The Art Newspaper has published its annual survey of museum attendance for 2012, highlighting the best attended shows and museums of the past year.  While the top names on the list stayed relatively unchanged from past years (The Louvre still remains the world’s best attended museum, with The Met close behind), the recently opened Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas surged onto the list, and MOCA in Los Angeles also noted a dip in the face of board defections and budgetary concerns.  Also of note is the top exhibition of last year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s Old Masters show, which drew more than 10,000 visitors a day to see Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. (more…)

Despite contracting markets in Asia and the Middle East, Christie’s International has announced a 10% increase in sales for 2012.  This growth over the previous year was led by the increased interest in post-war art and living artists, as illustrated by Mark Rothko’s “Orange, Red, Yellow” selling for $86.9 million last year.   According to Steven Murphy, Christie’s chief executive: “Existing clients are spending more, and many of our new bidders have previously bought from dealers and art fairs. They like the transparency of auctions.” (more…)

Sotheby’s has reported $1.25 billion in global auction results for Contemporary Art last year, making 2012 its third most successful year in history, and the highest in history for Contemporary Art.  “The marketplace and demand for contemporary art has never been stronger or more international – of the top 20 prices achieved by Sotheby’s last year, more than half were post-war and contemporary masterworks.”  Says Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe Cheyenne Westphal. (more…)

The Tate Modern’s massive retrospective for British artist Damien Hirst has helped propel the Museum’s attendance to record numbers. Tate Modern saw over 463,000 visitors pass through the exhibition, contributing to the 5.3 million total visitors last year, and also announced the opening of their new extension, The Tanks.  Alex Beard, Tate’s deputy director, said: “It has been an extraordinary year at Tate Modern, opening the Tanks, the world’s first museum galleries permanently dedicated to exhibiting live art, performance, installation and film works, alongside an outstanding exhibition programme which has undoubtedly fuelled the increase in visitors.” (more…)

The Art Basel lineup for this year’s event has been released. A press release sent Monday revealed that 2012’s 11th Edition, to be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center, will showcase 257 prominent art galleries from 31 countries. The art fair, which will run December 6 through 9, will be divided into three “sections”: Art Galleries, the main section, for more well-known organizations to display contemporary art, Ars Nova, for up-and-coming institutions to highlight recently-established artists and Art Positions, for galleries to spotlight a the opus of one particular artist.

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Katie Koti, The Pull (2011). All photos taken on site for Art Observed by Ryann Donnelly

Yale’s Photography MFA thesis show, presented by Wirth Art Advisory is on view at Ana Tzarev gallery in New York City through July 21. Curated by Sabrina Wirth, the show entitled Group Portrait features 9 emerging photographers: Peter Baker, Richard Choi, Felix R. Cid, Thomas Gardiner, Pao Houa Her, Katie Koti, Kate A. T. Merrill, Sarah Muehlbauer, and Maayan Strauss.

Opening of Group Portrait Yale Photography MFA Thesis Show

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Domenico Gnoli, Ritratto di Luis T (1967) All images courtesy Luxembourg & Dayan unless otherwise noted.

Prodigious Italian artist Domenico Gnoli left behind only several dozen paintings when he met an early fate – at age 36 – in April 1970. Eighteen of those important works are currently on display in the first U.S. exhibition dedicated to the artist in over 40 years. The paintings are primarily acrylic mixed with sand; finely detailed and close cropped, they are intimate portraits of a very certain place and time.

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Harmony Korine, Still from Caput (2011). All images courtesy of Megan Hoetger for Art Observed.

Hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art but housed at an off-site location, James Franco’s current exhibition, Rebel, has garnered a lot of attention in Los Angeles for its play on the artist/actor’s own celebrity status. Bringing together Franco’s contemporary fame with Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece Rebel Without A Cause (1955), the exhibition explores the contours of a life lived in Hollywood.

James Franco, “Rebel” Installation View (2012) featuring Ed Ruscha’s Rebel (2011).

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