Rumored since earlier this summer, Sotheby’s Uptown New York headquarters is now officially on the real estate market, following the recent share acquisition by activist investors.  The auction house has already entertained several bids for the space, but has not disclosed an asking price.  “It’s premature to speculate, as the process is still continuing.”  Said spokesman Andrew Gully. (more…)

Capitalizing on the current interest in early European and American Modernist movements, the Guggenheim has announced plans for an exhibition focusing on the pioneering work of the Futurist movement in Italy.  “Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe,” will open February 21st, and will be accompanied by an auction of early modernist works at Sotheby’s.  “It’s time to re-evaluate and broaden our notion of what avant-garde means,” said curator Vivien Greene.   (more…)

The contentious sale of a Thomas Cole painting by the William Seward House Historical Museum has caught the attention of the State Attorney General’s office, which issued a statement questioning the sale, and maintaining the museum’s obligations to maintain the work.  In response, the museum has announced intentions for “a plan to safeguard the painting and protect the long term financial viability and well-being of the Museum.” (more…)

A recent statement by Sotheby’s Auction House head Bill Ruprecht has analysts forecasting a potential attempt at a share buy back, following the purchase of sizable share percentages by a number of activist investors. “Sotheby’s is committed to healthy two-way communication with our shareholders as we pursue our common goal of a strong, growing, competitive Sotheby’s open to new opportunities.” Ruprecht said.

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Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893), Courtesy Munch Museet

Edvard Munch is enjoying somewhat of a timely spotlight, having just has his iconic 1895 pastel The Scream set the global auction record at almost $120 million last May, just one year short of what would be the 150th year since his birth.  This correlation is not lost on the Norwegian city of Oslo, where Munch grew up, and 2013 has been dedicated to the pioneering abstractionist, with a pair of landmark shows compiling almost 300 works from Munch’s groundbreaking career in Oslo, Paris, and Berlin.

Edvard Munch, Workers on Their Way Home (1913-1914), Courtesy Munch Museet (more…)

Maurizio Cattelan, KAPUTT (Installation View), via Fondation Beyeler

KAPUTT, an installation by Italian-born sculptor, painter, and installation artist, Maurizio Cattelan is currently on display at the Fondation Beyeler until October 6th. Known for his humor and morbid imagery, especially in his use of taxidermied animals, Cattelan has been described as “as one of the great post-Duchampian artists, and a smartass, too” by Jonathan P. Binstock, curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  This installation draws upon many of the themes found in the artist’s previous work, and viewers may be reminded of the numerous tongue in cheek sculptures Cattelan has already exhibited at the Vienna Secession; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Kunsthalle Basel; MoMA and MoMA PS 1, New York; Museum Fridericianum, Kassel; The Tate Gallery, London; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. (more…)

A selection of more than 150 works from the collection of Geneva dealer Jan Krugier will be on sale this November at Christies in New York. The auction will include works by Picasso, Kandinsky and Giaccometti. “Because of his connection with the Picasso family, no one could compete with him in terms of the volume and breadth of works in different media he was able to sell.” Says dealer Richard Nagy.
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Gilbert0 Zorio, (Installation view), Photo: Peter Malet, courtesy Blain|Southern

A collection of major works selected from the long-running career of Gilberto Zorio is currently on view at Blain|Southern gallery in London Hanover Square. The show includes recent works, new site-specific installations, and important sculptures from the 1960s. Zorio’s first UK exhibition in five years, this show offers a wide range of examples of his work, revealing his evolution as an artist, both marking his profound impression on the Arte Povera movement and showcasing his extension beyond the influential Italian movement.

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A Dutch foundation has surrendered ownership rights to stolen works by Picasso, Monet, Matisse, and other modern masters in exchange for a $24 million insurance settlement – indicating a loss of hope in recovering the works intact.  In a trail complicated by a confusion of claims and counterclaims, the actions of ringleader Radu Dogaru are currently being investigated along with those of  three other defendants and his mother Olga, who claims to have burnt all seven paintings in her Carcaliu home, in an effort to protect her son. The trial has been closely watched by the art world in hopes that it will shed light on whether or not the paintings and drawings stolen from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal museum still exist. (more…)

Following the absolution of former Knoedler & Co president Ann Freedman in the ongoing criminal investigation over the sale of over 60 forged artworks, the former Knoedler head is suing dealer Marco Grassi for defamation.  Freedman, in her lawsuit, cites over 20 sources claiming she performed due diligence on the origins of the work, and that Grassi overstepped his grounds in recent comments to the New Yorker.  “A gallery person has an absolute responsibility to do due diligence, and I don’t think she did it. The story of the paintings is so totally kooky. I mean, really. It was a great story and she just said, ‘this is great.'”  Grassi said in the aforementioned interview.  (more…)

The Wall Street Journal interviews Raymond Pettibon, who recently settled into a residency at David Zwirner Gallery in New York.  His new show, “To Wit”, a show features more than 200 works from this period of creative output. “I had the opportunity to do things on the spot, which is not normally the case. It is a space to work on, rather than just a place to put up work,” said the artist.  (more…)

Joan Miró, Sans titre, (n.d).,courtesy Fondation de l’Hermitage

On view at the Fondation de l’Hermitage are 80 seminal works from Joan Miró, on loan from the Foundation Pilar í Joan Miró in Palma, Majorca. The exhibition focuses on the last phase of Miró’s career, when he was able to work with the most freedom in his own workshop and laboratory in the midst of a natural environment.  What followed was a series of loose, spirited works that highlighted a poetic, highly graphic approach to his work that distilled the whimsical forms of his early pieces into a new aesthetic freedom.

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Three years after being discovered by Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn during his senior thesis show at Cooper Union, Lucien Smith now has a solo show opening on Friday at both Salon 94 locations (owned by Mrs. Rohatyn). The New York Times profile on Mr. Smith summarizes his living situation (a one bedroom in the Financial District), his love interest (Marlene Zwirner, daughter of David Zwirner), and his views on Salon 94 for his solo show entitled, “Nature Is My Church (“The place becomes kind of an altar.”). (more…)

Ralph E. Lerner, New York lawyer and co-author of the multivolume “Art Law,” was accused on Wednesday for charging over $750,000 in unauthorized legal fees from the Cy Twombly Foundation, where he served as board secretary and director, The New York Times reports. The papers served yesterday describe that Mr. Lerner, “even charged legal fees for merely attending board meetings as a director,” and that, “no other board member received (or was entitled to receive) compensation (much less at the significant rate of $950 an hour) for attending the meetings or reviewing and editing the board meeting minutes.” Mr. Lerner’s contends, as released in a statement from his law office, that all his legal service fees “were made in accordance with the practices and procedures established by Mr. Twombly when he was alive. (more…)

Matthew Stone, Unconditional Commitment to Sacred Love (2011) via Ben Richards for Art Observed

Dustin Yellin’s Pioneer Works Center is open again in Red Hook, with a series of exhibitions, concerts and events that have trumpeted the space’s return after the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.  At the forefront of the Center’s fall calendar is Amor Fati, a tightly curated group exhibition featuring works by Yoko Ono, Angel Otero, Nicolas Provost, Matthew Stone, Mickalene Thomas, Nick van Woert, Andy Warhol, and many more, which seeks to explore the wild emotions and impulses so often present in the artistic treatment of love.

John Miserendino, Funny Games Pavilion (2012), foreground, and Andy Warhol, Kiss (1963), background, via Ben Richards for Art Observed

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Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #564, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

As an aspiring painter in New York City during the late 1950s, American artist Sol LeWitt struggled to find his “touch,” in the midst of the waning days of Abstract Expressionism- a movement which focuses on the importance of individual creation.  After taking a job at the book counter of the Museum of Modern Art in 1960, LeWitt became familiar with the engineering aesthetic of Russian Constructivism and Eadweard Muybridge’s sequential photographs, developing an interest in reducing art to its bare essentials. Literally recreating art from square one though his explorations of geometric forms, LeWitt is now considered to be one of the essential founders of both Conceptual and Minimal art. Differing from strict Minimalists by his focus on systems and concepts over materials, LeWitt’s art is one in which ideas and collaboration are paramount.

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #564 (2013), Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery (more…)

Sculptor Anish Kapoor has unveiled Unity, a memorial to those killed in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  The 19.5 foot tower will be installed at Hanover Square, near the site of the original towers, and will contain a mirrored interior.  “The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone.”  Says Kapoor.  “This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame.” (more…)

Part of the 2013 London Design Festival, Alex de Rijke of dRMM Architects and Dean of Architecture at the Royal College of Art has created a complex, interlocking staircase installation on the grounds in front of the Tate Modern.  Endless Stair will open on Friday, and is open to the public during the day.  It closes on October 10th. (more…)

Opening September 16th, a former Getty filling station in West Chelsea is scheduled for conversion into a temporary public art program, beginning with an exhibition of sheep sculptures by the late French artist Francois-Xavier Lalanne.  The project was initially conceived by dealer Paul Kasmin, who represents the Lalanne estate, and real estate developer Michael Shvo, whose company purchased the station this summer.  Sheep Station, as it is called, will feature 25 of Lalanne’s “Mouton” sculptures, each made of epoxy stone and bronze.

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As tensions mount in the Middle East over a potential war with Syria, the Italian government has cancelled a museum loan that would have sent Botticelli’s The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala to the Israel Museum.  The Italian Ministry of Culture has cited logistic and safety concerns regarding the work, and expressed hope that the work would soon be exhibited in Jerusalem. (more…)

Outside at Riverfront Studios, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

Station to Station, the traveling art happening organized and led by Doug Aitken, kicked off Friday night at Riverfront Studios in Brooklyn, featuring a vibrant array of music, performance, video, installations and appearances that launched Aitken and his traveling band of artists and musicians on a nationwide tour, which will conclude in Oakland at the end of September.  With different artists and performers appearing on each stop, the event will continue to shift and evolve with each subsequent event. (more…)

In the run-up to his career retrospective at the New Museum next month, Chris Burden is profiled in the New York Times, detailing his diverse and challenging body of work, his position as a highly influential, yet elusively underground figure in the American art world, and his Topanga Canyon home where he lives and works with his wife, sculptor Nancy Rubins.  “One of the reasons Nancy and I have lived up here is so we can just leave lots of junk lying around, and it doesn’t bother anyone that much,” says Burden. “Money has come into this canyon in the last few years. By our standards, it’s starting to get a little too crowded.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the current state of Sotheby’s auction house going into the fall art season, detailing the company’s increasing stock price despite sales that have been less than exemplary.  With a series of high-profile investors now on board, including the recent addition of Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, Sotheby’s has a number of options standing before it to increase its value for shareholders. (more…)

Moscow Biennale Curator Catherine de Zegher has spoken on the current calls for a boycott of Russian art and art events, stating that she has no intent on a boycott or cancellation of the event to protest the current state of civil rights for Russian LGBT citizens.  “I’m not a big believer in provocation,” De Zegher says. “Art that is very provocative is like fast food almost. It flares up, then it’s finished. Of course I do believe in activist gestures, and movement and action, but I think art works in a different way.” (more…)