AO Art Observed™

Rob Pruitt, Viagra Falls (2008) via Tony Shafrazi Gallery

“Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns?” runs from May 9 – July 12 at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York. Gavin Brown and Swiss artist Urs Fischer organized this show, which has been garnering a strong amount of publicity. Be sure to click on Art Observed’s exclusive covering of the opening. The exhibition celebrates juxtapositions throughout art and pays homage to Shafrazi’s legendary defacing of Picasso in the seventies by irreverent displays of art work out of context with traditional presentation. Different mediums, spaces, and uses of objects are shown. There are works from a wide range of artists, including,  Jeff Koons, Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, to Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Tony Shafrazi Gallery
When Artworks Collide [NY Times]
Tony Shafrazi Defaces ‘Guernica’ Again [NY Magazine]
Picks: Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns?” [ArtForum]
Tony Shafrazi Defaces ‘Guernica’ Again [NYMag]
AO on site: Fischer & Brown at Tony Shafrazi Gallery [ArtObserved]

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Lucian Freud, Naked Portrait with Reflection, (1980) via Evening Standard

Following the success of Post-war and Contemporary art sales in New York, Christies has announced they will offer a rare Francis Bacon painting and a Lucian Freud masterpiece for his London auction.  These two pieces are considered the most valuable and important works to come up for auction. 

Boom for Bacon and Freud [Evening Standard]
Freud Masterpiece and Bacon Triptych Highlight Christie’s London Auction [ArtDaily]

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Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich via impactlab

Last week’s contemporary auctions in New York were anchored by two record-setting painting sales.  Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold at Christie’s for $33.6 million and Francis Bacon’s Triptych sold at Sotheby’s for $86 million.  It has just been reported that billionaire Roman Abramovich was the buyer behind both deals.

Roman Abramovich [Forbes]
Abramovich Brings Home the Bacon (and Freud) [Art Newspaper]
Abramovich Sets Record Art Transfer [Times UK]
Abramovich spends $120 Million [Bloomberg]
Dasha Zhukova to open Russian Gallery [Art Newspaper]
Abramovich Revealed as Freud and Bacon Buyer [Telegraph]
Bacon Tops Biggest Sales at Sotheby’s [ArtObserved]
Freud Sets Records at Christie’s [ArtObserved]
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image via Bloomberg

Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, sold for an impressive $86 million dollars last night, crushing the contemporary art auction record and posing a serious counter-arguement to those who believe the recession has worked itself into the art market. The image depicts a headless Promethean being devoured by vultures; a reflection of Greek Mythology. Bacon’s painting was offered by the Moeuix family, producers of Château Petrus wines. The $86 million sale contributed to Sotheby’s triumph over Christie’s total this year. Last night, the Triptych became the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever auctioned.

Bacon’s Headless Corpse Tops Sales at Sotheby’s [Bloomberg]
Record Sale, $86 Million [NYT]
Bacon Sets New Record [BBC]
Triptych Leads Record Sales at Sotheby’s [International Herald Tribune]
Bidding Strong at Christie’s Postwar and Contemporary Art Sale [NYT]   

The Scene at Christie’s via WSJ

Last night’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christie’s brought in a total of $348.3 million, close to the top of their pre-sale range. “The very important went very high,” said fashion designer and collector Valentino Garavani.  Only 3 of the 57 lots in the auction did not sell and more than a third exceeded their estimated sale prices.

Freud’s Fat Sue Sells for $33.6 Million in New York [Bloomberg]
U.S. Buyers Drive Christie’s $350 Million Modern Art Sale [NYTimes]
Friends Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud on top of world art market [Times Online]
Eight Records at Christie’s [NYSun]
Last Night’s Sale Brings in $348 million [Conde Nast Portfolio]
Bidding Strong at Christie’s Postwar and Contemporary Art Sale [NYTimes] 
Impressionist, postwar and contemporary artworks auctions could reach $1.8bn [Financial Times] 
Record Sale for Piece by Living Artist Shattered by Freud [National] 
 

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Image via Bloomberg

On May 4^th, The Art Newspaper revealed the buyers of five of last year’s highest priced artworks at auction. The Al-Thani ruling family of Qatar was one of the previously anonymous buyers of three of these through Sotheby’s in May and June of 2007.

Revealed: $72.8m Rockefeller Rothko has gone to Qatar [The Art Newspaper]
Qatari Ruling Family Revealed as $72.8 Million Rothko Buyers [ArtInfo]
Qatar rulers pay £26m for Bacon [Times Online]
Revealed: Record-Breaking Rothko In Qatar [Art Forum] (more…)

Zaha Hadid and Karl Lagerfeld, image via Vanity Fair

Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid’s roving Chanel art space [Vanity Fair]
Art as an opaque, high risk/return asset class [FTimes]
Sotheby’s posts quarterly loss on lower commission margins [WSJ]
DiCaprio, his bike and his mom show up at Bonham’s NY debut [NYPost]
Alanna Heiss is PS1 [NY Mag]
A 5-part video series on Francis Bacon [Ubuweb via C-Monster]

Triptych by Bacon via Bloomberg

In May Sotheby’s New York will auction a Francis Bacon painting which could fetch a record of $70 million. The triptych and was painted in 1976 when the Bacon lived in Paris, comprised of oil and pastel on canvas in three parts.

Record for Bacon’s painting [Bloomberg]
Bacon’s most important work in sale [Guardian.co.uk]
Sotheby’s sets record with Bacon nude [ArtObserved]

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Francis Bacon portrait being auctioned via Sotheby’s via sgallery.net

The evening sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury & Co. this February raised the most money ever for a series of contemporary sales. However, a report issued by an art market firm on Thursday indicated that the majority of items sold at the low end of their estimates, meaning that the enormous sales numbers may be masking a more disappointing trend.

Sotheby’s sets auction record with sale of Bacon nude [ArtObserved]
Sotheby’s stock down 7% after report is issued [Bloomberg]
Art Report say 60% of February sales lots missed estimate [Bloomberg]
February auction activity roundup [ArtObserved]
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“Study of a Nude with Figure in a Mirror,” Francis Bacon via Bloomberg

A Francis Bacon painting of a female nude was sold last night in London, for £20 million ($39.7 million).

Auctions record at Sothby’s [BBC News]
Bacon’s painting sold for £20 million [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s triumph in London last night [Guardian.co.uk]
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction [the Economist]

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Zhang Xiaogang “Big Family” via Artprice

Sotheby’s gears up this year for its February 27th contemporary auction with flag-ship pieces such as Warhol’s 1986 `Three Self- Portraits’ and Bacon’s 1969 painting`Study of Nude With Figure in a Mirror’ as well as a more trendy selection of Chinese contemporary art.

Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s to Offer Three Self Portraits by Andy Warhol [Arts Gallery]
Bacon Nude, Warhol Self-Portraits Star in U.K. Sales [Bloomberg]
London’s Grand Finale [The New York Sun]
Sotheby’s Offers $19 Million of Chinese Contemporary Art [Bloomberg]

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Video Still of Sotheby’s Francis Outred introducing auction items via Sotheby’s (Click to View)
Sotheby’s director, Francis Outred, gives a walkthrough of various contemporary pieces available in their upcoming auction in London. He details works from Lucio Fontana, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, and Andreas Gursky. The auction will take place February 27th at 7:00pm.

Sotheby’s Private View [Sotheby's]

“Triptych 1974-77″ via The New York Times

Last night Francis Bacon’s “Triptych 1974-77,” post war impressionist painting, was sold for £26.3 million at Christie’s International’s London Auction House. Christie’s sold the Triptych at their Post War Art Evening Sale, which did not do as well as Sotheby’s Modern and Impressionist Art Sale the previous night. The sale was the equivalent of $46.1 million dollars, after fees, and fell just under the presale estimate of $50 million to $70 million.

Bacon Fetches $51.1 Million; Demand Weakens in Christie’s Sale [Bloomberg]
Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale [Christie's]
Bacon’s homage to dead lover sells for £26m [The Independant]
Triptych by Francis Bacon Is Sold for $46.1 Million [The New York Times]

details of auction after the jump

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Francis Bacon image courtesy of Reuters UK

Christie’s claims Bacon to fetch ₤25 million ($49 million) [Reuters UK]
Former corporate attorney accuses Samsung of massive Art Fraud [The Art Newspaper]
Hermitage secures Hirst Skull for March [Bloomberg]
Chapman Bros., Jake and Dinos - to spruce up Big Brother house [ Times Online UK]
Hugo Boss Prize Finalists Named [NYT]