Pablo Picasso’s ‘Homme à l’épée’ estimated to sell between £5-7 million via Christie’s

The summer auction season starts next week with the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sales in London at Christie’s on Tuesday, June 23, and at Sotheby’s the following evening.  Both sales feature a late Picasso painting,part of his Muskateers series, painted by the artist on successive days and both titled ‘Man with a sword.’  The Sotheby’s Picasso is estimated to sell between £6-8 million and the Christie’s Picasso is estimated between £5-7 million. Both auction houses each offered a Muskateer painting in the spring auctions, with one failing to meet its reserve and the other selling for $14.6 million. This era of Picasso’s works has been enjoying a wave of popularity after Gagosian Gallery’s ‘Mosqueteros’ exhibition (as covered by AO here) earlier this spring gaining record attendance, as well as two major museum shows in Paris and London focusing on the artist’s late career. The Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sales take place on Thursday, June 25 at Sotheby’s, Monday, June 29 at Phillips de Pury, and Tuesday, June 30 at Christie’s.  Though healthy sales at Art Basel last weekend have boosted confidence in the market, this season’s estimates are down over 70% from last year.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Phillips de Pury Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Monday, June 29, 2009
Sotheby’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Thursday, June 30, 2009
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale with Specialists Helena Newman and Alexander Platon [Video; Sotheby’s]
Contemporary Art Evening Sale with Specialists Oliver Barker, Cheyenne Westphal and Alexander Branczik [Video; Sotheby’s]
En garde! Rival houses offer Picasso musketeers [Reuters]
Can Buying Impressionist Art Make You Happy? [Wall Street Journal]
Christie’s Resumes Cutting Jobs After May N.Y. Auctions Decline [Bloomberg]
Battle of the Picasso paintings [TelegraphUK]
London Sales Estimates Down 70 Percent From Last Year [Artinfo]
Warhol, Prince Works Fail to Save Art Sales From 70% Decline [Bloomberg]
After Basel, Dealers Have High Hopes for London Sales [Wall Street Journal]
Artworks by Goya, Fragonard, David and Turner for Sotheby’s July Old Master Paintings Auction [Art Auction Publicity]
Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Auction Expected to Take £20 million [Art Auction Publicity]
Doig painting of Canadian childhood could fetch $3 M [Montreal Gazette via Art Market Monitor]
Duchamp, Miró, Marc, Monet and Picasso Highlight Christie’s Auction of Impressionist and Modern Art [Artdaily]
London Contemporary Art Auctions [The Art Collectors]
Phillips de Pury & Company Announce Highlights of the Forthcoming London Contemporary Art Sales [Artdaily]
Picasso, Monet and Giacometti, for Sotheby’s Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art [Art Auction Publicity]
Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art Evening Sale to Present Three Rare Andy Warhol Paintings [Artdaily]
The art market: Picasso endures [Financial Times]
Art Market Watch [Artnet]
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A sculpture of horses and a carriage at Versailles by Xavier Veilhan via artcollc

On September 13, Xavier Veilhan will follow in Jeff Koons’s footsteps by bringing contemporary sculpture to the Chateau de Versailles [ArtCoLLC]
On the lack of transparency in the art market reflected in this year’s Art Basel [Economist]
An interview with Chuck Close in which he discusses how his perceptive disabilities are reflected in his work [Wall Street Journal]

A still from Deadpan by Steve McQueen via the GuardianUK

Beginning July 1st, Creative Time will present Turner Prize winner and current UK Venice Biennale representative Steve McQueen’s Deadpan on the MTV screen in Times Square [Creative Time]
Parkett Art magazine marks 25 years this June 25th in Chelsea, NY [EFlux]
Conceptual artist Dan Graham is speaking at 192 Books in Chelsea, New York on Wednesday, July 1 [192Books.com]

Trafalgar Square’s empty fourth plinth, which will host Antony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’ via Guardian UK

The first round of participants have been announced for Antony Gormley’s living statue project: ‘One & Other,’ on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth in ondon [BBC]

A previous installation of Terracotta Army via VisitStHelens

In related, Anthony Gormley sets up his 40,000 figure “Terracotta Army” in a Devon, UK barn [TelegraphUK]
Dartmouth receives a $50 million donation to support the visual arts [Dartmouth]
Architect Richard Meier is designing major expansion for the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills [LA Times]

Picasso’s ‘Le Moulin de la Galette’ owned by the Guggenheim, allegedly sold under Nazi duress, via Artnet

Judge issues written memo chastizing MoMA and Guggenheim and heirs of Nazi victim for secret settlement over two Picasso paintings in restitution case [Bloomberg]
The Whitney kept it festive this week for its annual Art Party and auction in West Soho, New York [Park Avenue Peerage]
Behind the scenes shots of the making of Banksy’s Bristol exhibition [The WorldsBestEver]

‘Screentest’ for designer Adam Kimmel’s new campaign via Hint

Black and white films and stills by Andy Warhol’s long-time assistant Gerard Malanga from Designer Adam Kimmel’s look book, exhibited at Thaddeus Ropac gallery, feature art world figures Matthew Barney, Francesco Clemente, Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen, Aaron Young and Nate Lowman [AdamKimmel]

Still from Brett Gorvy’s interview with Andy Warhol’s assistant, Gerard Malanga, via Christie’s

In related (to the Kimmel story), Christie’s Brett Gorvy speaks Gerard Malanga on Warhol’s ‘Death and Disaster’ series [Christie’s via Art Market Monitor]

Moody’s, which currently has Sotheby’s bonds below investment grade placed its debt on review for a possible downgrade [Bloomberg] More on the damage to Sotheby’s profits here [ArtNewspaper]
Guy Bennett, co-head of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern art department worldwide, resigns [NY Times]
Christie’s begins more salary cuts [Bloomberg]
Citing financial difficulties, Bellwether Gallery closes after a ten year run [Art Fag City]
the Art Institute of Chicago lays off 20 staff members [Chicago Tribune via Artsjournal]
With its endowment down by 18%, the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum will lay off 25 full-time staff [CrainsNewYork]
Art museum attendance in the US is down 23%-26% [ArtReview]
And a summary on the methods New York galleries are using to deal with the recession [NYTimes]

Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ via Artinfo

Ukrainian collector Viktor Pinchuk, who is currently hosting Damien Hirst’s retrospective in Kiev, is revealed as the fourth stakeholder in the artist’s platinum, diamond-encrusted skull, which has yet to sell despite a £35 million offer from Alberto Mugrabi [The Art Newspaper]
in related, Fiats decorated by Hirst have had little problem selling at a London charity auction [Art Review]
Two proposed tax-free ports in Paris and Singapore aim to revolutionize international art handling [NY Times]

Roxy Paine with one of his ‘Dendroid’ sculptures via Artinfo

National Gallery of Art commissions a Roxy Paine ‘Dendroid’ sculpture [National Gallery of Art via Artnet]
Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler says that now is an essential time for collectors to buy work from galleries to support artists and local art scenes [ArtInfo]
In conjunction with Saatchi, the Times lists top 200 artists of the 20th century with Picasso and early Modernists at the front [TimesUK]
Three arts professionals describe how they collect for their own homes [Financial Times]

Sam Francis, Grey, the subject of an auction dispute at Christie’s

Shipping magnate Gregory Callimanopulos appealing court decision in auction dispute with Christie’s and Broad Art Foundation over Sam Francis’ ‘Grey’ [ArtForum]
Art during the Nazi regime: Van Meegeren and Göring, forgery and thievery [New York Times]
Unusual Renoir painting recovered in Venice 25 years after it was stolen [Artinfo]

Edward Hopper, Rooms by the Sea, recently acquired by Yale University. via ArtDaily

Yale University counter-sued over Van Gogh painting ‘The Night Café,’ seized during the Communist takeover of Russia [Bloomberg.com].
In related, Yale University Art Gallery acquires Edward Hopper preparatory drawings ‘Rooms by the Sea’ and ‘Western Motel and the Study’ [ArtDaily]
Young collectors pooling resources and sharing art [Financial Times]

Pablo Picasso’s Homme à l’épée for sale in London. via The Telegraph.

€7 – 10 millionv notebook of Picasso sketches discovered stolen from the Picasso museum in Paris [ArtDaily]
and in related, two ‘Musketeer’ paintings by the artist to be auctioned at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, respectively [The TelegraphUK]
As early as 2010, the Louvre may be at risk financially, despite a wave of acquisitions totaling an estimated  €38 million [NYTimes]

Andreas Gursky’s ‘James Bond Island III’ via FOTO8

An interview of Andreas Gursky in which he speaks of scaling down his monumental prints, the influence Bernd and Hilla Becher, and working with North Korea [FOTO8]
Vito Acconci closes his studio, citing cash flow troubles [The Architect’s Newspaper via ArtInfo]

Massimiliano Gioni navigates Venice during the Biennale opening via NY Times

Following curator and critic Massimiliano Gioni and his various party obligations at the Venice Biennale [NY Times]
Points on whether or not the recession is indeed good for art [GuardianUK]
Gagosian has hired Richard Meier to double the space in his Los Angeles Gallery [The Art Newspaper]

62 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, recently leased by Christie’s for storage

Christie’s leases a building for storage in Red Hook, in what is likely one of the largest real estate deals in Brooklyn this year [Brownstoner]
A guide to investing in contemporary art in current market conditions [NY Times]
Sotheby’s London Russian Art Evening Sale totals £7.9m with 17 of 28 lots sold [Art Market Monitor]

Video of Banksy’s exhibition in Bristol via BBC

Banksy secretly sets up exhibition in Bristol museum [BBC]
Beginning June 16, 2009 the Metropolitan Museum of Art will display ‘The Torment of Saint Anthony,’ now widely believed to be Michelangelo’s first painting, before it goes to its new home at Kimball Museum in Texas [ArtDaily]

Picasso’s Château de Vauvenargues via Artinfo

Picasso’s Château will open to the public this summer [Artinfo]
Billionaire collector Eli broad contends that the downturn in the art market has bottomed [Bloomberg]
Christie’s similarly calls a leveling off of the art market’s downshift [Reuters]

Tracey Emin’s ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1996’ via The Independent

In an act that summons issues of appropriation of artistic works, the Chapman brothers, just before Tracey Emin’s White Cube show in London,  announce an unauthorized rebuild of Emin’s infamous tent which was destroyed by the same 2004 art storage warehouse fire that burned their work as well [The Independent]
Damien Hirst is looking for identical twins to sit in front of his spot paintings for 100 days in the Tate Modern [Boing Boing]
A Q&A with Michael Moses, co-creator of the Mei Moses Fine Art Index [Monocle]

Video from the opening of Museum Brandhorst in Munich via Vernissage TV

Video: The Museum Brandhorst, home of the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Collection, opens in Munich [Vernissage TV]
A couple volunteers to move their house into Miami MOCA for a Fritz Haeg work [Tuscaloosa News via Art in America]

Sanyu’s ‘Cat and Birds’ via Christie’s set a record at auction for Chinese oils

Hong Kong auctions small but strong [Bloomberg]
and in related, ART HK 09 successful despite market jitters and swine flu fears [Artforum]

Takeshi Murakami’s ‘The Emergence of God at the Reversal of Fate’ via SLAMXHYPE

A piece from Murakami that is 5 years in the making will be unveiled in Venice on the eve of the Biennale’s opening [Slamxhype]
Warhol authentication battle moves closer to trial [Art Newspaper]

Rendering of Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi via LA Times

Construction begins on Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, expected to be completed in 2012 or 2013 [LA Times]

Edouard Manet’s ‘The Bohemian’ at Louvre Abu Dhabi via NY Times

In related, Carol Vogel gives a preview of what is to be exhibited the Louvre Abu Dhabi [NY Times] 
and in further related, some of the works in the collection were bought in this spring’s Yves St. Laurent auction at Christie’s [Financial Times]

Kehinde Wiley’s ‘Jerry Valdes, After Titian’s (Tiziano Vecellio)’ via WSJ

Kehinde Wiley releases his first book of photographs [WallSreetJournal]
Indicted old masters dealer Larry Salander takes a job at an upstate NY gallery, selling his own paintings for $100 [Bloomberg]

Richard Serra, out-of-the-round X (1999). Album cover for Sunn O))), Monoliths & Dimensions (2009) via Frieze

Richard Serra’s work used for cover of SunnO)))’s new album Monoliths & Dimensions [Frieze]
and in related, Serra receives an honorary degree from alma mater Yale [AP]
and in further related, Yale is involved in a lawsuit over Van Gogh’s ‘The Night Café,’ allegedly stolen by the Soviet government in the 1920s [Hartford Courant via Art Market Monitor]

James Turrell’s ‘Unseen Blue’ at the James Turrell Museum via WSJ

A look at the newly-opened James Turrell Museum in Colomé, Argentina [WSJ]
A look at outsized artworks at this year’s Art Basel, featuring Sigmar Polke, Nan Goldin, Banks Violette and others [Artdaily]
and related, Frieze Art Fair announces it program for this October [Frieze]

Ben Lewis BBC reporter for ‘The Great Contemporary Art Bubble’ via The Age

A video player of the BBC documentary: ‘The Great Contemporary Art Bubble’ which, though scathing, gained extraordinary access to collectors such as Adam Lindemann, Aby Rosen and the Mugrabi’s.  Of note is that the documentary filmmaker Ben Lewis actually admits to being the source that leaked White Cube’s unsold inventory prior to the famous Damien Hirst Sotheby’s Auction of 2008 [BBC]

The Guggenheim Museum via Guggenheim.org

The Guggenheim Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary with an exhibition on Frank Lloyd Wright [NYTimes]
The Wall Street Journal calls a possible art price floor based on NY Spring auction activity being the “smallest in 5 years” [Wall Street Journal]
A lawsuit is filed against Christie’s over $3.2 million accepted bid alledgedly made after another accepted phone bid [Bloomberg]
On the austere outlook for recent art school graduates [Financial Times]

Supermarkets censor Manic Street Preachers album cover by Jenny Saville [BBC]
On Art in America owner Peter Brandt’s new exhibition space / festivities at his Greenwich estate [Art Forum]

A digital rendering of Karl Haendel’s ‘Scribble’ on 441 Broadway via NY Times

Art Production Fund sponsors a by-hand, massive “scribble” (on wall once used by Banksy) on Howard Street in Soho, New York [NY Times]
An article on the effect at auction of the duration of artists’ careers as well as how prolific they are [NYMag]
The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA cuts four exhibitions and 17 more jobs [LATimes]
The Fine Art Fund Group sets up to bid on 2 corporate art collections worth up to $65 million and holding works by Picasso and Cindy Sherman [Financial Times]

Maria Baibakova via WWD

24-year old Russian Heiress Maria Baibakova is launching new contemporary shows in Moscow [WWD]
The Obama family redecorates the White House with works by Jasper Johns,Richard Diebenkorn, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg [Wall Street Journal]

Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell in her Soho loft via NYMag

On the salon-like atmosphere at Deitch Projects director Nicola Vassell’s Soho, New York apartment [NYMag]
Steve McQueen has lunch with the FT, speaks on his film ‘Hunger’ and the Venice Biennial [Financial Times]

The Museum Brandhorst in Munich via Cubeme.com

Munich’s Brandhorst Museum opens, housing works by Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Damien Hirst and Gerhard Richter [The Art Newspaper]

A trip photo by Rita Ackermann in Marfa via Blackbook

Rita Ackermann documents her artist in residence in Marfa, home of Donald Judd’s Chianti Foundation [BlackBook]

101 Spring Street, the former home and studio of artist Donald Judd in Soho, New York

In related, the Judd Foundation will restore 101 Spring Street, a cast iron building that was the home and studio of artist Donald Judd. [ArtDaily]

The artist Dash Snow in his Bowery Studio via the Fashionisto

Artist Dash Snow profiled in Muse Magazine [Muse]
Nearly 11,000 people have applied to be part of Antony Gormley’s interactive sculpture on London’s Fourth Plinth, to run from July to October [Independent]
‘Sold Out,’ the original title for ‘The Warhol Effect,’ the Tate Modern’s autumn show featuring Hirst, Koons and Haring , was rumored to have been vetoed by one of the artists due to its double meaning [GuardianUK]
Damien Hirst is the Art Curator for ‘Boogie Woogie,’ a new fictional film on the inside of the art world [TimesUK]
And Hirst opens a show of his work in Prague [RadioPrague]

The Torment of Saint Anthony, reportedly by Michelangelo

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas purchases what it believes to be Michelangelo’s first painting, which he completed when he was 12 or 13 years old [DallasNews]
The Hermitage and the State Russian Museum are accused of tax evasion by the Federal Tax Police [The St. Petersburg Times] via ArtinAmerica

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing via ArtInfo

The 264,000 square foot Renzo Piano designed Modern Wing of The Art Institute of Chicago opens, making the museum the second largest in the US [ChicagoTribune]
A £3 million, 2-ton Henry Moore sculpture stolen in 2005 was most likely melted down and sold for £1,500 worth of scrap metal [GuardianUK]
President Sarkozy will attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the controversial Louvre in Abu Dhabi [ArtNewspaper]

Richard Prince’s ‘After Dark’ Tapestry on the Hong Kong Museum of Art via Wallpaper

Richard Prince covers the Hong Kong Museum of Art in pulp-fiction novel covers to commemorate the exhibition “Louis Vuitton : A Passion for Creation” [ArtDaily]
In related, with a 31% attendance increase and strong sales, the 2nd Hong Kong International Art Fair is deemed a success [HongKongArtFair]

The New home of Hauser and Wirth New York at 32 East 69th Street via ArtInfo

Gallerist David Zwirner will open a new gallery in Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter House on West 19th Street and, uptown, Hauser & Wirth New York (following last month’s debut of Swallow Street, its London exhibition space for emerging artists) will open an Annabelle Selldorf-designed space in the building that was formerly occupied by Zwirner and Wirth on 32 East 69th Street [ArtReview]
The Albion Gallery in London closes in bankruptcy [Artinfo]
Roughly 25 out of 388 galleries in Chelsea have closed but at least 10 new galleries have opened, with more are on the way [Crain’s]

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Willem de Kooning’s ‘Woman’ via Christie’s sold for $3.7 million, more than doubling its high estimate of $1.8 million.

Again, Christie’s bested Sotheby’s in this week’s Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions after Sotheby’s failed to meet its low estimate, covered here by AO.  Last night’s sale in New York resulted in a total of $93.7 million, falling within the higher end of the pre-sale estimates of $71-104 million. Only 5 of the 54 lots went unsold, with 30 selling for more than $1 million.  After a night of lively bidding, Christie’s co-head of post-war and contemporary art, Amy Cappellazzo joked that, “It felt like a year ago.” Last year’s sale brought in $348.2 million, with a number of works selling in the double digits. This year, estimates were far more conservative for the chastened market, with the highest-selling lot, David Hockney’s ‘Beverly Hills Housewife,’ going for $7.9 million, setting a new record for the artist. The portrait of the late Betty Freeman was one of 20 in the sale coming out of the Betty Freeman Collection, another factor contributing to last night’s success.

–>
David Hockney’s ‘Beverly Hills Housewife’ via Christie’s sold for $7.9 million, falling within estimates of $6-10 million and setting a new record at auction for the artist.

New World Auction Records set for Hockney, Oldenburg, Wheeler, and Smith at Christie’s [Artdaily]
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At an Upbeat Christie’s Auction, Some Record Prices [NY Times]
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NY auctions end with solid contemporary art result [Reuters]
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Christie’s Auction Beats Estimate, Boosts Confidence [Bloomberg]
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Betty Freeman Portrait Fetches $7.9 Million in N.Y. Auction [Bloomberg]
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Christie’s Contemporary “Gets It Right” [Artinfo]
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Christie’s Auction Rekindles Art Optimism [WSJ]

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Jeff Koons’s ‘Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquiose/Magenta)’ via NY Times goes on sale at Sotheby’s with estimates between $6-8 million

The spring Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions take place this week in New York at Sotheby’s tonight, Christie’s tomorrow night, and Phillips de Pury on Thursday night. Last week’s Impressionist and Modern Art auctions, covered by AO here, and also here, brought in far less than a year ago, but considering the economic climate were viewed as middling successes (aside from Sotheby’s spectacular Picasso and Giacometti flops).  However, the contemporary sales will be more of a litmus test for a chastened market.  After years of record-setting sales, this year all three auction houses have reined in the estimates, no longer providing the guarantees to sellers that burned them last fall.

Sotheby’s is offering 49 lots, with total estimates of $52–72.2 million, compared to the $362 million it brought in last spring. Highlights include an untitled painting by Martin Kippenberger of a fat man with balloons and Jeff Koons’s ‘Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquiose/Magenta),’ part of the artist’s ‘Celebration’ series, which includes ‘Hanging Heart,’ a sculpture that set the record for a living artist at auction in the fall of 2007. While ‘Hanging Heart’ sold for $23.6 million, ‘Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquiose/Magenta)’is expected to sell for $6-8 million.  Christie’s is offering 54 lots, with total estimates of $71.5–104.5 million.  On the catalog cover is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Mater,’ a rare occurrence of a female figure within Basquiat’s oeuvre, expected to sell for $5-7 million. A number of works from the collection of Betty Freeman are also up for auction, including David Hockney’s portrait of the philanthropist in her home, ‘Beverly Hills Housewife,’ estimated to go for $6-10 million.  Lastly, Phillips de Pury & Company is offering 43 lots, with estimates of $12.2–17 million. Highlights from that sale include a Robert Gober sculpture of a Farina cereal box, estimated at $2.5-3.5 million, and a late, figurative painting by Philip Guston, estimated at $1-1.5 million.

The sales also include a number of Minimalist works by artists such as Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt, and Agnes Martin.  Many experts view these works as under-priced, and present more in museum collections than private collections.  This round of sales sees fewer works by the Pop artists that made headlines in the boom times like Warhol and Rauschenberg.

Rare and Spectacular Master Works Highlight Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Sale [Artdaily]
Little Warhols [NY Mag]
Phillips de Pury & Company Announces the Highlights from its Forthcoming New York Contemporary Art Part I Sale [Artdaily]
The art market: Skinny sales and demoted billionaires [Financial Times]
Jeff Koons’s rabbit: market news [Telegraph]
The Art Market Is Back? Now That’s Surrealism [WSJ]
Sotheby’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale [Sotheby’s]
Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale [Christie’s]
Phillips de Pury Contemporary Art Part I Sale [Phillips de Pury]

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme au Chapeau,’ via Christie’s, sold by Julian Schnabel, went for $7.7 million, slightly under the estimate of $8-12 million

Last night’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Christie’s fared better than Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday covered here by AO, with 38 of the 48 lots selling, realizing 94% of potential value, bringing in a total of $102.7 million, falling within estimates of $86.7-125.2 million. Highlights include two late Picasso paintings and a Giacometti sculpture, in contrast to the pricey Picasso and Giacometti works offered by Sotheby’s which failed to sell. Picasso’s ‘Mousquetaire aÌ€ la Pipe,’ offered by Madoff victim Jerome Fisher, was the highest selling lot at $14.6 million, falling between estimates of $12-18 million. Julian Schnabel sold his own Picasso, ‘Femme au Chapeau,’ to recover debts due to construction costs at his West Village townhouse. The painting sold for $7.7 million, just shy of its low estimate of $8 million. The Giacometti sculpture, ‘Buste de Diego (Stele III)’ sold for $7.7 million, surpassing its high estimate of $6.5 million.

Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale [Christie’s]
Picassos Sell at Christie’s Auction, After Faltering at Sotheby’s [NY Times]
Christie’s Bests Sotheby’s With $102.7 Million Sale [WSJ]
Works by Picasso and Giacometti Lead Christie’s Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art [Artdaily]
Madoff Victim Sells Picasso for $14.6 Million at Christie’s [Bloomberg]

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Pablo Picasso’s ‘Mousquetaire à la Pipe’ via Artnet, goes on sale at Christie’s with estimates between $12-18 million

Following mixed results at last night’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby’s, where two high profile works by Picasso and Giacometti failed to sell, auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s continue tomorrow.  C hristie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale tonight features two late Picasso paintings, both with estimates between $12-18. One, ‘Mousquetaire à la Pipe,’ is offered by Madoff victim Jerome Fisher, co-founder of show company Nine West.  The other painting, ‘Femme au Chapeau,’ comes from the collection of artist Julian Schnabel. The auction sees 50 lots with estimates of $94.9–134.6 million.

Madoff Investor Puts Picasso ‘Musketeer’ on Sale at Christie’s [Bloomberg]
What a Difference a Year Makes [Artinfo]
Impressionist and Modern Art [Christie’s]
Bernie Swindle Is a Pablo Blow [NYPost]

Picasso’s ‘La Fille de l’Artiste a Deux Ans et Demi Avec un Bateau’ via AP. Failed to reach its reserve, attracting one bid at $12.25 million, falling short of the $16-24 million estimate.

Hours after Standard and Poor’s downgraded Sotheby’s credit rating to junk status, citing the depressed art market, the auction house’s spring Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale got underway last night in New York, yielding mixed results. The auction brought in $61,370,500 against estimates of $81.5/1-8.8 million, and was 80.6% sold by lot. This year’s figure represents slightly more than a quarter of last year’s sale, which realized $208.63 million. The auction’s highest priced lots, Picasso’s ‘La Fille de l’Artiste a Deux Ans et Demi Avec un Bateau,’ put up by a victim of the Madoff Ponzi scheme, and a rare Giacometti sculpture, ‘Le Chat,’ both failed to sell.  For both pieces, the $16-24 million reserve was cited as overreaching in an uncertain market.

However, the auction did have its highlights.  A 1934 painting by Piet Mondrian, ‘Composition in Black and White, with Double Lines,’ nearly doubled its high estimate of $5 million, selling to an anonymous caller for $9,266,500 after extensive bidding.  Four paintings by Polish Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, from the collection of German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop, sold for a total of $13.8 million. ‘Portrait de Marjorie Ferry’ sold for $4.9 million, a new record for the artist.

Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art Totals $61,370,500, Picasso and Giacometti Go Unsold [Artdaily]
Modern Masters Suffer at Auction [NYtimes]
Sotheby’s $61.3 Million Sale Disappoints; Picasso Goes Unsold [Wall Street Journal]
Top Lots Flop at Sotheby’s Imp/Mod Sale [Artinfo]
Sotheby’s Impressionist Sale Hits 7-Year Low as Picasso Flops [Bloomberg]
$80 Million? Try a Tenth of That. Art’s New Numbers. [NY Times]
What a Difference a Year Makes [Artinfo]

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The James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection in Argentina

James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection opens its 18,000 sf space in Argentina, almost 8,000 sf above sea level [Reuters]
The Tate galleries issue over 400 video and audio lectures, talks, debates for free on iTunes [Apple]
A video look inside the studio of Jeff Koons [Tate]
Bruce Nauman in his studio, in anticipation of his representing the US in Venice [NYTimes]

Portrait of Nicholas Roerich via Reuters

Despite the above portrait of Nicholas Roerich by his son fetching $2.9M, close to 3x its high estimate of $1.1 million, sales of Russian art in New York by Sotheby’s and Christie’s clear an unsubstantial $27 million versus last year’s $64 million [Reuters]
Is the value of the work of Richard Prince particularly at risk in this recession? [Portfolio]
Angus Murray launches Castlestone’s $50M Modern Art Fund [Portfolio Advisor]

Damien Hirst with The Hours and the painting he created for their album cover via The GuardianUK

Win the £125,000 orignal painting Damien Hirst made for The Hours’ new album cover [GuardianUK]
MoMA sued by heirs of George Grosz over three works the artist left behind when fleeing Nazi Germany [NY Times]
In related, Austrian city of Linz may return $15 million Gustav Klimt to Holocaust victim [Bloomberg]

A shot of the scene sans Mona Lisa via Vanity Fair

A excerpt from a new book on the famous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 [Vanity Fair]
A summary of how dramatically US Museums have been hit by the economic slowdown [ArtNewspaper]
In directly related, a timeline of Museums and the recession [ArtInfo]
The “hottest” art exhibitions of summer 2009 according to Times UK [TimesUK]
London usurps New York as top auction location for 2008, bolstered mainly by Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale [ArtInfo via ArtFagCity]
The low profile nature of private sales causes them to rise in popularity due to the impact of public failure of sales at auction [NYTimes]

Saatchi-online’s billboard partnership with Clearchannel via ArtDaily

Clearchannel partners with Saatchi’s to promote through its billboards Saatchi-online’s commission-free online art sales [ArtDaily]
In related, The 10 winners of the Guardian/Saatchi art competition are announced [Guardian UK]
The world’s largest art prize, decided by vote, launches in Grand Rapids, Michigan [artprize.org]
The Park Avenue Armory in New York announces an annual commission for it’s Drill Hall, on May 14th its inaugural exhibition will be Ernesto Neto [ParkAvenueArmory]
Christie’s auction house creates a specific unit to divest of corporate art works [Crain’sNY]
On its 5th anniversary, the UK’s Art Council Initiative interest free loan program has supported a total of £10.5 million worth of arts purchases involving 12,500 people [Artscouncil]

Damien Hirst’s custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle via Motorcycle News

Damien Hirst creates a custom Harley Davidson for charity [Motorcycle News]
Lawsuit alleges fraud from Louis Vuitton in Murakami 2007-08 LA MOCA exhibition due to prints being merely “factory leftovers from handbag production” [LATimes]
In related, Murakami protege Mr. collaborates on a Lucien Pellat-Finet clothing collection [Hypebeast]
Following the National Portrait Gallery in London announcing its shortlist of three artists for the 2009 BP Portrait Award, an in-depth article on craft [IndependentUK]
Vacant retail locations as exhibition space in London [GuardianUK]

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Marc Drier

Marc Dreier, the powerful attorney indicted on fraud charges totaling nearly $700 million, revealed as a substantial client of Larry Gagosian [ArtLovesMoney]
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and in related: Chris Burden on his exhibition at Gagosian Los Angeles that became entangled in the Allen Stanford fraud case [New Yorker]
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Spurred by a spate of deaccessionings, New York State looks at a bill aimed at limiting museums’ art sales [NY Times]
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Yvon Lambert closes fledgling London branch [Bloomberg]
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in in other recession-related: facing a shrunken endowment, Getty cuts its budget by a quarter [LA Times]

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via Traileraddict.com

Steve McQueen’s first feature film, ‘Hunger,’ opens in New York at the IFC Film Center [IFC film Center]
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London sees a number of Russian women as a force in the contemporary art scene [Financial Times]

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Curators of ‘New Deal’ at the Art Production Fund gallery, Matthew Moravec, left, and Kyle Thurman via NY Times

In their early 20s, two curators present an exhibition of artists 19 to 26 years old for Yvonne Force Villareal’s Art Production Fund [NY Times]
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Christian Holstad’s installation at X Initiative via NY Magazine

Jerry Saltz reviews two new energetic galleries: The Boiler in Williamsburg and X Iniatiative in the old Dia space [NY Magazine]
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The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht displays trust in Old Masters [The Art Newspaper]
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Hirst, Serra, Koons and others bring in exceed estimates and bring in $6 million at Paris charity auction [Bloomberg]
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Asian Art Week actions sell robustly at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s [Crain’s]
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Artprice publishes its top 10 ranking of artists based on auction revenue in 2008 [ArtPrice]

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A portrait of Yves Saint Laurent by Andy Warhol via artnet

Pierre Bergé withdraws four portraits of his partner, the late Yves Saint Laurent, from an Andy Warhol exhibition in Paris four days the opening [Artinfo]
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Fashion designer contextualized art is again resilient: Sotheby’s Gianni Versace sale greatly exceeds its estimates [Artdaily]
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Yale University files suit to claim ownership of Van Gogh, after self-proclaimed descendent of previous owner lay claim to the work [Associated Press]
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Director of SFMoMA sets example on how to tackle economic difficulty [NY Times]
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Jackie Wullschlager looks at three new books that explore Darwin’s influence on Modern art [Financial Times]
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Beacon in upstate New York is an art destination [NYTimes]

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Levi’s collaborates with Stefan Sagmeister on art series featuring its iconic 501 [PaperMag]
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and in related Lucien Pellat-Finet and Marc Quinn collaborate [Vogue]
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The Chapman Brothers direct new video for PJ Harvey and John Parish [NME]
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Michael Visocchi has won the 2009 Jerwood Sculpture Park Prize [BBC]
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and in related, Pipilotti Rist has been awarded the 2009 Joan Miro Prize [Artdaily]
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A Florida art collector is suing Christie’s New York, after his Self-Portrait by Francis Bacon failed to sell at auction in November 2008.  Christie’s had offered collector George Weiss a minimum guarantee, but allegedly refused to follow through after Weiss consigned the work.  The auction house alludes to the collapse of the art market in its defense.

RELATED LINKS
Christie’s Is Sued After Francis Bacon Painting Fails to Sell [New York Times]
Christie’s Sued For $40M Over Francis Bacon Painting [Wall Street Journal]
Christie’s Auction House Sued Over Francis Bacon Guarantee [Bloomberg]
Art Law Blog on the legal battle [Art Law Blog]

Installation view of Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’ via MSNBC

Tate Liverpool exhibits Rothko’s Seagram Murals after a 20-year absence [Artdaily]
Rochelle Steiner, under whose tenure Olafur Eliasson’s “New York City Waterfalls” was sponsored, leaves the Public Art Fund [NY Times] and in related, Sotheby’s CEO takes big paycuts in the wake of the market downturn [Bloomberg]

Alex James, bassist of Blur via The Mirror

Blur’s Alex James to judge Charles Saatchi’s art-star reality TV show [The Mirror]
Jonathan Jones on how consumerism spawned Warhol and Pop art and thus the shallowness of contemporary art [Guardian]
Vanity Fair’s imagined conversations overheard at a MoMA party [VanityFair]
A new show at Paris’s Musee d’Art Moderne acknowledges how Italian Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico sold backdated copies of his own work [Bloomberg]

Patti Smith via The Art Newspaper

Patti Smith, whose Polaroids are showing at Robert Miller gallery, on her early career as an artist and why she feels Jeff Koons’s work is “just litter upon the earth” [The Art Newspaper]

Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car via W Magazine

The BMW Art Car series by artists such as Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg to appear at New York’s Grand Central Terminal starting March 24 [W Magazine]
Chinese art dealer who sabotaged Christie’s sale of bronzes during the Yves Saint Laurent sale weeps at his shattered credibility [Bloomberg]

Steve McQueen modeling for T Magazine

A brief profile of Turner prize winning film artist Steve McQueen’s fashion aesthetic [The Moment]
The Las Vegas Sun does a post-mortem on the Las Vegas Art Museum, which closed last month [Las Vegas sun via ArtsJournal]

Trailer for ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ via Entertainment Weekly

Soon to open in New York, an art world outsider chronicles his relationship with an art world insider in the film ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ [Entertainment Weekly]
Susan Moore looks at the recent emergence of a homegrown art scene in the United Arab Emirates [Financial Times]

Collectors Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant.  Image courtesy Mary Barone via Artnet

Art in America and Interview Magazine owner Peter Brant opens his private collection to the public, by appointment only, at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center [NY Times]
How the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland was unable to secure an immense 16,000 piece art collection obtained during a takeover of ABN Amro as that bank’s CEO deftly transferred ownership to a foundation before the merger [TimesUK]
Turner Prize winning sculptor Antony Gormley announces first public art installation for Scotland [TheScotsman]

Laura Hoptman, Massimiliano Gioni and Lauren Cornell, curators at the New Museum of Contemporary Art via NY Times

A preview of the New Museum’s inaugural triennial, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” [NY Times]
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s book “The Conversation Series” includes interviews with artist such as Wolfgang Tillmans and Gilbert and George [ArtInfo]

A peek at Pierogi Gallery’s new annex, the Boiler via NY Times

Williamsburg’s Pierogi Gallery opens new annex, The Boiler [NY Times]
Chelsea galleries, including Andrea Rosen, Barbara Gladstone, Mary Boone and Matthew Marks, to show work at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba [The Art Newspaper]

Anish Kapoor’s ‘Temenos’ via AnishKapoor

Construction begins on first of five of Anish Kapoor outdoor sculptures in the UK: the ‘world’s biggest art project’ [DesignWeek]

Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV by Pierre Subleyras via NY Mag

Old masters prove to be a bellwether in the market downturn [Financial Times] as such, The Metropolitan Museum acquires a Renaissance portrait of Pope Benedict XIV for nearly $1 million amidst financial woes [NY Mag] and this painting also is featured here in a separate video discussion on the resilience of old master paintings [Sotheby’s]

Bronze heads dating from China’s Qing dynasty, subject of a controversy after the winning bidder is refusing to pay for political reasons. Image via New York Times.

“I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment,” he said, adding, “I want to emphasize that the money won’t be paid.” — Cai Mingchao, via the New York Times.

Cai Mingchao, the winning bidder on two Chinese relics recently sold at Christie’s record-breaking Yves St Laurent auction, is refusing to pay for them in a gesture aimed at botching the sale of the figurine heads that were looted from an imperial palace almost 150 years ago. The winning bid was $18 million for each head.

The bronze heads representing a rat and a rabbit were the subject of some controversy before and during the auction.  A group based in China filed an injunction against Christie’s in a French court, in an unsuccessful effort to block the sale of the heads. They were part of a water clock display based on the Chinese zodiac, and allegedly looted by French and British soldiers during the Second Opium War in 1860. When asked about the sculptures during an interview at the onset of the auction, Pierre Berge commented that he would return them if  they would “observe human rights and give liberty to the Tibetan people and welcome the Dalai Lama.”

Twist in Sale of Relics Has China Winking [New York Times]
Bidder Refuses to Pay, Stating Protest of Looting [Wall Street Journal]
Chinese art trader declines to pay up [Financial Times]
Chinese zodiac statues’ origins [BBC]
China relics buyer refuses to pay [BBC]
Yves Saint Laurent Auction Sabotage [Forbes]
Chinese collector sabotaged animal head auction [Telegraph UK]
Spectacular Yves Saint Laurent auction raises record breaking $264 million, sets records for Mondrian, Matisse [ArtObserved]
Chinese Who Won Bid on Bronzes Acted on His Own, Xinhua Says [Bloomberg]
China-Art Sales May Drop as Bidder Refuses to Pay [Bloomberg]

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Image via Daily Telegraph

The three day auction of hundreds of art and furniture collected by the late legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime partner Pierre Bergé kicked off today at 1PM EST. The auction which many have called the “Sale of the Century” is being held at the Grand Palais in Paris under the guidance of Christie’s auction house. The auction includes six separate sales over three days and contains masterpieces by Picasso, Mondrian, Matisse along with several other Art Deco pieces, bronzes, enamels and antiques. The first item sold was a small Italian landscape by Degas for which Berges had said he had a “special affection” for. It was bought for 380,000 euros (485,000 dollars). Proceeds from the sale will go to two charitable foundations set up by Saint Laurent and Bergé. Another early highlighted item sold was a wooden sculpture by Constantin Brancusi which sold for 29.2 million euros (37.2 million dollars) which was a a record for the artist’s work at auction. For up to date results from the auction, visit Christie’s results as they happen.

Christie’s Fine Art Auctions
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Pierre Bergé on Yves Saint Laurent, his auction house and the sale of the century [Art Info]
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Brancusi Sculpture Fetches Record 29.2 Million Euros [Bloomberg]
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Saint-Laurent Collection Livens Up A Sluggish Auction Market [Arts Journal]
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Treasury of Style [ArtNet]
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Inside Yves Saint Laurent’s Art Collection [Forbes]
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Treasures, after a fashion [Financial Times]
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The Last Collection [New York Times]
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The Art World’s Last Hurrah? [Wall Street Journal]
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The New Museum – which is to soon launch its new Triennial via WorldArchitectureNews

The New Museum announces its list of  fifty artists for “The Generational” aka “Younger than Jesus” [ArtDaily]
Sam Taylor-Wood on herself, rats, and her newest work [GuardianUK]
After this week’s auctions, the FT declares the art auction market still has a pulse [Financial Times]
A thoughtful look into Elizabeth Peyton’s enigmatic portraits [Wall Street Journal]

Shepard Fairey via LATaco

Shepard Fairey encounters copyright issues concerning his iconic campaign imagery [BBC] and, separately, is arrested in Boston for outstanding tagging violations while en route to DJ the opening party for his exhibit [Boston Globe]
Though Gladstone Gallery’s pension was on the list of Madoff clients, funds were pulled before major losses were sustained [Bloomberg]
A few of the lady’s at Christie’s stay optimistic amidst the new austerity [NYTimes]

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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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]

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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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]

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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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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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