Next month, Christie’s will lead its May 13th contemporary auction with one of Lucian Freud’s iconic portraits of former postal worker Sue Tilley, which will carry an estimate of $30 million to $50 million.  “This will be a good test of where his market is going,” says dealer James Holland-Hibbert. “It will be interesting to see if this style of painting appeals to the buyers who support these sales. Is Freud still a big enough brand?” (more…)

Rineke Dijkstra, Selected Works (Installation View), all images courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery Paris

On view at Marian Goodman’s Paris exhibition space is the third exhibition from Dutch photographer and filmmaker Rineke Dijkstra, composed of of two new videos filmed in Russia.  Dijkstra became internationally known for her beach portraits of teenagers on the beaches of South Carolina, Poland, and Ukraine during the 1990’s, but she has also been producing lesser-known video portraits since 1996. The videos on display here, focusing on young ballerinas, were commissioned by Manifesta (European Biennial of Contemporary Art) for its most recent edition in 2014.

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Egon Schiele, Death and Maiden (1915), via Kunsthaus Zurich

The Kunsthaus Zürich is currently presenting a historical study in portraiture and figuration over the course of a century, comparing the output of Austrian painter Egon Schiele with YBA-affiliated painter Jenny Saville, and tying together the pair’s varying approaches to powerful and, at times, visceral depictions of the human body.  Culling works from across the expanse of both artist’s careers, the exhibition seems to function both as a pair of parallel historical studies in each artist’s inspirations and development, while allowing a certain degree of overlap and cross-referencing into the various techniques each artist employed. (more…)

George Condo, Lost at Sea (2014), via Art Observed

George Condo is currently presenting a new body of work, on view at Skarstedt Gallery‘s recently opened Chelsea exhibition space, titled Double Heads / Black Paintings / Abstractions.  Decamping to his studio in East Hampton, Long Island, this summer the artist has produced a series of paintings that marks a noted departure from his most recent exhibitions. (more…)

Richard Prince, Untitled (Portrait) (2014), Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photograph By Robert Mckeever.

Currently on view at Gagosian Gallery’s smaller galleries at 976 Madison, Richard Prince’s new set of Instagram-culled pieces are nearly as potent in exposition as they are in person, a series of images pulled directly from the social media app’s user accounts, and blown up to immense scales, full-sized canvases that command the attention of viewers passing by on the street outside. (more…)

A Picasso canvas that has never before been exhibited will go on view this week in London.  The 1901 self-portrait is being exhibited at Ordovas Gallery, alongside works by Jeff Koons, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. (more…)

JR, Au Pantheon! via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

The 31-year-old French photographer and artist JR has completed an impressive installation for his global INSIDE OUT project, which allows participants to express themselves through photographing their own portraits and allowing JR to paste them in a new artistic statement.  The French artist started the project after he was awarded the TED prize in 2011, which gave him $1 million to make a world-inspiring idea to come to life.  Since then, INSIDE OUT has traveled across the country: California, New York, and Minnesota; and the globe: Italy, Brazil, Palestine, etc.  Now in Paris, JR has covered the floor, cupola, and dome of the Pantheon in Paris with 2,500 of his signature black and white portrait posters. (more…)

A Francis Bacon portrait of Lucian Freud, formerly owned by renowned children’s writer Roald Dahl is set to hit the auction block this month at Christie’s in London, estimated to sell for up to £12m at auction.  “Both were enigmatic outsiders who were hard to pin down and liked to work in small, claustrophobic spaces,” says Christie’s Francis Outred.  “Both also aroused controversy and fascination in their public and private lives.” (more…)

Portrait of Dirck van Os, a 1658 painting long discredited as a Rembrandt copy, has been returned to public view at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha as an officially authenticated portrait by the Dutch master.  “People here sensed the underlying quality,” says Joslyn executive director, Jack Becker, “but you need the scholarly community to rehabilitate a picture like this.” (more…)

Alex Katz, Nabil’s Loft (1976), all images courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

On view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, is a retrospective of paintings by American figurative and Pop artist Alex Katz.  The monographic exhibition is composed of around one hundred works, including paintings from the 60’s and 70’s, as well as more recent works through to the present. The exhibition will remain on view through July 12, 2014.

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Eric Fischl, Corrida in Ronda #4, (2008), via Elene Damenia for Art Observed

The New York Academy of Art is currently presenting The Big Picture, a brief series of large-scale paintings by five artists who embrace the challenge of large-scale canvases and epic scenery.  Curated by Peter Drake, the show has selected works from Neo Rauch, Mark Tansey, Vincent Desiderio, Jenny Saville and Eric Fischl for the show, inviting a comparative look at the varying techniques and approaches to painting on a grand scale.

Vincent Desiderio, Quixote (2008), via Elene Damenia for Art Observed (more…)

Artist Mickalene Thomas premiered a film eulogizing her late mother on HBO last night, titled Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman.  Capitalizing on the film’s release, Thomas has also published an essay and a number of new paintings and photographs of her mother on Creative Time Reports. “As an artist I have always been astonished not only by my mother’s strength and tenacity but also by her sustained elegance and charisma in spite of harsh obstacles,” she writes. (more…)

Alex Prager, Crowd # 9 (Sunset), Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin

With a double show at Lehmann Maupin’s New York galleries, entitled Face in the Crowd, and another exhibition in Corcoran’s DC gallery, photographer Alex Prager has emerged from Los Angeles to take up major art world real estate this winter. Prager’s work is instantly recognizable, a savvy blend of mid-century nostalgia repackaged for our current moment, and it seems the rest of the fashion and art world have finally caught up with her. (more…)

A lawsuit over the ownership of an Andy Warhol portrait of the late actress Farrah Fawcett has been settled in favor of her husband, actor Ryan O’Neil.  The lawsuit settles a dispute between O’Neal and the University of Texas in Austin, which had received the work from Fawcett’s estate, even though O’Neal maintained the work had been given to him as a gift from Warhol. (more…)

Lynette & Janette (2013). All images courtesy the Gagosian Gallery.

John Currin’s work is currently on view at the Gagosian Gallery in Paris through December 21^st. Currin is known for his seductive and, to some, lewd appropriations of sixteenth and seventeenth century European painting. His paintings pair explicit sexual representations with the extremely polished and delicate details of this classical style. The result is a fascinating, touching and often hilarious interpretation of the politics of visual representation and sexual provocation.  (more…)

Artist Marina Abramovic will be the subject of a 3-D portrait by artist Matthu Placek, set to be unveiled next month at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair.  Featuring Abramovic, standing in the center of her currently under-construction arts center in the Hudson, the work will screen at the”Jewel Box” pavilion in Wynwood, and will screen for free, every fifteen minutes from 6PM to late in the evening.  “I originally wanted it to be from dusk until dawn,” Placek says, “but we’ll probably have to shut it down a little earlier — maybe 3am.” (more…)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Hustlers (Installation View), courtesy Philip-Lorca diCorcia and David Zwirner Gallery

One of the most influential photographers working today, Philip-Lorca diCorcia is known for creating images which blur the line between documentary photography and theatrically-staged scenes. Hustlers, on display now through November 2 at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York, presents photographs diCorcia made between 1990 and 1992, during the beginning of his engagement with street photography. For a fee roughly equivalent to what they would receive for sexual services, DiCorcia’s photographs feature the male prostitutes he approached in Los Angeles.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Champagne, 19 Years Old, from California, $20 (1990-1992), courtesy Philip-Lorca diCorcia and David Zwirner Gallery

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Balthus, Thérése (1938), Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Currently on view through January 12, 2014 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the controversially titled show, Balthus: Cats and Girls – Paintings and Provocations.  Amassing 35 paintings and 40 never before displayed ink drawings, this thematic exhibition, curated by Sabine Rewald, flirts with the notorious ambiguity surrounding Balthus’ treatment of young girls, offering neither an overt accusation of erotic context, nor securing his innocence. (more…)

A rare Andy Warhol portrait of Hall of Fame Hockey great Wayne Gretzky will be up for sale at Sotheby’s this Friday in London.  The portrait, made in 1983, is part of a series of works Warhol did exploring the world of professional sports, and is expected to command a price of $200,000.  “This project was very dear to me,” said dealer Frans Wynans, who introduced Warhol to Gretzky, and who has his eye on the piece  “So I’m very keen on the one that has come up for sale.” (more…)

Alberto Giaccometti’s iconic Diego en chemise écossaise will be on sale at Christie’s November 5th auction of modernist and impressionist art in New York. A classic portrait of the artist’s brother, it is anticipated to sell for $30-$50 million.  “With this masterpiece, Alberto Giacometti establishes himself as one of the greatest portrait painters of the 20th Century, paving the way for the likes of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.” Andreas Rumbler, Deputy Chair of the Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s says. (more…)

Continuing her flirtations with the world of contemporary art, Lady Gaga has reportedly recruited Robert Wilson to create a video portrait of her.  Wilson will also direct the Marina Abramovic opera The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic this winter at The Armory.  “I’ve been obsessing over stuff from the ’70s like performance art theater. Especially because I’m working with Robert Wilson, who’s doing the lighting and the set for the VMAs. He’s a theatrical legend!”  Gaga said in a recent interview. (more…)

Las Meninas, the classic work by Diego Velázquez which hangs at the Prado Museum in Madrid, may in fact be a later version of the work, a Spanish art expert argues.  At a recent event at the Royal Academy of Art in Spain, Dr Matías Díaz Padrón maintained that a version hanging in Dorset, England may be an earlier version of the painting, overturning current opinion that the work was in fact a copy.  “Today, the moment has arrived to revise these judgments, and restore the painting’s authorship to Velázquez.” Díaz Padron said.
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The Enchanted Pose, a Magritte painting long thought to have been lost or destroyed, has been discovered in segments below the surfaces of two other Magritte works.  Using X-Ray imaging, researchers discovered the painting while working on the Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibition The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938, focusing on the artist’s work.  “It’s very exciting. Here is this Magritte that’s been believed to be missing, that was clearly a large and important work for him at one point in time.”  says MoMA curator Anne Umland. (more…)

Experts have identified a work found in a private Swiss collection to be a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, which has been considered lost for over 500 years. The portrait, depicting noblewoman Isabella D’Este, is believed to have been painted by Da Vinci and several of his assistants.  “There are no doubts that the portrait is Leonardo’s work,” said Carlo Pedretti, an emeritus professor of art history at the University of California. (more…)