François Pinault has shortened the timeline for the completion of his private museum in Paris, bumping the completion date up to 2018.  The shortened timeframe was in part driven by recent terrorist attacks in France.  “In the face of this barbarism, the only possible reaction is to move forward,” he said. “As André Malraux said, ‘Art is the shortest path from man to man.’ That is what prompted me to accelerate the completion of my project in Paris.” (more…)

Francois Pinault has signed a 50-year lease on the Bourse de Commerce building in Paris, which will serve as the site of his €1.2bn collection. “It is great to have our captains of industry helping to fly our colors. With this and the Fiac art fair, Paris is regaining its place in contemporary art,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo says. (more…)

François Pinault, the Christie’s owner and art collector was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal, highlighting the executive’s passion for contemporary art, and the current show of work by Rudolf Stingel at Pinault’s recently purchased Venetian palace the Palazzo Grassi.  “He is a sponge. He is willing to learn all the time,” says Elena Geuna, the former director of Sotheby’s Europe. (more…)

The Christie’s-owned Haunch of Venison Gallery has announced that it will close both its Chelsea and London galleries, and will focus exclusively on the secondary market.  While Christie’s owner Francois Pinault has not commented, some speculate that the galleries were never intended to be permanent in the first place.   (more…)

FIAC Grand Palais, photo courtesy We Want Contrast for Art Observed

FIAC, one of Europe’s main three art fairs, held its vernissage last night in Paris at the Grand Palais. Dealers saw strong blue chip sales, including an $8 million Joan Miro panting, despite concerns over France’s proposed increase in wealth taxes and a strong Frieze and Frieze Masters in London the week before.

Gilles Fuches, President Prix Marcel Duchamp

All photos by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

The crowd at FIAC

FIAC has added more contemporary work from the second half of the 20th century in the last two years, attracting big collectors like Francois Pinault, Bernard Arnault, Alberto Mugrabi and Omer Koc.

(more…)

Paul Cézanne, Card Players, Qatar, via Vanity Fair

The royal family of Qatar has just publicized its $250-$300 million purchase of Card Players by Paul Cézanne. The work is one in a series of five, but until now was the only one remaining in private collection. Previous owner, Greek shipping mogul George Embiricos, became receptive to the sale just prior to his death in 2011. Vanity Fair reports that William Acquavella and Larry Gagosian were outbid for Card Players, at comparable amounts rumored up to $220 million.  Even the low estimate of $250 million, factoring in exchange rate and tax fees, marks the highest sum in history ever paid for a single work of art in either auction or private sale by double.

Paul Cézanne, Card Players, Metropolitan Museum of Art, via New York Times

As the title indicates, the series depicts two low-brow card players in Aix-en-Provence. The peasants idealize an old world culture, nostalgic even to the middle-aged artist when he painted from his family’s country estate in the 1890s. At the time, Cézanne was working alone, and his isolation reflects in the sparing surfaces and minimal compositions of the varying card scenes. Only the subtlest of changes differentiate one painting from the next: most notably, the cards themselves change as the games progress, while the faces and suggestively sluggish interactions do not.

(more…)

All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

“In Praise of Doubt” is the second half of two exhibitions currently staged by the Francois Pinault Foundation. It housed in the Punta della Dogana just a stone’s throw from Palazzo Grassi, where part one, “The World Belongs to You” can be found. The two exhibitions share a curator, Caroline Bourgeois, and both run in parallel with the Venice Biennale 2011.

The exhibition presents both historical pieces and new works, several of which are site-specific projects. The theme, as hinted by its title, is uncertainty, the questioning of identity, and revisiting intimate space in relation to the space of the artwork. The artists included are art world regulars Adel Abdesemed, Marcel Broodthaers, Maurizio Cattelan, Subodh Gupta, David Hammons, Roni Horn, Thomas Houseago, Donald Judd, Edward Keinholz, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Julie Mehretu, Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Schutte, Sturtevant, Tatiana Trouve, and Chen Zhen. Out of these twenty, a surprising half have never been exhibited before in an exhibition by the Francois Pinault Foundation.

More text and images after the jump… (more…)

All photos by Caroline Claisse.

Currently on view at the Punta della Dogana, housed in the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, is “The World Belongs to You.” Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the exhibition brings together artists from different generations, geographical locations, and practices to explore history and current realities.

The Punta della Dogana became the official exhibition space of Francois Pinault‘s private collection in 2006, when he purchased the building from the city of Venice. It now houses works from internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Cattelan, and Takashi Murakami.

Urs Fischer’s violet piano at Punta della Dogana.

More text and images after the jump… (more…)

–>
Quilt by Alexandre da Cunha, and Six Billboards by Angus Fairhust, Art Basel.  Image via Art Daily, AP Photo/Keystone/Georgios Kefalas.

Yesterday marked the end of the most highly-attended Art Basel to date. The 41st annual contemporary art fair boasted 306 galleries from 36 countries, and AO was on site to peruse the work of some 2,5000 artists.  62,500 dealers, collectors, curators, high-profile shoppers, artists, and art appreciators navigated installations, browsed gallery booths, mingled, and enjoyed the city of Basel.  Artists, established and newcomers both, showcased works ranging from Polaroids to performance pieces, paintings to videos, sculptures to large-scale installations.  A social and teeming affair with an obvious commercial edge, Basel’s sales were optimistic.  Picasso, Warhol, Prince, Hirst, de Kooning, Pollock, and other similarly established artists reigned supreme as the focus of this year’s event.  Franck Giraud, a New York dealer, spoke to the New York Times about the lack of prominently featured up-and-comers: “Is it because that’s what the market wants, or is it because dealers didn’t want to take risks? I think it was a bit of both.” Nonetheless, certain galleries used Basel as a platform to introduce new artists and show off their latest signings.

More text, images and related links after the jump…
–>
(more…)

Relief éponge or (RE 47 II),  Yves Klein Estimate: £5 – £7 million. Price Realized: £5,865,250. Image via Christie’s

Last night, Christie’s evening sale of post-war and Contemporary art in London totaled £39,149,500, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £26,290,000 to £38,260,000. More than half of the lots offered sold above estimate, and in selling 9 works over  £1 million (16 over $1 million), the auction house easily surpassed the equivalent figure for all three of their auctions of Post-War and Contemporary art in London last year.  The evenings auction confirmed that not only has confidence returned to the art market but also that there is a real hunger from international collectors in this market – Europeans dominated the bidding, eventually accounting for 41% of the sales, 22% of works sold to Americans, 31 percent went to Britain. Four percent went to Asia. Particularly strong prices were realized for classic European artists including Yves Klein as well as Joana Vasconcelos and Alighiero Boetti, both of whose work established world record prices.The strong results at our international auctions during the second half of last year encouraged vendors who were previously resistant to consign works of art, and the increased supply of quality works fed a strong demand and led to competitive bidding.

More text, images and related links after the jump….
(more…)

Ron, Will Cotton via Artnet

-Eric Fischl, Chie Fueki, Hilary Harkness, Will Cotton, Francesco Clemente, Peter Halley and Barbara Kruger  are all a part of the long list of artists who have created, dedicated and portrayed Ron Warren in their works; Mary Boone’s assistant he has always played an understated yet influential role leading to a Mary Boone Gallery exhibition in his honor [The New York Times]

-The 2009 edition of the Power 100 by ArtReview is released with Hans Ulrich Obrist taking the first place and the list showcasing some changes in the influences and forces of the art world; the top ten include dealers and artists as Larry Gagosian, Francois Pinault, Eli Broad and Bruce Nauman [ArtReview]
-In related, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, the director of Serpentine Gallery, just voted to be the art world’s most powerful figure by the Power 100, gives an idea of how busy his week gets [The Independent]

-A $310 million collection of Mark Rothko paintings to be shown next spring in artist’s first Moscow solo exhibition at Dasha Zkukova’s Garage Center for Contemporary Culture [Bloomberg]

To stay apprised of most of the relevant art news for this past week… (more…)

Michaelangelo Pistoletto’s performance of ‘Seventeen Less One’ at the Venice Biennale, photo by ArtObserved

The 53rd Venice Biennale is now open to the public after a press preview June 4-6.  During that time, Art Observed was on site and also has collected some of the relevant news stories covering the event from the global press.

U.S. representative Bruce Nauman won the Golden Lion for best national participation for his exhibition ‘Topological Gardens,’ curated by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Also receiving Golden Lions are Yoko Ono, John Baldessari, and Tobias Rehberger, who won the best artist award for his work ‘What you love also makes you cry.’  Highlights of the Biennale include Britain’s Steve McQueen’s film ‘Giardini,’ which portrays the Biennale Gardens when not used as exhibition space, Liam Gillick at the German Pavilion, covered by AO here, Elmgreem and Dragset’s ‘The Collectors’ at the Danish and Nordic Pavilions, and ‘Making Worlds,’ the International Art Exhibition curated by Daniel Birnbaum, both covered by AO here.

On the Biennale:
Venice Biennale 2009: the opening day [GuardianUK]
Venice Biennale 2009 [Vernissage TV]
On your vaporetto to the far pavilions [GuardianUK]
Venice Biennale is a glimpse of the future [TimesUK]
Venice Biennale 2009: A photographer’s view [GuardianUK]
Trading places [Financial Times]
Venice Biennale Opens Showing Works by Over 90 Artists from all Over the World [Artdaily]
A More Serene Biennale [NY Times]
This, That, and the Other [Artforum]
It’s Reigning Men [ArtForum]
Blasblog From Venice: And So It Begins [Style.com]
“Art Is Everywhere” [Style.com]
The Venice Biennale opens with top honors for a German artist [Deutsche Welle via Art Review]
Over and Over: Art That Never Stops [NY Times]

On Bruce Naumann and the US Pavillion:
Bruce Nauman wins a Golden Lion at Venice Biennale [LA Times]
Venice is doubly enamored of Bruce Nauman [LA Times]
Venice Biennial: Hear the U.S. Roar [Wall Street Journal]
Shaking up the world of art for decades [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Golden Lion for the Best National Participation Awarded to the U.S. Representation [Artdaily]
Nauman Tops Venice Biennale, Wins Golden Lion: Martin Gayford [Bloomberg]

On Pinault’s innaugaration of his new museum:
Francois Pinault Opens The New Punta della Dogana Contemporary Art Centre in Venice [Artdaily]
How the French Charles Saatchi became the merchant of Venice [Guardian]
Pinault’s Venice Empire Grows With Cool Contemporary-Art Museum [Bloomberg]

On Steven McQueen, representing the UK at the Biennale:
Steve McQueen at the Venice Biennale: Private view with Adrian Searle [Guardian]
Art Charities Collaborate to Fund Steve McQueen’s Giardini for Venice [Artdaily]
Steve McQueen found something new in Venice [Guardian]
Steve McQueen’s “Giardini” at the Venice Biennale [IFC]
Steve McQueen lets Venice Biennale viewer do the feeling with Giardini [Times]

On Swoon’s Swimming Cities of the Serrenisma,video from the New York Landing of her boat in previously in Long Island City covered by Art Observed here:
Barging in to Venice [New York]
Swoon in Venice, Italy [dailyDuJour]
Barging in to Venice [New York Magazine]

And more:
Venice Biennale: Flashing Lights [NY Times]
Venice Biennale: Ships in the Sky [NY Times]
Venice Biennale: Listening to Art [NY Times]
Rauschenberg at the Guggenheim in Venice [Financial Times]
United Arab Emirates confronts stereotypes in Venice Biennale debut [GuardianUK]
Ukraine pavilion is a Venice Biennale knockout [TimesUK]

more photos and story after the jump…

(more…)

On March 19, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (GCCC) in Moscow celebrated the opening of A Certain State of the World? Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection, an exhibition of international contemporary art from the collection of François Pinault curated by Caroline Bourgeois.  The show includes works -curated along themes of war, the society of spectacle and the globalized world- by thirty three top-ranking artists from North-America, Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia, working with a variety of media.  Amid many noteworthy pieces, visitors can admire Jeff Koons’ famed Hanging Heart (1994-2006). Hanging Heart sold for $23.6 million on auction at Sotheby’s in November 2007 and was first publicly displayed at the inaugural exhibition of François Pinault’s Collection at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.  Other artists included in the exhibition are: Chen Zen, Bill Viola, Francesco Vezzoli, Joana Vasconcelos, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Marion Tampon Lajarriette, Cindy Sherman, Paul Pfeiffer, Philipe Parreno, Takashi Murakami, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Kimsooja, Y.Z. Kami, Pierre Huyghe, Subodh Gupta, Johan Grimonprez, Loris Gréaud, Dan Flavin, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Liu Dahong, Maurizio Cattelan, Cao Fei, Carlos Amorales, Francis Alÿs, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla and Adel Abdessemed.

The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
A Certain State of the World?
Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection
Obraztsova street 19 A, Moscow
March 20 – June 14, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Gallery Website (in Russian) [The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture]
Interview with Daria Zhukova on the Eve of the Opening Night [Financial Times]
A Review of the Opening Night [Saatchi Gallery]
A Review by The Guardian [The Guardian]
Article on Russian Art World and the GCCC [The Economist]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The First Post]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The Times UK]
Exhibition Review [The Moscow Times]

(more…)

“Livre, pipe et verres” (1915) by Juan Gris, Christie’s, via Artnet

CHRISTIE’S IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART, New York, Thursday November 6th

Total Lots Offered: 82
Total Lots Sold: 46
Total Sales Value: $146.7 million
Total Sales Pre-Auction Estimate: $240.7 million

This is the first of five articles that will summarize in parts the auction results following AO’s last covered Wednesday November 5th Christies Auction covered by AO here. Following a day where the Dow Jones industrial average dropped over 400 points, overall, Christie’s Impressionist and Modern art auction, the second evening sale of the week, was perhaps successful versus others in the week. Though overall sales were poor, the six guaranteed works sold. In total, 44% of the lots failed to sell, or rather, of the 82 pieces offered 36 works were brought in (37% by value). Auctioneer Christopher Burge quoted to Bloomberg after the sale: “Obviously, prices have changed, we’d be foolish not to recognize that.”

The auction totaled $146.715 million against a pre-sale estimate of $240.7 million to $337.2 million. Marquee works from Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, and Wassily Kandinsky brought high prices but works by Claude Monet and Henri Matisse met little to no interest. New world auction records were set for Cubist master Juan Gris, Henri Laurens, American artist Alice Neel and for Seurat and Magritte for works on paper. 27 of the 46 works that did sell earned in excess of $1 million. 61% of buyers were Americans, 26% Europeans and 11% (other) with 2% going to Middle Eastern buyers.

Gris Sets Record in Slow Christie’s Auction [New York Times]
World Record For Juan Gris at Christie’s New York – “20.8 Million For Livre, pipe et verre” [Art Daily]
Christie’s Impressionist Sale Falls Short; 44% Fails to Sell [Bloomberg]
Some Gloom, Some Records at Up-And-Down Night at Christie’s [ArtInfo

more detail and pictures after the jump…

(more…)

–>
Catherine Opie via NYTimes

On Catherine Opie, whose exhibition opens at the Guggenheim today [NY Times]
–>
Sotheby’s: Cat painting by 17-year old Damien Hirst is worthless [Guardian]
–>
Auction of purported artist friend-of-Andy Warhol blocked by Warhol foundation due to its never having heard of the man [New York Post]
–>
A review of “After Nature”- an apocalyptic themed exhibition at the New Museum [NYMag]
–>
Accusations of a conflict of Interest concerning François Pinault and Jeff Koons at Versailles exhibition [ArtForum]
–>
A full 1/2 of Gagosian Gallery’s London sales are to Russians [ArtInfo]

–>

‘Rabbit’ by Jeff Koons, as displayed at Versailles via Art Daily

Jeff Koons, an art world celebrity since the 1980’s for his stainless steel pop-art renderings of everyday, vernacular objects–and notorious for his marriage to porn star/legislator La Cicciolina–is currently on exhibit in the royal apartments and gardens of Versailles palace, west of Paris. The show, which was organized by French billionaire collector (and owner of Christie’s) Francois Pinault, will feature 17 pieces from the corpus of the man who is arguably the biggest-selling living artist, including well known works such as Rabbit, Lobster, Large Vase of Flowers and Split Rocker

Chateau de Versailles: Jeff Koons exhibition [Official Website]
Jeff Koons Takes His Contemporary Culture to Versailles [Artdaily]
Conflict of Interest Around Koons? [ArtForum]
Koons @ Versaille [Aarting]
Jeff Koons brings pop art revolution to Versailles [AFP]
French Protest Koons Show at Versailles [Artinfo]
Jeff Koons Shows His Contemporary Culture in The Château de Versailles [Raw art Weblog]
Koons’s Bunnies, Beheaded Queen Parade in Paris Fall Season and Jeff Koons’s Flashy Toys Invade Versailles, Stir French Revolt [Bloomberg]
Jeff Koons sets up at the Palace of Versailles, France in September [ArtObserved]

(more…)

Francois Pinault via the TheLuxeChronicles

In February 2009, works from Francois Pinault’s collection coming to Moscow’s Contemporary Culture Centre “Moscow Garage” [RussiaIC]
Hirst’s $100 million diamond encrusted skull to begin its world tour in … Amsterdam [NYSun]
MoMa selects a Chief Curator of Painting from in-house [NY Times] and, the Guggenheim may soon appoint a new Director from Carnegie Museum [NY Times]
The Jeff Koons-in-Versailles debate continues on [TimesOnline]
Matthew Barney is on Ovation TV, airing Wednesday [OvationTV via C-Monster]
New on the global art scene Roman Abramovich’s girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, basically summarized [Wall Street Journal]