Hermitos Children by Spartacus Chetwynd via Art Daily.

This week the Tate Modern has unveiled its 2009 Triennial, Altermodern. The museum’s fourth Triennial highlights fewer British artists than previous exhibitions and has instead aimed its efforts at highlighting a new movement in art. The exhibition is curated by Nicolas Bourriaud who defined the “Relational Esthetics” art movement and is now using the Tate’s Triennial as a showcase for his most recently conceived movement: Altermodernism. The exhibition which comes with a manifesto in tow declares foremost that Postmodernism is dead.  In its place is a new movement defined by ever-increasing globalization and the heightened communication, travel and migration that is the result.  As Bourriaud explains “If early Modernism is characterised as a broadly Western cultural phenomenon, and Postmodernism was shaped by multiculturalism, origins and identity, Altermodern is expressed in the language of global culture.” In short today’s artists are now starting from a globalized state of culture where the origins of  any one person have become increasingly similar to the origins of any other given person.

Altermodern is a swarm of drawings, sculptures, videos, photographs, slide shows, installations, soundtracks, documentaries, and performances. Many works included are several mediums at once as the pieces tend to be a collage of related matter as opposed to a single defined piece; reflecting the idea of Altermodern as complex fusion of ideas and influences. The artists producing these pieces are mostly thirty-somethings that live or work in Britain, though keeping with the globalized theme of the show a  notable number are identified as ‘passers-by.’ Along with up and coming artists such as Tris Vonna-Michell and Ruth Ewan the exhibit includes some bigger names who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize including Bill Nelson and Darren Almond.

Altermodern Tate Triennial [Tate]
Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009 at Tate Modern [Times Online]
Altermodern, Tate Triennial 2009, review [Telegraph]
Tate Triennial 2009 Interview With Curator Nicolas Bourriaud [Frieze]
New sensation: The next generation of Young British Artists [Independent UK]
Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009 Presents Some of the Best New Contemporary Art in Britain [Art Daily]
Art in search of a label [Financial Times]

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Dans la prairie (1876) by Claude Monet; Sold for  £11,241,250 ($16,104,942), against estimates of around  £15 million. Image via Artnet.

“It was a great sale and brought back a lot of confidence to the market.” Leon Benrimon, in remarks to ArtInfo.

Christie’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art, held February 4th, has been hailed by some as a confidence-building event which demonstrated that there is some vitality left in the art market, while others give credit for the auctions ostensible success to high quality pieces (often being auctioned for the first time in decades), along with low estimates and low expectations. The auction realized a total of £63.4 million or $91.2 million, well within its range of £58.8 million to £86 million. In the course of the evening, 39 of 47 lots were sold, with 4 lots sold for over £5 million, 16 for over £1 million, and 25 for over $1 million.  According to Christie’s, 54% of the works were bought by European bidders, 26%  from the U.S., 18% from the U.K. and 2 percent from Asia.

Dans la prairie, by Claude Monet, was the highest priced lot of the night despite falling below its expected range.  The painting, which was exhibited for the first time at 1877’s seminal Impressionist Exhibition, sold for £11.2 million, or $16.1 million–while the range for the painting was unpublished, it is thought to be somewhere in the £15 million range. Dans la prairie‘s subject is Monet’s wife, Camille, reading in a meadow in Argenteuil, a few kilometers north of Paris. It was bought in a single telephone bid made by Anika Guntrum, a Paris-based Christie’s specialist, on behalf of an anonymous buyer.

Monet oil tests art market [GuardianUK]
Monet Painting of Wife Sells for 11.2 Million Pounds [Bloomberg]
Monet painting sells for £11.2 million, £4 million below estimate [Telegraph UK]
Monet, Modigliani, Low Estimates Boost Christie’s London Sale [Bloomberg]
Impressionist and Modern sale nets £63.42 million at Christie’s [IHT]
Christie’s “Brings Back Confidence” [ArtInfo]
Claude Monet’s Dans la Prairie Sells for $16,164,918 at Christie’s Auction of Impressionist and Modern Art [ArtDaily]

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Christian Marclay, Untitled, 1987 via Art Daily.

Sonic Youth etc. : Sensational Fix is on display now at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. The exhibition explores the collaborative works of the historic experimental band Sonic Youth and the artists, filmmakers, designers, and musicians they have worked with since their formation in 1981. The exhibition illustrates the history of the New York City band through records, posters, T-shirts, instruments, and photographs which serve to encourage the audience to consider the division between “high” and “popular” art. The works themselves, much like the music of Sonic Youth, document an alternative coming of age including teenage rebellion, restlessness of youth, the search for fame, identity, gender roles, sexuality, and religion. The show features the work of notables Jenny Holzer, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Wall, among others., and will conclude with a sold-out Sonic Youth performance on April 24, 2009. Sonic Youth etc. : Sensational Fix has previously been displayed at LiFe in Saint-Nazaire, France and the Museion Bozen in Italy, and will move to Malmö Konsthall in Sweden, and the Centro Huarte de Arte Contemporaneo in Spain following its current stay in Düsseldorf.

Press Release [Kunsthalle Düsseldorf]
Sonic Youth etc. : Sensational Fix [Sonic Youth Media]
Sonic Youth etc. : Sensational Fix [Art News]
Sonic Youth etc. : Sensational Fix at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf [Art Daily]
Fountain of Sonic Youth [Hint Mag] (more…)

Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (1879-1881) by Edgar Degas, sold for £13,257,250, ($18,993,194) above the high end of its range (£12,000,000 / $18,129,626). Image via Sotheby’s.

Following mixed results at last week’s Old Masters auctions, the art market was looking closely at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale for further clues on how the rest of the year might unfold.  The auction generated £32,564,300, selling 22 of 29 lots or 75.9% of what was offered.  Several records were set, and 40% of the lots exceeded the high end of expectations.  While there were some very notable successes, 67.7% of lots were sold by value, with the final result well below the pre-sale estimate range of £40,620,000-£55,680,000

The star of the night was indisputably the Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, a sculpture by Edgar Degas previously owned by Sir John Madejski, a British sports entrepreneur and philanthropist,  news of its sale previously covered by Art Observed here. The sculpture was sold to an unnamed Asian collector for £13.25 million or almost $19 million. The final price was above the £12 million high end of its estimate range, setting a record for a Degas sculpture and ultimately becoming the top price of the night. Petite Danseuse, one of a series of 28 bronze and fabric sculptures made several years after the artist’s death in 1917, made a tidy profit for Madejski, who bought it for £5 million for it in 2004. “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans is the most important sculpture by Edgar Degas and it is undoubtedly one of the most iconic sculptures of the Impressionist period,” commented Helena Newman, Vice Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s Worldwide. “The recordbreaking price achieved for this exceptional sculpture tonight is a testament to the strength of the market for rare works of exceptional quality.”

Another high value lot that sold above its expectations was Joan Miro’s Femmes et Oiseaux dans la Nuit, which sold for £2 million ($3 million). Bought by David Nahmad on behalf an anonymous telephone bidder, the painting sold for two times the high end of its range.

Auction results: Sotheby’s
Auction results: Artnet
Auction Record Price For Edgar Degas Sculpture Headlines Sotheby’s Sale Of Impressionist Art [ArtDaily]
Degas Sculpture Makes Record in First Art-Market Test of 2009 [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s Sale Shows Reassuring Signs of Market Life [ArtInfo]

Previously on ArtObserved:
DEGAS’S ‘LITTLE DANCER’ STEPS OUT INTO THE MARKET [Jan 12]

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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]

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Installation view of  “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 1” (left) and “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 2,” (right) (both 2006-7), on display at Evan Penny exhibition at Sperone Westwater. Image via Sperone Westwater.

Sperone Westwater will be exhibiting works by South African born, Toronto-based sculptor Evan Penny through February 14th, 2009. Penny is renowned for his sculptures crafted from silicone, hair, aluminum and pigment that are both photorealistic and stretched, skewed and otherwise manipulated beyond the ‘real’ human form.

The sculptor’s newest show features 10 pieces and marks the first time he incorporates time-based photography, introducing time and motion as considerations in his works. Two sculptures, “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 2″ and “Panagiota: Conversation #1, Variation 1,” both from 2008, reflect his exploration of these formal elements. The basis of the sculptures are photographs of Penny’s friend Panagiota engaging him in conversation–instead of sculpting a bust based on each individual photograph, they are instead melded and portrayed in a single bust, enabling us to visualize the subject moving through time and space.

This is the artist’s second solo show at Sperone Westwater, who also represents the artist in the United States.  A full color catalogue with an essay by Kenneth Silver, Professor of Modern Art at New York University, accompanies this exhibition.

Exhibition Page : Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater
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Press Release : Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater
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Gallery Page : Sperone Westwater
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Picks: Evan Penny at Sperone Westwater [ArtForum]

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Diana and Actaeon (1556-1559), by Titian, via The Guardian.

Titian’s masterpiece painting Diana and Acteon (1556-1559) has finally been secured. The five-month campaign to raise £50 million has succeeded.  The National Galleries of Scotland and London’s National Gallery made a joint effort to raise the funds.  The Scottish government pledged £2.5 million, £.4 million came from public donations, and £2.5 million came from the National Galleries in London. The rest of the money came from the National Heritage Memorial Fund which gave £10 million; the Monument Trust which pledged £2 million; £.6 million came from the National Galleries of Scotland and £1 million was taken from the Art Fund.  Such a joint venture outweighs the previous fundraising record of £22 million in 2004 for Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks.

The fundraising campaign had the backing of 40 leading contemporary artists such as Lucien Freud, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Antony Gormley.

Museum page: National Galleries of Scotland
Funds Secured for Titian Painting [BBC]
UK Buys Titian Diana Painting for 50 million Pounds [Bloomberg]
Titian’s Diana and Actaeon Saved for Nation as Art Galleries Hit £50 million Target [TimesUK]
Artists Jubilant as £50 million Titian Saved for Nation [The Independent]
Titian’s Diana and Actaeon Saved for the Nation [The Guardian]
Is Titian’s Diana and Actaeon worth £50 million? Definitely [The Telegraph]
National UK Galleries mobilize to secure Titian masterworks [ArtObserved]

More detail on the story after the jump…

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s ‘Strazzenszene (Street Scene)’ via Artdaily

Claude Monet’s ‘Dans La Prairie’ via Daylife

Sotheby’s London to sell rare work by Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner tomorrow night [Artdaily]
and Monet’s ‘Dans la Prairie’ headlines Christie’s Auction of Impressionist and Modern Art, the night after [Artdaily]
Jeff Koons honored at National Arts Club in New York [NY Observer]
and more on the artist’s multimillion dollar townhouse acquisition woes [NY Times]
An excerpt from Philip Hook’s upcoming book on how in the 50’s, Impressionist works became blue-chip investments through the auction frenzy of nouveau-riche [Financial Times]

Glenn O’Brien for Adam Kimmel via The World’s Best Ever

Interview’s Glenn O’Brien models for Adam Kimmel’s Fall 2009 Collection along with Nate Lowman, Aaron Young, Dan Colen and other downtown art world denizens [The World’s Best Ever]
Jenny Holzer talks about her solo exhibition at MoCA, Chicago [Art21]
The legal ambiguities behind the copyright dispute regarding Richard Prince’s recent Canal Zone show [Wall Street Journal]

The winning design of P.S. 1’s Young Architects Program via NY Times

P.S.1 announces the winning design of its Young Architects Program, described as an ‘afterparty’ of the market boom and bust [NY Times]
The BBC will put 200,000 of the UK’s publicly owned oil paintings online [GuardianUK]
The Economist provides a provenance background of the rare Lucio Fontana soon to be up for sale at Sotheby’s [More Intelligent Life]
Damien Hirst is #13 on GQ’s list of Britain’s 100 most powerful men [Daily Mail]

New view of the planned Tate Modern Extension via Londonist

New renderings released of upcoming Tate Modern extension [Londonist]
Value of Warhol sales have gone down more than 50% in the past 18 months [Artnet]
After the success of Jeff Koons, Versailles is set to exhibit the work of contemporary French artist Xavier Veilhan [Artforum]
Several London Old Master dealers consort to attempt to de-leverage art fairs in favor of a gallery week held in conjunction with Christie’s and Sotheby’s [The Art Newspaper]

Temple of Jupiter Panellenius Restored, by J.M.W Turner, via Sotheby’s; Sold for $12.9 million.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s recent New York Old Master results were weaker than usual although there was some success amidst slow sales. The roster for the three days of New York sales (28 January at Christie’s and 29th and 30th January at Sotheby’s evening sales), included over 500 prestigious works. Such an opening of the 2009 auction season contained artworks of very fine quality at highly priced estimates. Even despite current economic challenges the two auctioneers offered a number of exceptionally refined artworks. These included a set of works by Francisco de Zurbaran consisting of twelve paintings (the twelve sibyls) priced between $2 and $3 million at Sotheby’s. Christie’s offered a still-life by Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin entitled “Still-Life with a copper pot” estimated between $1.2 to $1.3 million, quite an optimistic pricing since nothing by the artist has sold above the million dollar mark since 1992.

The marquee success came at Sotheby’s. A stunning work by Joseph Mallord Turner entitled “The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius” sold for $12.9 million, a price that is the second highest price ever realized for a work by Turner at auction. The painting won the bid from an anonymous buyer on the telephone and was sold by Richard Feigen, a Manhattan dealer who bought the painting at Christie’s London in 1982 for $1.1 million. The painting was featured in the traveling Turner retrospective that closed in September at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Catalogue: Sotheby’s Old Masters Painting including European Works of Art
Turner and a Few Others Succeed at Slow Sales [NY Times]
Art Market Insight: New York Auctions Open with Old Masters [Art Market Insight]
The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius by JMW Turner sells for $12.9 Million at Sotheby’s New York [ArtDaily]

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Fred Sandback’s ‘Untitled (no. 48, Three Leaning Planes, from 133 Proposals for the Heiner Friedrich Gallery)’ via David Zwirner

Fred Sandback, who died in 2003, is known best for his yarn sculptures that fall somewhere between Minimalist and conceptual art. On view now are two concurrent solo exhibitions at David Zwirner in Chelsea and Zwirner & Wirth in the Upper East Side. Sandback’s sculptures create large planes using colored yarn, outlining a shape and using walls, floors, and ceilings to create a perception of depth and space. The sculptures present an optical illusion of boundaries, of planes cutting across space that look like they may not be crossed but in fact do not exist. It is in that illusion that the theatricality of Sandback’s work lies. Using only the sparest of material he creates a vast, imposing presence.

Fred Sandback at David Zwirner
Fred Sandback at Zwirner & Wirth
Art in Review: Fred Sandback [NY Times]

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