Auction Watch: Impressionist and Modern Week, New York (Nov. 2nd - Nov. 4th)

So it is that time again! New York Fall = warm coasts, boots, and... ART AUCTIONS! Impressionist and Modern Auction Week is almost upon us and I thought it would be a bit fun to go through and pick out some of my favorites and share them with you. I also wanted to share the online catalogues with you so that you could find your own favorites and follow them as they either reach new records for artists or fall miserably below the low estimate (the horror!). I would love to hear what works are catching your eye! Let me know in comments or emails what works you will be watching/drooling over! I am going to be picking a few from each evening sale and a few from each day sale that I would love to take home if I had an extra $100 million or so lying around. I will also be following up this post with a auction watch for the Prints Sales because, well... that's what I actually collect.

A little background for those new to the game:

The Evening Sale, each auction house has one Evening and one Day sale, is the big-time players. This is where the huge numbers you hear about in the New York Times come from. When Francis Bacon's Triptych sold for millions? Evening sale. When Picasso smashed the highest price paid for a work at auction? Evening sale. I think you get my point. This sale is a social event. Beginning at night, people dress to the nines and watch art less than 1% of the world can afford go for prices that would feed a small country for a good amount of time. It is a SPECTACLE.

The Day Sale, always the day after the Evening sale, is for works that are also usually high quality but lack the rareness factor or star power that goes into the works shown at the ES. These works are just as beautiful, often by the same artists selling the night before but may be from a less desirable time period or a drawing instead of a painting. Often these works are just as good as those in the Evening Sale but can stand out more against works in this sale or go thematically with something already in this sale.


Christie's, Evening Sale (Nov. 3rd)
"http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?intSaleID=22589#action=refine&intSaleID=22589&sid=ff871b1c-cb0d-4d9d-be8b-cd5f361cfa62">Online Catalogue



Lot 22 Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Mann und Frau (Umarmung)
signed and dated 'Egon Schiele 1917' (lower center)
gouache and black crayon on paper
19¼ x 11 3/8 in. (48.9 x 28.9 cm.)
Executed in 1917
$4,000,000 - $6,000,000


Lot 23 Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Violon et guitare
signed, inscribed and dated 'Juan Gris, Céret. 9-13' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
39½ x 25¾ in. (100.3 x 65.4 cm.)
Painted in Céret, September 1913
$18,000,000 - $25,000,000



Lot 80 Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968)
Portrait de Mme Jasmy
signed 'van Dongen' (lower center)
oil on canvas
51 x 38 in. (129.5 x 96.5 cm.)
Painted in 1916



Christie's Day Sale (Nov. 4th)
"http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?intSaleID=22590#action=refine&intSaleID=22590&sid=e5e61f51-61e7-423a-9ecc-5577eb55a767">Online Catalogue


Lot 125 Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Femme assise
signed and dated 'Henri Matisse 10/42' (lower left); signed and dated again and indistinctly dedicated 'H Matisse 11 May 1945 En hommage à Madame M' (lower right)
pen and India ink on paper
20¾ x 16 in. (52.7 x 40.6 cm.)
Drawn in October 1942
$400,000 - $600,000


Lot 140 Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Mädchen mit rotem Haar
signed with initials 'ES' (lower right)
colored pencils and pencil on buff paper
11¾ x 12½ in. (29.9 x 31.8 cm.)
Drawn in 1909
$60,000 - $80,000


Sotheby's, Evening Sale (Nov. 2nd)
To see pictures of these objects head over to Sotheby's online catalogue...
"http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=29933#/r=index-fhtml.jsp?event_id=29933|r.main=event.jsp?event_id=29933/">Here


I'm going with the masses on this one...


Lot 7 Amedeo Modigliani
Nu Assis Sur Un Divan (La Belle Romaine)
Signed Modigliani
Oil on canvas
39 3/8 x 25 5/8 in.
Painted in 1917
Estimate thought to be somewhere around $40 million

Lot 14 Amedeo Modigliani
Jeanne Hebuterne (Au Chapeau)
Signed Modigliani (lower right)
Oil on panel
26 3/8 x 20 1/4 in.
Painted in 1917
$9,000,000 - 12,000,000

Lot 22 Chaim Soutine
La Dinde Pendue
Signed Soutine (lower right)
Oil on canvas
36 x 28 1/2 in.
Painted circa 1925
$1,5000,000 - 2,000,000

Lot 61 Oskar Kokoschka
Orpheus und Eurydike (Orpheus and Eurydice)
Signed OK (upper left)
Oil on canvas
27 3/4 x 20 in.
Painted in 1917
$600,000 - 800,000



Sotheby's Day Sale, Session 1 (Nov. 3rd)
"http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=29934#/r=index-fhtml.jsp?event_id=29934|r.main=event.jsp?event_id=29934/">Online Catalogue

Lot 147 Pablo Picasso
Le Peintre Carlos Casagemas
Signed Picasso (upper left)
watercolor and ink on paper
7 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.
Executed circa 1900
$70,000 - 90,000


Sotheby's Day Sale, Session 2 (Nov. 3rd)

Lot 321 Kurt Seligman
L'impasse Pivote
Signed K. Seligman and dated 1938 (lower right)
Pen and ink on paper
25 1/2 x 19 in.
Executed in 1938
$10,000 - 15,000

Lot 352 Egon Schiele
Die Vision Des Heiligen Hubertus (The Vision of Saint Hubert)
Signed Egon Schiele and dated 1916 (lower right)
Oil on panel
11 5/8 x 18 1/8 in.
Painted 1916
$200,000 - 300,000

Exhibition Alerts

Jan Gossart (Netherlandish, ca. 1478–1532). Portrait of a Man (Jan Jacobsz. Snoeck?), ca. 1530. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Ciao tutti!

So as many of you know I recently got a job in the Old Masters world in New York city! It has been a really exciting time while I settle into my new work and explore the gallery but it has, alas, not left much blogging time. However, this is soon to change as my life is settling into a rhythm and I think that the blog is something I will be able to keep up. I do not think it will continue to be daily, I take each post very seriously and I would not be able to keep the caliber of post on the same level if I tried to post again every day. I have thus decided that I will be posting one serious, scholarly, artwork post once a week and adding articles, exhibition alerts, quotes and anecdotes as often as relevant ones appear. I hope you will stay with me in this new transition! I have recently received some of the nicest and most encouraging emails from readers who miss the posts so I want to thank you again for your support. Now, enough about me and onto some art!

If you are in New York (like me!) two shows that you must see:

Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart's Renaissance
@ the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Running from October 6, 2010–January 17, 2011
Go to the Special Exhibition Galleries on the 2nd floor

If you go, make sure you make it all the way through the exhibit to the last two rooms. They have placed his fantastic St. Luke in the second to last room, and Gossart's absolutely incredible portraits are in the last room. They really saved the BEST for LAST. So it is worth your time to go all the way through! Beautiful things.


The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya
@ the Frick Collection
Running from October 5, 2010, through January 9, 2011
Downstairs

I liked the first room that had the Ribera and Murillo drawings more than the Goya room but it totally depends on where your interests lie. Look for the drawing of the bat in the room to the right when you descend the stairs, it looks like a flying mouse!


Next on my list is...

You guessed it! The Neue Galerie just opened a new show, Franz Xavier Messerschmidt 1736-1783: From Neoclassicism TO Expressionism,
running from September 16, 2010- January 10, 2011. Can't wait!

CBC News - Art & Design - Picasso print sets auction record

Fantastic news for Picasso lovers and collectors.


CBC News - Art & Design - Picasso print sets auction record

I know it is already September, but...

Hi Everyone! Again, I know it is September but I finally found an apartment and it has been quite an ordeal (continuous and ongoing!) to get an apartment (however tiny) furnished and livable with new things coming from Ikea and old things coming from Wisconsin. Anyway, I will be posting beginning the day after Labor Day (consider this my summer vacation), because if my labor over this weekend can't pull the apartment together then I'm giving up and living in my closet! Contemporary and more Modern works will be the first works to be covered, I'm going back to patronage and what it became after the Medicis. Sargent? Picasso? Gainsborough? Warhol? I will leave you with those questions.

P.S. with the help of a great friend, and a handy keepsake from the our illustrious past, I went to four museums in one day. FOUR. I believe this is a record and a deed worthy of recognition :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer. It is so hot though that it is hard to enjoy much more than a cool glass of water and the A/C... A sad truth, indeed.

The Other ArtDaily: Larry Gagosian to Present Masterpieces from His Private Collection

Larry Gagosian to Present Masterpieces from His Private Collection


Now here is something I would love to see. I've also always wanted to go to Abu Dhabi...

Who wants to go? Group travel fares?

Just saying...


To read the article from artdaily.org click the link above or copy and paste the link below:
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=40209&int_modo=1

Image: Cy Twombly, The Rose (IV) 2001 © Cy Twombly.

The Art Newspaper: Luhring Augustine Looks Back at 25 Years

Lawrence Luhring, left, and Roland Augustine at Art Basel

Hi All!

Great article from the Art Newspaper with Luhring Augustine Gallery founders Lawrence Luhring and Roland Augustine on the 25th anniversary of the founding of their gallery!

Interviewed by Charlotte Burns, they discuss the beginning of their partnership, the state of the art market today, differences between people buying on the primary and secondary markets, artist/gallerist interactions and interactions and how it can work or disintegrate. A wonderful interview, very informative and interesting to read!

Enjoy!

To read the article, click the title of the post or copy and paste the below link:
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/%E2%80%9CYou+don%E2%80%99t+want+to+just+give+carte+blanche.+We+want+dialogue+with+our+artists%E2%80%9D/21255

ARTnews: Joint Custody? Warhol Divides Time Between Mom (Whitney) and Dad (Met)

ARTnews

Ethel Scull 36 Times, 1963, was Andy Warhol's first commissioned portrait.

Very interesting short article about the Warhol portrait of Ethel Scull, the wife of taxi mogul Robert Schull, by Ann Landi for ARTnews. Bitter divorce, joint custody, and an incredible work of art. I'm heading over to see the painting tomorrow!

To read the article click on the title of the post above or copy and paste the site below:
http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=3025

So interesting to me --> the copyright under the image reads:
©2010 THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/JOINTLY OWNED BY THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK AND THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, GIFT OF ETHEL REDNER SCULL, 2001/PHOTO ©2001 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Art Newspaper: Caravaggio: Sex, Violence and Film Noir

Now you see it: "I Bari (The Cardsharps)", around 1594-95, out of sight for nearly a century and now at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth

Hi Everyone!

My mini summer vacation spree has come to an end, I've spent the last few weeks traveling between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was a wonderful time to see my whole family, go to museums (obviously) and now I have officially moved to the great island of Manhattan. This transition period has been slow but it is finally complete!!

I am posting a wonderful article today on Michelangelo Merisi, or Caravaggio as you probably know him, hope you will enjoy it. My artwork posts with begin again once I have unpacked my art library from boxes! I know that Caravaggio has been the most covered artist on this blog so far but what can I say? I'm a sucker for the bad boys... This article covers the interesting topic of trends and fads in the art world and how art history can be shaped by the taste of both the larger public but also a few opinionated scholars.

To read the article from the Art Newspaper click on the post's title or copy and paste the link below:
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Caravaggio-sex-violence-and-film-noir%20/21202

Vanity Fair: The City of Warring Angels

The City of Warring Angels Culture: vanityfair.com

An article (click on the title of the post) from Vanity Fair on the new forms of art patronage. Philanthropy through the arts goes back through the beginning of the 20th century and the greatest museums in the US to Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Peggy Guggenheim. This article chronicles some of the faces of the current patrons in Los Angeles. Portraiture is no longer the main form of patronage, now it seems to be an avenue that benefits the public instead of the artist; a public mass with very few artists making the cut. Dennis Hopper (shown above weeks before he passed away) is one of the individuals from the arts scene in the West that was both artist and patron.

Enjoy!

Short Hiatus/Brief Respite/Lovely Interlude.... Intermission.

Hello Everyone!

As I'm sure most of you (since I assume many of you can count) have noticed, I have not been able to post everyday, 5 days a week for the last few weeks. Everything is fine (I got some worried emails!) but I am currently in a bit of a transition period (graduating from university, going home for a bit, spending time between San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, then getting ready to MOVE to New York) and so am going to take about a month long hiatus from posting regularly as I work on my life in the real world! I will post news articles that seem particularly interesting, flashes about some of the art I am seeing, but will not be posting the titular single work of art posts daily as I re-order my life and wait for my art library to catch up with me once I am settled in New York.

I hope you will check back in after August, a notoriously dead month in the art industry anyway as galleries close and auction house employees generally take vacations, so it seems a fitting time to regroup and relocate! Hope to see you back soon, and that you enjoy some of the tidbits in the interim.

Above is a work by Alexander Calder that is currently in San Francisco at the SFMoMA as part of the Fisher Collection that was recently donated upon the death of Donald Fisher, the founder of Gap Inc.

And so, I sign off with a few cliche words... See you in September.

*above picture taken by Lydia at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.