The Wall Street Journal looks at the growing market for prints, drawings and sketches by major artists, which can command impressive sales figures, and have even paid off for many investors in the high-demand state of the current auction market. Prints and sketches by Warhol and Calder, among others, have doubled or tripled in price in a matter of a few years.  “These are the names everybody knows—they feel safe for people, especially when no one quite knows exactly how long a good run is going to last,” said Meredith Hilferty, director of Rago Arts & Auction Center in New Jersey. (more…)

Edward Hopper, Study for Nighthawks, (1941 or 1942), via The Whitney

An Edward Hopper painting inevitably leads the viewer to contemplation of the meaning and purpose of the simple and mundane moments that make up the majority of our lives. His scenes depict the usual, the all-too-familiar, and even the occasional melancholy moments of existence.  Empty gas stations, coffee shops, movie theaters, and bedrooms communicate the paradoxical isolation of American society;  while many of the inhabitants are depicted in social settings, in crowds or social establishments, they convey overwhelming feelings of remorse, isolation and resignation. Through his brushstrokes and pencil marks, Hopper provides a commentary on the American life of mid-20^th century, a commentary that is in many cases still applicable to the America of today.

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, (1942), via The Whitney (more…)

Artist Egon Schiele’s first diary, written when he was a boy of 16, living in Austria, is slated for publication this month, part of Dr. Christian Bauer’s new book Egon Schiele: The Beginning.  The notebooks feature poetry to his early loves, as well as drawings and sketches from the very beginning of his career.  On one page, Schiele writes: “You rosy, enchanting creature,/ Seeing you makes my heart ache./…In a short line – I love you.” (more…)

The British Library has digitized its full collection of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, allowing any viewer to browse the Renaissance master’s personal manuscripts and illustrations.  Covering many years of work, the notebooks include plans, sketches, shopping lists and schematics for unfinished projects and architectural innovations.  The self-taught artist and scientist had been a prolific note-maker during his lifetime, but never took pains to publish these works in a widely readable format.   (more…)

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…)