Claude Monet, Meules (1891), final price: $110,747,000, via Sotheby’s

It’s been a wild week so far the world’s financial elite, especially in New York, where the stock market has plummeted over fears of an ongoing trade war with China and the attendant tariffs that implies. Yet that didn’t seem to deter the city’s auction houses from swinging for the fences and connected, as Christie’s and Sotheby’s capped a pair of wildly impressive sales that saw both auction houses notch some strong figures, and some major auction records, including a new world record for Claude Monet at Sotheby’s last night. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has hired Lanka Tattersall as a curator in the drawings and prints department. “With its unparalleled permanent collection, MoMA is an extraordinary place from which to build and question our understandings of art in our time,” Tattersall said in a statement. “I eagerly look forward to supporting artists by bringing their inventive, challenging and generative works and ideas to the museum.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT discusses the market behind the works on view at the Venice Biennale, and the collectors who seek out works on view at an event proffered as free of commercial impetus.  “Art and the market are always connected, but maybe in the past there was too much of a market,” says collector Patrizio Sandretto Re Rebaundengo. (more…)

A piece in the LA Times this week notes the challenges the LACMA renovation’s new concrete walls will pose for the mounting of work. “Faith in concrete’s sober virtue reminds me of all the cooing back in 2008-2010 over “column-free space” in Renzo Piano’s LACMA designs for BCAM and the Resnick Pavilion. Wide-open, uninterrupted interiors without pesky ceiling supports were touted as representing curatorial freedom and artistic respect — the liberty to subdivide interior museum space in whatever way might best flow from the art being shown,” writes Christopher Knight. “Yes, but: Art installation budgets roughly tripled when BCAM and Resnick opened, several people with direct knowledge of the column-free plan told me. Earthquake-zone building codes guide construction of those temporary interior walls. The structural demands approximate those for permanent walls — including their expense.” (more…)

The Guardian has a lengthy piece on Lee Krasner this week, touring her Long Island home and reviewing some of the abstract works she made after the death of her husband, Jackson Pollock.  “It’s mind-boggling,” says Helen Harrison, director of the artist’s Springs home. “Straight away she does this wonderful, colourful, upbeat work. Painting was her antidote to grief.” (more…)

Collector Jorge Pérez has established the CreARTE Grants Program, giving $1 million in grants to support arts and culture programs in Miami-Dade County.  “We wanted to create a fund to provide more funding for innovation, passion, creativity, and collaboration in the arts,” Pérez said. “Artistic endeavors are economically hard. We want to create opportunities for artists to pursue their careers that helps narrow the gap.” (more…)

The estate of Robert Indiana has filed suit to stop reproduction of his works, including his iconic LOVE and HOPE works, arguing that the licensing agreements for those works ended when he passed away. “We’re giving them notice that we are terminating the agreements, and this requires the judge to let us amend our pleading down there (in New York),” says attorney James Brannan. “We are hopeful the judge will do it. We are early enough in the case that I think we can.” (more…)

Luc Tuymans, La Pelle (Installation View), via Art Observed

Continuing its string of landmark exhibitions running concurrently with the spectacle of the Venice Biennale, François Pinault’s Palazzo Grassi has opened the doors on a major exhibition dedicated to the works of Belgian painter Luc Tuymans. Considered among the most influential painters of his generation, Tuymans has been dedicating himself to figurative painting since the mid-1980’s, and has regularly reinvented both himself, and the potentials for the medium, over the course of his work. Drawing from a range of sources and iconographies, his pieces at the Palazzo Grassi offer a welcome respite from the throngs outside, and the bustle of the early days of the Biennale. (more…)

Robert Rauschenberg, Buffalo II (1964), via Christie’s

The show previews, VIP openings and special presentations of the 58th Venice Biennale are now in the bag, and the art world has returned to business as usual this week, returning to New York for a string of auction sales that will offer a grounding take on the market, and a look at how the following weeks may have affected both single artists and the overall health of art world economics at the top of the market.

Amedeo Modigliani, Tete (1911-1912), via Christie’s (more…)

Adrian Ghenie, The Wall (2019), via Art Observed

Marking the 2019 seasonal opening of the Palazzo Mini gallery in Venice, artist Adrian Ghenie and Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery have brought a selection of new paintings to show in the space. Marking a new step in the artist’s continued exploration of the nuances of power, masculinity and politics in both the contemporary era and the annals of history, the new show stages a set of works notable for their portrayal of modern political crises, clashes of personality, and the framing of power.

Adrian Ghenie, Figure With Dog (2019), via Art Observed

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Arthur Jafa at the Venice Biennale, via Art Observed

The awards for the 58th Venice Biennale have been announced, with the Lithuanian Pavilion’s operatic beach installation taking home the Golden Lion for best exhibition, Arthur Jafa winning the Golden Lion for best artist in the main exhibition, and Jimmie Durham winning the Lifetime Achievement award.  A full list of awards is included below: (more…)

Martin Puryear, Liberty (Installation View), via Art Observed

Walking up the pathway to artist Martin Puryear’s installation at the US Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, one is greeted with a dazzling, and perhaps equally foreboding work. The piece, Swallowed Sun (Monstrance and Volute), stages an immense grate before the doors of the pavilion, a beautiful, carefully arranged grid that references sun streaming down, until one passes behind the work to see a black, serpentine form apparent “swallowing” the sun whole. (more…)

Wildenstein & Co. is being sued for allegedly selling a fake Pierre Bonnard painting in 1985, the Art Newspaper reports.  “If Wildenstein reviewed the catalogue raisonné and discovered that the Bonnard Painting was not listed there, its failure to advise the Trust was a material omission that operated as a fraud on the Trust,” the case notes. (more…)

Cathy Wilkes, Untitled (2019), via Art Observed

Within the grand architecture of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, artist Cathy Wilkes, born in Northern Ireland, has orchestrated a somber, quiet affair, moving the viewer through an occasionally disquieting, frequently challenging arrangement of narrative fragments and installation pieces that draw on the long echo chamber of history. Presenting an arrangement driven by both tension and reflection, the artist’s work is a particularly striking entry in what has been a consistently strong series of outings in recent years for the British Pavilion. (more…)

The NYT interviews a group of artists on the politics of the current Whitney Biennial, and how they see their work relating to the problems currently roiling both the museum and institutions nation wide. “So many things feel unchangeable because of history, or politics,” says Calvin Marcus. “I try to get people to question their daily surroundings, and hope that art helps recalibrate.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT this week charts the ongoing political challenges museums are facing from the public over board decisions and ethics. “In practical terms, museums are on the spot,” writes Holland Carter. “Even without expansion bloat, they’re too expensive and unprofitable to be fiscally self-sustaining. Government art support in the United States is less than meager (and would be zero if the current administration had its way). Which leaves private, frequently corporate, money to lean on, and the good possibility that some of that money is tainted.” (more…)

Painter Thomas Nozkowski, whose abstract paintings, drawings, and prints create swirling, otherworldly effects, has passed away at the age of 75, Pace Gallery confirmed. “Tom was a great, innovative painter and a wonderful friend,” gallerists Arne and Marc Glimcher said in a statement. “He leaves a space that cannot easily be filled; but what an incredible gift he has been to all of us. He added brilliance to every life he touched, and his work changed the way we all see the world.” (more…)

Renate Bertelmann at Austrian Pavilion, via Art Observed

As the crowds wound their way over from the crowded halls of the Arsenal, the Giardini, the second section of the Venice Biennale was underway in La Serenissima this morning. Flocks of visitors to the winding paths and green hills of the park, where the long-held exhibition spaces bearing the names of their countries are spread across . The environment gives a well-separated browsing experience, where each artist is provided carte blanche to realize their vision inside the space, often responding to architectural elements or working in direct opposition to the spaces themselves. (more…)

Tavares Strachan, via Art Observed

The wait is over, the previews are drawing to a close, and the Venice Biennale is preparing to open to the public this weekend, capping off a long few days of exhibitions and openings across the city.  The main show, May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Hayward Director Ralph Rugoff, is a sprawling, ambitious show that follows in the tradition of the exhibition’s expansive take on the state of the world, the state of art, and the language of modernity.  Rugoff has taken this challenge up in impressive fashion, combining social awareness, technologically-progressive works and challenging thematics with great style and flair.

Anthea Hamilton, via Art Observed

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Artist Eva Rothschild is profiled in The Guardian, as she opens her show at the Irish Pavilion in Venice. “The weird thing about Venice,” she says, “is that it’s the shiniest show in the world, and everyone else has done it before, except for the artists.”  (more…)

A letter by Vincent Van Gogh gushing to critic Albert Aurier over a review of one of his shows is on view at the Van Gogh Museum, The Guardian reports. “I rediscover my canvases in your article, but better than they really are – richer, more significant,” Van Gogh wrote. (more…)

The Getty Research Institute has appointed Pietro Rigolo as its assistant curator of modern and contemporary collections, Art News reports. “I am looking forward to joining my colleagues in implementing and diversifying our collections, envisaging new ways to present such relevant holdings, produce new knowledge, and engage our global public of researchers, students, and local communities throughout Southern California,” Rigolo said in a statement. (more…)

The Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston will unveil a new MassArt Art Museum in February 2020, Art News reports, funded in part by Pace founder Arne Glimcher. “Our primary goal has always been to show what’s new and to make contemporary art accessible to everyone, and the MassArt Art Museum will make that truly possible,” says Lisa Tung executive director of the school’s Bakalar & Paine Galleries. “Our artists will also feel supported to realize their vision, and our students will be invited into the process to learn from the professional artists they aspire to be.” (more…)

Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, the buyer of a selection of Basquiat works in recent years, is selling some of his collection this year, raising concerns about his future commitment to the market.  “Yes, I have no money. I spend it so quickly,” he said on Twitter this week. (more…)