The New York Times profiles the upcoming exhibition of Leonard Lauder’s Cubist collection (on view October 20th), a series of works collected over the years by the cosmetics tycoon who taught himself a great deal about the world of fine art as a child attending the Met. “I didn’t discover Cubism then,” he said. “But just by looking, you learn what’s good.” (more…)
Collectors Karlheinz and Agnes Essl, heads of the renowned Essl Collection of contemporary art, are selling off a large portion of their works this week in London, a group of works that includes a number of lesser known German and Austrian artists due to Mr. Essl’s unorthodox collecting techniques. “So many collectors buy only the ‘greatest hits’ of an artist, but I created a collection that reflected the diversity of artists’ careers and went deeper than just the trophies,” he says. (more…)
The New York Times has published an extended account of the recent ruling on the case regarding the inheritance of James A. Elkins, a collector whose works were held jointly by various members of his family. The ruling, announced earlier this fall, allowed a discounted estate tax on these works, fundamentally changing the way taxes can be levied on art in a collector’s estate. “I’ve had calls from estate planning attorneys that said they celebrated in the coffee room when this decision came out,” says Carsten Hoffmann, managing director at FMV Opinions. “This is a deal changer.” (more…)
Maria Bukhtoyarova is the subject of a profile in the Wall Street Journal this week, as the young collector (just over 30), reviews her already impressive collection of works. “I got interested in art in the late 2000s when I was working for L’Officiel magazine in Moscow,” she writes. “In 2009, I went to Venice to visit the Biennale. It was an experience that brought me into the art world. I was fascinated by all the art around me and its power.” (more…)
A recent US Fifth Circuit Court decision over the estate of collector James A. Elkins Jr has considerable implications for collectors leaving behind works after their death. The court decision allowed a considerable discount on the the Elkins Family’s collection, which included pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore and Jackson Pollock, as the works were owned partially by the collector’s children, and not wholly by himself. “Finally we have an applied fractional discount based on the facts,” says art lawyer Joy Berus, in Newport Beach, Calif. “These are major discounts. It’s a huge affirmation that opens the door to help art owners reduce their estates.” (more…)
A recent article in Forbes analyzes current taxing strategies in the UK and Mexico, which allow fine artists to pay part or all of their taxes with their work. Called “Acceptance-in-Lieu,” the program offers a tax alternative that allows governments to grow their national collection while collecting a higher percentage of owed tax. “You have to admire the simplicity of it,” says contributor Robert Wood. “Say an artist sells one to five pieces of art in one year. He then donates a work of equal value to the state. The more you sell, the more you hand over for taxes.” (more…)
The Financial Times profiles the long-awaited opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne, the Frank Gehry-designed museum housing the renowned design house’s immense art collection. The article includes a number of notes from LVMH head Bernard Arnault on the Fondation’s approach to collection. “When we buy something it has to meet two conditions,” he says. “One is that I have to like it, the other is that Suzanne Page (the Fondation curator) should consider it something worth exhibiting in the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The Fondation’s collection focuses on the link between contemporary artists and the second part of the last century. So you see the evolution.” (more…)
The Detroit Bankruptcy hearings begin this week, and while some alarmists wring their hands over the fate of the Detroit Institute of Art’s collection, the Art Market Monitor notes a series of indications that the museum collection will likely not find itself on the auction block. Citing a New York Times article, the site notes the “scorched earth” approach taken by debt holders Syncora, and the chances that it may only alienate the courts in attempts to collect whatever it can on the final rulings. (more…)
A considerable proportion of the over 7,000 works from the Essl Collection will go to the auction block this October in London, worth an estimated €160 million ($211 million) in total. The works, which will sell at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, include iconic pieces by Gerhard Richter, Martin Kippenberger, and Georg Baselitz, among others. (more…)
An article in the New York Times profiles Dutch art collector Joop van Caldenborgh and his sculpture garden outside the Hague. While the garden might be privately owned, its collection of works by sculptors such as Henry Moore, Sol LeWitt, and Antony Gormley is available to the public through curators and guided tours. The article also reports that the impressive collection is made more attractive by its thoughtful arrangement, which allows the sculptures, no matter the size, room to stand out. (more…)
Vincent Van Gogh, Installation View, via Art Observed
While the Metropolitan Museum of Art is well-known for its constantly rotating series of special exhibitions, this summer sees a new focus on the museum’s permanent collection. For the first time in over a decade, the Met has united its collection of works by Vincent Van Gogh under one roof, where they will stay for the next six months. Typically scattered across the globe on loans to various museum, the Met’s seventeen paintings by the artist is the largest such collection in North and South America. (more…)
Tracey Emin‘s “My Bed,” which set an auction record for the artist early this month, has given on a 10-year loan to the Tate by collector Count Christian Duerckheim, a Cologne-based industrialist. “I always admired the honesty of Tracey, but I bought My Bed because it is a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die.” (more…)
Detroit retirees have passed a vote resolving to allow the Detroit Institute of Arts to spin-off as its own institution, and to accept pension cuts, reflecting what many believe to be the popular opinion towards the city’s art collection and its ability to recover. “The voting shows strong support for the city’s plan to adjust its debts and for the investment necessary to provide essential services and put Detroit on secure financial footing,” said Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr.
The Washington Post is selling off its art collection, and allowing employees to have first choice at a discounted sales rate. The collection includes a number of local artists as well as works by Alex Katz and other major figures. “We wanted to do this as a farewell gesture to Post employees and to give corporate and newspaper employees an opportunity to own artworks they have enjoyed and loved,” said Rima Calderon, vice president for communications and external relations at Graham Holdings. (more…)
The final valuation of the Detroit Institute of Arts has topped $4.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports, a figure that could create notable complications for the city in bankruptcy court. The report also notes that the immediate sales of these works does not appear to be a feasible method of raising funds. “The report makes it abundantly clear that selling art to settle debt will not generate the kind of revenue the City’s creditors claim it will,” says Bill Nowling, spokesman for Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. (more…)
Sotheby’s has announced that it will be auctioning off the estate of collectors Paul and Bunny Mellon, including a number of impressive artworks by Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn from the couple’s extensive collection. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Gerald B. Lambert Foundation. (more…)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Just Sour) (1982), By Kent Pell from The Schorr Family Collection © The Estate Of Jean-Michel Basquiat, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2014
Now through June 13, the Acquavella Gallery is hosting an exhibition entirely dedicated to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works on paper. The show, curated by Fred Hoffman, includes 22 drawings and one painting from the collection of Herbert and Lenore Schorr, a pair of Basquiat’s earliest collectors and friends, and dedicated predominantly to the artist’s works on paper, revealing a range and complexity few associate with Basquiat’s work.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Unttitled (1981), By Kent Pell from The Schorr Family Collection © The Estate Of Jean-Michel Basquiat, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2014
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched a new collection tactic, called “Rapid Response Collecting,” in which the gallery acquires objects and materials as they enter into the public consciousness. One recent example is a pair of Primark jeans, an emblem of the international trade at the center of the Bangladeshi factory collapse last year. “Much of the commentary in the media around the Rana Plaza disaster was about international labour laws, building control in Bangladesh and the responsibilities of global corporations and of consumers,” says Corinna Gardner, V&A curator of Rapid Response Collecting. “But at its heart was a material thing: a pair of jeans that you can buy on any British high street.” (more…)
The Morgan Library and Museum has completed digitization on its expansive collection of Rembrandt etchings, which will be available online beginning May 22nd. “Completion of our Rembrandt project is another important milestone in the Morgan’s ongoing commitment to make its collections available to an ever wider audience,” says Director William M. Griswold. “We are extraordinarily pleased to be able to share them with scholars, students, and anyone interested in his art.” (more…)
The Met has made 400,000 public domain images available for free online, part of Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC), a new initiative to increase access to the images for non-commercial uses. “Through this new, open-access policy, we join a growing number of museums that provide free access to images of art in the public domain,” says Director Thomas P. Campbell. “I am delighted that digital technology can open the doors to this trove of images from our encyclopedic collection.” (more…)
The Met has announced that it will undergo an immense renovation of its Modern Art wing, creating special showcase galleries and room for its expanding collection, especially following the windfall gift of Cubist and Modernist works from the collection of Leonard A. Lauder. “Leonard’s collection is such a huge missing link between our very strong collections of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and our moderately strong holdings of early-20th-century,” says director Thomas P. Campbell, “that if we reconfigure the galleries, we have the potential to tell the chronological story.” (more…)
The Wall Street Journal summarizes the deathbed agreement of Cornelius Gurlitt to relinquish his collection of Nazi-looted art works, including the exchange of national pressures, personal politics and legal wrangling that ultimate led Gurlitt to sign the works over to Bern’s Kunstmuseum without notifying the museum directly until after Gurlitt’s death last week. “It all went a bit crazy,” says museum director Mathias Frehner. (more…)
A coalition of Detroit Automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) has announced plans to donate about $10 million each over the next decades in order to aid the city’s bankruptcy exit while protecting its art collection at Detroit Institute of Arts. The museum will also be soliciting donations from other corporations. “For this to work, the Legislature has to be in and part of it,” says an unnamed CEO considering a donation. “Business groups are encouraging the Legislature to make it happen.” (more…)
