798 District Blog

Christie’s 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe, including Oriental Carpets achieved $14 million from October 21 to 22, selling over 450 treasures from the 16th to the 19th centuries. This spectacular sale was the top-grossing 500 Years sale to date held in New York, with the top lot of the sale, the Messer Chippendale Bookcase achieving $1.7 million. 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe is a new sale concept unique to Christie’s that brings together all styles and movements of European Decorative Arts as well as Oriental carpets in a richly varied sale that offers collectors an incredibly diverse range of works of art to choose from.

Will Strafford, International Specialist of European Furniture, said: “This was truly an international sale with 31 countries participating, and we demonstrated yet again the achievement of 500 Years as an innovative response to the market and the buying patterns of our clients. This sale saw extraordinary demand for both important furniture and exceptional works of art from private collections. The discovery of the Nile Napoleonic clock caused great excitement amongst collectors, and we are thrilled that it realized $722,500, far exceeding the estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.”

Melissa Gagen, International Specialist of English Furniture, said: “The exceptional selection of English furniture, among the best to come to market in New York for years, caught the attention of the world’s top collectors. Bidding was spirited among both private and trade buyers in search of iconic 18th century examples. The cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale reigned as his bookcase soared into the million dollar range, making nearly 3 times its price when last sold from the legendary Messer Collection at Christie’s in 1991. It is the second most expensive bookcase by this maker sold at auction both at Christie’s. The depth of the market for truly exceptional examples of English furniture was demonstrated by the fact that four bidders were actively pursuing the bookcase above the $800,000 level. Two pairs of chairs by Chippendale and a fantastical chinoiserie mirror attributed to John Linnell and formerly at Ditchley Park also exceeded their pre-sale estimates.”

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This Autumn is the Season for Andy Warhol, thanks to an extraordinary selection of his key works.Christie’s New York leads this group with the sale of Andy Warhol’s hand-painted masterpiece, Big Campbell’s Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable), 1962 (estimate upon request). An icon of Pop Art, it is one of the largest examples of Warhol’s most famous and beloved image of a Campbell’s Soup Can — a subject matter that helped shape the course of art history in the 1960s.

At 72 x 52 inches, Big Campbell’s Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) is the first in a series of very rare large scale Campbell’s Soup Cans. Of the 11 large scale Campbell’s Soup Can paintings, eight now reside in museums, foundations or are promised to museums, such as The Menil Collection in Houston, The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and The Kunsthalle in Zurich. The present lot is the most important example to come on the market in over a decade.

Warhol’s soup cans challenge the traditional boundaries of art and life as well as art and business. Warhol believed anything could be touched by art: from the mundane, such as the humble Campbell’s soup can and Brillo boxes, to ubiquitous public figures and celebrities such as Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. The Campbell’s Soup can is the ultimate everyman consumer product. It is completely accessible and recognizable, making it a key icon of Pop Art. In this work, Warhol’s eponymous static soup can has been pierced by a can opener against a seamless background.

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Fifty Antoni Tapies’ paintings and drawings are being exhibited at the Palau Fabre Foundation (Fundacion Palau Fabre) from today on in the “Gaze at the Hand” (“Mira la mano…”) exhibition, which shows the vitality of the last ten years of this artist, who has already reached 87 and with which the Foundation opens a new stage.

Arriving simultaneously with the vernissage of the new permanent exhibition, the Foundation has done a redistribution of the spaces assigned to temporary exhibitions, which starts with an exhibition of the recent work of Tapies, chosen by the also artist Perejaume, the director of the center, Josep Sampera, has informed today in a press conference.

The exhibition starts with a dozen of the most recent work of Tapies, created in the last three years, all of them on paper and lots of ink, such as “Stretched Body” (2008, “Cuerpo estirado”), “Arrow Body” (2008, “Cuerpo flecha”), “Blue Ink” (2007, “Tinta azul”), “Black on Red” (2008, “Negro sobre rojo”), or “White Eyes” (2007 “Ojos blancos”).

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The 37th edition of FIAC takes place from October 21st through October 24th at the Grand Palais, the Cour Carree du Louvre and the Tuileries Garden.

Located in Paris’ most prestigious and emblematic sites, infused with its history and cultural life, FIAC’s continuous commitment to the highest standards of quality and the synergies it has developed with Paris’ prestigious art institutions, have made it one of the art world’s premier international events of the autumn calendar.

In a spirit of continuity, FIAC reaffirms the grounding principles on which its identity is founded: commitment to a broad focus that leads it to privilege a balanced panorama of modern, contemporary and emerging art; receptivity to a diverse range of artistic practices as demonstrated by the outdoor projects in the Tuileries Garden, an ambitious programme of artists’ performances, and – for the first time this year – a cycle of artists’ films.

FIAC 2010 brings together 195 modern and contemporary art galleries from 24 countries. France is home to 72 galleries (38 percent of the total) followed by Germany with 23 galleries, the United States with 22, Italy with 15, Belgium and Switzerland with 11 each. Countries represented for the first time this year include Japan, Mexico, Korea and Ireland. 63 galleries are taking part for the first time or returning to FIAC in 2010.

A total of 114 galleries are presented at the Grand Palais. 37 galleries are exhibiting for the first time or have returned to FIAC in 2010.

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In response to the increasing interest throughout Asia and especially within China in the field of Impressionist and Modern art, Sotheby’s announced a major selling exhibition to be held this autumn. Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century Art will comprise approximately 20 works representing many of the most important artists active in Europe from the late 19th and early 20th century and who left an indelible impression on art history, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Edgar Degas, among others. The exhibition will preview in Beijing from 22-25 October 2010 and will then move on to Hong Kong from 26-28 November 2010. The works included in this exhibition are priced from US$2 million to $25 million (HK$15.6 to $195 million).

“This exciting event is both a first for Sotheby’s and for China,” said Patti Wong, Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. “We have been impressed by the interest in the field of Impressionist and Modern Art from within China and across Asia in our recent auctions. While we will continue to serve this market through our regular auctions of Impressionist and Modern Art in London and New York, mounting a selling exhibition specifically for the Asian market consisting of high quality works from significant artists in this field is a unique opportunity for our many clients in the region. Asian collectors have historically shown considerable interest in other Sotheby’s selling exhibitions of modern and contemporary sculpture – at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, UK and Isleworth Country Club in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. We look forward to bringing this assembly of works directly to our discerning Asian clients, and continuing to develop enthusiasm among collectors for this important field.”

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Christie’s Hong Kong will hold its Fall sales of Fine Chinese Modern Paintings and Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy on 30 November at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. These sales will showcase over 350 rare and exceptional works from the Chinese masters, valued in excess of HK$260 million (US$34 million).

Chinese calligraphy and paintings are among the most culturally rich and meaningful art forms and encapsulate the history of Chinese culture. The Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy sale will feature important works by artists spanning both Ming and Qing Dynasty (15th-19th Century), including Ming Dynasty calligraphers and painters such as Wang Duo, Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou and Lan Ying, as well as important Qing artists such as BaDa ShanRen, Hua Yan and Yuan Jiang. The Fine Chinese Modern Paintings sale will present a body of magnificent works by renowned 19th and 20th Century masters such as Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian, and Lin Fengmian. Showcasing a wide range of works by artists of different styles and schools, these sales cater to the variety of diverse palettes of today’s discerning collectors.

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PARIS—Strolling from Adel Abdessemed’s compressed block of taxidermy animals to an enormously twirling Anish Kapooralpenhorn, it’s clear that Paris’s FIAC fair is not on the shy side this year. The cautiousness of 2009 is long forgotten, and the fair is filled with sometimes-outrageous contemporary work and some daring propositions. Nevertheless, it is a testament to the quality of this year’s fair that it has taken ARTINFO France a good few days to finalize its list of the best booths in the Grand Palais, which are listed below.

Christian Stein, B21

Installing a full-length mirror along one wall of a large stand is a gamble, but Christian Stein has turned it into a conversation-starter of sorts between different works. The mirror is, in fact, fromMichelangelo Pistoletto’s “Trans Border” series, and its painted red netting wonderfully matches its reflection of Gilbert & George’s equally volumous work “Pull.” Accenting the setup on either side is Jack Pierson’s found-letter sign “The Unknown” and an installation of yellow bulbs and black-and-white photographs byChristian Boltanski. Christian Stein’s stand achieves a great equilibrium and a true dialogue between the works on view.

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NEW YORK (REUTERS).- More than 120 works, including two huge canvases commissioned for the exhibition, are included in a retrospective of legendary American artist John Baldessari at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The show, “John “Baldessari: Pure Beauty” which opens on Tuesday, is the first for the Los Angeles-based artist in New York for 20 years and includes works dating back to 1962.

The two new 25-foot (8.2 meter) works “Brain/Cloud,” which features a giant cloud-like brain floating in a blue background, and “Palm Tree/Seascape,” a canvas showing a palm tree jutting up in front of an expanse of ocean, hang in the lobby of the museum, created specifically for the New York show.

“I don’t think they (visitors) need any preshow counseling,” the 79-year-old artist, who was dressed in all-black with a scraggly white beard, told reporters at a preview of the show.

Baldessari is often described as a conceptual artist. Critics regularly refer to Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp when describing his humorous, usually colorful creations packed with pop culture references.

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PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents Ordinary Madness, an exhibition that mines the museum’s rich holdings of contemporary art to suggest an unsettling observation: that the ordinary is in fact laced with the contradictory, uncanny, and surreal.

On view are a wide array of works that engage the everyday from various vantage points, illuminating the bewildering experiences we subconsciously accept as part of our daily lives. At the heart of the exhibition are the strengths, quirks, and unique history that comprise the museum’s collection of contemporary art.

“Ordinary Madness came together from my desire to present a series of comparisons across media and art historical categories that would articulate how artists engage with everyday experience, and the way art can be used as a powerful tool to navigate a complex and disconcerting world,” said Dan Byers, curator of Ordinary Madness and associate curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art.

Ordinary Madness revisits major works acquired from past Carnegie International exhibitions, and presents the opportunity to show a wide range of permanent collection works alongside recent acquisitions, creating juxtaposition and dialogue that otherwise might not be apparent. The exhibition takes place in the Heinz and Forum Galleries and includes a 16 mm film series in October and November in CMA Theater.

Ordinary Madness presents art from the museum’s contemporary art collection thematically as a way to explore connections and comparisons between different works. But overall, the exhibition examines how life is filled with the bizarre and unusual and how art reflects those observations.
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BARCELONA.- The Museu Picasso in Barcelona presents, from 15 October to 16 January 2011 the major exhibition «Picasso Looks at Degas». The exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Cowling, Professor Emeritus of History of Art at Edinburgh University, and Richard Kendall, the Clark’s Curator at Large and is organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown and the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, with the special cooperation of Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte.

Throughout his life Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was fascinated by the personality and art of Edgar Degas (1834–1917). He collected the Impressionist’s work, often re-interpreted his signature imagery, and at the end of his life created scenes that included depictions of Degas himself. «Picasso Looks at Degas» is the first exhibition to explore the extent and significance of this phenomenon and brings together over one hundred works from international museums and private collections, including many that have never before been shown in Spain. The Museu Picasso is the exclusive European venue for the show, which is curated by Picasso expert Elizabeth Cowling and Impressionist scholar Richard Kendall.

Thanks to his friendship with older artists in Barcelona’s Quatre Gats group, Picasso knew something of Impressionism before his first visit to Paris in 1900. However, what became a sustained dialogue with Degas’s work began to develop only after he started visiting the French capital and seeing examples in the original. When he settled in the Bateau Lavoir in Montmartre in 1904 Picasso was within a few minutes’ walk of Degas’s studio. They had many acquaintances in common in the Parisian art world, including the legendary dealer Ambroise Vollard, but they seem never actually to have met. Using compelling pairings and groupings of works on related themes, the exhibition examines Degas through Picasso’s eyes and the ways in which the Spanish artist’s response varied over time from emulation to confrontation and from parody to homage. Both shared a lifelong obsession with women, visible in their portraits of friends and innumerable representations of the female nude. But Picasso also echoed Degas’s acknowledged signature subjects of café concert performers, ballet dancers, women at their toilette, and prostitutes. While usually identified as painters, both Degas and Picasso were supreme draftsmen and highly innovative sculptors and printmakers, and the exhibition brings together works in all these media in order to examine Picasso’s reaction to the challenge posed by Degas’s oeuvre and the fascinating affinity between their creative thinking and working methods.
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