Empirical Intuitive Absorption (Installation View), via Art Observed

On paper, the list of artists for Andrea Rosen’s summer exhibition, Empirical Intuitive Absorption, may raise an eyebrow or two: Fernand Léger showing alongside Graham Marks, Matthew Ronay contrasted with Serge Charchoune, all underscored by Terry Riley’s swirling compositions.  Organized by Ronay, whose recent lecture at the Perez Museum in Miami inspired the exhibition, the show takes concepts of intuition and execution as two sides of the same coin, of the replication and creation of natural models through blind aesthetic representation. (more…)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present an exhibition in the fall featuring major cubist works, including pieces by artists such as Georges Braque, Fernand Leger, and Pablo Picasso. The 79 artworks that will be exhibited in the show were donated to the Met last springby Leonard Lauder. The show will be the first time that Lauder’s gift, which is valued at over $1 billion, will be exhibited as a whole; it will run from October 20th to February 16th, 2015.

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Madonna has announced plans to auction off a painting from her personal collection, Fernand Léger’s Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge, and to donate the resulting proceeds education projects for young girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The piece will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on May 7th, and is estimated to sell for $5-7 million. “I have a great passion for art and a great passion for education,’’ Madonna said in a statement. “I cannot accept a world where women or girls are wounded, shot or killed for either going to school or teaching in girls’ schools.’’ (more…)

Pablo Picasso, Femme Assise Près D’Une Fenêtre, via Sotheby’s

Last night, Sotheby’s London hosted the first of the spring’s Modern Art auctions, with a number of works quickly soaring to high prices while others struggled to meet their estimates, most notably the centerpiece of the auction, Pablo Picasso’s “Femme Assise Près d’une Fenêtre.” (more…)

LA Art Show (2013), Installation View

The LA Art show held its opening night premier party on Wednesday, January 23rd at the LA Convention Center. During the Patron Hours, James Franco was the guest of honor and was joined by an eclectic LA crowd, with an incredible mix ranging from the overtly contemporary to the traditionally elegant. Entering its 18th year, the fair has earned a reputation for its well planned juxtaposition of traditional and modern art, and this year’s edition was no different.  The milling crowd moved easily from the traditional to contemporary sections and back, taking their time to comb through the sheer scale of the festival and its one hundred prominent worldwide galleries.

LA Art Show (2013), Installation View

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Kees Van Dongen, Deux Nus Aux Ballons Courtesy Sotheby’s
LOT SOLD. 1,314,500 USD  (Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium)

Sotheby’s concluded its Impressionist  & Modern day sale today, with a sale total (including buyer’s premium) of $39,910,775. The auction house sold 73% of lots in the morning session and 62% in the afternoon session.

Pablo Picasso, Tête d’homme Courtesy Sotheby’s
LOT SOLD. 1,142,500 USD  (Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium) (more…)

‪‬Four stolen paintings by Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Fernand Leger, and Jean DuBuffet have been recovered in Cologne, Germany, now at an estimated value of $1 million. The six works were originally stolen in 1988 from Solomon Gallery in New York. When one by Karl Apfel and another by Motherwell were recovered previously in 2003 and 2012 respectively by art collectors, they prompted the now conclusive police investigation. [AO Newslink]

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Pablo Picasso, Studio with Plaster Head (1925).  © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Modern Antiquity at the J. Paul Getty Museum displays the works of four iconic Modern Art masters who combined ancient objects with 20th-century aesthetics to create what are now seminal artworks. From Picasso’s post-cubist womanly forms to Picabia’s “transparencies,” one can experience the relation of these modern works to their classic counterparts in the setting of the Getty Museum, famous for its antiquities collection. Picasso, de Chirico, Léger, and Picabia each uniquely found inspiration in the antique classical objects in museums that they frequented. Despite the fact these ancient objects belonged to other times and cultures, these artists felt a contemporary affinity towards them as they made up part of their everyday life. This major exhibition focuses on the works these four artists made between 1905-1935.

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Cologne sentences German art fraud ring to 15 years in prison for painting 14 works sold as masterpieces by such artists as Max Ernst, Fernand Léger and others [AO Newslink]

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Suspect may have panicked and trashed 5 stolen masterworks following “one of the biggest art heists ever” in Paris last May. The works stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne were Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso, Pastoral by Henri Matisse, Olive Tree near l’Estaque by Georges Braque, Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Leger and Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani. [AO Newslink]

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Accused Picasso thief kept “small museum” of stolen art at home, with more Picassos, a Léger, Basquiat Photo [AO Newslink]

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All images are of “The Fabric Works,” an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois’s fabric drawings, sculpture, and installation at Cheim & Read.

New York gallery Cheim & Read is currently showing Louise Bourgeois’s self-defined “fabric drawings.” On display is 2002 – 2010, in form of appropriated clothing, that is, re-appropriated fabric. Closing on June 25, the exhibition is scissorwork, collage made from the very pieces that are necessary, to conceal to and to live. “The sewing,” Bourgeois wrote, “is my attempt to keep things together and make things whole.”

More images, and story, after the jump…
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Henri Matisse, Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV), conceived c. 1930 and cast 1978 (est. $25-35 million, realized $48.8 million), via Christies.com

Wednesday evening’s Impressionist & Modern auction at Christie’s in New York featured 84 lots (not including lot 27, which was withdrawn) that were expected to fetch between $198-286.6 million. The sale realized a total of $231.4 million and had a sell through rate of 80% by lot and 88% by value. Like the Sotheby’s sale  on Tuesday night, a handful of the top lots found buyers after enthusiastic bidding while the majority of lots were sold within or below presale estimates, or were bought in.

Still, the aggressive bidding that set two artists’ records was largely unexpected. Perhaps garnering the most post auction attention,  the sale of Matisse’s Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV), an impressively sized bronze sculpture of a woman’s back, went to Larry Gagosian–on behalf of an anonymous client–for $48.8 million. Similarly, Violon et guitare, a 1913 painting by Juan Gris, generously outperformed its $18-25 million estimate, fetching $28.6 million from a European collector. Though the top buyers identities remain unknown, sources such as the New York Times have speculated the involvement of hedge fund billionaire and collector Steven A. Cohen, who was present at the event and has bought through Larry Gagosian in the past.

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The room fills at Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale in New York, via Art Observed

More after the jump…

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Louise Bourgeois in her Brooklyn studio in 1992. Photo courtesy The New York Times.

Louise Bourgeois, one of the world’s most celebrated sculptors, passed away today at the age of 98. The news was announced by an Italian foundation preparing an exhibition of the artist’s work in Venice, and was confirmed by Wendy Williams, the managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio. The cause of death was heart attack, and occurred at the Beth Israel Medical Center. Bourgeois was a leader of feminist art, and is known most recently for her large-scale metal spider sculptures, as well as psychologically-charged roughly-textured depictions of sex organs.

Bourgeois’s 30-ft spider sculpture outside the Tate Modern in 2007. Photo courtesy the BBC.

More text and images after the jump…

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The entrance to Art Basel Miami Beach 2009

“There’s a lot less ornament and a lot more substance,” declared Micky Wolfson Jr., founder of Miami Beach’s Wolfsonian Museum – this phrase sums-up many reflections on the eighth edition of Art Basel Miami Beach closed on Sunday, December 6 where smaller parties dominated and collectors purchased cautiously. In keeping with tradition edgy Contemporary pieces were bestsellers at Art Basel Miami Beach with larger, museum-targeted pieces dominating the booths along with traditional works by Popular Latin American artists such as the Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco. Interestingly, while many Asian and European buyers skipped the fair, additional Portuguese speakers were hired to aid Latin American buyers who were out in force.

Santigold performs at the Raleigh Hotel

Much more text, images and a full round-up of related links after the jump….
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Jeune Arabe, Kees Van Dongen (1877) sold for $13.8 million – a new record for the artist

In contrast to the slim pickings made available to buyers at Christie’s Modern and Impressionist Evening sale on November 3, last night’s sale at Sotheby’s offered many iconic works that had bidders excited and which resulted in an auction that Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department in New York described as “a shot in the arm for the art market. A real vote of confidence.” The evening’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, commented that after all his time at Sotheby’s he had never seen such an active sale. And indeed it was, with a grand total of $181,760,000 over a high-end estimate of $163,600,000, this sale marked the first time since May 2006 that Sotheby’s in New York have exceeded their top estimate.

L’Homme qui Chavire, Alberto Giacometti – an instantly recognizable icon of the modern era cast in 1951. Sold for a remarkable $19,346,500.

More text, images, related links and video after the jump….

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Composition avec bleu, rouge, jaune et noir (1922) by Piet Mondrian, part of the Yves Saint Laurent – Pierre Berge collection; sold for â‚¬21.6 million, beating its estimate range of â‚¬7 million to â‚¬10 million and setting an at-auction record for the artist. Image via Christie’s.

Following three days of viewing by the public in the majestic setting of the Grand Palais in Paris, Christie’s kicked off its marathon three day, six session auction of the vast Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berger collection–700 pieces collected over five decades.  A moribund art market and legal manoeuvrings by the Chinese government were not enough to put a dent on the first day of auctions, as Christie’s realized $264 million including commissions, setting a record for the sale of a personal collection, beating out a 1997 auction of Victor and Sally Ganz’ extensive private collection which sold for $206.5 million. This first auction focused on Impressionist and modern art, with 61 lots on sale.

While Picasso’s Instruments de musique sur un gueridon, a synthetic cubist piece from 1912 estimated at €25 million to â‚¬30 million, failed to sell, records were broken for Matisse, Brancusi and Mondrian. Other high priced lots by blue chip names sold very well to a field of over 1,200 participants, with another 100 partaking in the sale via phone. The Grand Palais served as a giant showroom, conceived as a recreation of sorts of St Laurent’s and Berge’s apartment in Paris’ 7th arrondissement. Over 30,000 thousand people are expected to visit the Palais during the course of the public exhibition and the auction.

“This is a very important auction,” said Souren Melikian, the longtime art editor of The International Herald Tribune. “There are a large number of high-quality objects, not necessarily as stunning as billed, but high quality bought over a large number of years. And they come to auction at a time when the market is winding down, when there is less available than 20 years ago.” [Via the New York Times]

Auction page: Christie’s
Fondation Yves Saint Laurent – Pierre Berger
Art World’s Stimulus Package: Matisse, Mondrian, Not Picasso [WSJ]
Christie’s Laurent Sale Fetches Record $262 Million [Bloomberg]
Yves Saint Laurent sale proves art is in fashion [Times UK]
Yves Saint Laurent Art Sale’s 1st Night Brings In $264 Million [NYT]
Saint Laurent and His Art Still Make a Sensation [NYT]
Treasures, after a fashion [FT]
YSL art auction sets new record [Guardian UK]
Record for Matisse and Others at Christie’s Sale of Yves Saint Laurent Collection [ArtDaily]
Saint Laurent art sale raises $264 million in first night [ArtForum]
Record bids for YSL private art [BBC]
Obituary: Yves Saint Laurent [BBC]
China tries to stop Paris auction [BBC]

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On Wednesday November 5th, Christie’s conducted its sale of the estates of two separate widows (the Alice Lawrence and Hillman family collections) bearing similar works of mostly late 19th and early to mid-20th century pieces, in an auction thus titled “The Modern Age.” These auctions included works by headliners such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Mark Rothko, Fernand Léger, Edouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio De Chirico and René Magritte. The event followed the latest Sotheby’s auction for Impressionist and Modern art on Monday (as covered by AO here) which disappointedly totaled $223.8 million against the $338 million low estimate. Additionally, the Modern Age sale corresponded to a particularly steep post-presidential race drop in the public equity markets in which the Dow plunged 486 points.

The auction results were no surprise considering the current tepid environment in the art market: The two collections listed 58 lots, of which 17 did not sell, for a total sale of $47 million, which was less than half of its $104 million low estimate. Christie’s said 51% of buyers were American and 29% European. Though Surrealist lots by Magritte (see image above) and De Chirico (see below) did well, of the lots that were brought in were the most expensive of the sale, notably, Manet’s “Fillette sur un banc/Girl on a Bench,” a 1880 portrait of a girl with a wide-brim hat estimated at $12-18 million (see image below), and Rothko’s “No. 43 (Mauve),” estimated at $20-30 million. Other works by Cézanne, Renoir, and de Kooning also failed to sell.

Bleak Night at Christie’s, in Both Sales and Prices [NY Times]
Art-Market Rout Persists: Rothko Snubbed at Auction [Bloomberg]
Buyers Cool to Private-Collection Art at Christies [Reuters]
Market Forces Bring Fire-Sale Prices for Christie’s “Modern Age” [Art Info]
The Modern Age: Property from the Hillman Family Collection [Art Daily]
Christie’s Wan and Woeful Night [CultureGrrl]
Christie’s Website

more auction results, quotes and images after the jump…

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Le Grande Julie, Fernand Léger (1945) via Foundation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler Presents Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York, at their space in Switzerland through September 7, 2008. On view at the exhibition are over 80 paintings, several works on paper, an original Léger film from 1924 called Ballet mécanique, in addition to approximately 20 pieces by American artists that exemplify some sort of influence from Léger and his work. Exhibition is more than just a retrospective of work completed by Léger; it also focuses on how the artist influenced the American Pop movement by exhibiting work from other well-known artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, Robert Rauschenberg, Al Held, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, and Frank Stella, all of which reference Léger’s work in one way or another. Philippe Büttner of Fondation Beyeler is responsible for curating the Retrospective.

Fondation Beyeler Presents Today in Basel Fernand Léger: Paris – New York [ArtDaily]
Fondation Beyeler, Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York [Beyeler]
Art Exhibitions: Fondation Beyeler [Yucolo]

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Hirst and McLaren via the Daily News

Damien Hirst buys vintage clothing by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, which turns out to be fake and more here [NY Daily News] [Vogue]
Parisian show of works without owners, once collected for Hitler’s super-museum [Bloomberg]
Beijing’s Dashanzi arts district is booming [NYTimes]
Review of Harvard economist-written “best book on the economics of the contemporary art market” [Portfolio]
Jackie Wullschlager on Communist artist Fernand Léger: Picasso’s “tubist” [Financial Times]

Image via Art Daily

The fifth annual Moscow World Fine Art Fair has drawn attention and the bank accounts of buyers from around the world. Travelers from Kyoto, New York, and Paris came to take advantage of Russia’s new exploding luxury goods market. There are 56 fine and decorative art vendors and 20 jewelry vendors who enjoyed brisk sales. There is €1 billion euros ( $1.6 billion dollars) worth of art at the fair. A highlight of the fair is Spanish artist José-María Cano’s oversized Wall Street Journal style illustrations of leading Russian personalities. The fair runs from May 28 – June 2nd.

Moscow World Fine Art Fair
Moscow Fair Brings Luxuries to Nouveau Riche [Art Info]
International Dealers Have $1.6 Billion of Art on Offer at the Moscow World Fine Art Fair [Art Daily]
A new Powerhouse for Moscow’s new rich [NY Sun]

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Claude Monet, Le Pont du Chemin de fer a Argenteuil, (1873) via Bloomberg

A series of spring auctions in New York have proven to be successful despite some recent speculation about the market’s weakness due to setbacks in the financial and real estate markets. Bloomberg reported that Sotheby’s lost half of its value in the past year, but the company, at their Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on May 7^th, sold a total of $235.3 million in their 52-lot auction, hovering right in the middle of their anticipated $203.9 million to $280.1 million range.

In the 58-lot auction at Christie’s on the previous evening, the sales totaled $277.3 million, just under their $287 million to $405 million estimate for the evening’s sales. This was the first time in four years that Christie’s sold beneath the total estimate. The Christie’s auction was dominated by European buyers, while, at Sotheby’s, Americans bought 67 percent of the sales. More details of each each auction after the jump.

Art: Auction Jitters [WSJ]
Putting a Price on Mao’s Head [WSJ]
Record Leger, Munch Sales Lead Slim Sotheby’s Auction [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s Posts Loss on Lower Sales, Higher Salaries [Bloomberg]
Collectors Shrug Off Market Woes [Financial Times]
Americans Heaviest Bidders [NY Times]
Monet and Rodin Set Price Records at Christie’s [NY Times]
Auction houses put faith in $1.8bn art sales [Financial Times]
Art market shows strength at Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art [Herald Tribune]
Record Monet Fails to Stem Dip in Christie’s Impressionist Sale [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art Sets Record for Fernand Leger [Art Daily]
Monet and Rodin Set Price Records at Christie’s [NY Times]

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