Constantin Brancusi, Mademoiselle Pogany II (1925-2006), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

In 1913, Constantin Brancusi sent 5 sculptures to the now-infamous Armory Show, gently loping sculptural works that set the stage for the revolutionary sculptural abstractions that would change the face of contemporary art for good.  It was the beginning of a long and occasionally rocky relationship with the United States, including a defining court case in which the artist successfully proved his work’s position as art, and breaking the long-held definition of an artwork asbased on a model or subject, opening the door for the proliferation of American abstraction. (more…)

Two exhibitions will celebrate the seminal Armory Show of 1913 this year, “The New Spirit: American Art in the Armory Show, 1913”, which opens at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey on the exact day of the centennial anniversary; and “The Armory Show at 100”, at the New York Historical Society in the fall. The original show, organized by Walt Kuhn and Arthur B. Davies, was so shocking to American audiences that “…in Chicago, art students felt so threatened that they burned Brancusi and Matisse in effigy, a scene that a German expressionist might have done justice to – except that there was no German expressionism in the show.” (more…)

William Turnbull in 1956 via The Guardian

Artist William Turnbull has died at the age of 90. His diverse artistic production included abstract painting, figurative and minimalist metal sculpture. He was considered a forerunner to the Pop Art movement and was one the Abstract Expressionist’s earliest adopters. His work is part of major public collections including the Tate, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others.  (more…)

Pablo Picasso, Femme à la Fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) courtesy Sotheby’s

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale will commence this evening; due to the destruction from the hurricane, Sotheby’s rescheduled its Impressionist sale from November 5th to tomorrow, Thursday the 8th. Airport closures and power outages worried many that the international collecting crowd would not be able to attend. In a season that boasts over a possible billion dollars in revenue and a possible record breaking year at auction, postponement was inevitable.

Both houses are flush with important and iconic works by a plethora of leading artists such as Picasso, Monet, Kandinsky, Miro, Brancusi and Cézanne.

Wassily Kandinsky, Studie für Improvisation 8 courtesy Christie’s
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Doug Aitken, Now (2011) at 303 Gallery NY. All photos for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

AO is on site in London for this week’s Frieze Art Fair. With 173 galleries selling an estimated $350 million worth of art, a level of anxiety pervades as the week’s results will be indicative of the overall international contemporary art market. Works like Christian Jankowski’s droll The Finest Art on Water and Michael Landy’s Credit Card Destroying Machine directly comment on the world economic state, while the overall demeanor remains upbeat, with art world moguls and A-list celebrities enjoying the festivities.

Michael Landy’s Credit Card Destroying Machine (2011), Thomas Dane Gallery

More text and images after the jump…
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