The late Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge

A look into Christie’s coming Yves Saint Laurent sale, the largest single owner sale in auction history [Economist]
An interview with artist Jenny Holzer [Art21]
A review of Denis Dutton’s book “The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure and Human Evolution” which attempts to define art within a socio-biological context [NYObserver]

Bernd Runge, now at the helm at Phillips de Pury via Tattler.ru

Ex-VP of Conde Nast (and ex-East German Stasi secret police spy) appointed by newly Russian owned Phillips Auction house as CEO and in related, Ex-British Petroleum CEO to run the Tate museum group [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s discontinues the practice of allowing art to be bought at auction with credit cards [NYMag]

Guernica – By Pablo Picaso via Pdx.edu

Picasso’s Guernica to adorn Whitchapel Gallery reopening in April [ArtNewspaper]
Christie’s combines 19th Century European Art, Old-Master Paintings, Old Master Drawings and British Drawings into one department to create an umbrella category for art between 1300 and 1900 [NYTimes]
The complicated process behind creating and selling forged Russian artwork [Forbes]

Abstraktes Bild 809-3 (1994) by Gerhard Richter, via the Tate

Under a program called “Artist Rooms,” the British public (and anyone visiting the United Kingdom) will be able to enjoy a large and diverse collection of contemporary art, including works by Joseph Beuys, Jenny Holzer, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Gerhard Richter, Gilbert and George, Damien Hirst and other prominent and influential artists ranging from the immediate postwar period to the present.

The works originally belonged to Anthony d’Offay, one of contemporary art’s most powerful dealers and collectors. d’Offay relinquished his 725-piece collection worth £125 million to the British and Scottish governments; the dealer effectively sold his collection to the governments for £26.5 million, far below market value . The collection was then transferred it to the National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate.

The works are set up in a series of 50 rooms featuring 25 artists, located at 18 galleries and museums throughout the United Kingdom, in an ambitious effort to broaden the audience and geographical reach of contemporary art. Sir Nicholas Serota, head of the Tate, expressed the hope that the show could be kept on the road indefinitely(as reported last February by Art Observed here).  The Art Fund, an arts charity, is working in conjunction with the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, and has pledged £250,000 a year to help keep the “permanent tour” going.

“Artist rooms” marks the first time a national collection is being shown simultaneously across the UK, and the first room will open on March 2nd, 2009 at the Tate Britain, featuring the work of Ian Hamilton Finlay.

Rooms with a view: £125m art collection tours UK [Guardian]
Art collection to be split and shown around UK [Reuters]
Artist Rooms Collection of Contemporary Art Goes Nationwide [ArtDaily]
British Dealer Anthony D’Offay Sells 725 Works to Tate for Reported Fifth of Their Value [ArtObserved]
Exhibition page: Artist Rooms collection at the Tate
Exhibition page: Artist Rooms collection at the National Galleries of Scotland

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Terence Koh in United  Bamboo via Refinery29

Artist and downtown NYC fixture Terence Koh Models for United Bamboo [Refinery29]
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A review of director of Hauser and Wirth gallery Gregor Muir’s book on the seminal period of the Young British Art movement of the 80’s “They were too drunk, too coked up, too busy scrounging up some rent, too out of work and squalor-happy to remember much about the glory days.” [TimesUK]
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Art Tactic reports 81% fall in confidence levels in contemporary-art market, predicts 3-5 years to recovery, institutes new “survival rating” to predict artists to be considered still relevant in 10 years [Bloomberg]
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In related, the Art Newspaper offers predictions for the market in 2009 [ArtNewspaper]
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Olafur Eliasson’s book via Space Invading

Commissioned by MOMA, Olafur Eliasson creates 454 page, 85:1 scale, laser-cut negative space rendering of his home [SpaceInvading]
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Video of Rirkrit Tiravanija serving up vegetarian curry at a grafitti’d construction installation at David Zwirner [NewArtTV]
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The Louvre begins managing its first ever endowment of $230m received from the United Arab Emirates to build a museum there [NYTimes]
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When artwork decays and requires reproduction [WallStreetJournal]
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Anthony Haden-Guest on Yves Saint Laurent’s 700+ work art collection to be auctioned in February by Christie’s Paris at a £200m to £300m estimate [GuardianUK]
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Opening night for New Paintings by Peter Doig at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise photos by Art Observed

New Paintings by Peter Doig, opened at Gavin Brown’s enterprise and Michael Werner Gallery on January 17th. Doig, a Scottish artist who grew up in Canada and Trinidad, where he currently lives, has not had a solo show in New York since 2002, when Michael Werner Gallery exhibited a survey of his works on paper. ‘New Paintings’ feature several works painted by Doig over the last two years in his studio in the Caribbean.

Man dressed as a bat (2008) by Peter Doig, via Gavin Brown’s enterprise

NEW PAINTINGS
January 17th to February 21st, 2009
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
620 Greenwich St
New York, NY
Open Tues – Sat, 10am to 6pm.

Exhibition page: New Paintings
Profile: Peter Doig at Saatchi Gallery

My life in art: How Peter Doig taught me to pay attention [Guardian UK]

Previously on ArtObserved:
Go See: Peter Doig Retrospective at the Tate Britain
Go See: Peter Doig Retrospective at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt

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Andrew Wyeth, photographed at his Chadd’s Ford, Pa. property, via the New York Times

“Wyeth was an anti-modern painter … He did paintings that never changed, in a style that never changed. His image is one of stasis in a world that changed dramatically around him, and for my money that is a conservative position. It is in many ways a futile exercise, but he did it with great energy and conviction.”
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— Robert Storr, Dean, Yale University School of Art, to the New York Times.

Andrew Wyeth, a key figure in 20th century American art and one of its most popular artists, died on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at the age of 91.  Wyeth’s oeuvre, which falls squarely within the realism genre of painting, has provoked both intense praise and intense criticism regarding the quality and content of his work.

His paintings centered around depictions of rural America, its landscapes and its people, and was often dismissed as formulaic, trite Americana. His works were infused with a sincerity that stood in marked contrast to the Modernist, Abstract Expressionist and Pop art movements that emerged during his career.  Nevertheless, the artist was always sought out among the general populace, with paintings such as Christina’s World becoming as familiar as Grant Wood’s American Gothic, becoming widely reproduced in prints. Wyeth was especially popular in Middle America for what many considered a steadfast, romantic patriotism and attachment to rural themes and subjects.

An Unmistakable Figure on the Barren Landscape [Washington Post]
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For Wyeth, Both Praise and Doubt [New York Times]
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Andrew Wyeth, Painter, Dies at 91 [New York Times]
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Andrew Wyeth, painter of Christina’s World, dies aged 91 [Times UK]
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Andrew Wyeth, Painter of ‘Christina’s World,’ Dies [Bloomberg]
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Weighing Andrew Wyeth [Wall Street Journal]
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US artist Andrew Wyeth dies [BBC]

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Chiara Clemente, photo by Maciek Kobielski via NYT

Our City Dreams, a new documentary by Chiara Clemente, daughter of renowned painter Francesco Clemente, is set to have its New York theatrical premiere at Film Forum, Wednesday, February 4, 2009.

The film, an 87-minute-long “love letter to the city,” enters the creative spaces of five women artists ranging in age from 30 to 80, from different generations and cultures, but whose work and lives are now intrinsically connected to New York City – Swoon, Ghada Amer, Kiki Smith, Marina Abramovic, and Nancy Spero.  Each artist is allotted her own segment which explores her work and complex relationship to the city.

The film is crafted in black-and-white, color, super 8, 16mm, DV and HD shot by Theo Stanley, and followed by a theme-driven score by Thomas Lauderdale.  Variety’s Ronnie Scheib states that Clemente’s “exquisitely crafted” documentary “itself quite simply ranks of a work of art.”

Our City Dreams Website
Film Forum
Review of Our City Dreams [Variety]
Loving Portrait of 5 NYC Women Premieres at Film Forum [Art Daily]

Our City Dreams – 87 minutes – distributed by First Run Features

More information and images after the jump..

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Christie’s headquarters, 8 King Street, London

Christie’s has announced a broad restructuring plan in measures designed to deal with the deteriorating economic environment, and the resulting fallout in the art market.

While details are still vague, a statement issued by Christie’s indicated that the company has “begun to implement a company wide reorganization, which includes significant staff reductions, not renewing many consultants’ contracts, and the continuation of other cost-reduction initiatives, that will ensure we remain competitive and profitable in 2009,” without specifying exactly how many jobs would be eliminated.

“There’s a consultation process going on at the moment, so we’re not in a position to comment on numbers,” Alexandra Buxton, Christie’s European head of public relations, said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. These measures follow a series of dismal auctions including a contemporary art sale in November where $114 million, or less than half of the low estimate was raised, as covered here by ArtObserved.

Christie’s cut costs as art market slows [New York Times]
Christie’s Auction House to Slash Jobs [Wall Street Journal]
Christie’s to Cut Jobs as Crisis Cuts Auction Sales [Bloomberg]
Christie’s Plans “Significant Staff Reductions” [ArtInfo]
Cuts Announced at Christie’s and Denver Art Museum; LA Arts Writers See Layoffs [ArtForum]

Previously on ArtObserved:
CHRISTIE’S AND SOTHEBY’S OLD MASTERS AUCTIONS IN LONDON SHOW RESILIENCE Dec 5
AO AUCTION ROUNDUP 5 OF 5 – NOVEMBER AUCTION SUMMARY: THE REALITY OF AN INDISPUTABLE BUYER’S MARKET Nov 19
AO AUCTION RESULTS: CHRISTIE’S “THE MODERN AGE,” THE ALICE LAWRENCE AND HILLMAN FAMILY COLLECTIONS SELL FOR LESS THAN 50% OF ESTIMATE AS ROTHKO AND MANET HEADLINERS ARE PULLED Nov 8
SOTHEBY’S STOCK DROPS 14% (DOWN 75.7% FROM ITS HIGH) FOLLOWING DISMAL ASIAN AUCTION RESULTS Oct 7
TOP AUCTION HOUSE PHILLIPS DE PURY BOUGHT BY RUSSIAN LUXURY RETAIL COMPANY MERCURY GROUP Oct 7

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Degas’ ‘Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans’ via Guardian

Degas’ Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, bought for £5m five years ago, is  expected to sell for £12m despite the recent market slowdown. Sir John Madejski, owner of Reading FC and a noted British philanthropist, will be selling Degas’ sculpture at Sotheby’s sale of impressionist art in London next month.

Petite Danseuse, created during 1879 and 1881 is the only sculpture Degas exhibited in his lifetime, and was cast in wax since the artist could not afford to have it done in bronze. The model for the sculpture was Marie van Goethem, a ballerina with the Paris Opera, who was also the inspiration for several of Degas’ paintings.

Madejski puts Degas dancer back in the transfer market at £12m [Guardian]
Degas’s The Little Dancer up for sale [Telegraph]

Richard Prince (left) and Larry Gagosian (right), via ArtInfo

Patrick Cariou, a photographer, has filed a lawsuit against Richard Prince after the artist allegedly used photographs without consent from Yes Rasta, a book released by Cariou in 2000, in several of his works in his ‘Canal Zone’ series, which is based in part on a post-apocalyptic vision of the island of St. Barths (exhibit covered by Art Observed here).  Larry Gagosian and Rizzoli, the publisher of Richard Prince’s book, are also named as defendants. Gagosian’s involvement stems from the fact that the works in question were featured a month ago at the ‘Canal Zone’ show at his gallery, while Rizzoli is responsible for the book covering the exhibition.

Prince, who is most famous for collages of photographs from ads often featuring prominent brands and iconic figures, among other things, has caused a stir in the past due to allegations of copyright infringement and misappropriation.  In this specific instance, Cariou is especially incensed due to the fact that he spent 10 years in the mountains of rural Jamaica gaining the trust of the Rastafarians who are the subject of his book, only to have these images easily appropriated by Prince without any indication of context or subtext.

Richard Prince and Gagosian get slapped with suit [ArtFagCity]
Photographer Sues Prince, Gagosian, and Rizzoli [ArtInfo]
Artist site: Richard Prince
Gallery: Gagosian

Previously on ArtObserved:
AO ON SITE: RICHARD PRINCE’S CANAL ZONE, GAGOSIAN GALLERY, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, CHELSEA, NEW YORK

Winter Landscape, Huang Xi via Interview/Terence Koh

Winter Landscape, an installation by Tianjin-based artist Huang Xi, is on view twenty-four hours a day until January 31, through a peep hole in the window of Terence Koh’s Asia Song Society Gallery, on Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown.  Koh describes Xi’s piece as a “joyful winter landscape” based on Caspar David Friedrich’s “Winter Landscape With Church” (1811), but without the “religious” part.  At night a red light glows from ASS’s store front window which has been treated to look as if frosted over in a storm.

Invite for Winter Landscape, Asia Song Society

Winter Landscape is on view at Asia Song Society, 45 Canal Street, New York, NY, December 19, 2008 – January 31, 1009

Asia Song Society
Terence Koh [Hint Mag]
Winter Postcard from Terence Koh [Interview]

‘Rabbit’ by Jeff Koo ns, as displayed at Versailles via Bloomberg

Jeff Koons’s show at Versailles, previously covered here by ArtObserved, was mired in controversy right up to its very end.  Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme, a descendant of the Louis XIV, the Sun King who built the Versailles palace where the exhibition took place, filed a lawsuit in the administrative court of that town to bring the show to a halt based on the “right to live without the profanation of one’s ancestors” and the “right to access knowledge of heritage without pornographic constraints.” Prince Charles-Emmanuel considered the show “pornographic” and “a desecration and an attack on the respect due to the dead,” and vowed to take the lawsuit to the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest court for state affairs, after it was dismissed by the judge in Versailles.

Jeff Koons Versailles was the first Koons retrospective in Europe, and is considered responsible for a 15% increase in visitors to the Versailles palace since it opened in September. The exhibition closed on January 4th, 2009.

Descendant of Louis XIV tries to ban exhibition [Guardian]
Royal Heir Angered by Koons at Versailles [New York Times]
Sun King descendant loses case against Koons exhibition at Versailles [ArtForum]

Previously on ArtObserved:
GO SEE: JEFF KOONS’S CONTROVERSIAL INSTALLATION AT VERSAILLES, FRANCE, THROUGH DECEMBER 14 [September 12th, 2008]
JEFF KOONS SETS UP AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES, FRANCE IN SEPTEMBER [August 8th, 2008]

more images after the jump…

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Untitled (mattress) (1991) by Rachel Whiteread, via The Museum of Modern Art

Brazilian Photographer Vik Muniz has curated an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art featuring approximately 80 works from the museum’s collection, including those by Eugène Atget, John Baldessari, Marcel Duchamp, Nan Goldin, Gordon Matta-Clark, Pablo Picasso, Dieter Rams, and Rachel Whiteread. The exhibit is part of Artist’s Choice, a series of exhibitions where an artist becomes a curator using selected works from the Museum of Modern Art’s Collection.

Muniz often questions the traditions and symbolism of visual representation by contrasting unlikely materials to depict subjects in his photographs. In this exhibition he has similarly brought works together out of their normal museological classification, thus allowing the viewer to create their own visual interpretation of artworks based on various linkages and connections. For the show’s theme, he employs a rebus, a puzzle that uses carefully connected images and symbols to create a phrase or a sentence. Instead of forming a sentence, he organizes the artworks by linking them through similarities in material, subject matter, technique, and form.

Artist’s Choice: Rebus, Vik Muniz
Museum of Modern Art
New York, New York
through February 23, 2009
Exhibition Page: Artist’s Choice: Rebus, Vik Muniz
Press: ‘Art’s Choice + Muniz = Rebus’- Connecting the Dots at the Museum of Modern Art New York [New York Times]
Vik Muniz on Guest-Curating his MoMA Show, ‘Rebus’ [New York Mag]
Vik Muniz Creates Rebus, an Inventive Narrative of Works from MoMA’s Collection [ArtDaily]

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DAMIEN HIRST – Beautiful Artemis Thor Neptune Odin Delusional Sapphic Inspirational Hypnosis Painting, 2007 – LOT 17 at Phillips de Pury Nov. 13th auction – UNSOLD – ESTIMATE $3,000,000-4,000,00

Demand for Damien Hirst’s artwork is reportedly drying up a bit after the artist sold almost $200 million worth of art on September 15th (as covered by ArtObserved here,) the same day that Lehman Brothers collapsed and the Dow posted its then-largest single day decline. Christopher van de Weghe, a New York art dealer, recently sold only 2 of 8 lots at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach–with those two lots selling for several thousand dollars, much less than the recent low estimates  of their respective price ranges at auctions.  Even sales of certain Hirst art works with larger more recognizable runs, such as the medicine cabinets and spin paintings, are very slow–so slow in fact that Hirst’s production company, Science Ltd, is laying off up to 20 people (as covered by ArtObserved here.)

Additionally, several art markets experts expect prices for Hirst’s work to remain depressed through most of 2009 due to the significant output of supply that has come online in the last few years. “We will see less of him at auction or we’ll see as many works but with lower estimates,” said Anders Petterson, chief of ArtTactic market research firm, via Bloomberg. Petterson added, on the topic of a survey his firm conducted with 150 art industry respondents regarding Hirst’s works: “the feeling is that the Hirst market has been stretched a bit too far, almost as if it snapped and backfired.” This sentiment is echoed by other dealers and analysts in the same article. “There’s little or no activity at $1 million or higher,” said Chelsea dealer Perry Rubenstein, who has sold various Hirst artworks in the past. “The price level for his market is completely unclear right now,” said David Zwirner, the owner of one of the two largest galleries in Chelsea. However, both of these points could be applied to the broader art market, as there is very little visibility as to when and how the market could eventually recover.

Damien Hirst. Image via Portfolio.

The consensus now seems to be that “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,” Hirst’s $200 million show earlier this year, which to some has come to signify much of the effervescence of the better part of the past decade, was most likely the peak of the market not just for Hirst but perhaps for the art market in general.   The success of that sale was notable and controversial not only in its extraordinary payout to the artist but also because the artist took his product directly to market using Sotheby’s, thus circumventing the dealers (primarily Larry Gagosian in New York and Jay Jopling in London).  Much of the success of that show has been attributed to the fact that Sotheby’s linked the work up with new pools of buyers hitherto untapped by Hirst’s dealer network, even taking the artworks on a roadshow to such places as India and the Hamptons vacation market in New York (covered by ArtObserved here).

Despite the historical success of the Sotheby’s sale, the type of art production and sales system that Hirst embodies could be particularly vulnerable in a down market.  Hirst’s work is systematic, ubiquitous, highly marketed through crossovers into fashion and music and backed by a highly extroverted large sized personality.  His works stand in contrast to, for instance, a less frequently produced Peter Doig painting, or for a more recently in the news example, a John Currin work, which, due to its rarity as a singularly produced oil painting, actually outperformed estimates in the recently depressed November New York auctions (his Nice ‘n Easy, 1999, oil on canvas work sold for $5,458,500, above it’s estimate of $3,500,000 to $4,500,000, as covered by Art Observed here.)    Hirst’s artwork can seem to be a sort of luxury product, a metal and formaldehyde accessory.  A Hirst work is in many ways a sort of status symbol that is more easily accepted by non-insider art buyers than another valuable but more esoteric work.  Many of Hirst’s works are  immediately striking or controversial, such as diamond encrusted skulls and massive, bisected animals in glass cases and they are thus very readily absorbed by all facets of media and correspondingly, by popular culture.   Many of the works are produced in large consistent series that are not only recognizable but marketed in such a way that new buyers might acquire them comfortably due to their mass cultural acceptance.

However, as the world economy has slowed the deep pools of potential buyers has dried up, leaving the buying activity largely in the hands of serious, experienced, sophisticated buyers who act with precision to acquire significant, quality works not recently nor perpetually produced by an art factory system.   The same mechanism that propelled Hirst to Icarian heights may thus cut him off at the knees.  In a burgeoning economy, relentless art production and marketing can grow an artist’s prominence, yet in a retreating market the high elasticity of art prices reacts quickly and negatively to the disproportionate supply.  Nevertheless, Hirst is a phenomenon not only in the works he produces but certainly in the way in which he operates within the art market, constantly pushing at the edges of the system.  He should in all likelihood continue to be unpredictable, dynamic and innovative in the upcoming years and should as such not be written off.

For the Love of God (2007) by Damien Hirst, via Wikimedia

Hirst Sale, Lehman Bust Mark End of Frothy Era: Martin Gayford [Bloomberg]
Damien Hirst, of $100 Million Diamond Skull, Sees Prices Slump [Bloomberg]
Has Hirst’s Bubble Burst? [Portfolio]
Hirst Market in Decline, Say Researchers [ArtInfo]
The Retreat [ArtMarket Monitor]
Damien Hirst’s primary-market Sotheby’s auction sets records alongside historic financial market collapse [ArtObserved]

Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, via NY Times

The Museum of Contemporary Art has been beset by financial troubles that threaten its sustainability. The museum went through all $20 million of its unrestricted funds several years ago, and its endowment, which stood at around $40 million at the beginning of the decade, is now at $6 million, a number which compromises the covenants upon which it was established. Its financial cushion has been further eroded by the financial crisis and a decrease in donations. MOCA, founded in 1979, is considered to be one of the world’s premier contemporary art museums, and is now on the brink of insolvency.

Los Angeles Museum Agrees to Accept Rescue Deal [NY Times]
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa makes a plea to MOCA [LA Times]
Director Strick said to be latest casualty at MOCA [LA Times]
Los Angeles Museum Proposes to Save Another [NY Times]
Thinking About MOCA [Time, Looking Around]
Making sense of a total mess (or not) [Modern Art Notes via C-Monster]

more story and images after the jump…

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Self Portrait (1630) by Rembrandt van Rijn; stolen in 2000, recovered in 2005 by a team led by Robert Wittman. Image via Codart

Via the BBC: “It’s about saving the cultural property of mankind … Every country has a different cultural heritage and saving these things brings us closer together as human beings. When it comes to art, it’s visceral. It affects us in a deep, emotional way.” – Robert Wittman

20 years after leading his first major art recovery operation,  the FBI’s top agent in art theft investigations and recoveries is set to retire. By often posing as a crooked art dealer working on behalf of wealthy organized criminals, Special Agent Robert Wittman has played a key role in recovering $225 million in stolen art over his career, often going undercover to retrieve very high profile works of art.

His first assignment, in 1988, involved recovering the second largest crystal ball in the world, once owned by the Empress Dowager Cixi of China. The ball was stolen from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in the middle of the night. Within two years, Wittman recovered the crystal ball, as well as “Man with a Broken Nose,” a Rodin from the 1860s that was also stolen that year, impressing the FBI enough to install him as head of art crimes investigations.  Since then, 9 out of 10 cases he has participated in have involved some sort of undercover operation, which draw on what sources describe as Wittman’s considerable charm and his ability to blend into any crowd due to his average build and ‘average Joe’ features.

FBI: Top Ten Art Crimes
FBI: Art Theft Program
The invisible man rescuing art [BBC]
FBI’s Top Investigator Involving Art Theft and Art Fraud, Robert Wittman, Retires [ArtDaily]
Missing A Masterpiece? Call FBI’s Art Crime Team [NPR]
The Heist Meister [Art Market Monitor]
Stolen Rembrandt work recovered [BBC]

more story and images after the jump…

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Subodh Gupta, Untitled (detail), 2007-2008 via Serpentine Gallery

The new survey exhibition “Indian Highway” at London’s Serpentine Gallery reveals an inspiring and passionate array of Indian contemporary artists. The show highlights work done by fifteen artists from all over the country working in a variety of media from painting and photography to installation and performance.  Such a rich range of artwork captures the theme of the exhibition reflecting on India’s rapid economic development and the challenges of balancing the traditional, rural, and the religious with a new industrial society.

Indian Highway
Serpentine Gallery, London
Through February 22, 2009
Exhibition Page: Indian Highway

Press: An Eye-popping passage to India [The Guardian]
Serpentine Gallery Presents Major Exhibition: Indian Highway [Artdaily]

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Confrontation 1 (1988) by Gerhard Richter, via Tate

Gerhard Richter, 76, one of the most prominent living painters, will have his work shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London, marking the first time the artist has had a single show covering his entire oeuvre.  Gerhard Richter Portraits will feature 35 works by the painter, known for producing photo-realistic paintings, traced from slides, photographic prints, magazine cut outs, and other sources.  Richter has recently had exhibitions at London’s Serpentine (as covered by AO here) and a retrospective in Edinburgh (as covered by AO here.) Richter is also especially known for his portraits, a famous example being his portrayal of the Kennedy assassination and of Jacqueline Kennedy following her husband’s death.  Richter’s work stands in stark contrast to that of Andy Warhol, his contemporary, who often glamorized his portrait subjects–Richter’s work focused on moments of quiet reflection, and his subjects have at times been the recent victim of some sort of tragedy, as with the Kennedys.

Curated by Paul Moorhouse, the exhibit covers the period from the 1960s to the present, and includes a work that has not been previously exhibited. Additionally, a special installation of Richter’s acclaimed 48 Portraits, a series of portraits of important historical figures which increased the artist’s fame after it was displayed at the 1972 Venice Biennale.

Artist page: Gerhard Richter
Exhibit page: Gerhard Richter Portraits at National Portrait Gallery
Gallery hosts first Richter portrait show [Guardian]
National Portrait Gallery in London Announces Gerhard Richter Portrait Exhibition [ArtDaily]
Richter Paintings of Kennedy’s Killing to Be Reunited in London [Bloomberg]

Bust of Diego (1955) by Alberto Giacometti, via the Tate Museum

Alberto Giacometti left an indelible mark on 20th century sculpture, influencing two generations of artists since his death in 1966.  The Swiss sculptor and painter is so influential, in fact, that his likeness appears next to ‘Three Men Walking,’ one of his most famous works, on the Swiss 100 Franc bill.  Giacometti’s work is the focus of an extensive, large-scale retrospective at Kunstal Rotterdam, marking the first time the artist’s work is displayed in the Netherlands in over 20 years.  The exhibition, organized exclusively for the Kunsthal by the artist’s estate, covers his entire oeuvre of paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and is the latest installment in a series of retrospectives of major 20th century sculptors such as Hnery Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Jean Tinguely.

Giacometti, whose father was also a painter, studied art in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle, where he also later was inspired by his discovery of Cubism as well as art from Africa and the Pacific Islands, whose forms and aesthetic were a crucial influence for many of his contemporaries.  Later, Giacometti became an influential sculptor in the Surrealist movement, before melding his classical training and more modern experimentation to create groundbreaking representations of the human body and its fragility, the subject he has become best known for and which he continued to explore for the rest of his life and career.

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI RETROSPECTIVE
through February 8th, 2009
Kunsthal Rotterdam
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Exhibition Page: Alberto Giacometti

more story and images after the jump…

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Improvisation 19 (1910) by Wassily Kandinsky, on display at Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

The Lenbachhaus in Munich drawing on support from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York which have pooled their collectively large collections of works by Wassily Kandinsky to mount a major retrospective of the oft-overlooked artist’s oeuvre, re-examining his influence on subsequent generations of artists and aesthetic schools.  The retrospective features a total of 95 works from all periods of Kandinsky’s five decade career, focusing on the major, large scale pieces that were instrumental in Kandinsky’s own evolution as an artist.  Kandinsky was a founding pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, through his works as well as his theoretical treatises and writings.   His methodical approach to conveying abstraction through color, line and form demonstrates a very sharp intellect that also has the ability to create accessible works of art, an ability which has been successfully replicated by very few abstract painters since his death in 1944.

Those unable to make it to Munich before the end of the exhibition will be able to view it April 8th to August 10th, 2009 at the Pompidou in Paris, and from September 18th to January 10th, 2009 at the Guggenheim in New York.  Each leg of the exhibit will emphasize works in that particular museum’s Kandinsky collection: the artist’s Blue Rider period is strongly represented at the Lenbachhaus, while the Pompidou will exhibit numerous pieces from his time in Weimar Germany (heavily influenced by the Bauhaus movement of the time). The Guggenheim’s collection, in turn, heavily features pieces from Kandinsky’s Parisian sojourn. The three museums, which individually have the three largest Kandinsky collections, have pooled their resources to create an retrospective of unprecedented scale. Pieces from private collections and other museums in Russia, Switzerland, the United States and other countries were also added to the pool, offering spectators a unique opportunity to view multiple seminal works of art in one viewing.

KANDINSKY: ABSOLUTE. ABSTRACT.
Stadtische Museum, Lenbachhaus,
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
through February 22nd, 2009

Museum Website: Lenbachhaus
Exhibition Page: Kandinsky: Absolute. Abstract.
Treatise by Artist: ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’
Kandinsky Gallery at the Guggenheim Musem
The overlooked great in the history of modern art: an artist who found new levels of meaning [GuardianUK]

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Lucian Freud “Sally Clarke” “David, Pluto and Eli” and “Woman Sleeping” at Acquavella Gallery

Spectacle ensues as Pamela Anderson and David LaChapelle visit 303 Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach began with a great deal of trepidation over where the level of sales would be in comparison to that of last year.  While volume was undeniably less this year, there was still a minimum level of sales completed which seemed to determine the event’s eventual success.   The art fair seemed to normalize to a level where the high quality of art that was brought down could be viewed, and in some cases purchased, at more measured, civilized pace.  Similarly, the corresponding events had a tone that was neither frantic nor somber; in some cases they were anticlimactic, elsewhere they were just fun.  The art market players are resting for a bit now after so much work and festivities in one short set of days, and few regretted the trip.

Eli Broad, Jay-Z Tour Slower Miami Art Fair, Collectors Haggle [Bloomberg]
Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 Roundup [Artinfo]
Miami Memories 2008 [Artnet]
Exceptionally High Quality at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 [ArtDaily]
Feeling the pinch in the Miami vice [TimesUK]
Fair Enough [ArtForum]
The art market: Strong voting for the art party [FinancialTimes]
Slowdown In The Art Market [Forbes]
Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 [Vernissage.tv]
At Fairs by the Beach, the Sands of Creativity [NYTimes]
Art Basel Miami Beach | Under Construction [NYTimes]
Soft landings in hard times [ArtNewspaper]
Loyal buyers secure a positive start [ArtNewspaper]
David Lynch’s diamond dome [ArtNewspaper]
Basel sees a bright side [MiamiHerald]
Art Basel sales show slowdown in tough economic year [MiamiHerald]
Kmart Special Time at Art Basel Miami [NYMag]
Terence Koh Dazzles Art Basel Miami With Thrilling Nonperformance [NYMag]
Seven Things We Learned at Art Basel Miami [NYMag]
Miami ///The Recap: Art Basel’s Amazing “It Ain’t Fair” [SuperTouch]
Miami ///WTF?!? Files ///Takashi Murakami Gets Loose at Art Basel [Supertouch]
Art Basel: Cartier Dreams, Forbes Yacht Party, Caviar & Grace Jones [BlackBook]
Art Basel: Actually, It Was Awesome [BlackBook]

more AO original photos after the jump…

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Artist Ryan McGinley on left; Cory Kennedy in middle, and Milk Gallery’s Jenn Wirtz on end.

THE WAR IS ON!! Paintball players dashing around the sand pit.

For collectors, artists, gallerists, curators, and socialites alike, tensions were high during this year’s Art Basel. Whether attempting to turn profits, counting every Obama or Mao representation between Wynwood and Convention Center, hotel party-hopping in SoBe (from NY Times to Visionaire, Le Baron in Florida room, to Pamela Anderson at Fountainbleu), and/or ignoring the pesky word “recession,” everyone was visibly fatigued by Saturday night in Miami.  Hence, it was sheer brilliance on the behalf of Accompanied Literary Society, Create The Group, and Moet to host an “Art War” paintball fight at the Raleigh Hotel on Saturday night, letting a select group of artistas, collectors and art aficionados get down and dirty in the sandy oasis. While providing artists with paintguns and an open bar may sound as risky as endorsing kids to play baseball with rocks, the event proceeded flawlessly, as well as safely. Hotelier Andre Balazs showed off his executive prowess by skillfully organizing and managing his team, artists Aaron Young and Ryan McGinley seemed particularly boisterous high-fiving and jumping around, while Glenn O’Brien opted to watch from the sidelines. “In an atmosphere in which artists are losing galleries, [the event] was really about pride and supporting other artists,” said Brooke Geahan. (In particular, the event was officially feting artist Andrew Cramer.)

Better yet, each team’s outfit was personalized, The Raleigh Stags wore their own trademark brand attached to their appendages, while others personalized theirs DIY-style with permanent marker; better yet, several female contestants decided to creatively hack off the legs of their baggy jumpers and convert their outfits into tiny short-shorts. This being the art world, most decided the best accessory to paint guns was cigarettes (well, alcohol and cigarettes).

What ensued? Paint slinging, merriment, shouting, drinking, champagne shaking, and laughing. After the “war” concluded and the crowd dissipated slowly, a select few including Brooke Geahan, Horatio Silva, Todd Eberle, Aaron Young, Paul Sevigny, and Rebecca Guinness sat back in the oasis, watching the fire and sipping champagne. Post-war, Geahan stated, “it felt really, truly like a community.” At least in the attendees’ memories, while many of last week’s soirees blurred together in one, this event closed Basel with a delightful yet innocuous bang.

Words By Faith-Ann Young
Pictures By Ilhan Kim and Faith-Ann Young / Patrick McMullen

Aaron Young getting his back signed by Javier Peres

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Boden Sea, Uttwill by Hiroshi Sugimoto on display now at the Gagosian Gallery via Artnet.

Fourteen photographs from the Seascapes series by Hiroshi Sugimoto are on display at the Gagosian Gallery through March 7, 2009.  The exhibition entitled 7 Days / 7 Nights is comprised of photographs of the sea and its horizon taken at various locations around the globe.  The photos, like all of Sugimoto’s work, were taken using a late 19th century large-format camera with extremely long exposures.  The results are works that display the unchanging nature of the sea while still revealing its subtle idiosyncrasies.  The artist is also the subject of a traveling retrospective now on display at the Lucerne Museum of Art. Included are several of the artist’s famed works including several photos from the 1976 Dioramas series. The series Dioramas consists of photographs taken of natural history museum displays, the subjects appear as real animals until examined further. Like much of Sugimoto’s work Dioramas is an attempt to intrigue the viewer into taking a more methodical approach at viewing the photo and its subjects. These works along with several others will be on display at the Lucerne Museum of Art through January 25, 2009.

Sugimoto at Four Venues [Art: 21]
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7 Days / 7 Nights Press Release [Gagosian Gallery]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto “Seven Days / Seven Nights” [NY Art Beat]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto Press Release [Lucerne Museum of Art]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto Retrospective at the Lucerne Museum of Art [Raw Art] (more…)

more photos after the jump…

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Grayson Perry; Entrance To The Forest; 2002; Victoria Miro Gallery; London -Photos by ArtObserved

“The surprise is the business we are doing. Frankly, people are expressing more confidence in the art market than the government or Wall Street right now,” said Sean Kelly of Sean Kelly Gallery. The night of December 2nd, Vernissage attendees glittered and Piper Heidsieck champagne flowed.  More importantly, buyers were in attendance, asking questions and indeed, according to most of the galleries interviewed for this article, buying.  On Thursday afternoon, Douglas Baxter, President of Pace Wildenstein professed “We’ve met expectations.” Also on Thursday, when asked his feelings on sales from the night before, a representative at Cheim & Read insisted his artists have been selling well, pointing to Jack Pierson sculpture and a pile of William Eggleston’s photos.  Margherita Belaief of Peres Projects had the same confidence, “It’s hard to say so early but in general, Dash Snow’s pieces are selling strong.”  While hesitant to disclose precise numbers, the overall sentiment of the top galleries was optimistic.

However, it’s important to note while the larger known artists have been selling strong, some galleries have reported some difficulty selling lesser known artist pieces.  Alfons Klosterfelde at Klosterfelde was most direct: “People are asking more questions and really want to know the details,” but he said pointedly as of Thursday, “there have been less sales” and Klosterfelde remarked the pieces sold were from the gallery’s more known artists.

Photos and Writing by Faith-Ann Young

more pictures and story after the jump…

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