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

 

Well, I suppose anything that provides money to emerging artists is a good thing, but when I read about the Future Generation Art Prize — started by billionaire Ukranian collector Victor Pinchuk, announced with a flourish in today’s New York Times, and set to be toasted tonight in a reception at the fashionable Gramercy Park Hotel — I cringed.

The organization he put together to advise him consists of art-world presences like Eli Broad, Nicholas Serota and Glenn Lowry. The art advisors who’ll be available to help the young artists include Jeff Koons, Andreas Gursky, and Takashi Murakami.

What century is Mr. Pinchuk living in? Does the art world not have any women he respects? Oh yes, there is one — fashion designer/collector Miuccia Prada. One.

The prize is an open competition — apply here starting in January — and it’s set to be judged by a jury. Let’s hope that is more representative of the art-world’s population, which is loaded with talented women artists, curators, directors, collectors, dealers — need I go on?   

 

Does downtown Philadelphia really need another museum?

No — this isn’t about the Barnes Foundation. I’m talking about the American Revolution Center, which had the almost opposite experience. It wanted to build on the outskirts of Philadelphia, in Valley Forge, but couldn’t reach an agreement with the National Park Service — sadly. Last summer, it reluctantly decided instead to take a spot on Third and Chesnut Streets near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell offered by the NPS/Interior Department. Details here.

Much work remains to be done, like getting a completely new design. But ARC is busy proving that it’s needed: last Friday, it released the results of a survey of adult Americans, which had asked 27 multiple choice questions about the revolutionary period. We flunked, posting an average score of 44%.

The details, though, are far more interesting. Results were broken down by age, gender, political party, geographic region, age, education and income level. 

Guess whether Republicans, Democrats or Independents were better at naming the first Treasury Secretary? Who knew best which kind of government the Constitution established? Who said “oligarchy” most frequently? The answers are in a short piece I wrote for Forbes.com. And you can read the entire 40-page survey/results here.

ARC already has a rich collection of art, objects, manuscripts and books, including George Washington’s sleeping tent, flags from the period, and paintings like The March to Valley Forge by William B. T. Trego, The Battle of Germantown by Xavier della Gatta, and The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis (above).

The survey, as intended, indicated that we do need ARC — or something to teach us history.

Photo: Courtesy American Revolution Center

What is the role of an arts journalist? I’ve thought about writing a post on the subject since last spring, when I had something of a disagreement about it with another journalist who also writes about culture and who also, like me, straddles the line between reporter and critic.

Now Norman Lebrecht’s piece on arts criticism has reminded me of this. Used to be, he pointed out, criticism “was not so much consumer guidance — which show to catch, which to miss — as an assessment of the state of the art and a rage at those who imperilled it.”

Now, with print publications under threat, and with a demand for instant criticism — via Twitter, etc. — “reasoned criticism is under threat and undervalued…editors demand a degree of cheeriness from their critics….Reviewers are under orders to be more upbeat…” 

Some, I would add, haven’t needed editors to suggest that — to wit, my colleague. He was particularly critical of news coverage that examined the health, or not, of arts institutions. As he described how he feels in an email, he said he labored under:

…something you might call a protective instinct. I like culture, I like a lot of the institutions, and I tend — no doubt naively — to think that they are in general working with good will and to the best of their ability. Reporters investigating the business side tend to want to unmask poor practices and inefficiencies… which I think makes the cultural leaders’ hard jobs even harder.

Needless to say, I disagree. Whether honest, tough reportage makes the job of an institution’s leader harder is not my concern. The state — and ultimate health — of the institution is. 

A couple of examples: Would, say, the New York City Opera have been better off if no one had pointed out that the budget it had promised Gerard Mortier was too much of a stretch? Had Mortier come to New York, as planned, and proceeded to spend that money, the NYCO would now be bankrupt. Or, would the Metropolitan Opera be better off if the public did not understand how much money it must raise every year just to break even?  

The contract a journalist — of any stripe — has is with the reader/viewer and it’s to provide an honest account, not one that pulls its punches to be protective.  

As Lebrecht wrote about criticism, “The arts flourish only when there are arbiters at work and civilisation dies when their voice is stilled.”

I agree, and add that arts institutions flourish when they function under the watchful eye of the press, too. Liking them — or loving culture — doesn’t mean praising them — or it — all the time. It doesn’t mean protecting them from honest scrutiny.

With the end of 2009 in sight, my thoughts turned to those “best ten” lists, and judging from afar, at least, I suspect that Zaha Hadid’s new Maxxi contemporary art museum in Rome be near the the top of some of them. 

That thought was confirmed when, looking for something else on YouTube, I accidently turned up a lovely short video of it from Agence France Presse. Unfortunately, AFP declines to let people embed their work, but you can see it if you click here.

And here’s another, much longer and a little shakier, but still a good look at what seems to be a beautiful building.

The New York Times also had a good slide show.

Now we wait to see what art will go into it next spring.