The Smithsonian has announced its reception of an important David Smith sculpture, Agricola IV from 1952, a work from one of the artist’s most renowned series.  “‘Agricola IV’ is a transformative acquisition, one that anchors the story of sculpture in America and shows how Smith changed the arc of visual expression in three -dimensions in the 20th century,” Elizabeth Broun, director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, said. (more…)

Louise Bourgeois, Spider (1997), via Rae Wang for Art Observed

Christie’s continued its impressive run of record-setting sales last night, with a steady, competitive sale tonight that ultimately brought a final tally of $331,809,000, with 13 of the 70 lots offered passing (barring several withdrawn, high-priced lots).  (more…)

Princeton University has announced that Samuel Hunter, professor of art and archaeology, emeritus, at the university, has died at 91. Before Hunter came to Princeton in 1969, he had already spent over 20 years as a curator, museum director, and professor of modern and contemporary art. As associate curator of painting and sculpture at MoMA, Hunter organized the first major exhibitions of work by Jackson Pollock and David Smith at the museum. The author of over 50 books on modern and contemporary art, Hunter has been called “one of the pioneers of the study of modern art as an academic field”. (more…)