The work is one in a series of five, but until now was the only one remaining in private collection. Vanity Fair reports that William Acquavella and Larry Gagosian were outbid for Card Players, at comparable amounts rumored up to $220 million.
NEW YORK, NY.- A few days ago Vanity Fair reported that Qatar's royal family bought one of the 5 existing versions of Cezanne's 'The Card Players' for over $250 million. Forbes published today that it was Josh Baer of BaerFaxt who first broke it in 2011: the purchase of Cezanne's Card Players for $250 million from the estate of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos. The amount paid by the Qatari royals dwarfs that of the world's previous most expensive artwork. Jackson Pollock's No 5, 1948 was sold to an unknown buyer for £88.7 million in 2006 at the peak of the pre-recession art-buying boom. ... More
The Best Photos of the Day
BARCELONA.- A file picture dated 03 March 2010 shows Spanish artist Antoni Tapies posing in front of one of his artworks during the reopening ceremony of the Antoni Tapies Foundation headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. According to media reports, Tapies died at the age of 88 in Barcelona on 06 February 2012. EPA/ALBERTO ESTEVEZ.
David Hockney, Self-portrait, lithograph in colours, 1954, on cartridge paper. L. 285 x 255 mm., S. 305 x 274 mm. Estimate 15,000-20,000 British pounds. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
LONDON.-Christie’s announced full details of the long-awaited HOCKNEY ON PAPER sale, which will take place on Friday 17 February. Featuring 147 works including etchings, lithographs, drawings and photography by David Hockney (b.1937), it is expected to realise in excess of £1 million. The sale spans over forty years of the artist’s career and includes works which reflect Hockney’s various incarnations: the precocious student, the young émigré in California, the Hollywood pool-sider and chronicler of gay life, the portraitist, the fax-artist, the collagist photographer, the set designer and the camera obscura provocateur. One of the earliest and rarest works to be offered is Self-portrait, 1954 (estimate: £15,000-20,000) which was completed when Hockney was just 17. Hockney made his first lithographs at the Bradford College of Art under the tutelage of Derek Stafford, who regarded the young artist as one of th ... More
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), Grrrrrrrrrrr!!, 1965. Oil and Magna on canvas, 68 x 56 1/8 inches (172.7 x 142.5 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Gift of the artist, 1997.
ROME.- The Guggenheim will open a special exhibition at the historic Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the heart of Rome on February 7, 2012. Showcasing more than 60 exemplary works from the museum's permanent collection, Guggenheim Collection: The American Avant-Garde 1945–1980 traces the key upheavals in art during the decades after World War II and highlights the often radical challenges to traditional notions of art and art making that emerged during the period. Through paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations, the exhibition examines one of the most important periods in American art, beginning when Abstract Expressionism brought worldwide attention—and sometimes controversy—to a circle of New York artists, including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Over the next few decades, the United States remained a global center for modern art as various aesthetic practices took root and proliferated, from Conceptualism and Minimalism to Pop art and Photore ... More
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), The Dancer, 1874. Oil on canvas, 56 1/8 x 37 1/8 inches. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection. Photo: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
NEW YORK, NY.- This winter and spring The Frick Collection presents an exhibition of nine iconic Impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, offering the first comprehensive study of the artist’s engagement with the full-length format. Its use was associated with the official Paris Salon from the mid-1870s to mid-1880s, the decade that saw the emergence of a fully fledged Impressionist aesthetic. The project was inspired by Renoir’s La Promenade of 1875–76, the most significant Impressionist work in the Frick’s permanent collection. Intended for public display, the vertical grand-scale canvases in the exhibition are among the artist’s most daring and ambitious presentations of contemporary subjects and are today considered masterpieces of Impressionism. The show and accompanying catalogue draw on contemporary criticism, literature, and archival documents to explore the motivation behind Renoir&# ... More
Jack Levine, On the Block, signed 'JLevine' (lower left), oil on canvas, 72 x 63 in. (182.9 x 160 cm.) Painted in 1986-92. Estimate: 150,000-250,000 U.S. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
NEW YORK, NY.-Christie’s announced the spring sale of Fine American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture on March 1, featuring an array of works with notable provenance that are fresh to the market, including the Collection of Dr. Mark and Irene Kauffman. The sale offers outstanding and rare pieces by Jack Levine, Ben Shahn, and Max Weber, as well as a wide range of artistic movements, from 19th century paintings and 20th century Abstraction to American Modernism. The sale consists of 210 lots and is expected to realize in excess of $3.7 million. The cornerstone of the sale is the Collection of Dr. Mark and Irene Kauffman. The Kauffmans, who reside in Longboat Key, Florida, began collecting in the 1980s with assistance from some of the most renowned gallery directors in the country, enhancing their knowledge of 20th ... More
Violin dated 1682, by Nicolò Amati, estimate £250,000-350,000*. Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.-Sotheby's London sale of Musical Instruments on Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 will offer a violin by Nicolò Amati, one of the greatest names in violin making history. Long considered the teacher of Stradivari, Nicolò was the grandson of the inventor of the violin, Andrea Amati, and was the leading violin maker in Italy from 1630 to 1684. This violin is made on his finest model, known as the ‘Grand Pattern’ and dates from 1682, the final years of his life, when he was assisted by his son Girolamo. The beautiful, regular grain of the alpine spruce of the front and the lustrous golden varnish are unmistakeable signs of its Cremonese heritage. It is estimated at £250,000-350,000. Cremona had become the undisputed centre of violin making in Europe by the turn of the seventeenth century. A new music aesthetic had emerged in Western Europe during the sixteenth century, and soloists were feted for displays of virtuosic br ... More
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #207, 1989. Chromogenic print. Purchase, Joyce and Robert Menschel Foundation Gift, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Schwartz Gift, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1991 1991.1137. Courtesy of the Artist and Metro Pictures.
NEW YORK, NY.- Since the 1980s, a number of contemporary artists working in photography, film, and video have taken as their subject the art museum and how we view specific works from the canon of art history. Spies in the House of Art: Photography, Film, and Video on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from February 7 through August 26, 2012, draws largely from the Museum’s collection to focus on artists from the last three decades who explore the secret lives of museums. This installation in the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography features 17 works, half of which have never been shown before at the Metropolitan. Among the highlights of this presentation are Francesca Woodman’s Blueprint for a Temple and Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer’s Flash ... More
TUCSON, AZ.-The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona Libraries announced that it has acquired the photographic archive of internationally renowned artist Jack Welpott. “We are thrilled that the Jack Welpott Legacy Trust has chosen the Center for Creative Photography as the permanent home for the Welpott archive,” comments Katharine Martinez, the Center’s director. “Welpott was an accomplished photographer and a key member of the rich community of artists in the San Francisco Bay Area during the second half of the 20th century. His archive will allow researchers, curators and photographers to better understand his career, as well as his pivotal role as a teacher and mentor.” Born in Kansas City, Kan., Jack Welpott (1923-2007) grew up in Bloomington, Ind. He learned about photography as a boy by watching his uncle in the darkroom, and began taking pictures by the ti ... More
In the exhibition, the same images are to be presented in greater scale using an unconventional recycled Kraft paper and special printing wax based toner technique that were created especially for the exhibition and will be revealed for the first time at the opening.
NEW YORK, NY.- American Photographer Michael Dweck will reveal the secret life of Cuba’s creative class at an exhibition at Fototeca de Cuba Museum in Havana Cuba. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Havana, American photographer Michael Dweck became a witness to a side of Cuban society that hasn’t welcomed witnesses – much less Americans or photographers – since the revolution. With the aid of luck, charm and a translator, he landed in the midst of a farandula – a close-knit group of well-connected artists – that seemingly merged the artistic integrity of the 30’s-era Parisian salons with the glamour and star-power of the 70’s-era Studio 54. Through his unprecedented (and unrestricted) access to this hidden society of artists, writers, film makers, musicians and models, he was able to assemble a ... More
Chairman Berkshire Hathaway and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett. EPA/ANINDITO MUKHERJEE.
By: Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP).- Money donated by the nation's most chartable people is starting to catch up with pre-recession giving, thanks in part to some very large bequests from a few donors. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports Monday in its annual report of the nation's most generous people that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion. The donors gave a total of $3.3 billion in 2010, the smallest total since The Chronicle began tracking the biggest donors in 2000. A decade ago, the top 50 givers gave $12.5 billion. Two people are conspicuously absent from the top 50 list this year: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. That's because the Chronicle doesn't include payments on gifts promised in past years in its spreadsheet of top givers. Both Gates and Buffett made large payments on past pledges in 2011. It ... More
Spengemann comes to Marlborough from Taxter & Spengemann, the Chelsea gallery he both co-owned and directed for over nine years.
NEW YORK, NY.-Marlborough Chelsea announced the appointment of Pascal Spengemann as Director. “We’re very excited to welcome Pascal Spengemann to the Marlborough Chelsea team,” said gallery principal Max Levai. “As we put our 2013 schedule in place, his proven ability to cultivate an exciting and curatorially rigorous gallery program will play an integral role in the development of our growing roster of artists.” “I'm excited to join an organization with not only a storied history, but an eye on the future and the potential of contemporary practice,” said Spengemann. “I hope to help Marlborough to foster an atmosphere of experimentation melded with broad appeal.” Spengemann comes to Marlborough from Taxter & Spengemann, the Chelsea gallery he both co-owned and directed for over nine years. Prior to founding ... More
June 23, 1967
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA.- Spotlighting art that challenged, educated, and inspired the ideas of democracy in California during a turbulent era, Decade of Dissent: Democracy in Action 1965-1975 documents the importance of art as a vehicle for social and political progress throughout a watershed decade. Presented by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, the exhibition is part of the City of West Hollywood’s arts initiative PST...It All Started Here—West Hollywood Celebrates Pacific Standard Time. Decade of Dissent opened at the new West Hollywood Library—which LA Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne called one of the “most impressive pieces of public architecture to open in Southern California in a decade”. The show remains on view during regular library hours through April 28. Decade of Dissent is culled from CSPG's more than 80,000 post-World War II historical posters, the largest collection of its kind in the nation. It was spec ... More
Human skeletons uncovered during a 1950s archaeological excavation prior to the reconstruction of Fort William Henry. AP Photo/HO/David Starbuck.
By: Chris Carola, Associated Press
LAKE GEORGE (AP).- For decades, tourists visiting this popular Adirondack village could gape at the skeletons of soldiers from nearby French and Indian War sites. Then in 1993, a somber reburial ceremony was held to finally put the remains to rest. Only that never happened. Almost all of the 18th-century skeletons were never buried. Instead, the collection of remains eventually was taken to Arizona and Canada for study and has yet to be returned for reburial. In this small upstate New York town that was the real-life setting for the historical events depicted in "The Last of the Mohicans," people had no idea. "Most of them aren't there?" asked Robert Blais, mayor of Lake George since 1971, who learned about the decision from The Associated Press. The AP spoke to archaeologists ... More
Quote Color alone is both form and subject. Robert Delaunay
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Transformed Yale University Art Gallery to open in December 2012 NEW HAVEN, CT.-The Yale University Art Gallery, in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest and one of the most important university art museums in America, is in the final phase of a renovation and expansion that will transform the visitor experience of both the museum and its esteemed collections. The project will enable the Gallery not only to enhance its role as one of the nation's most prominent teaching institutions but also to join the ranks of the country's leading public art museums. The expanded Gallery will open in December 2012. The $135 million* renovation increases the space occupied by the Gallery from one-and-a-half buildings—the 1953 modernist structure designed by Louis Kahn and approximately half of the adjacent 1928 Old Yale Art Gallery, designed by Egerton Swartwout—to three. The project began with the critically acclaimed restoration of the Kahn building and continues today with the renovation a ... More
Original Frank Miller Dark Knight cover art offered in Heritage Auctions' February event NEW YORK, NY.- Following the 2011 world-record sale of the original Issue #3, Page #10 splash page art from Frank Miller’s iconic Dark Knight for $448,125, Heritage Auctions is offering two more original pieces of Frank Miller Dark Knight artwork, this time consigned by Miller himself. They will be offered as part of Heritage’s Feb. 22-24 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction. The first, the Absolute Dark Knight Book Cover Original Art (DC, 2006), is an immensely popular, bone-jarring image that brings together the elements that made Miller's vision of the Batman such a legendary work of industry-changing artistry. It carries a pre-auction estimate of $50,000+. “It took me years to define, in my own mind, Batman as less a creature of vengeance than of vigor,” Miller said of the drawing. “This piece is one of my personal favorites. To me, it sums the man up.” “The savage violence, the unpar ... More
Norton Museum presents solo exhibition of works by Tacita Dean WEST PALM BEACH, FL.-The Norton Museum of Art is presenting a rare exhibition of acclaimed British artist Tacita Dean. Running through May 6, 2012, Tacita Dean is the first major museum exhibition to focus on the photographic oeuvre of Dean, who is best known for her canon of work on film. Dean created several new works for this exhibition. Curated by Charlie Stainback, Assistant Director of the Norton, the exhibition explores how Dean’s work in still photography informs her artistic practice when using a 16mm film camera. The Norton’s exhibition particularly focuses on how Dean co-opts found images that she paints, draws, or writes on to draw out latent themes, or create new social commentary. Dean’s photo-based works are known for their dichotomous embrace of fact and fiction. “Tacita Dean has a sensibility that informs both her cinematic and photo-based artwork,” said Stainback. “This exhib ... More
Irma Stern at the height of her powers, dazzles with Zanzibar masterpiece for sale at Bonhams LONDON.- A stunning image from one of Irma Stern’s trips to Zanzibar which inspired some of her best work, titled ‘The Pink Sari’ , signed and dated 1947, and with its original Zanzibar frame ,will be sold by Bonhams in London on March 21st for an estimated £800,000-1,200,000. Never before seen on the open market, the painting was acquired directly from the artist circa 1961 and then passed by direct descent to the current owner. It is the top lot in Bonhams next sale of South African Art which has consistently broken records for South African art over the past five years. Irma Stern's trips to Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945 were life-changing events that would continue to exert influence on her artistic output for years to come. The island's people and colours had etched themselves in her mind and gave her a profound sense of satisfaction in having found precisely what she had been searching out across Africa ... More
Philadelphia celebrates Dickens' 200th birthday By: Kathy Matheson, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP).- Past the glass case containing sketches for his novel "Oliver Twist," beyond the handwritten letter to his publisher about Little Nell, and away from the first published installments of "Hard Times" sits Charles Dickens' pet bird. The carefully preserved and stuffed raven named Grip — later the inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem — is perhaps the quirkiest part of the Philadelphia public library's valuable Dickens collection, now on display to celebrate his bicentennial. The British author, who created unforgettable characters like Ebenezer Scrooge and David Copperfield, visited The City of Brotherly Love only twice. But two local benefactors bequeathed major collections of Dickensiana to the library, including 1,200 letters alone. And a rare statue of the ... More
Art Fairs
David
Shrigley: Brain Activity exhibition opens at Hayward
Gallery
On a day like today, Italian sculptor Bartolomeo Bandinelli,
died
February 7, 1560.- Bartolommeo (or Baccio)
Bandinelli, actually Bartolommeo Brandini (17 October 1493 – shortly
before 7 February 1560), was a Renaissance Italian sculptor, draughtsman
and painter. In this image: Pietà by Baccio Bandinelli, Basilica
della Santissima Annunziata, Florence.
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 during an auction preview in London. The sculpture, which forms part of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, is estimated to fetch betweeen 900,000-1.2 million GBP at Christies Impressionist and Modern Art sale on 07 February. EPA/KERIM OKTEN.');)
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