New article on connoisseurship
November 3 2011
Picture: Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine
I have a new article on connoisseurship out this month in, appropriately, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. The magazine content is not online, but you can buy a copy here. I may post the article here once next month's issue is out.
Sorry for the slow service today...
November 2 2011
...I was in Birmingham valuing a picture. Nice thing - worth about as much as a comfortable house in, say, Fulham. Think I'd rather have the picture though.
The lure of the new
November 2 2011
Arts Council England announced their new £440m spending plans today. The headlines have sounded bad: 'Arts Council to halt new galleries'. But in fact, the decision to not fund new capital projects, but to concentrate on supporting existing strategies and institutions, is good news.
Too often, museums are lured by the thrill of a huge new extension, and succesfully raise millions to build it (with the bulk of funding usually coming from the Lottery). But amid the excitement, these museums sometimes ignore their existing collections and infrastructure.
A classic example is the British Museum, which recently hoped to build a new wing, but still cannot afford to keep all its galleries open all the time. And today I went to Birmingham, where I visited its fine Museum & Art Gallery. The Museum is building a new £10m gallery on the history of Birmingham. But meanwhile its decent collection of old masters sweats in hot rooms cooled only by portable fans and temporary humidifiers. I was uncomfortably hot just looking at a Bellini Madonna on panel - I dread to think how the picture felt.
Invariably, these new extensions end up costing more money than expected, and can sometimes act as a drain on future resources. For while it may be relatively easy to raise money for the shiny new building, the extra running costs are another matter. So in these times of austerity, it may well be better not to over-reach, and put much needed funds back into existing collections.
After Degas failure at Christie's, all eyes on Sotheby's NY tonight
November 2 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
The prized Degas bronze failed to sell at Christie's New York last night, so nervous market watchers will be looking at the recently restituted Klimt coming up for sale tonight in New York. It should make its lower estimate of $25m. Also in the sale is one of the Monets being sold by Boston Museum of Fine Arts to raise money for their newly acquired Caillebotte.
Lure of the historical portrait
November 2 2011
Picture: Lyon & Turnbull
A portrait of John Brown and Queen Victoria fetched £120,000 (hammer) at the Forbes collection sale in Edinburgh yesterday. The picture was by Charles Burton Barber and based on a photograph, so looked rather wooden. But it nonetheless comfortably beat its estimate of £20-30,000. It had originally been a gift to Brown's family from Victoria.
To see my view of the nature of the relationship between Brown and Victoria (ie, did they get it on?), see here.
Elsewhere in the sale, some of the high profile 19th Century lots failed to set the pulses racing. In particular, J E Millais' For the Squire, the epitome of Victorian 'sentimentalia', sold for £450,000 hammer, against a £500-800,000 reserve. The price reflects the changing taste for some 19th Century art - 15 years ago, at the height of the pre-Raphaelite fever, it might have made double that...
Newly discovered work by Evelyn Dunbar
November 1 2011
Picture: Sim Fine Art
As a keen fan of wartime art, I'm grateful to Andrew Sim of Sim Fine Art for alerting me to a fine work by Evelyn Dunbar (1906-60), Britain's only salaried female war artist during the Second World War. The picture is called Girls Learning to Stook and Men Stooking, 1940, and was a commission to record Women's Land Army subjects. What a great picture.
To celebrate the rediscovery of this and other works by Dunbar, her biographer Dr Gill Clarke will be speaking at Persephone Books on 8th November at 6pm. Tickets, at £20, from 020 7242 9292.
The next blockbuster
November 1 2011
Picture: Above, Picasso's 'The Source' [Moderna Museet, Stockholm], and below, Henry Moore's 'Reclining Figure' [The Henry Moore Foundation].
Picasso and Modern British Art - now there's a museum marketing department's dream title. The show, with about 70 Picassos in a total of 150 works, will open at Tate Modern on 15th February 2012 till 15th July. More here.
New Stern estate restitution
November 1 2011
Picture: Stern Estate/Concordia University
The Max Stern Restitution Project have tracked down another painting from the estate of Max Stern, the Jewish art dealer forced to sell his stock by the Nazis in the 1930s. Above is The Masters of the Goldsmith Guild in Amsterdam, 1701, by Juriaen Pool II (1665-1745).
The picture was found hanging in a casino in Southern Germany. Full details here.
Sylvia Plath, poet, novelist... artist
November 1 2011
Picture: Telegraph
A delightful series of drawings by Sylvia Plath will go on display tomorrow at the Mayor Gallery in London. They are all in pen and ink on paper, and authenticated by Ted Hughes on the reverse. This charming example is called Curious French Cat.
You can see more examples here. The exhibition closes 16th December.
St Paul's protesters set up 'splinter camp' at Tate Modern
November 1 2011
With crushing predictability, the unhinged loonies camping out in front of St Paul's have now moved over the river to Tate Modern, that beacon of capitalism and well-known symbol of oppression. With the camp outside St Paul's expected to be closed soon, it's likely that more protesters will end up at Tate. Let's hope the museum is not as badly affected as the poor staff and worshippers at St Paul's. More here.
Handy tip to the protesters - other more appropriate places to protest, perhaps the Stock Exchange, or the headquarters of RBS, can be found here.
A newly discovered Rodin? Or 'a complete fiction'?
October 31 2011
Picture: AFP
An art expert and sculptor has claimed that this curious little silver statue (22.5cm tall) is the work of Rodin, perhaps the greatest sculptor of the modern age. Bought in a French flea market in the 1980s, the work has no signature, no foundry marks, and does not appear in any documentation linking it to Rodin. But in a flamboyant presentation to the French press today, Gilles Perrault presented a 60 page dossier claiming the piece is undoubtedly by Rodin.
As is increasingly the case these days, 'scientific analysis' has been used to shore up the claims. From AFP:
In particular he focused on the subject's hands -- the spacing between the fingers -- on its highly-stylised feet, and on the folds of the draping, which he argues are typical of Rodin.
"Back then," Perrault explained, "Rodin was at odds with the whole establishment, he was the only sculptor who used fabric covered with plaster or wax."
Analysis uncovered microscopic traces left by the plastered fabric on the statuette, he said, along with minute grooves similar to ones found on a Rodin work in memory of the writer Honore de Balzac.
However, the Rodin Museum in Paris has doubts.
"We are very, very sceptical, in the absence of documents referring to the existence of such a silver statuette, or to any other works that relate to it," said its asset curator Aline Magnien, contacted earlier this week.
"This work has no pedigree," she said. "Gilles Perrault has created a fiction."
See a more detailed photo here.
Happy Halloween
October 31 2011
Picture: Hieronymous Bosch, 'Beehive and Witches', Albertina, Vienna.
Trick, or treat? Depends on your taste I suppose... Nevertheless, Halloween must have been a lot scarier in the 15th Century, when Bosch made this drawing.
'Test your Connoisseurship' - it's harder than it looks
October 31 2011
Picture: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Following my first 'Test your Connoisseurship' on a detail of Gainsborough's Portrait of Captain Thomas Mathews, above, a reader writes:
I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I actually grew up with a later copy of this family portrait in our dining room, and yet still didn't get the answer right. I had got as far as guessing that it was possibly by Gainsborough, but internet image searches for "Unfinished Gainsborough" produced nothing. The answer was alas rather closer to home than I realised...
I think this is one of the best emails AHN has had. Thanks!
Those German forgers - who they fooled
October 31 2011
The forgery gang recently convicted in Germany (led by Wolfgang Beltracchi) are thought to have been responsible for up to EUR34 million of fake art. Perhaps more impressive is the list of those who were in some way fooled by their rubbish fakes:
- Lempertz Auction House, Cologne
- Drooner Institut, Munich
- Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris
- Christie's, New York
- Max Ernst Museum, Bruhl
- Biennale des Antiquaires, Paris
- Sotheby's, New York
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Artinfo has a good roundup of the case here - including the suggestion that there may be some still unaccounted for fakes out there...
New acquisition at the Louvre
October 31 2011
Picture: Musee du Louvre
The Louvre has bought The Raising of Lazarus by Jean Le Clerc (1587/8-1633). It is the first painting of his to enter the Louvre's collection, and was acquired from the New York dealer Richard Feigen. Full details here.
I'm struck by how often I write the above headline - much more often than, say, 'New acquisition at the National Gallery'. Looking at the Louvre's acquisition policy, it's interesting to note that the museum spends 20% of its annual revenue from admissions on new acquisitions. In 2004 (the latest figure on the site), the acquisiton budget was EUR5.4 million. Sadly, here in the UK we have no comparable regular acquisiton budgets.
First footage of 'Salvator Mundi'
October 31 2011
Picture: BBC
In case you missed it last night, you can still see Fiona Bruce's programme on the newly discovered Leonardo here. I thought the picture looked compelling - from my sofa. I was fascinated to see the x-ray images; the damage, mainly caused by a knot in the wooden panel, is clearly quite extensive, but has been dealt with very well.
I find it puzzling that Leonardo didn't take more care about selecting his support - I don't think Holbein, for example, would have dared use a panel with a knot in it.
One of these sold for £53m, the other for £5k
October 28 2011
Picture: Left, Bainbridge auction, right Canterbury auction
The vase on the left sold for £53m last year, but it has not been paid for, for reasons undisclosed. Some said doubts have been raised about its authenticity. This month, another, if inferior, vase turned up at auction in Kent. It made £5000. Makes you wonder...
Update: Steven Moore has the full story on his website here.
Friday Amusement
October 28 2011
Picture: Cartoonstock
Yesterday was Roy Lichtenstein's birthday, so this seemed rather appropriate. And on 8th November, Christie's will offer a work of his estimated at $35-45m. Will it sell? it has been guaranteed at the lower estimate.
Dictator Art - buttock edition
October 28 2011
Lots of excitement in the press about the piece of Saddam's buttock that failed to sell at auction for £250,000. The sale was, it seems, to raise money for charity. But what a ridiculous price. They should have taken the top bid of £21,000, itself a silly value, and run.
Sewell on 'First Actresses'
October 28 2011
Picture: National Portrait Gallery
Brian Sewell's review of the NPG's First Actresses exhibition is worth a read. He seems to like the show, but, rightly, aims his weekly dose of scorn at the poor catalogue (as I did, if less stringently).
In the catalogue this unfortunate picture [Mr & Mrs Garrick by Reynolds, above] is reproduced in reverse (did no one check the proof?) - and here I must observe that this is less a catalogue than a book and useless in the exhibition, useless too as a work of ready reference, either committing all sorts of necessary information to a list hidden between the bibliography and index, or omitting it. To whom does this painting belong? (the NPG). What are its measurements? (138 x 172 inches). What is its number in David Manning's encyclopaedic catalogue raisonné? (707). Was it exhibited in the RA? (yes). Was it ever accessible to a wide public? (no). Was it ever engraved? (no). Was Mrs Garrick ever a celebrated actress? (no). What was she? (an Austrian dancer and dutiful wife). From my answers to the last four questions it must be clear that in the context of this exhibition Eva-Maria Veigel is irrelevant.
