ArtInfo discusses the biggest controversies of the art world in 2011 in this article.
Along with the protests of artist Ai Weiwei and collective Voina, the article also recounts issues of copyright, censorship, class tension between the art world elite and those whom they employ, and arts funding.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].
Alice Walton has opened the Walmart-financed Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum has had its negative critics, like Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who called attention to the disparity between the grandeur of the American museum and the poverty of the American people in this article.
Nevertheless, Roberta Smith gives the museum itself a strong review and even says that “Crystal Bridges is poised to make a genuine cultural contribution, and possibly to become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world,” in this article from the New York Times.
Victoria Reed, curator of provenance at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, researches potential acquisitions with questionable histories. In her position, the Museum of Fine Arts asks Ms. Reed to attend to provenance issues by investigating liens on title before the Museum acquires works.
Recently, her research, which traced a 17th century gold medallion to a museum in Gotha, Germany, looted during the Nazi era, resulted in the Museum electing to decline to purchase the work. A few months later, the Art Loss Register announced that the dealer who had offered the medallion was returning it to the museum in Germany.
More about Ms. Reed's interesting work can be found here.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].
ArtInfo has published its version of the “top 20 shows to see in 2012.”
With artists such as On Kawara, Damien Hirst, Henry Taylor and Cindy Sherman, the publication is bullish on modern and contemporary art in 2012. See the slideshow, with details on dates and locations, here.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].
According to this article, the owner of a stolen Picasso decided that displaying the work adds more economic value to his gallery than actually selling it.
The Picasso sketch, “Tete de Femme” (1965) was stolen last summer from the gallery. Though the artwork’s value has risen $250,000, or to three times its value, from the time that Weinstein acquired it just six months ago, Weinstein claims that the presence of the recently returned work brings in so much additional foot traffic from people interested in seeing the work that it is worth more as a marketing tool than as merchandise.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch}.
This article discusses Christie’s November 25-30 sales in Hong Kong, which was seeming slow in activity in the emerging Asian markets. Only 84% of the wine lots and 74% of Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale lots were sold.
Eric Chang, International Director of Christie’s Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Department, however, stated that after-sales activity has been strong for a key work by Zhang Xiaogang, which went unsold at auction.
This market has also seen success overall this year, reaching a total of HK$1.52 billion in sales.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch}.
According to this interesting New York Times article, Miami has become a year-round art haven, thanks to a successful ten years of hosting Art Basel and its satellite fairs.
Though only 3 of the 260 galleries invited to Art Basel are actually based in Miami, lead collectors attribute the opening of dozens of new galleries in the past decade to the presence of the fair.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch}.
Frankfurt’s Staedel Museum will be expanding as a result of donations from banks including Deutsche Bank, which has agreed to contribute its corporate collections. According to this article in Business Week, these banks have promised more than 800 artworks to the museum.
The new expansion of the museum will cost 32 million euros, a hefty fee, especially during the current European debt crisis.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch}.
Sotheby’s and Christie’s are set to begin the New York Fall auction season with their Impressionist and Modern sales.
The current issues of Art and Auction discusses some of the highlights in this preview. Among them, Christie’s will feature sculptures by artists such as Degas and Brancusi estimated at $25-35 million and $8-10 million respectively. They will also present two Picasso paintings, both estimated at $12-18 million, and works by Ernst, Delvaux, Wasserman and Matisse, to name a few of their heavy-hitters.
Sotheby’s “has Impressionist gems as well” such as Monet’s Antibes seascape, estimated at $5-7 million, as well as works by Caillebotte and Magritte. Works by Klimt and Picasso are at the top of their sale, both with estimates around $25 million.
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
This article describes the success of Italian art at Sotheby’s this month – the auction house sold 39.5 million pounds worth of art at its evening auction on October 13.
Another big ticket work by the late Lucian Freud “Boy’s Head” sold that night for 3.2 million pounds. Of 105 lots on offer at that evening's Italian and Contemporary Art sales, 23 went unsold.
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
ArtReview magazine has published their 2011 list of the 100 most powerful people in the art world.
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist best known for his Contemporary artwork and criticism of the Chinese authorities tops the list.
BBC News lists the top ten here.
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
According to this article, former hedge-find manager, Michael Steinhardt, is pledging 20 paintings and drawings from his $200 million art collection as collateral for a loan estimated at $40-50 million from JPMorgan related to an investment in the former Stock Exchange building.
The group of 20 paintings and drawings includes five by Pablo Picasso and one Jackson Pollock.
Art-based loans to hedge fund managers are becoming increasingly common – for example, hedge-fund managers Steven A. Cohen and Nelson Peltz have recently taken out art-based loans as well.
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
The September mid-season sales were an overall success, showing that the art market has sustained itself despite the volatility of the greater financial markets.
According to this article,
Several dealers and a collector were indicted in July for “conspiring to smuggle Egyptian antiquities into the
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
The National Asset Management Agency of Ireland, also known as NAMA or
[Nicole Dornbusch assisted in drafting this entry].
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