explores his “1971 Scandal Collection,” inspired by the 1940s and a France under occupation. There will be his Mondrian dresses, his smoking jacket collection, his evening gowns from their glory days, and more. Details are here.

DAM is issuing timed-tickets, at $22 for general adult admission (which is normally $10 for Colorado residents and $13 for others) for this exhibit. It’s already had publicity, with the Denver Post calling it “the biggest fashion show to hit Denver — perhaps ever,” in this Mar. 9 article in the Denver Post.

It’s important for museums like Denver, where not a lot of tourists go to see art, to keep up momentum, to get people excited and try to make visiting the museum a habit. Last year, Marvelous Mud/Summer of Clay drew a lot of visitors. Now YSL and for the fall, the DAM is organizing Becoming van Gogh.  All three are exclusive to Denver, which — while not always my choice — helps that museum.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Denver Art Museum

Barnes Friends Slapped With Big Fee

I guess Judge Stanley Ott, of the Montgomery County (Pa.) Orphans Court, doesn’t like to be challenged. Last week, he slapped the Friends of the Barnes Foundation with a $25,000 sanction for having the audacity to petition to have their case re-heard, based on what they said was new evidence.

This reaffirms his previous sentiments toward the group and its challenges.

If you recall, the Friends — who oppose the move of the Barnes to downtown Philadelphia from Lower Merion –  engaged Attorney Samuel C. Stretton to take their case back to the court, which had ruled against them. Ott had already declared that the group has no legal standing.

Stretton, who argued in Objections to the Sanctions and in Court on February 2, says that there is no legal basis for sanctions.  He stressed, the press release says, that “the objections that the Friends’ Petition brought new information and serious legal issues to the Court’s attention concerning the role of the then-Pennsylvania Attorney General in the case.”

The Friends think they are being persecuted. Judge Ott’s assessment only “reinforces the impression that those responsible for moving the Barnes art collection to Philadelphia will stop at nothing to cloak the shady facts behind the move,” says  Jenkintown resident Suzanne Hunter, a member. Steering Committee member Evelyn Yaari, of Bala Cynwyd, called the fine “typical” of the past actions of the court and the proponents of the move.

It’s pretty hard to disagree with them. The fine does seem heavy-handed.

The press release is here, and Ott’s order is here.

Meantime, the new Barnes is set to open on May 19.