Displaying items by tag: Contemporary Art

Sotheby’s evening sale of Contemporary Art, which took place on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 in New York, saw a number of exceptional works sell for record-breaking prices. The night’s top lot was Barnett Newman’s (1905-1970) Onement VI, an iconic Abstract Expressionist painting, which garnered $43.8 million. The work exceeded its high estimate of $40 million and set an auction record for Newman. The dark blue canvas, which measures 8 ½ feet x 10 feet and is sliced down the middle by a pale blue streak, is a remarkable example of Newman’s association with abstract expressionism as well as color field painting.

Other highlights from the sale included Gerhard Richter’s (b. 1932) oil painting of Milan’s cathedral square, Domplatz, Mailand (estimate: $30 million-$40 million), which sold for $37.1 million and set a record for Richter as well as for any living artist at auction; a sculpture by Yves Klein (1928-1962), which sold for $22 million and broke the record for the artist at auction; and Clyfford Still’s (1904-1980) PH-12, which was estimated to sell for $16 million to $20 million and ended up going for $20.9 million.

Although there were a number of high-profile sales, the auction was not without some failures. Francis Bacon’s (1909-1992) Study for Portrait of P.L., which was expected to bring $30 million $40 million didn’t find a buyer. Two works by Jeff Koons (b. 1955) also failed to sell.

The auction happenings will continue in New York at Christie’s, where Post-War and Contemporary sales will be held through the afternoon of Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Today, May 13, 2013 marked the end of the second-ever Frieze New York. One of the most highly anticipated art fairs, Frieze’s New York iteration took place at Randall’s Island Park and featured approximately 180 of the heaviest hitting contemporary art galleries from around the globe.

Along with its primary offerings, Frieze New York included two separate sections, Frame and Focus, which were dedicated to promising up-and-coming galleries. This year’s fair also featured seven site-specific commissions, a sculpture park, and a series of panel discussions and conversations led by high-profile artists, writers, and cultural commentators.

Frieze New York kicked off with a VIP opening on Thursday, May 9, which attracted throngs of the art world’s most elite collectors. Top sales that day included Sigmar Polke’s (1941-2010) Nachtkappel (1986) which was sold by Paris’ Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac for $4 million; an Anish Kapoor (b. 1954) sculpture sold by London’s Lisson Gallery for $764,500; and a painting of a flying tiger titled Tri Thong Minh, which was sold by New York’s Paul Kasmin gallery for $950,000.

The sister fair of Frieze London, which launched in 2001, the 2013 edition of Frieze New York was the largest stateside version of the show to date.

Sotheby’s announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2013, which ended March 31. The auction house’s first quarter total revenues were $101.7 million, a $3.2 million decrease from 2012. The decline was mainly caused by a reduction in auction commission margin from 18.1% to 15%. However, the quarter’s net auction sales increased 23% compared to last year’s first quarter.

High-grossing categories, including Impressionism as well a Modern and Contemporary Art, remained highly competitive. In an effort to enhance revenue and strengthen auction commission margins, Sotheby’s changed its buyer’s premiums structure rate on March 15, 2013. Buyers now pay 25% on the first $100,000 of a work’s selling price; 20% on the portion of the price above $100,000 but under $2 million; and 12% on any remaining amount about $2 million. Since most sales for the first quarter of 2013 took place before this shift occurred, it did not have a substantial impact on Sotheby’s results for the first quarter of 2013.

Due to the nature of the auction seasons, first and third quarters tend to bring in lower revenues than the second and fourth quarters. Typically, first quarter results are not an accurate gauge of expected full year results. Sotheby’s Chairman, President and CEO Bill Ruprecht said, “The first quarter showed a solid increase in auction sales compared to the prior year, but the results illustrate how competitive the market is for the highest value consignments. That competition resulted in lower commission margins, which is reflected on the bottom line.”

The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY announced that it has exceeded its $50 million fundraising goal for its Changing Speed expansion and renovation project by $334,000. The campaign’s success will allow the museum to complete Phase I and II of its plan, which includes building a new North Building, a central utilities building, and an art park and piazza.

The New North Building will span 62,500-square-feet and will double the museum’s overall physical space. The state-of-the-art renovation will include larger spaces for special exhibitions, contemporary art galleries, a family education welcome center, indoor and outdoor cafes, a museum shop, and a multifunctional pavilion for lectures and performances.

A major family gift made by civic leader Christy Brown will allow the Speed Art Museum to complete Phase III of its plan, which includes building a new South Building and extensive renovations to the existing structure. Brown made an $18 million contribution to the project in honor of her late husband, Owsley Brown II. The new 9,500-square-foot South Building will include additional gallery space and a state-of-the-art theater that will be capable of showing 16mm and 35mm films. The South Building will also include a renovated 5,600-square-foot gallery in the Speed’s current structure to house the museum’s significant collection of early Kentucky fine and decorative arts, which includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, silver, and other objects.

Work on Phase III of the Speed’s plan is underway and Phase I and II are expected to start this summer. All construction and renovations are expected to reach completion by the winter of 2015 and a grand re-opening is slated for early 2016.

Louisville philanthropist Hattie Bishop Speed founded the Speed Art Museum in 1925. It is the oldest, largest, and foremost art museum in Kentucky. The Speed is currently closed for the renovations but a temporary exhibition space was established in downtown Louisville’s Nulu district.

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas announced on Friday, May 3, 2013 that they will open their new Renzo Piano-designed building on November 27, 2013. The structure, which cost $135 million to build, includes a parking garage, auditorium, galleries, offices, and an education wing. Renovations have been underway since 2010 and are expected to reach completion on schedule. However, The project did run over its original budget by $10 million.

Famed architect Louis Kahn designed the Kimbell’s original building in 1972. Piano, who was once Kahn’s assistant, designed the new structure so that it would be similar in size and made out of comparable materials as the older, accompanying building. Stretching 22 feet high, the new structure will include environmentally friendly features and will consume half of the energy needed to operate Kahn’s building.

The Kimbell’s collection, which ranges from international antiquities to contemporary art, will be split between the two buildings. The Kahn building will house the European works and the Pre-Columbian, African, and Asian art will be exhibited in the Piano pavilion.

Sotheby’s has announced that they will be opening a gallery for private sales close to its London outpost on Bond Street. The gallery will be ideal for big-name collectors who prefer to do business through unpublicized sales rather than in the public auction arena.

Private sales have seen an uptick in recent years and unpublicized transactions increased at Sotheby’s by 11% in 2012. These inconspicuous sales accounted for $906.5 million of the $5.4 billion Sotheby’s brought in from auctions the same year. Most of Sotheby’s private sales come from big-ticket modern and contemporary works, which are sold when a buyer visits a viewing room within the auction house. Details surrounding these transactions are often kept under wraps. These private sales are also beneficial for the auction house because publicity costs are nonexistent.

Sotheby’s new gallery is expected to open in London during the fall of 2013.

A museum honoring the painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970) opened on April 24, 2013 in the artist’s hometown of Daugavpil, Latvia. Rothko, who was born Marcus Rothkovitz, lived in the southern city then known as Dvinsk and in the Russian empire, until he was 10. Rothko and his family fled Europe in 1913 as anti-Jewish sentiments began to rise.

Rothko went on to become a remarkable artistic force in American modern art. Often called an Abstract Expressionist, Rothko opposed classification and even disliked being called an abstract painter even though some of his best-known paintings are comprised of nothing more than blurred blocks of color. Rothko continues to play a prominent role in the art world as his paintings are highly sought after by collectors. Last year, his large-scale painting Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) garnered $86.9 million at auction, setting a record for any contemporary work of art.

The Mark Rothko Art Centre features a small selection of key works from the artist’s oeuvre, which were donated by Rothko’s family. The museum also includes lecture rooms and artist studios. The Centre is being funded by the European Union and Daugavpil’s city council in hopes that the institution will help transform the city into a popular tourist destination.

The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio is the only art museum to receive a 2013 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The Columbus Metropolitan Library received the award back in 2011, making Columbus the 16^th American city to receive the medal twice. The National Medal, which is the highest honor for museums and libraries, will be presented to the city at a celebration in Washington, D.C. on May 8, 2013.

The Columbus Museum of Art, which was historically focused on European and American art through the early modern period, has placed more emphasis on contemporary art and photography in recent years. The museum has also made a substantial effort to engage visitors in creative ways as well as reinvent itself as a hub for social and creative happenings in the Midwest. The institution has partnered with 30 Ohio counties as well as Columbus city schools to create various programs that are aimed at engaging visitors of all ages in innovative ways.

The other National Medal-winning museums for 2013 included the Boston Children’s Museum; the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi; the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County; and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Next month, Sotheby’s and Christie’s will hold some of their most anticipated auctions. The major sales of Impressionist, modern, and contemporary art are expected to garner at least $1 billion. Most of that money will be generated from the contemporary art auctions, which have been the highest earning in recent years. The Impressionist and modern art sales are expected to bring a joint $383 million while the contemporary auctions are estimated at over $700 million.

Highlights from the auctions include the renowned collection of vacuum-cleaner tycoon Alex Lewyt at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on May 7, 2013. The 200-piece collection is valued at $65 million and includes a still-life by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) that carries a $25 million estimate and a portrait by Amedeo Modigiliani (1884-1920), which is expected to garner anywhere from $20 million to $30 million.

Christie’s Evening Sale of Contemporary Art on May 15, 2013 will be lead by Jackson Pollock’s (1912-1956) Number 19, a seminal drip painting, which is expected to sell for $25 million-$35 million. It is the most important work by the artist to appear at auction in the past two decades.

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on May 14, 2013 is also expecting a number of high priced sales. Francis Bacon’s (1909-1992) Study for Portrait of P.L. is estimated to sell for $30 million to $40 million and a painting by Barnett Newman (1905-1970), which is deemed one of the most important works from the Abstract Expressionist School, is also expected to bring $30 million to $40 million.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale will be held on May 8, 2013 and includes works by Claude Monet (1840-1926), Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), and Alfred Sisley (1839-1899).

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 14, 2013 in New York will include one of the most important paintings by Barnett Newman (1905-1970) ever to appear at auction. Onement VI (1953) is a seminal work by the American artist and one of the most significant pieces from the Abstract Expressionist movement. The painting, which measures 8 ½ feet x 10 feet, is expected to garner anywhere from $30 million to $40 million. The canvas will go on view at Sotheby’s on May 3, 2013 until it appears at auction later that month.

Newman, one of the foremost artists of the 20^th century, was a pioneer of color field painting as well as a key Abstract Expressionist. As an exhibitions organizer at the Manhattan-based Betty Parsons Gallery in the 1940s, Newman played a fundamental role in the careers of many of his friends including Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), and Clyfford Still (1904-1980).  

Onement VI, a massive canvas consumed by rich blue paint and sliced down the middle by a light blue streak, was a gift from the artist to his wife, Annalee. The painting remained in her collection for almost a decade and was acquired in 1961 by the well-known collectors Frederick and Marcia Weisman. That same year the painting appeared in an exhibition titled Abstract Expressionists Imagists at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum that helped define the modern art movement.

Onement VI is the final work in a series of six paintings by Newman. Four of the paintings are held in major art institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT, and the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, OH. Onement V currently resides in a private collection.