Previous Posts: February 2011
Baffling Price of the Week
February 18 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
This self-portrait by Thomas Struth was offered at Sotheby's earlier this week. It shows Struth looking at Durer's self-portrait in the Alte Pinakothek. The photo being sold was one of a run of ten.
There was some great blurb in the catalogue:
There are many ways to interpret these museum pictures—as an exploration of the relationship between painting and photography, as critical commentary on the invasion of cultural institutions by mass tourism, or even as a twist on appropriation art. But above all, they are a meditation on the function of centuries-old art in a secular world and how contemporary audiences engage with these masterpieces as a means of interacing [sic (I think)] with history.
It made £421,250.
Caravaggio didn't like cooked artichokes
February 18 2011
A new exhibition in Rome has uncovered some fascinating archival evidence about Caravaggio. We now know for sure where and when he was born (Milan, not Caravaggio) and died (in a hospital bed).
One document reports a fight over a plate of artichokes;
Statement to police by Pietro Antonio de Fosaccia, waiter, 26 April 1604:
About 17 o'clock [lunchtime] the accused, together with two other people, was eating in the Moor's restaurant at La Maddalena, where I work as a waiter. I brought them eight cooked artichokes, four cooked in butter and four fried in oil. The accused asked me which were cooked in butter and which fried in oil, and I told him to smell them, which would easily enable him to tell the difference.
He got angry and without saying anything more, grabbed an earthenware dish and hit me on the cheek at the level of my moustache, injuring me slightly... and then he got up and grabbed his friend's sword which was lying on the table, intending perhaps to strike me with it, but I got up and came here to the police station to make a formal complaint...
Full story in English here. Exhibition website, in Italian, here.
Hungary Resists Restitution Case
February 18 2011
Picture: El Greco's Holy Family with Sainte Anne.
The Hungarian government has resisted an attempt by the heirs of Baron Herzog, owner of one of Hungary's finest private art collections, to seek the return of their paintings. The paintings, which include works by El Greco, Zurburan and Cranach, were seized during the holocaust, when Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany.
[More below]
Pictures that make you smile
February 17 2011
Picture: Galerie Koller
This is a detail from 'Friede im Land (Aufe der Bastei)', or, 'Peace - On the Fortress', by Carl Spitzweg, painted in 1856. It is being offered at Koller on 1st April. The estimate is CHF500-800,000.
More on that Pollock
February 17 2011
The University of Iowa's mega Jackson Pollock painting, which I mentioned earlier, has come a step closer to being sold. Now, the price is thought to be $120m.
The Iowa House legislature has voted to force the University to sell the painting, in order to raise funds for scholarships.
Is such a thing possible in the UK? I hope not. But I do know of some nice pictures in the Oxford and Cambridge area...
£5000 History of Art Book Prize
February 17 2011
Nominations are open for the William Berger Prize for British Art History, until 15th March. The prize is awarded to the best history of art book or catalogue of the last year, and is awarded jointly by the British Art Journal and the Berger Collection Educational Trust, in Denver, Colorado.
The judges include Robin Simon, editor of the BAJ, and Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures.
If you see any of these...
February 16 2011
...they're nicked - and you should return them to the Egyptian police. Unless the person offering them to you is called Lord Elgin, in which case that's alright then.
The BBC has a good film showing how the pieces were stolen.
Mary Beard, on her blog, says of the thefts; [more below]
Picture comes down - value goes up
February 16 2011
A portrait of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has been removed from the government's cabinet room. As the portrait that will become a symbol of his removal, it's worth far more now than when he was in power.
For anyone wondering what's in store for all those Mubarak images, a book called 'Toppled' has charted the fate of Saddam's statues.
Watch de Laszlo Painting
February 16 2011
Picture: Philip de Laszlo Archive Trust
The Philip de Laszlo Archive Trust website has some fascinating footage of de Laszlo painting. Here, a model holds a rather uncomfortable pose while de Laszlo begins.
Well worth a click. You can even buy a DVD too.
"Orgy of the rich!"
February 16 2011
Hats off to demonstrators from 'Arts Against the Cuts', who last night staged a daring demo in the middle of Sotheby's evening contemporary art sale. The bidders gave a generous round of applause at the end.
One of the protester's slogans was an ironic; 'I like my money on the wall'. Better than in the bank...
More here.
Tate's new 'Watercolour' exhibition
February 15 2011
Picture: 'Scarlet Sunset' by Turner, Tate Britain.
Richard Dorment doesn't like it:
"Watercolour isn't a complete disaster, but it's a close call."
Matilda Battersby in The Independent is more enthusiastic.
I haven't seen it yet, but so far I hear good reports, and can't wait to go.
Soane Museum Restoration
February 15 2011
The director of the Soane Museum, Tim Knox, has launched a £500,000 public appeal to raise the final funds needed for the museum's restoration. He has already raised a whopping £6.5m. More here, and at the museum's website here.
Tim Knox said;
"Rest assured that it will all be done in the best possible taste... no brash new labels or burbling audioguides."
Van Gogh's Dying Sunflowers
February 15 2011
An international team of scientists has analysed the fading pigments used by Van Gogh, most notably his yellow. The findings confirm that over time his yellows have become brown, and will continue to get browner.
Van Gogh's original use of ultra-bright colours was dependent on the limited type of pigments available at the time. Inevitably, they will not last as well as pigments available later on, when paint companies had to cater for the very style that Van Gogh and his like had created.
Of course, Van Gogh was not the only artist who had trouble with his 'fugitive pigments'. Joshua Reynolds mixed his own experimental pigments, usually not very well. He had a particular problem with his reds and pinks. As a result, many of his portraits look like ghosts today.
Will future generations wonder why Van Gogh was so interested in dead flowers?
New pictures at Hampton Court
February 14 2011
Two rarely seen Royal Collection portraits are now on display at Hampton Court Palace. They've been up for a while, but I've only just got round to seeing them. Both are well worth the trip, and well done to the curators at Historic Royal Palaces for securing their loan.
On the left is John Michael Wright's magnificent portrait of the freshly restored Charles II, painted in about 1661. It is one of the finest royal portraits of the seventeenth century, by one of my favourite artists. Wright is often overlooked, being squeezed between Van Dyck and Lely. At his best, however, he comes close to the former, and beats the latter.
On the right is the Giant Porter, painted in 1580. I posted on this earlier, but it's difficult to get a sense of its scale unless you actually see it - it's enormous. To a Tudor viewer it/he must have been terrifying.
On the Royal Collection website you can zoom in on Charles II here, and the Giant here.
A novel way of getting stock
February 13 2011
A US art dealer has been jailed for four years for stealing paintings from one set of clients, and then selling them to others. Apparently:
The scheme was doomed from the start, investigators claim, as Lidtke's big buyer since his release was an undercover FBI agent.
For sale: 'most important modern American painting ever'?
February 12 2011
Picture: University of Iowa Museum of Art
The University of Iowa is considering selling 'Mural' by Jackson Pollock. Apparently valued at $150 million in 2008, the money would go to fund scholarships. It was given to the University by Peggy Guggenheim in 1951.
The University's website says of the picture; [more below]
Bacon & Freud continue to rise
February 12 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
A 1952 Lucian Freud self-portrait sold at Sotheby's last night for £3.28m, beating its £600-800,000 estimate. Well worth it I'd say. Francis Bacon's triptych of Freud sold for £23m, a price that comfortably beat the $3.8m for a comparable work that sold in New York in 2003.
The pictures were part of the private collection of the late George Kostalitz.
A New Raphael self-portrait?
February 11 2011
Picture: Alessandro Vezzosi & Scripta Maneant
A new book claims that a little known copy of Raphael's self-portrait is in fact by Raphael himself. The picture, which follows the Uffizi image, has been in a bank vault for many years.
You can flip through a section of the new book, and zoom in on the pictures, here.
It's hard to tell from the photos, but the 'new' picture is clearly much better than the ubiquitous copies one sees of the Uffizi image. Judging by the faded blue pigments of the background it appears to have some age to it. Elements of the face, such as the nose and lips, are well observed.
Intriguing...
Rare Rockwell drawing sold
February 10 2011
A fine drawing by Norman Rockwell called 'The Plumbers' was auctioned last night in Florida. Estimated at $35,000-$45,000, it sold for $120,000 hammer. More here.
Christie's Impressionist & Modern evening sale
February 10 2011
Totaled £61.8m.
Which is just below the £68.8m made by Sotheby's evening sale. The difference may be explained by a £7-10m Gauguin that failed to sell.
