Lucian Freud, Portrait on a White Cover (2002-2003) final price:£22,464,300, via Sotheby’s

Trumpeting the sale as a “vote of confidence” following an unsteady Impressionist Evening Sale the week prior, Sotheby’s concluded its Contemporary Evening Sale tonight, marking a more balanced, even-handed outing with a £110,239,550 final tally.  Spread over 44 lots, the sale was a solidly-appointed affair, with only one work going unsold in an outing that aimed to put fears over market weakness to bed.   (more…)

Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery has announced a new design for its expansion that would spare the 1962 building by Buffalo-born architect Gordon Bunshaft. “You see a tip of an iceberg, and there are a lot of complexities and contradictions underneath that tip,” says Albright-Knox Director Janne Sirén. “But this is one of those special moments for us.” (more…)

Artist Olafur Eliasson is partnering with Swedish furniture retailer Ikea to produce a series of sustainable electrical systems and projects, based around the artist’s Little Sun project.  “Little Sun makes solar energy tangible and your world a little bit more sustainable,” Olafur said. “We are excited to collaborate with IKEA, raising awareness for energy access and the need for global togetherness. Together, we want to connect the world by sharing the power of the sun with everyone.” (more…)

The Art Dealers Association of America has added five new members: Honor Fraser Gallery, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Jessica Silverman Gallery, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, and Venus Over Manhattan. “It is especially exciting to expand the Association’s representation on the West Coast and add to the range of dynamic programming, expertise, and connoisseurship of our membership across the country,” says Andrew Schoelkopf, the president of the ADAA.

Read more at Art News

More protests have raised challenges to the Frick’s new expansion plan, the New York Times reports, as preservationists have challenged the sincerity of alternative construction models for the museum. “The plan would destroy or irrevocably alter many historic elements of the Frick Collection, including the landmarked Russell Page Garden and renowned Music Room,” the Stop Irresponsible Frick Development coalition said in a statement. “The public has not been given a fair opportunity to provide feedback on the harmful proposal, and alternate plans that have been submitted have only been partially considered.” (more…)

Anish Kapoor has filed a lawsuit against the NRA, citing copyright infringement over the organization’s usage of a photo of his Cloud Gate sculpture in a recent ad campaign. “These sadly are times in which it is urgent for us all, in whatever way we can, to stand up to the dark and aggressive forces in society that seek, out of fear and hatred, to lead us backward into a primitive, paranoid, and defensive worldview,” Kapoor says. (more…)

The Whitney is preparing to open a major exhibition on the work of Andy Warhol, the first Warhol retrospective organized by a United States museum since 1989. “Warhol was a myth when he was alive, and he’s even more of a myth now,” says Donna De Salvo, deputy director and senior curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. “To humanize Warhol and get people to actually look at what he made is not as easy as it might sound.” (more…)

Jennifer Y. Chi has left her position as chief curator and deputy director of the Brooklyn Museum after less than a year, the Art News reports. “The museum is grateful to Dr. Chi for her efforts in pursuing departmental restructuring, refining curatorial processes, and highlighting the museum’s extraordinary collections, and we wish her well,” a spokesperson said. (more…)

The Art Newspaper spotlights the recent market explosion for Adrian Ghenie, charting the artist’s skyrocketing popularity and equally high auction prices. “Adrian is an extremely talented painter and manages to engender the feeling of something rather than explicitly outlining exactly what it is,” says curator Jane Neal.

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Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art has announced its new expansion, the Watershed, unveiling the 15,000 square-foot space last week.  “We always knew, when we built the ICA, that there were going to be buildings that came up around and behind it,” says ICA director Jill Medvedow.  “As we began to think about an expansion, we started to think about the ways in which we could welcome more and more people into the ICA community, how to expand the circle, how to grow our audience, how to create extraordinary encounters with works of art. It seemed like an important and perfect spot.” (more…)

Lucian Freud, Portrait on a White Cover (2002-2003), via Sotheby’s

Following up on a set of sales that can best be described as unsteady last week, the London auction houses return again today for a trio of sales that will once again test the market strength for the upper echelons of the Post-War and Contemporary segment.  Taking over the British capital for the last bout of auctions before a long summer recess, this set of sales should see an attempt to overcome sluggish interest and achieve a strong closing note for the first half of the year. (more…)

Gagosian Gallery has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit in which artist Jeff Koons’s studio was charged with “non-delivery.” “Although the Gallery has met all of its obligations under the Purchase Agreements, Mr. Tananbaum now claims that he has the right to walk away because the artist is purportedly taking too long to create the Works and Mr. Tananbaum is not prepared to ‘wait’ any longer,” the motion reads.  (more…)

Alberto Giacometti’s Paris studio has reopened as part of the Giacometti Foundation’s campus. “When I first saw everything in storage, it was fantastic, like a little time capsule,” says Catherine Grenier, the director of the Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti.  (more…)

Glenn Ligon, In Poetry, A Solution to Everything (Installation View), via Thomas Dane

Glenn Ligon’s first solo show in Italy, on view now at Thomas Dane, translates the poetical image into pictorial figuration, taking form around a poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ma Era L’Italia, L’Italia Nuda e Formicolante, in which the poet recalls Italy in the years after the war, the cries of his generation and of ancient children, obliged to face history, a mission not based on power but on civilization. At this time, the artist cannot only be who tries to revolt the repressive system of forces. The poet lives, more than others, the agony of modernity and art. His poetry is not born from a crisis; it is the crisis itself. (more…)

Marlene Dumas, Awkward (2018), via Art Observed

Painter Marlene Dumas’ show, Myths and Mortals, a return to David Zwirner‘s New York gallery space, comprises 22 paintings and 33 works on paper divided into three parts, showcasing the artist’s sense of narrative and interconnected meaning. The first series of works includes large scale and smaller scale oil on canvas paintings that explore the dynamics of love. The second part includes ink washes on paper depicting Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis story, as translated by the Dutch Hafid Bouazza, and is constructed in a highly narrative style with the story moving chronologically with explicit references. The third returns to canvas and oil paintings and begins to explore the themes of Venus and Adonis although with the more general factors of romance, lust and true love. (more…)

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Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme de profil (Femme écrivant) (1932), via Sotheby’s

The month’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales are now in the books, after the London headquarters for both Christie’s and Sotheby’s capped their sales in the British capital.  Seizing on the recent and continued expansion of the market for works from this era in past months, the week’s sales were an often complex, confusing set of outings, as results fluctuated considerably and market health was perhaps painted as a bit unpredictable.

Joan Miro, Peinture (1933), via Sotheby’s

At Sotheby’s, nearly a third of the sale’s 36 lots went unsold (10), with the final tally capped at £87,496,600.  Chief among the abortive works was a premier lot, Peinture, by Joan Miró, which stagnated on the auction block and missed its £8 to £12 million auction price, and ultimately contributed to the auction house missing out on its low estimate.  The much-trumpeted Pablo Picasso portrait of Marie-Therese, however, performed admirably, making up nearly a full third of the auction’s value with its £27,319,000 final price.  Also saving the sale was Alberto Giacometti’s Le Chat, which brought a strong price at £12,642,000.

Alberto Giacometti, Le Chat (1955), via Sotheby’s

Franz Marc, Drei Pferde (1916), via Christie’s

A similar situation marked the sale at Christie’s the following evening, where a 45-lot sale achieved a final of £128,081,750.  The sale was also marked by eight unsold lots over the course of the evening, but pushed through its offering on the strength of several strong works, chief among them Claude Monet’s La Gare Saint-Lazare, which reached a price of £24,983,750, as well as Picasso’s Femme dans un fauteuil, the Dora Maar portrait that performed to expectations at a final of £19,358,750.  Another achievement came with the setting of a new auction record for Franz Marc, whose Drei Pferde easily hit £15,421,250, resetting his record.

With results like this, the market picture has grown notably cloudy, or perhaps the market is trending towards saturation, the frequent sales and frequency of blue-chip trophies changing hands making for a less appealing environment for collectors.  No matter why, the major auction houses have only a few days to reflect, as the proceedings continue next week with the Contemporary and Post-War Sales.

Claude Monet, La Gare Saint-Lazare, vue extérieure (1877), via Christie’s

Pablo Picasso, Femme dans un fauteuil (Dora Maar) (1942), via Christie’s

— D. Creahan

Read more:
Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale [Sotheby’s]
Sotheby’s Fails to Reach Low Estimate at Modern Art Auction [Bloomberg]
Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale [Christie’s]

The Art Newspaper looks at the thriving popularity of the work of Kerry James Marshall, after a record-breaking auction price drove new interest in his work, and a rampant demand for pieces, including those about to go on view at a show at David Zwirner’s London location. “We might not even keep a waiting list for the exhibition,” Zwirner says. “It’s going to be very hard to get a painting from that show, that’s for sure.” (more…)

Theaster Gates made a statement on supporting young artists in remarks last night at a party in Basel, asking collectors to support young artists making and selling their work. “You guys, I know that I’m the byproduct of people saying yes when they didn’t know me, saying yes at my potential and the possibility of the thing,” he said. “Throwing small dinners with me with five people that has turned into dinners for 200. I’m just grateful.” (more…)

A piece in Art Newspaper this week asks if arts awards really carry many of the benefits for winners that they claim, looking at a range of examples including a recent protest by a group of artists nominated for Germany’s Berlin Nationalgalerie Prize. “There is an unspoken assumption that the participants are likely to be remunerated by the market as a result of being nominated for or winning the prize,” the artists nominated for this prize said in an open statement. “We know that this is not always the case. The logic of artists working for exposure feeds directly into the normalization of the unregulated pay structures ubiquitous in the art field.” (more…)

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Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme de profil (Femme écrivant) (1932), via Sotheby’s

With the bustling week of sales and exhibitions in Basel now capped, the final major auctions of the spring are set to take place in London, as two weeks of auctions will look to test the waters of a market seemingly on the rebound after a strong outing earlier this season in New York.  Beginning this week with a pair of Impressionist and Modern Sales, the week’s proceedings should make for an intriguing wrap up of the first half of 2018.   (more…)

Wendy White, American Bleach Effect (Budweiser) (2018), via Marlborough Contemporary

It’s hard to estimate Leo Fitzpatrick’s impact on the course of Marlborough Contemporary’s programming.  The director, who joined the gallery in 2015, has dipped his toes into any number of puddles over the course of his time with the gallery, yet always bringing an equally studied and adventurous approach to curation across the gallery’s two story exhibition space. The shows have twisted in and out of the gallery’s broader curatorial vision, pulling both from the deeper reaches of contemporary art history and from the gallery’s list of frequent collaborators.  For his most recent exhibition project, BURNT, Fitzpatrick continues this trend, inviting a broad swath of artists to a show that manages to both unite diverse voices and focus them towards the modern American cultural landscape.  (more…)

Liu Wei, 180 Faces (detail) (2017-2018)All images © Liu Wei Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York and AYE Gallery, Beijing

Sean Kelly’s exhibition of 180 small scale portraits by Chinese artist Liu Wei offers an intimate and thought-provoking survey into the psychological layers of portraiture, a genre almost as archaic as art history itself.  Entitled 180 Faces, the exhibition of modest scale portraits of anonymous individuals are hung akin to the style of the salon, with a twist on the traditional display fashion as the frames’ sleek surfaces blend into the gallery’s contemporary white-cube interior. (more…)