Phillips is claiming to have set a record for the highest price paid for a Latin American artist’s work, after selling a Diego Rivera piece for $15.7 million in a private transaction.  “This is, by my estimation, the best easel painting in private hands outside of Mexico, a celebration of indigenous culture,” said August Uribe, Phillips’s deputy chairman of the Americas. “Rivera made a purposeful break from European modernism to create a national identity through the visual arts.” (more…)

Gearing up for a performance piece on the fourth floor.  All images for Art Observed by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand.

The festive albeit politically charged atmosphere at the 2012 76th annual Whitney Biennial‘s pre-show event was practically interdependent, with the political climate not only informing the sentiments of viewers, but arguably the art itself. While protesters outside encouraged entering guests to “Occupy the Whitney,” antagonizing Sotheby’s and Deutsche Bank for withholding benefits from workers and developing financial strategies to benefit the ‘one percent,’ art indoors at the biennial also challenged artistic convention against the same political scale, with over 50 artists showing work.

Chuck Close touring the second floor

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Indian Warrior (1931)

The work of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is showcased on MoMA‘s second floor through May 14^th. The exhibition’s opening on November 13^th coincided with Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park, allowing the originally leftist murals to resonate with a contemporary, politicized audience. The murals, which have not been shown since their first presentation 80 years ago, are accompanied by drawings and related archival paraphernalia. A concurrent catalogue with essays by curator Leah Dickerman is also associated.

Diego Rivera, Frozen Assets (1931-1932). All Images Courtesy of MoMA Interactive.

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Cubist Still Life by Arshile Gorky, one of the paintings stolen from the Los Angeles’s couples home via LA Times

An unidentified elderly couple of Enico, Los Angeles were at home preoccupied while a thief, or possible thieves, entered their home and stole an art collection worth millions of dollars. At least a dozen paintings were stolen including works by Marc Chagall, Hans Hofmann, Chaim Soutine, Arshile Gorky, Emil Nolde, Lyonel Feininger, Diego Rivera, and Kees van Dongen. Each stolen work was worth at least six figures, some of them closer to $1 million. While the theft occurred in August police waited until September to publicly announce the crime and the $200,000 reward for information leading to the return of the paintings. The couple remains unidentified by police as does the source of the reward money. It remains unclear if was a single thief, or a group. Police are also uncertain if it was a common thief-likely to pawn off the paintings immediately, or a more sophisticated thief with ties to collectors or criminal gangs specializing in pilfered artwork. Art theft is by FBI estimates is a $6-billion-a-year global industry.

Swift L.A. art heist claims couple’s collection worth millions [LA Times]
A Dozen Artworks Stolen from L.A. Collectors’ Home [ArtInfo]
Find stolen paintings, collect $200,000 [Two Coats of Paint]

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