A senior auctioneer and art specialist at Sotheby’s explains.
Category: visual
“Like One Skyline Perched Atop Another”: Rem Koolhaas’s New Rotterdam Mega-Building
“Filling a hefty chunk of the southern skyline, at 150 metres tall and more than 100 metres wide, De Rotterdam looks like someone has sliced up the drawings and stuck them on the horizon – but not put the pieces back together quite right.”
Storm Shuts Down Abu Dhabi Art Fair
“The Abu Dhabi Art fair has closed on its second day due to water leaking into its main building, the sand dune-shaped pavilion that is the UAE’s legacy from the Expo 2010 Shanghai.”
More Victims Of Fake Abstract Expressionist Fakes
“The potential victims of the Knoedler gallery fakes scandal include at least two museums, several dealers and a number of prominent collectors who bought or were interested in buying Abstract Expressionist works through the gallery, most of whom have not been previously identified.”
Christie’s Evaluation Of Detroit Institute Of Art Collection To Be Delayed
The report will likely influence negotiations between emergency manager Kevyn Orr and creditors and the settlement plan Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr eventually submits in court.
The Kimbell’s New Extension – Piano, Piano!
“With his $135 million addition to the Kimbell Art Museum here, Mr. Piano has topped his own track record for sensitive responses to someone else’s work of genius. He should stop now and concentrate exclusively on his own architecture.”
The Kimbell – Art Competing With Itself
“Just as architecture aficionados will inevitably compare the physical attributes of Mr. Piano’s pavilion with those of its acclaimed 1972 sister structure, so museumgoers are likely to compare how art is experienced in the two buildings.”
L.A. MOCA Names Its Lawyer Interim Director
“The board of the Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday appointed Maria Seferian, counsel to the museum since 2008, as interim director. In addition, the co-chairs of the board of trustees, TV writer and producer Maria Arena Bell and lawyer-producer David Johnson, will step down at the end of the year.”
Dior To Fund Restoration Of Marie Antionette’s Pretend Milkmaid Cottage
“The fashion house Dior is to sponsor the restoration of the Queen’s House in Versailles. … The house was Marie Antoinette’s rustic hideaway, where Louis XVI’s queen played out a fantasy life as a simple milkmaid until the revolution of 1789 imposed a sterner reality. The house was abandoned after the revolution.”
Put The Brakes On Return Of Nazi-Looted Artwork In Munich?
“The president of the World Jewish Congress is criticizing as “irresponsible” demands by German prosecutors to quickly return many artworks that were confiscated from the home of Munich collector Cornelius Gurlitt.”