Carsten Höller’s ‘Upside Down People’ in ‘Il Tempo del Postino’ via Artinfo

The 40th edition of Art Basel closed on Sunday, drawing over 60,000 visitors. General impressions of the fair, one of the most respected in the world, were that quality was high and sales surprisingly strong. Many dealers chose a single-artist or closely curated format, often bringing older, proven artists rather than emerging or trendy artists. After a hesitant spring auction season, the results from Basel seem to signal a leveling off of the market. While some of the satellite fairs received poor reviews, most accounts of Art Basel have been very positive. Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno’s ‘Il Tempo del Postino,’ a time-based exhibition featuring artists such as Matthew Barney, Carsten Höller, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Olafur Eliasson, was a particular highlight, selling out all three nights of the fair.  Few have declared the market downturn over, but the emphasis of quality over spectacle at Basel combined with brisk and steady sales has given a much needed confidence boost as galleries prepare for the summer down time.

Art 40 Basel: Extraordinary Quality; Surprisingly Strong Results [Artdaily]
Window Shoppers [Wall Street Journal]
A Thriftier Lot Comes to Basel This Year [NYTimes]
The art market: Buoyant Basel contrasts with Russian reluctance [FT]
Surprise Success – Art Basel dispels credit crunch blues [The Art Newspaper]
Billionaire Broad Says Art Market ‘Levels Out’ After Price Drop [Bloomberg]
Eli Broad’s Basel mission for LA Moca [The Art Newspaper]
Time is Money [Artforum]
The Postman Rings Twice [Artinfo]
Ruby Tuesday [Artforum]
Report from Basel: Art Unlimited [Art in America]
Scope Basel: Brash, but Humble [Artinfo]
Art Bargain-Hunters Trawl Basel as Hockney Fetches $1.8 Million [Bloomberg]
Jeff Koons: “If people say they don’t like my work, I feel like a failure.” [The Art Newspaper]
Previous AO coverage of Art Basel

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Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ via Artinfo

Ukrainian collector Viktor Pinchuk, who is currently hosting Damien Hirst’s retrospective in Kiev, is revealed as the fourth stakeholder in the artist’s platinum, diamond-encrusted skull, which has yet to sell despite a £35 million offer from Alberto Mugrabi [The Art Newspaper]
in related, Fiats decorated by Hirst have had little problem selling at a London charity auction [Art Review]
Two proposed tax-free ports in Paris and Singapore aim to revolutionize international art handling [NY Times]

Roxy Paine with one of his ‘Dendroid’ sculptures via Artinfo

National Gallery of Art commissions a Roxy Paine ‘Dendroid’ sculpture [National Gallery of Art via Artnet]
Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler says that now is an essential time for collectors to buy work from galleries to support artists and local art scenes [ArtInfo]
In conjunction with Saatchi, the Times lists top 200 artists of the 20th century with Picasso and early Modernists at the front [TimesUK]
Three arts professionals describe how they collect for their own homes [Financial Times]

Sam Francis, Grey, the subject of an auction dispute at Christie’s

Shipping magnate Gregory Callimanopulos appealing court decision in auction dispute with Christie’s and Broad Art Foundation over Sam Francis’ ‘Grey’ [ArtForum]
Art during the Nazi regime: Van Meegeren and Göring, forgery and thievery [New York Times]
Unusual Renoir painting recovered in Venice 25 years after it was stolen [Artinfo]

Edward Hopper, Rooms by the Sea, recently acquired by Yale University. via ArtDaily

Yale University counter-sued over Van Gogh painting ‘The Night Café,’ seized during the Communist takeover of Russia [Bloomberg.com].
In related, Yale University Art Gallery acquires Edward Hopper preparatory drawings ‘Rooms by the Sea’ and ‘Western Motel and the Study’ [ArtDaily]
Young collectors pooling resources and sharing art [Financial Times]

Pablo Picasso’s Homme à l’épée for sale in London. via The Telegraph.

€7 – 10 millionv notebook of Picasso sketches discovered stolen from the Picasso museum in Paris [ArtDaily]
and in related, two ‘Musketeer’ paintings by the artist to be auctioned at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, respectively [The TelegraphUK]
As early as 2010, the Louvre may be at risk financially, despite a wave of acquisitions totaling an estimated  €38 million [NYTimes]

Andreas Gursky’s ‘James Bond Island III’ via FOTO8

An interview of Andreas Gursky in which he speaks of scaling down his monumental prints, the influence Bernd and Hilla Becher, and working with North Korea [FOTO8]
Vito Acconci closes his studio, citing cash flow troubles [The Architect’s Newspaper via ArtInfo]

Massimiliano Gioni navigates Venice during the Biennale opening via NY Times

Following curator and critic Massimiliano Gioni and his various party obligations at the Venice Biennale [NY Times]
Points on whether or not the recession is indeed good for art [GuardianUK]
Gagosian has hired Richard Meier to double the space in his Los Angeles Gallery [The Art Newspaper]

62 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, recently leased by Christie’s for storage

Christie’s leases a building for storage in Red Hook, in what is likely one of the largest real estate deals in Brooklyn this year [Brownstoner]
A guide to investing in contemporary art in current market conditions [NY Times]
Sotheby’s London Russian Art Evening Sale totals £7.9m with 17 of 28 lots sold [Art Market Monitor]

Video of Banksy’s exhibition in Bristol via BBC

Banksy secretly sets up exhibition in Bristol museum [BBC]
Beginning June 16, 2009 the Metropolitan Museum of Art will display ‘The Torment of Saint Anthony,’ now widely believed to be Michelangelo’s first painting, before it goes to its new home at Kimball Museum in Texas [ArtDaily]

Picasso’s Château de Vauvenargues via Artinfo

Picasso’s Château will open to the public this summer [Artinfo]
Billionaire collector Eli broad contends that the downturn in the art market has bottomed [Bloomberg]
Christie’s similarly calls a leveling off of the art market’s downshift [Reuters]

Tony Cragg’s Big Head (2009), courtesy of the Marian Goodman Gallery, photo by Art Observed.

The 40th installment of Art Basel runs this year from June 10 to the 14th.  The annual event, dubbed the “Olympics of the Art World” by the New York Times, includes this year over 2,500 artists, and works exhibited in almost 300 galleries around the world.  Works range in medium, from painting and drawing to sculpture, installation art, photography, and video.  Featured are both old masters of modern art and contemporary artists: among this year’s roster are the works of Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp and more, alongside that of today’s artists, including John Baldessari, Vanessa Beecroft, and Rebecca Horn.

Related links:
Art_Base [Official Website]
Art Basel Catalog
Art Basel 40 Celebrates the First Art Basel Weekend with Special Presentations [ArtDaily]
Art Basel Shows Works of Art by 2,500 Artists at World’s Premier International Art Fair [ArtDaily]
Editor’s Picks: Art Basel Preview [ArtInfo]
Il Tempo del Postino – “The World’s First Visual Arts Opera” [ArtKey]
The art market: The biggest fairs around the world [the Financial Times]
Trading Places [the Financial Times]
Meanwhile, in Basel, Contemporary Works You Can Buy [Wall Street Journal]
Brad Pitt Buys Big at Basel, with a Little Push from Eli Broad [Wall Street Journal]
Preview sales defy all expectations [The Art Newspaper]
For Art Lovers, Basel Doesn’t End at the Fair [New York Times]
Warhol Price Slashed as Art Basel Fights Slump With Bargains [Bloomberg]
Pitt Buys in Basel as Broad Browses, $2 Million Sculpture Sells [Bloomberg]
Liste: Quality Uneven but Spirits High [ArtInfo]
To Bling or Not to Bling? [ArtInfo]
Locals Rule: Alternative Art Spaces Gear Up for Art Basel [ArtInfo]
BASELMANIA 2009 [ArtNet]
Preview sales defy all expectations [ArtNewspaper]
Forty Years of Art Basel [The Art Newspaper]

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Tracey Emin’s ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1996’ via The Independent

In an act that summons issues of appropriation of artistic works, the Chapman brothers, just before Tracey Emin’s White Cube show in London,  announce an unauthorized rebuild of Emin’s infamous tent which was destroyed by the same 2004 art storage warehouse fire that burned their work as well [The Independent]
Damien Hirst is looking for identical twins to sit in front of his spot paintings for 100 days in the Tate Modern [Boing Boing]
A Q&A with Michael Moses, co-creator of the Mei Moses Fine Art Index [Monocle]

Video from the opening of Museum Brandhorst in Munich via Vernissage TV

Video: The Museum Brandhorst, home of the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Collection, opens in Munich [Vernissage TV]
A couple volunteers to move their house into Miami MOCA for a Fritz Haeg work [Tuscaloosa News via Art in America]

Sanyu’s ‘Cat and Birds’ via Christie’s set a record at auction for Chinese oils

Hong Kong auctions small but strong [Bloomberg]
and in related, ART HK 09 successful despite market jitters and swine flu fears [Artforum]

Takeshi Murakami’s ‘The Emergence of God at the Reversal of Fate’ via SLAMXHYPE

A piece from Murakami that is 5 years in the making will be unveiled in Venice on the eve of the Biennale’s opening [Slamxhype]
Warhol authentication battle moves closer to trial [Art Newspaper]

Rendering of Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi via LA Times

Construction begins on Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, expected to be completed in 2012 or 2013 [LA Times]

Edouard Manet’s ‘The Bohemian’ at Louvre Abu Dhabi via NY Times

In related, Carol Vogel gives a preview of what is to be exhibited the Louvre Abu Dhabi [NY Times] 
and in further related, some of the works in the collection were bought in this spring’s Yves St. Laurent auction at Christie’s [Financial Times]

Kehinde Wiley’s ‘Jerry Valdes, After Titian’s (Tiziano Vecellio)’ via WSJ

Kehinde Wiley releases his first book of photographs [WallSreetJournal]
Indicted old masters dealer Larry Salander takes a job at an upstate NY gallery, selling his own paintings for $100 [Bloomberg]

Richard Serra, out-of-the-round X (1999). Album cover for Sunn O))), Monoliths & Dimensions (2009) via Frieze

Richard Serra’s work used for cover of SunnO)))’s new album Monoliths & Dimensions [Frieze]
and in related, Serra receives an honorary degree from alma mater Yale [AP]
and in further related, Yale is involved in a lawsuit over Van Gogh’s ‘The Night Café,’ allegedly stolen by the Soviet government in the 1920s [Hartford Courant via Art Market Monitor]

James Turrell’s ‘Unseen Blue’ at the James Turrell Museum via WSJ

A look at the newly-opened James Turrell Museum in Colomé, Argentina [WSJ]
A look at outsized artworks at this year’s Art Basel, featuring Sigmar Polke, Nan Goldin, Banks Violette and others [Artdaily]
and related, Frieze Art Fair announces it program for this October [Frieze]

David Zwirner via Art Info

An interview with power gallerist David Zwirner [WSJ] and more here [WSJ]
Jerry Saltz on the controversial Adel Abdessemed video of animals killing animals on display at David Zwirner [NYMag]
The Turner Prize Shortlist is announced [ArtDaily]
ArtPrize out of Grand Rapids, Michigan will award nearly $1/2 million to its winners [ArtPrize]
Art Basel announces eight works for its public art projects [ArtDaily]
A walk through Peter Brant’s new contemporary exhibition space in Greenwich, complete with a Jeff Koons sighting [NewYorker]

An annotated view of Roxy Paine’s ‘Maelstrom’ at the Met’s Roof Garden [NYMagazine]

A self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh

Book asserts that Paul Gauguin and his sword were the cause of Van Gogh’s lost ear[NYTimes] and more here’ [TelegraphUK]

A self-portrait of Paul Gauguin

And a refute of the assertion here [Bloomberg] and another non-believer here [GuardianUK]

Art Collector Nicolas Berggruen

Nicolas Berggruen to open private museum in Berlin [ArtNewspaper]
The Getty Museum will cut 205 people from its work force [NYTimes]
Sotheby’s cuts its dividends and plans to cut more jobs [Bloomberg]
Art + Auction publisher Louise T. Blouin MacBain cuts executive salaries [NYPost]

A work by Nam June Paik via  albrightknox.org

The Smithsonian receives the complete Nam June Paik archives [ArtInfo]

‘Burn, Baby, Burn’ by Roberto Matta

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired a 10′ x 30′ work by Roberto Matta [CultureMonster]

JR in Brazil

JR shows up in Brazil with more installations [WoosterCollective]
California Judge dismisses suit against MOCA regarding Takashi Murakami prints [LATimes]
NYTimes has an article on the resurgence of private sales amidst high profile failures at auctions [NYTimes]
New York Magazine on opportunities to be had in the art world [NYMag]
And an anonymous forecast on artists by their contemporaries [NYMag]
Impressionist works and their value [Economist]