A thorough forensic study dating Francisco Goya’s private series “Witches and Old Women” has resulted in an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London, showing the works in chronological order for the first time.  “His work is all about capturing that human spark,” says Goya scholar Juliet Wilson-Bareau.  “From his youth onwards, he observed everything that life had to offer. He was utterly fascinated by the human animal form from the word go.” (more…)

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Great deeds – against the dead!, (2003), via Yoshii Gallery

From May 1^st until June 29^th the Yoshii Gallery, New York is exhibiting a series of works entitled Insult to Injury by Jake and Dinos Chapman. For Insult to Injury, the artists reworked Francisco de Goya’s The Disasters of War, a set of 80 etchings, by changing all the visible faces of victims to heads of clowns and puppies.

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Nobody Knows Why, (2003), via Yoshii Gallery

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Trance, the newest film by British director Danny Boyle features a selection of three recreations of Goya’s Witches in the Air, done by British artist Charlie Cobb.  The replicas were used to emphasize the densely textured surface of the work, as digital replicas or prints can often appear distorted or unconvincing on film.  The work involved the acquiring of rare paints, as well as hours of study viewing the work.  “Just to stand in front of it, you get a real feel for the painting.” says Cobb.
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Joseph Mallrond William Turner, Heidelberg With a Rainbow, via Sotheby’s

It was an unpredictable time for the art auction this past week, as collectors descended on New York City  for Christie’s and Sotheby’s spring auction of Old Masters and Renaissance art work last week, driving up prices on a number of works while other pieces failed to command bids.

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Jake and Dinos Chapman, The End of Fun (2010), via White Cube Gallery

Since their graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1990, brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman have continually pushed the envelope with their iconoclastic, ambitious sculptures.  Frequently incorporating what they call “bankrupt” imagery, so frequently used by contemporary that it has lost much of its original meaning, the artists create large-scale sculptural works that have frequently drawn fierce reactions from critics and gallery visitors.

Jake and Dinos Chapman, The End of Fun (2010), via State Hermitage Museum (more…)

X-ray of Goya portrait reveals possible portrait by Goya of Joseph Bonaparte beneath Don Ramón Satué [AO Newslink]

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From the Marc Quinn exhibition currently hosted by the Salzburg branch of Galerie Thaddeus Ropac.

It’s the last chance to view works by Marc Quinn at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg.  “Material Dematerialize” is the artist’s first solo show at the gallery.  It is a mix of painting and sculpture which focuses on the virtual and the real: where they overlap, where the lines blur and where the material dematerializes.  All works in the show are exhibited publicly for the first time.

Related links:
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac – Marc Quinn
Marc Quinn Bio

Marc Quinn, Mirage, at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

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Lo Spagnoletto’s ‘Prometheus’ from the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson, estimated to sell between £800,000-1 million, via Sotheby’s

Old Masters Week begins in London, with auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, and 23 London galleries joining together for the first Masters Painting Week, running July 4-10. running concurrently with Masters Drawing Week, which began in 2001 and offers works on paper from the 14th century to the present day.  Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Evening Sale takes place tonight, with a special sale of works from the collection of Johnson & Johnson heiress, Barbara Piasecka Johnson. The 51 lots in the Johnson collection evening sale have a low estimate of £5.2 million, with the star lot, Lo Spagnoletto’s ‘Prometheus,’ estimated to bring in between £800,000-1 million. The rest of the evening sale, with 48 lots from other sellers, has a low estimate of £24 million. The four top lots are paintings by Goya, Fragonard, Pieter Brueghel II, and George Stubbs, all with estimates between £2.5-3.5 million. Christie’s Old Masters & 19th Century Art Evening Sale takes place tomorrow, with 66 lots from the 14th century through the late 19th century, designed to encourage cross-over buying. The top lots in that sale are paintings by Michele Giovanni Marieschi and Fra Bartolommeo, both with estimates of £2-3 million. Dealers and the auction houses combined, Master Paintings Week expects to bring in £83.5 million. Strong sales are expected in the wake of the contemporary market’s collapse. While prices for contemporary art dropped 76.2% since May of last year, according to ArtTactic, old masters prices have remained relatively steady, with increased interest by collectors looking for stabilty.

Old Masters & 19th Century Art Evening Sale [Christie’s, Wednesday, July 8, 2009]
Old Master Paintings Evening Sale [Sotheby’s, Tuesday, July 7, 2009]
Master Paintings Week [July 4-10, 2009]
Old masters challenge contemporary art [Telegraph]
Johnson & Johnson Heiress Paintings Top $136.3 Million Art Sale [Bloomberg]
Old Masters, New Interest [Wall Street Journal]
Art market news: Old Master Week [Telegraph]

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Pablo Picasso’s Boy Leading a Horse” (1905 to 1906)  via the MoMA

Guggenheim and MoMA keep two works by Picasso after settlement with heirs alleging works were sold under Nazi duress [Bloomberg]
The austerity of Christie’s and Sotheby’s during leaner times in the art market [NYimes]
In related, how major London galleries are cutting staff and shuttering spaces [TheArtNewspaper]

Railcars and rooftops bear JR’s imagery in Kibera, Kenya via WoosterCollective

Street artist JR wheatpastes his art on 2,000 square meters of rooftops and railcars in a Kenyan slum [WoosterCollective]
On the practice of hypothecating fine art as collateral for loans [Financial Times]

Damien Hirst’s “Human skull in space” (oil on canvas), cover art for the 150th anniversary edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species – via the The GuardianUK

Damien Hirst does cover design for the 150 year anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species [GuardianUK]
The rise of Nicola Vassell, from gallerina to Director at Deitch Projects in New York [NYTimes]

The Colossus, historically attributed to Goya, via Reuters

Chief conservator of the Prado announces that their Colossus was probably created by Goya’s apprentice [Reuters]
The Dallas Museum of Art is in acquisition mode [Artdaily]
A profile of artist Walton Ford, creator of dramatic naturalist canvases [NewYorker via C-Monster]

La Surprise, Jean-Antoine Watteau (c. 1718) via Christie’s

Christie’s Old Master Sales that took place last Tuesday, July 8th, featured quite a few ‘lost’ works of art, and generated over $47 million. In addition to the three rediscovered Goya drawings which sold for a combined $8 million, La Surprise by Jean-Antoine Watteau led the Old Masters Sale with a record breaking $24,376,385. The Watteau painting had been lost for almost 200 years, and was assumed to be destroyed until it appeared last year in a private English collection. It is the highest paid price for a French Old Master painting sold at auction to date, and well exceeded it’s $5.9-$9.8 million estimate. The sale also featured artwork by Anthony Van Dyck, Pieter Brueghel II, Thomas Lawrence, William Larkin, Jan Josefsz Van Goyen, and many more notable old masters.

Rediscovered Watteau Masterpiece Sells for Record $24.4 Million [Artdaily]
A Watteau sets record at £12.36 million in an uneven Old Masters sale [IHT]
Lost Watteau Fetches Record; Old Masters Languish at Christie’s [Bloomberg]
ÄŒR buys 8 Liechtenstein works at Christie’s auction [Praguemonitor]
Goya sketches “lost” for 130 years sold at auction [ReutersUK]
Goya Boosts Christie’s Drawings Sale [NYSun]
Francisco de Goya at Christie’s London [Coxsoft]
‘Lost’ Goya drawings sold for £4m [BBC]
Art buyers find ‘lost’ works [LATimes]
Christie’s Auction Results [Christie’s]
Goya Boosts Christie’s Old Masters Drawing Sale on Tuesday [Artobserved]

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Bajan Riñendo, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) via BBC

Three drawings from Spanish artist, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, sold at Christie’s Old Masters Auction on July 8th for $7.9 million, double the pre-sale estimate. The three drawings had been rediscovered after being ‘lost’ for the past 130 years. The trio was last recorded at an auction in Paris in 1877, and did not resurface until the Old Masters Auction at Christie’s last Tuesday.

Goya sketches “lost” for 130 years sold at auction [ReutersUK]
Goya Boosts Christie’s Drawings Sale [NYSun]
Francisco de Goya at Christie’s London [Coxsoft]
‘Lost’ Goya drawings sold for £4m [BBC]
Lost Watteau Fetches Record; Old Masters Languish at Christie’s [Bloomberg]
‘Lost’ Goya works sell for 4m pounds at Christie’s [Economic Times]
Christie’s Auction Results [Christie’s]

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Marc Jacobs channels Andy Warhol via Interview Magazine

Interview Magazine, founded by Warhol, dedicates this month to Warhol [Interview Magazine]
Bilbao Guggenheim makes a $156M expansion into the countryside, more here [Reuters] [NYTimes]
Tracey Emin’s 1st retrospective will be in Edinburgh [Times Online]
Steve McQueen, an artist working primarily in film, represent Britain at Venice Biennale [Guardian]
A major Goya was in the end painted by his pupil [Independent]
Victor Pinchuk and Carlos Slim Helu newly make Top 10 of top 200 art collectors [ArtNews]

Goya, Grande hazana! Con muertos via ArtNet

Through August 1, the Peter Blum Gallery in New York presents Goya’s print series “The Disasters of War”, a portrait of cruelty, aggression, atrocities, and man’s inhumanity towards his fellow man.  Violent, gore filled, and graphic in nature, Goya depicts Spain’s War of Independence against Napoleon.

Desastres de la Guerra [Peter Blum Gallery]
Francisco de Goya [NY Times]
Francisco de Goya: Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) [ArtNet]
Goya Does Gore at Peter Blum [Village Voice]
Francisco de Goya: Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) [Art Log]
Francisco de Goya [NY Artbeat]

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Francisco Goya The Witches’ Flight via Goya in Times of War [Museo Nacional del Prado]

For the 200th anniversary of the events of May 1808 and the start of the Spanish War of Independence, the Museo del Prado presents a major exhibition of Goya’s work. Almost 200 works by the artist are currently shown.

Goya in Times of War [Museo Nacional del Prado]
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The stained cape of his heart [Financial Times]
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Prado Pulls Goya Painting [ArtInfo]
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Goya at the Top of His Game [New York Sun]

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