Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009, May 15 -May 31

Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009 will be held from May 15 to May 31. The Festival will be a fiest of all art forms, including music, theatre, dance,opera, literature and visual arts.

The Reykjavík Arts Festival is held every year in May. It has been held biannually since 1970 and annually from 2004. The Festival is one of the oldest and most respected arts festivals in Northern Europe. The Festival is organised by an Artistic Director, appointed by the Board. The three Board members are appointed, respectively, by the Minister of Culture and Education, the Mayor of Reykjavik and the Festival´s Council of Representatives.
The aim of Reykjavík Arts Festival is, as always, to promote good quality art presented by outstanding artists.

Just a short-term art installation. It was great. A shed, dumped in the middle of the Tjörnin. Atlantis #2, Tjörnin, Reykjavík, Iceland, 15th May 2008

Here you can get general information about the Reykjavík Arts Festival, look into the programmes for past and present festivals, read our latest news and more.
The Reykjavík Arts Festival has been held regularly since 1970 and is one of the oldest and most respected arts festivals in Northern Europe. ...

Artistic Subversion - Ben Frost, Riot Against Pop Culture

Shocking Artistic Subversion - Ben Frost's Confrontational Canvases Riot Against Pop Culture (GALLERY)

(TREND HUNTER) The fact that his website is called 'Ben Frost is Dead,' and his pieces bost titles like "Quality Riding Poultry" should give you a clue to the nature of this work, but it really doesn’t.

The amazing… [More]

Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night Exhibition Van Gogh Museum 13 Februari - 07 June

A UNIQUE EXHIBIT OF PAINTINGS BY VINCENT VAN GOGH AT THE VAN GOGH MUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM
Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night Exhibition Van Gogh Museum 13 Februari - 07 June

From early on, Vincent van Gogh loved the mood conjured up by the evening and the night. He particularly associated the nighttime hours with feelings of security, solace and the poetic.
Van Gogh viewed the evening and night as a time for reflection and creativity. For this reason he liked to work in these dark hours, for they gave him energy and inspiration.
Van Gogh and The Colours of the Night is the first exhibition to be devoted to Van Gogh's representations of the evening and the night. It considers the ways in which he explored the ambience and symbolism of the nighttime hours and interwove them with other themes such as life on the farm in relation to the cycle of nature and man's struggle with modernity.
The exhibition features famous works from international collections such as The Starry Night (The Museum of Modern Art, New York).

Van Gogh en de kleuren van de nacht
13 februari 2009 - 7 juni 2009
In het voorjaar van 2009 organiseert het Van Gogh Museum een unieke tentoonstelling over de schilderijen van Vincent van Gogh die de atmosfeer van de avond en de nacht weergeven. De tentoonstelling wordt georganiseerd in samenwerking met het Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Van Gogh en de kleuren van de nacht is de eerste expositie die is gewijd aan Van Goghs voorstellingen van de avond en de nacht. Dit thema loopt als een rode draad door zijn oeuvre. Beroemde werken uit internationale collecties die worden getoond, zijn onder andere De sterrennacht (MoMA), Eugène Boch (Musée d’Orsay), een reeks van drie zaaiers bij ondergaande zon (waarvan een uit de Stichting Collectie E.G. Bührle) en De aardappeleters (Van Gogh Museum).

Gejaagd door de wind, Zuiderzeemuseum, 22 maart -22 november 2009

Het Zuiderzeemuseum presenteert Nederlandse kunst, cultuur en erfgoed op de grens van land en water. Tentoonstellingen en evenementen leggen verbanden tussen de collectie en hedendaagse ontwikkelingen. Klassieke Hollandse thema’s krijgen een verrassende benadering.

De tentoonstelling Gejaagd door de wind in het Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen (22 maart -22 november 2009) toont werk van tientallen spraakmakende Nederlandse mode-, sieraden- en accessoireontwerpers, stylisten, fotografen en illustratoren. Samen geven zij een inspirerend beeld van de grote ideeënrijkdom van de Nederlandse modewereld en hoe die zich verhoudt tot de Nederlandse kledingtraditie. De bekende modeontwerpers Alexander van Slobbe en Francisco van Benthum zijn gastconservator.

In Gejaagd door de wind staan de creatieve ideeën van de Nederlandse modewereld centraal. Deze tentoonstelling combineert op unieke wijze hedendaagse ontwerpen met traditionele kostuums en objecten uit de museumcollectie. Op twintig plaatsen in het museum en in het museumpark tonen nieuwe en oude ontwerpen typisch Hollandse thema's, zoals Oranjefeesten en het kleurig bloemgebruik in de klederdracht. In de kamer Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe geven Nederlandse mannenmodeontwerpers als Francisco van Benthum, Lucas Ossendrijver (Lanvin) en Ivo Mittelmeijer een moderne visie op de traditionele mannendracht. In de Vouwdramakamer presenteert ontwerper Mark Lentelink kledingstukken uit de klederdracht en uit de internationale modewereld waarin het vouwen - net als in Staphorst - centraal staat. Illustratoren Piet Paris en Peter Jeroense ontwerpen een variant op de typische Hollandse tegel.

Art Rotterdam, van 5 tot en met 8 februari 2009.

Charlotte Schleiffert - 'Tibetan Girl with Swords'

Art Rotterdam viert tienjarig bestaan

De tiende editie van Art Rotterdam vindt plaats van 5 tot en met 8 februari 2009.
Art Rotterdam heeft zich ontwikkeld tot één van de meest levendige kunstbeurzen voor hedendaagse kunst in Europa. De beurs, die weer gehouden wordt in de Cruise Terminal in Rotterdam, is de plek om de laatste ontwikkelingen in de beeldende kunst te volgen en aanstormend talent te ontdekken.
Galeries uit tien verschillende landen zijn aanwezig op Art Rotterdam. Enkele voorbeelden zijn: Artrepco gallery (Zwitserland), C-space (China), Galerie Parisa Kind (Duitsland), Hoet Beckaert Gallery (België), Rokeby Gallery (Groot Brittannië), en Gallery Virgil de Voldère (Verenigde Staten).
Voor, onder meer, Dépendance (België), Mireille Mosler (USA) en Pianissimo (Italië) is het hun debuut op Art Rotterdam.
Daarnaast is ook de top van de Nederlandse galeries, onder meer galerie Fons Welters, galerie Paul Andriesse, galerie Diana Stigter, Lumen Travo en Annet Gelink Gallery, aanwezig op de beurs.


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Jordi Labanda, talented and recognized illustrator and designer in the field of fashion and design.

Jordi Labanda is a very talented and recognized illustrator and designer in the field of fashion, advertising and product design.
(Source TrendHunter)
He was born in Mercedes, Uruguay but has lived in Barcelona, Spain most of his life.
His brilliant work has been featured regularly in some of the most important newspapers and magazines in Spain and internationally, like La Vanguardia, Marie Claire, El País, Vanidad, Elle, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Wallpaper, Flaunt, Tatler, Vogue America, and Vogue Italia.


Jordi Labanda Website

The new reality—the state of the art market in 2009 is not easy to predict

The new reality—the state of the art market in 2009 is not easy to predict

The Outlook for the 2009 Art Market is noy very good. A tremendous amount of money was lost in the Stock Market. People with Art Collections are selling with losses. Signals are reaching us from individual artist, galleries and dealers about a rapidly deteriorating Art market. The traditional fairs and exhibitions in the first month of 2009 until now have been underperforming.
From the financial point of view Art is a luxury. This could become the year of 'the shrinking Art market'.

(This article is an excerpt from The Art Newspaper, click on the link to read the whole article).
The general economy and also the art economy is clearly headed for some choppy waters…” This is what mega-dealer Larry Gagosian told his staff in a tough-talking, if ungrammatical, memo published last November in Flash Art, as the global financial meltdown continued to panic investors, the US recession was officially confirmed and unemployment figures for the country soared by 533,000 in that month alone.

In Miami, the trendy French dealer Emmanuel Perrotin has shuttered his gallery, and now will only reopen it for Art Basel Miami Beach next December. Sotheby’s is also trimming its workforce, and has announced it has abandoned guarantees for the foreseeable future. The firm, and its arch-rival Christie’s, were badly hit by the collapse in art prices during New York’s sales of impressionist, modern and contemporary art in November, which garnered only half the expected totals. Those sales were prepared before the autumn, when art prices were still riding high. Some works sold in November for half their low estimates, and up to 75% of the works in some sales were bought in.
Today a different reality prevails. The lacklustre 2008 autumn fairs, Frieze and Art Basel Miami Beach, saw dealers prepared to be flexible on prices, accepting discounts of up to 30%. But, as journalist, sociologist and lecturer (and The Art Newspaper contributor) András Szántó points out: “Just as designer brands are now being offered at huge discounts in the high street—were those shoes or handbags really worth the previous prices?—so those [pre-financial meltdown] prices should never have been so huge. Some dealers priced art so aggressively, and the prices went up with such velocity, that it is inevitable that they should fall back sharply.”
These prices rose with the greatest speed for contemporary art. But the picture of the art market, as 2009 opens, is far from simple. It is always worth remembering that the market is not a single block, but a whole series of sub-sections.

In Focus: The Portrait, The Getty Center

William H. Mumler, American, about 1861, Albumen silver print

In Focus: The Portrait, The Getty Center
Exhibition January 27–June 14

Following the announcement of the invention of photography in 1839, portraiture became accessible to all. The 1850s marked the beginning of the medium's commercialization. Continuing technical improvements enabled the instant capture of likenesses under virtually any condition and expanded the dialogue between the photographer and the sitter.
While photography was first presented as the most truthful of representations, its underlying subjectivity is especially relevant in portraiture. Drawn exclusively from the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection, this selection of portraits surveys the relationship between photographer and subject, including formal portraits, intimate pictures, and documentary photographs.

Holland Art Cities 2009-2010

‘Holland Art Cities’. Voor dit evenement bundelen tien topmusea in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag en Utrecht hun krachten om een ongekend kunstaanbod te presenteren.

Tevens zullen tijdens Holland Art Cities de Amsterdamse musea de Hermitage Amsterdam en het Stedelijk Museum hun (her)opening beleven.
Tien musea staan garant voor de kwaliteit van het programma van Holland Art Cities: Van Gogh Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum en het Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag en het Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis (Den Haag), Museum Catharijneconvent en het Centraal Museum (Utrecht) en Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen en de Kunsthal Rotterdam (Rotterdam). Daarnaast vinden in 2009 de heropeningen plaats van de Hermitage Amsterdam en het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

Internationale invloeden

Holland Art Cities gaat eind 2008 van start met het thema ‘Internationale Invloeden’. Nederlanders hebben de wereld verkend en uit vele windstreken zijn buitenlanders naar ons land gekomen. Er is altijd grote belangstelling geweest voor de gebeurtenissen elders in Europa: zo kan Nederland als een kruispunt van wegen worden opgevat. Dit heeft zijn weerslag gehad in de kunst, cultuur en wetenschap.

Jong: Moderne en Hedendaagse Kunst en Design

Vanaf september 2009 laat het thema ‘Jong: Moderne en Hedendaagse Kunst en Design’ een dwarsdoorsnede zien van het beste wat de jonge kunsten- en designwereld op dit moment te bieden heeft.


Hollandse Meesters

Vanaf juli 2010 tot medio 2011 worden de ‘Hollandse Meesters’ in het zonnetje gezet. Of het nu gaat om beroemde schilders als Rembrandt, Van Gogh en Vermeer of om meer hedendaagse Nederlandse kunstenaars.

Flyer Download (PDF)

Fair Fashion in de Kunsthal Rotterdam

Fair Fashion
Modeontwerp met wereldse stoffen

Fair Fashion - Fashion Design with Worldly Fabrics - 17 January to 15 March 2009
Fair Fashion in de Kunsthal Rotterdam toont tien verrassende modecollecties van jonge veelbelovende ontwerpers, gebaseerd op traditionele stoffen uit Afrika, Latijns-Amerika en Azië. Vijfenveertig experimentele ontwerpen met spannende details tonen dat kennismaking met andere culturen de creativiteit stimuleert tot onverwachte combinaties. Sportieve shirts met capuchon gemaakt van transparante Indische zijde, een herencollectie samengesteld uit bont bedrukt West-Afrikaans katoen en een elegante avondjurk ontworpen met kakelbonte weefsels uit de Peruaanse Andes. De creaties zijn het resultaat van een jaarlijkse internationale ontwerpwedstrijd, georganiseerd door de Duitse charitatieve organisatie Welthungerhilfe.

ROTTERDAM.- Kunsthal Rotterdam presents the fifty most beautiful dresses that have been produced for a competition for the German organization called Welthungerhilfe. This charitable organisation asked young talented designers to design outfits from extraordinary fabrics from Africa, Latin America and Asia. The result is a surprising collection of innovative creations, originally tailored, with exciting details and unusual fabrics. With this competition Welthungerhilfe wants to open the eyes of the public not only to the problems, but also the possibilities existing in developing countries. In collaboration with the organisation Welthungerhilfe. The exhibition will be on view through March 15.

TEFAF Maastricht 2009, 13-22 March

13-22 March 2009
Daily 11 am-7 pm
Sunday 22 March 11 am-6 pm

TEFAF Maastricht The World's Leading Art and Antiques Fair 2009

As a visitor to TEFAF Maastricht you will be present at an outstanding event, one that offers the best choice of the very best in fine art. You will have a unique chance to view and to buy paintings from Bruegel to Bacon as well as objects reflecting 6,000 years of excellence in the applied arts.
A range of cultural events and special activities take place in Maastricht during TEFAF. From concerts to lectures and exhibitions within the fair as well as in and around Maastricht, they provide the ideal way to entertain and be informed about the wider issues of the world of fine art.
No where else will you find such an elegantly displayed selection of genuine masterpieces from over 220 of the world’s most prestigious international dealers.

A new section for design at TEFAF
Eight of the world’s leading specialist dealers will form TEFAF Design, including a number who have never exhibited at TEFAF previously. This special section will be devoted to 20th century design and applied arts.
Twentieth century design and applied arts are increasingly popular and for the first time TEFAF Maastricht will have a section entirely dedicated to these stylish modern pieces. TEFAF Maastricht constantly evolves to reinforce its position as the world’s most influential art and antiques fair and TEFAF Design, as the new section is called, is being introduced to strengthen its appeal in a field which attracts a growing number of collectors, museum curators as well as professional decorators.
Eight of the world’s leading specialist dealers will form TEFAF Design, including a number who have never exhibited at The European Fine Art Fair previously. Among the latter will be Sebastian + Barquet from New York and London, Galerie Eric Philippe from Paris, Galerie Ulrich Fiedler of Berlin, L’Arc en Seine from Paris and Bel Etage Kunsthandel of Vienna.


Charity
The Rembrandt Society has been in existence for 125 years. To mark this event TEFAF donated the Rembrandt Society €50,000 for the acquisition of a work of art at the fair for a Dutch public collection. In the final weekend of TEFAF 2008 the Rijksmuseum submitted a request to the Rembrandt Society for the purchase of an ensemble—a double portrait and a medallion that was being offered at TEFAF by Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam. The double portrait was painted in 1689 by Michiel van Musscher. It shows Isaac Pontanus giving his grandson Hendrik van Beek a gold medallion on the occasion of his eighth birthday. It will be donated to the Rijksmuseum and will also benefit the Amsterdams Historisch Museum.



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'Slumdog,' 'Button' top BAFTA nominations

'Slumdog Millionaire' continues to impress critics, while Kate Winslet will have to beat herself to win the British version of the Oscars. (Jan. 15)

The Art Hotel, the Sagamore Collection, South Beach

The Sagamore Collection

While the acquisition of all forms of art is a constant for the Sagamore, recently a special emphasis has been placed on collecting Video Art, with the goal of turning the Sagamore into a renowned venue for video artists throughout the world. To broaden the recognition of this art medium, we have been working to create an annual video competition to be judged by major museum and art institution representatives. To this end, we've been working closely with the Lincoln Center in New York City, who will also soon exhibit a video art collection.
Art videos are essentially mini-movies, often written, produced, directed by and starring the artists. Art videos often seek to convey a message about society, its people, events or quirky items of interest, and in doing so they push creative boundaries to make truly unique pieces.

The Art Hotel
The Sagamore Hotel has evolved into "The Art Hotel" due to its extensive private rotating art gallery, personally overseen and privately owned by Cricket and Marty Taplin, proprietors of the hotel. The Sagamore Collection is a showcase of contemporary art, including oils, acrylics, water colors, photography and mixed media sculptures by nationally recognized and world-renown artists. The Taplins have spent over 15 years assembling this unique collection, featuring artists from, among other places, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Norway.
The majority of the art in at The Sagamore Hotel is purchased through recognized, reputable art galleries from around the world and many of the artists featured in The Sagamore Collection have their works displayed in museums and other important private collections. Rarely are works purchased directly from an artist. It is through the owners' confidence in these galleries together with the curator's eye and knowledge of the market that this collection has evolved.

The curator of The Sagamore Collection is Christine "Cricket" Taplin, one of the owners of the hotel.
Video Interview from The Art Newspaper with Cricket Taplin
Cricket Taplin, co-owner of Miami's so called 'Art Hotel' acts as curator for the large collection of works which adorn the walls and public areas of the Sagamore Hotel.
In this interview, Cricket talks about how she began collecting with the help of her husband's best friend, Martin Margulies and how her tastes have evolved to create such a diverse collection.
Interview by Jean Wainwright

The end of the former Peter Stuyvesant Collection,

A pioneering art-in-the-workplace experiment is over. The end of the Peter Stuyvesant Collection

Due to legal (tobacco law) reasons the name had to be changed from Peter Stuyvesant Collection to BAT artventure.

(Source The Art Newspaper)
Works are being sold off after British American Tobacco decided the venture was no longer relevant
One of the oldest and most important corporate art collections in Holland, the 50-year-old BATartventure—formerly the Peter Stuyvesant Collection—is being broken up and sold following a restructuring of the global tobacco giant that owns it. A campaign led by local mayor Jan de Ruiter has failed so far to keep the 1,400 postwar and contemporary art works in Zevenaar, a small town in eastern Holland.
The collection was started as a social and industrial experiment in the late 1950s, with works acquired for exhibition in the production halls of the Turkish and Macedonian Tobacco Company (Turmac) cigarette factory, the town’s largest employer with as many as 1,400 workers making 25% of Holland’s cigarettes. The experiment was a success on every level: factory staff enjoyed the paintings, while the collection won critical plaudits, with works regularly loaned for exhibition in public galleries, from the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1962 and 1991) to the Fundación Miró in Barcelona (1992). Read the whole article in the Art Newspaper...

Homepage BAT artventure

Persbericht (PDF) British American Tobacco verkoopt BAT Artventure kunstcollectie

Entropa EU Art

General view of the installation "Entropa", which represents several European Community countries, on view at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: EFE/Olivier Hoslet.

Entropa: Controversial Czech exhibit sparks debate on EU

( Source Art Daily) The EU puzzle is both a metaphor and a celebration of this diversity. It comprises the building blocks oft he political, economic and cultural relationships with which we 'toy' but which will be passed on to our children. The task of today is to create building blocks with the best possible characteristics.


Self-reflection, critical thinking and the capacity to perceive oneself as well as the outside world with a sense of imny are the hallmarks of European thinking. This art project that originated on the occasion of Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union attempts to present Europe as a whole from the perspectives of 27 artists from the individual EU Member States. Their projects share the playful analysis of national stereotypes as well as original characteristics of the individual cultural identities.
That much is stated in an official booklet of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However Entropa is not a real pan-European work by artists-provocateurs, but a mystification. At first glance, it looks like a project to decorate official space, which has degenerated to an unhindered display of national traumas and complexes. Individual states in the European Union puzzle are presented by non-existent artists. They have their names, artificially created identities, and some have their own Web sites. Each of them is the author of a text explaining their motivation to take part in the common project. That all was created by David Cerny, Kristof Kintera and Tomas Pospiszyl, with the help of a large team of colleagues from the Czech Republic and abroad.

Official Site of David Cerny

The Art of Disegno

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Mogliano, 1720–1778),Carceri d'invenzione: Plate XI: The Arch with a Shell Ornament (Later State), 1749–50 and 1761. Etching on 18th-century laid paper 15 7/8 x 21 1/2 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; university purchase, GMOA 1973.2984

The Art of Disegno
Italian Prints and Drawings from the Georgia Museum of Art
O'Shaughnessy Galleries West

January 11–March 1, 2009, The Snite Museum of Art
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

The Art of Disegno presents over fifty Italian works on paper ranging from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Selected by Prof. Babette Bohn (Texas Christian University) and Assoc. Prof. Robert Randolf Coleman (University of Notre Dame), the exhibition focuses on the power of line––the foundation of every work of art. In doing so, it presents the versatile ways in which artists modulated ink, red chalk, and wash from the sixteenth century onward, to subjects as varied as scenes from the life of Christ, portraits, sea battles, theatrical designs, architectural studies, and landscape settings.

While the Italian word disegno translates as “design” or “drawing,” the term also refers to broader conceptual underpinnings of Italian art, which are fully developed in the exhibition catalog essay.

Mandr'ill aka Fleanmachine

The 6th of februari 2009 a collection of Fleanmachine 's work will be exposed at cafe De Duivel in Amsterdam for the very 1st time.

This venue is known for providing a platform for artists with a bit of a street character giving them a place to expose their work. For a month you will be able to see a part of a collection called mandr'ill. In March another venue will display mandr'ill but more about that later.

Mandri'll is described best as a collection based on heroes created for friends, acquaintances and
artists. Every piece consistently shows 3 elements. The heroe, quote by that person and an amazing usage of colours.

Flean, Brian and the Duivel would love to welcome you on this very first exposition during the kick off on the 6th of february at 20.00 hours until 23.00 hours. During the evening the music will be fleanmachine's fat funky style, with several dj's and artists.
You can be shure you won't regret it!
RSVP!

"Café De Duivel. Reguliersdwarsstraat 87 1017 BK www.cafededuivel.nl. Een hiphop-café, waar al veel beroemde artiesten zijn geweest ..."


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Prado Museum zet topwerken op Google Earth

Prado Museum zet topwerken op Google Earth

14 Masterpieces
Prado Museum in Google Earth
Op de pagina van het Prado staat alleen de informatie en een clip over het maken van de video. De site van het Prado werkt wel, maar zij verwijzen ook naar Google Maps.
U kunt ook Google Earth downloaden via deze link.
Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings and even explore galaxies in the Sky. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places and share with others.

De meesterwerken uit het Museo del Prado in extreem hoge resolutie.
Zoom in en blader door de afbeeldingen met uw muis of toetsenbord; ervaar de meesterwerken in extreem hoge resolutie.
Gebruik Google Earth om alle meesterwerken over de volledige grootte van uw scherm te zien, alsmede het museum zelf in 3D
Op deze site kunt u de schilderijen in extreem hoge resolutie zien.

Het is wat onduidelijk, Meesterwerken uit het Museo del Prado in extreem hoge resolutie
Door: pradomuseum.googlecode.com , de link is:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fpradomuseum.googlecode.com%2Fsvn%2Ftrunk%2Fthemasterpieces.xml&ie=UTF8&ll=44.918139,-2.087402&spn=6.783779,10.634766&t=p&z=6&iwloc=mpl0

Kunstliefhebbers hoeven niet meer de deur uit voor een museumbezoek. Het Madrileense museum Prado heeft samen met Google Earth zijn collectie op internet gezet.
Veertien topwerken zijn via de zoekmachine nu beter, mooier en nauwkeuriger te zien dan in het echt.
Wie het internetprogramma van het museum aanklikt, krijgt tegelijk toegang tot superscherpe foto's van werken van Francisco Goya, Peter Paul Rubens en Diego Velázquez, maar ook van onder anderen Rembrandt en Jeroen Bosch.
Het maken van de foto's heeft maanden geduurd. Er werden 8200 opnames gemaakt die door een speciale techniek 1400 keer scherper zijn dan die van een camera van tien megapixel.

ING to Sell Work From Its Collection

Financial Firm ING to Sell Work From Its Collection

AMSTERDAM—The Amsterdam-based financial-services company ING is selling works from its art collection for the first time since it was begun in 1974, reports Bloomberg.
The firm, which got a €10 billion ($14 billion) bailout from the Dutch government in October, boasts a collection of about 25,000 artworks, including pieces by Karel Appel, Michael Raedecker, and Diego Rivera, on display in 1,300 locations. It will sell about a tenth of the works, for a total estimated value of €200 million.
ING posted a loss of €478 million for the quarter that ended September 30, 2008, its first in 18 years.
The company will sell 50 artworks every week on eBay through the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage. A portion of the proceeds will go to ING Chances for Children, a social-development program founded with the help of Unicef.
Annabelle Birnie, head of the collection, says that ING will continue to buy works for the collection but will “of course, take into account ING’s current financial situation” and spend “modestly.”

The ING is Sponsor of REALISME 2009 Amsterdam (14-18 January). See the post on this Blog
ING Hoofdsponsor REALISME 09
ING Collectie in Beeld in de ING stand

Met Museum Exhibition: Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna

Met Museum Exhibition: Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna

January 21, 2009–April 26, 2009
Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, 2nd floor
This will be the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the European old master and 19th-century drawings from the distinguished collection of Mr. Jean Bonna in Geneva, Switzerland. Many of the 120 drawings on display are masterpieces, ranging through 500 years of art history, from the Renaissance to 1900, and representing a diversity of artistic schools in Italy, Northern Europe, France, and Great Britain, among other regions. The selection will include works by famous artists—such as Carpaccio, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat—as well as superb and poignant drawings by others less well-known.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

The exhibition is made possible in part by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/

Address
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York, New York 10028-0198
Information: 212-535-7710
TTY: 212-570-3828

Hours
Monday: Closed (Except Holiday Mondays*)
Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.**
Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.**
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.**
(Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day)

QUÈ HEM DE FER AMB L'ART DELS NOU VINGUTS?

DAVIS - QUÈ HEM DE FER AMB L'ART DELS NOU VINGUTS?
Exposició de pintures de Davis Lisboa

(The text is in Catalan)

Inauguració, 15 de gener a les 20:00 hs.

Centre Cívic Riera Blanca Del 15 al 30 de gener de 2009
C/ Riera Blanca, 1-3
08028, Barcelona
Teléfon: 93 448 04 99
Fax: 93 448 61 06
http://www.ccrierablanca.com

Davis Lisboa
http://www.davislisboa.com

Ajuntament de Barcelona
http://www.bcn.es

QUÈ HEM DE FER AMB L'ART DELS NOU VINGUTS?

Durant els segles XVIII i XIX, 50 milions d'europeus van creuar l'oceà per a fer les Amèriques; allí van viure amb els seus seguicis i els seus familiars exempts de les problemàtiques multiculturals. En l'actualitat, Catalunya està rebent una multitud de nou vinguts que porten les seves cultures i expressions pròpies.
I en aquest cas, aquesta societat d'acollida rep amb un cert grau de desconfiança a aquestes denominades cultures "primitives" o "subdesenvolupades". Per part dels locals, la resposta immediata a aquestes trobades forçoses és la imposició de l'assimilació, per part de les cultures foranes, dels models occidentals "civilitzats" de puresa cultural.

Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery, Exhibition New York Influence South

Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery, Exhibition New York Influence South from Jan 17 till Jan 22.

Solo shows of Steve Reinhart and Charles Schindler.

Art Amsterdam May 13-17 2009

The next Art Amsterdan is from the 13th till the 17th of May 2009 in the Amsterdam Rai

Art Amsterdam is internationally recognized and attracts more visitors each year.

HIGHER SALES AT ART AMSTERDAM 2008
(Source Press Release)
Amsterdam, 12 May 2008 – Once again the sales at Art Amsterdam were up on the previous year. The sales totalled 5,466,000 euro, which represented an average of 43,728 euro for each gallery. This is slightly higher than last year’s figure, when the sales per gallery were 42,147 euro.
The purchases were made by 15,238 art collectors and art lovers who visited Art Amsterdam between 7 and 12 May. ‘The real art collectors and art lovers visited the exhibition despite the fine weather,’ says Anneke Oele, director of Art Amsterdam. ‘They were very satisfied with the quality of the items displayed by the 125 participating galleries and with the spacious layout of this contemporary art event.'

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts's (MIA) internationally acclaimed collection of paintings

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts's (MIA) internationally acclaimed collection of paintings contains nearly 900 European and American works from the 14th century to the present.

The MIA's internationally acclaimed collection of paintings contains nearly 900 European and American works from the 14th century to the present. It offers a comprehensive survey of both celebrated schools and individual artists and is notable for its concentration of masterworks.
One of the museum’s earliest acquisitions was Gustave Courbet’s Deer in a Forest, which St. Paul railroad magnate James J. Hill donated in 1914. Hill’s collection of 19th-century French Romantic and Realist art was exceptional. Many of his most important pictures, including Eugène Delacroix’s The Fanatics of Tangier, were given or bequeathed to the Institute by his descendants.
Tke objects in this collection of present paintings collection has been expanded in varied and often delightfully unpredictable ways by a succession of astute trustees, donors, directors, and curators. It includes Claude Lorrain’s Pastoral Landscape of 1638, Nicolas Poussin’s Death of Germanicus of 1627, and Rembrandt van Rijn’s Lucretia of 1666. In addition to many wonderful French 19th-century pictures, the museum has rich holdings of Italian Baroque, 17th-century Dutch, and Fauve, Cubist, and German Expressionist works. The American collection showcases a range of artistic accomplishments from Gilbert Stuart to Larry Rivers and contains exceptional paintings by John Singer Sargent and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Featured Objects in MIA's collection



Upcoming Exhibition - Noble Dreams & Simple Pleasures: American Masterworks from Minnesota Collections
Sunday, February 22, 2009—Sunday, May 3, 2009

The box, the simple box, may be the art form of the 21st century

The box, the simple box, may be the art form of the 21st century
Books / Sunday Book Review Boxed In (New York Times Permalink)
By SUSANN COKAL - Published: January 11, 2009
It’s hard not to be seduced by Stacey D’Erasmo’s selfish hero, an artist whose hunger for expression, for a father and for a home embodies a sense of entrapment that could make anyone behave badly.


First Chapter ‘The Sky Below’ (New York Times Permalink)
By STACEY D’ERASMO - Published: January 11, 2009
“When did I first stumble into the wrong grove? My mother’s house was beautiful. I mean before. We lived on a cul-de-sac called Tinker’s Way, in Bishop, Massachusetts, and behind our house were woods that were wet, or dry, or icy, or soft, depending on the season.”

REALISME 09 in de Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, 14 -18 januari.

Dick Pieters, 'Strand achter de wolken', 2008, olieverf op paneel, 122 x 105 cm.

REALISME is dé kunstbeurs gewijd aan hedendaagse figuratieve kunst.

Van 14 t/m 18 januari vindt de kunstbeurs Realisme 09 plaats in de Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, gelegen aan het IJ. Realisme is de enige kunstbeurs die gespecialiseerd is in hedendaagse figuratieve kunst.
30 gerenommeerde Nederlandse en buitenlandse galerieën tonen en verkopen er werk van zowel Nederlandse als internationale kunstenaars die zich hebben toegelegd op de figuratie en het realisme in schilder- en beeldhouwkunst. Er is zowel werk te vinden van kunstenaars die al grote bekendheid genieten, als van jong talent dat de figuratieve kunst nieuwe impulsen geeft.
Voor de vijfde keer zal tijdens de opening van de beurs de Sacha Tanja Penning voor figuratieve kunst worden uitgereikt, die eerder werd toegekend aan de schilders Matthijs Röling, Barend Blankert, Herman Gordijn en aan verzamelaar Dirk Scheringa.
De beurs biedt de liefhebber van figuratieve kunst de mogelijkheid in één bezoek de top van de Nederlandse galerieën gespecialiseerd in deze kunststroming te bezichtigen. 30 galerieën tonen er werken van bekende kunstenaars en nieuw talent.

Donderdag 15 januari staat de beurs in het teken van de kunstenaar. Een aantal bekende kunstenaars zal die dag over hun inspiratie, passie en ambitie spreken. De lezingen zijn gratis toegankelijk voor bezoekers.

ING Hoofdsponsor REALISME 09
ING Collectie in Beeld in de ING stand

Voor het zesde achtereenvolgende jaar is ING hoofdsponsor van de kunstbeurs REALISME. Met het hoofdsponsorschap van deze unieke beurs wil ING op een inspirerende en positieve manier bijdragen aan de hedendaagse figuratieve kunst en zowel kunstenaars, medewerkers, relaties als publiek uitdagen en stimuleren.
Tijdens REALISME 09 zal ING in haar stand (04 op het Panoramadek) een selectie beelden en schilderijen uit de eigen collectie tonen met als thema portretten. Gedurende REALISME 09 zullen in de stand conservatoren van ING Art Management aanwezig zijn voor het verstrekken van informatie.

Elena, Ellen de Groot, (ING Art Management)

PTA Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (1019BR), Piet Heinkade 27

Grotere kaart weergeven

Asta Nielsen Programma in Filmmuseum

Asta Nielsen Programma in Filmmuseum

Asta Nielsen (1881-1972) was Europa’s eerste filmster. Niet alleen het grote publiek waardeerde haar - bioscopen, parfums en gebakjes werden naar Nielsen vernoemd - ze inspireerde ook de avant-garde: de Nederlandse kunstenaar Pyke Koch maakte verschillende portretten, de Vlaamse dichter Paul van Ostaijen uitte zijn bewondering in een gedicht en volgens de Hongaarse filmtheoreticus Béla Balász verpersoonlijkt ze de erotiserende kracht van de cinema. Door haar spel en uiterlijk zette ze de toon voor een veranderend vrouwbeeld. Daarmee baande ze de weg voor actrices als Marlene Dietrich en Greta Garbo, die eveneens zelfbewuste, krachtige vrouwen neerzetten in hun films. Filmwetenschapper Annette Förster schreef een achtergrondartikel over Nielsen voor het Filmmuseum-tijdschrift Zine.
11 januari t/m 8 februari 2009
Asta Nielsen Programma in Filmmuseum

"She taught me all I know." (Greta Garbo)
Europa’s eerste filmdiva Asta Nielsen introduceerde een nieuwe acteerstijl op het witte doek en zette de toon voor een veranderend vrouwbeeld. De Deense actrice was de muze van kunstenaars en inspireerde vrouwen als Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo en Louise Brooks. seminar ‘Language of Love: Asta Nielsen, Early Cinema and Modern Life’
Uit de meer dan zeventig films die Asta Nielsen tussen 1910 en 1932 maakte (waarvan een aanzienlijk deel verloren is) selecteerde het Filmmuseum zeventien films, merendeels afkomstig uit de eigen collectie. Alle stille films worden ingeleid en vertoond met live muziek, die exclusief voor deze voorstellingen werd gecomponeerd

Openingsavond in de Vondelkerk
Het Asta Nielsen-programma wordt feestelijk geopend door actrice Willeke van Ammelrooy op 15 januari om 19.30 in de Vondelkerk. Na een welkomstdrankje wordt Hamlet (1920) vertoond, een bijzondere interpretatie van Shakespeares klassieker met live muziek.
Prijs €17,50 (reductie €16; Vrienden €15)

James Mollison The Disciples

James Mollison The Disciples

05.01.2009 - 24.01.2009
Between 2004 and 2007, James Mollison attended pop concerts across Europe and the USA with a mobile photography studio, inviting fans of each music star or band to pose for their portrait outside the gig. He subsequently combined portraits of 8-10 fans for each performer into a single line up, making a single panoramic image in each case. With a total over 500 individual portraits, in 58 panoramic images, The Disciples, an original, sharp and highly entertaining take on contemporary music culture and the tribalism invoked by popular music stars.

Martina Otto, objecten en architectonische sculpturen

Martina Otto onderzoekt in haar werk de wrijving tussen ideaal en werkelijkheid.

In mijn werk onderzoek ik de wrijving tussen ideaal en werkelijkheid.
Mij interesseert in hoeverre wij bij het nastreven van onze idealen ons afhankelijk maken van heersende normen. Hoezeer bepaalt dit de persoonlijke keuzes op onze levensweg en in het samenleven met anderen?
Mijn objecten en schilderijen tonen levensprocessen en intermenselijke relaties in series en cyclie. De objecten bouw ik meestal uit karton, een materiaal dat een provisorisch, kwetsbaar karakter heeft en gebruikt kan worden om maquettes te maken. Een aantal van mijn objecten lijkt dan ook op ontwerpen die, uitvergroot, in de openbare ruimte te realiseren zijn. Ze geven de spanning weer van de verbinding tussen twee uitersten: het schijnbaar intacte, stabiele en planmatige van architectuur - dat wat bedoeld is om te blijven - en het vluchtige, tijdelijke in ons bestaan.

Ga voor een overzicht van al het werk (ook schilderijen) van Martina Otto naar haar website.

Gallery site: www.interviuri-artisti.materiale-pictura.com/martina-otto/
Inspirata de instalatiile arhitectului american Gordon Matta-Clark, Martina Otto valorifica artistic un material la fel de friabil si de provizoriu ca insasi existenta.

Mori Art Museum (MAM, Tokyo), Exhibition schedule for 2009

Exhibition schedule for 2009
Exciting exhibitions will be held at the Mori Art Museum this year.
Please see website for details on each exhibition.

The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemizsa Art Contemporary Collection
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), founded in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, is committed to supporting the production of contemporary art and is actively engaged in commissioning unconventional projects that break traditional boundaries. The foundation’s collection of contemporary art has a strong international orientation. The Mori Art Museum is joining forces with T-B A21 to present an exhibition of specially selected works from the foundation’s collection. Many of the artworks are dynamic installations and sculptures that stimulate viewers not only visually, but also by means of sound, touch, and spatial presence. The experience uproots our sense of what is normal and immutable, jolting our notions of reality. In this exhibition we take in the sensory pleasures of art, while seeking answers to the question, “How do we decide what’s real?”
Date: 4 April - 5 July, 2009


Ai Weiwei
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Ai Weiwei is active in creative fields from art and architecture to design and publishing. He is one of the most important Chinese artists of his generation, with his Fairytale project at “Documenta 12” in 2007 and his collaboration with Herzog and de Meuron on the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, propelling him to international stardom over the last few years. After spending the Cultural Revolution in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region, Ai lived in the United States for 12 years until he returns to China in 1993. Since then, he has observed China’s development and transformation from his base in the Caochangdi district of Beijing, which has become the city’s newest art zone. With a focus on his art and architectural projects, this exhibition presents over 20 years of his unfailingly original activities, allowing their concepts, forms and their incorporation and adaptation of history and tradition to become clear.

MAM PROJECT 009:
Koizumi Meiro
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Koizumi Meiro (born in 1976) produces unique video works. They are records of his own performance incorporating extraordinary use of natural voice and his conversations with others, developing into comical and absurd situations. Depicting violent passions, intoxication and anger, his works explore the genuine nature of human psychology and emotion. Koizumi made his debut while a student at an art college in London. This is his first solo show in a museum.

The Body as universe: Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (title to be confirmed)
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM
Nothing is so close and yet so little known to us as the human body. From ancient times, we have sought to elucidate its mechanisms and through developments in medical technologies, prolong our own deaths. At the same time, the body has always been the artist’s subject and inspiration - one that is often used as a metaphor for the whole world. The theme of this exhibition is the body as the meeting place of art and science. With the help of the British Wellcome Trust - the world’s largest independent charity funding research in medicine and pharmacology - we bring precious historical documents on medicine together with contemporary and classical Japanese art, exploring a fascinating union that continues from times long gone through to futuristic explorations such as in biotechnology. This unique exhibition finds connections between the mortal human life and the eternity of art.

Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (tbc)

MAM PROJECT 010:
Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM

Based in Helsinki, this two-artist unit has been active since 2005. In their “Complaints Choir” series they ask people in various locations around the world about their biggest gripes and complaints. The complaints are arranged as songs which the locals are then asked to sing. The works bring the sometimes strained relationship between the homogenizing forces of globalization and the uniqueness of local cultures into relief. The artists plan to make a “Complaints Choir” in Tokyo.

Sotheby's will offer in its sale of Important Americana A Rare and Important Molded Copper Fireman “Old Jake” Weathervane

(News from Art Daily)
NEW YORK, NY.- On January 24, 2009 Sotheby’s will offer in its sale of Important Americana the most important, and perhaps the earliest, weathervane to appear on the auction market in recent history, A Rare and Important Molded Copper Fireman “Old Jake” Weathervane Made for the Union Fire Hall, now Charley Rouss Fire Company, Winchester, Virginia, dating to circa 1850, which is estimated at $3/5 million. “Old Jake,” as the weathervane has long been called, is unprecedented in its quality, form, and scale – measuring over six feet high and six feet wide – and has topped the Charley Rouss Fire Company since just after the Civil War. After almost 140 years above the skyline of Winchester, Virginia, the weathervane is being sold to raise funds for new fire equipment and the potential construction of a new firehouse.

“Old Jake” depicts a fireman with intricately detailed flowing ribbons at his neck and horn in hand – with the other hand he bravely points to danger. The work was first mentioned in the records of the then-named Union Fire Company of Winchester, Virginia, in 1871. Though “Old Jake’s” exact origin and maker are unknown, the piece is possibly a depiction of an 1858 Louis Maurer print “Rushing to the Conflict,” from his American Firemen series, which was reproduced and distributed by printmakers Currier and Ives and depicts a nearly identical fireman prepared to dash to the rescue. Many local residents believe “Old Jake” was named by a local carriage maker George Barnhart, who is thought to have crafted the weathervane for his son Jacob. In 1895, the town of Winchester gathered to watch as “Old Jake” led a parade through the center of town to the fire company’s new home, which was constructed after fire destroyed the volunteer company’s previous post and would later be christened the Charley Rouss Fire Company in honor of its greatest patron.

Natuur, ruimte en tijd - recente aanwinsten

Natuur, ruimte en tijd - recente aanwinsten

Tot en met 1 februari 2009 is de tentoonstelling Natuur, ruimte en tijd - recente aanwinsten te zien. Het gaat onder andere om dia’s, foto’s, (video-) installaties en werken op papier. Het grootste deel van deze nieuwe werken is verworven met steun van de BankGiro Loterij, de belangrijkste schenker van het museum. Ook de Mondriaan Stichting, de Vereniging Rembrandt en zijn Titus Fonds hebben een substantiële bijdrage geleverd aan deze aankopen.
Kröller-Müller Museum

Meilleurs Vœux pour 2009

Meilleurs Vœux pour 2009

Florence Béal-Nénakwé
Je vous présente mes meilleurs vœux pour 2009, que les couleurs de mes tableaux vous apportent gaieté et bonheur pour cette nouvelle année qui s'ouvre.
Je souhaite que la paix et l'Amour régnent entre les hommes.
Que le Dieu de toutes les croyances vous bénisse, ainsi que ceux qui vous sont chers .

Artist has the nose for painting (Reuters Video)

Artist has the nose for painting
(00:49) Rough Cut Reuters Video
Jan 03 - A man in India's southern Andhra Pradesh has mastered the art of making decorative paintings with his nose.
Sachivalu Rambabu of , the capital city of the southern state, has been painting using his nose for the past eight years.
Rambabu says that he wanted to do something different and this is how he came up with the idea of nose painting.

Do you wanna give it a try and be on YouTube for your moment of fame? There are other useful body parts as well.

Bruegel to Rubens - Masters of Flemish Painting Exhibition

Massacre of the Innocents by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace: Bruegel to Rubens - Masters of Flemish Painting

17 October 2008 - 26 April 2009

This first exhibition ever mounted of Flemish paintings in the Royal Collection brings together 51 works from the 15th to 17th centuries, including masterpieces by Hans Memling, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jan Brueghel, Van Dyck and Rubens. By the 1550s the Netherlands enjoyed a level of wealth that remained unmatched in the West for centuries. The Eighty Years War with Spain, from 1568 to 1648, all but destroyed the region’s infrastructure and creative industries. The paintings in the exhibition were produced in the Southern (Spanish-ruled) Netherlands during this period of extraordinary turbulence and its immediate aftermath, when peace was finally restored to the region.

Secrets of the auction room

Kazimir Malevich
Suprematist composition (blue rectangle over purple beam) 1916
Oil on canvas 88 x 70.5 cm.
Collection of the Heirs of Kazimir Malevich

Secrets of the auction room

Want to know a bit more about art auctions and the secrets of the auction room?
Read Georgina Adam's article in FT Weekend


Published: January 2 2009 16:12 | Last updated: January 3 2009 01:44
The art market is often described as the last unregulated financial market in the world. It has remained stubbornly resistant to almost all efforts to bring transparency to its operations, which still mainly function on the basis of highly personal relations and often secretive transactions. The problem is that these transactions can today be worth tens of millions, and that art was – at least until the recent global financial crisis – increasingly touted as a “safe” alternative asset class and was even put into investment funds.
The advantage to auctions is that they have a certain democratic, or rather meritocratic, element: for new collectors, buying at auction is easier than braving the haughty froideur of some top art galleries. At auction, if you have the money you can simply bid for a work, thereby avoiding the machinations of dealers who have waiting lists for some artists and select those to whom they will sell. The auction room is also often seen as the only place where “hard” figures can be obtained, with recorded transactions visible and available to all. But even this apparently transparent process is not all that it appears. Much of what is going on is secret, one way or another. Read more... click on link above

The incredible shrinking saleroom

The incredible shrinking saleroom (Dec 24th 2008)
The high end Art Market, the auction houses and the end of the bubble.

It is about time to check for the Art Market Outlook for 2009, the best available information is to find on the Internet and from Art Magazines, Auction Houses like Christie's and Sotheby's and from resources elsewhere in the Art World. However, the Art Market is keeping up appearances and a clearer picture will emerge in the next three months.
The financial industry and banks have through the years usually been very generous with grants and gifts to museuns and the Arts in general, and due to the crisis a lot of those grants have been reduced or ended.
In the middle part of the market, Artists, dealers and galleries are beginning to feel the pinch of a shrinking market.
But first we will explore the top of the market.

A different version of this article research can be found at our stock market blog:
Blog: Beurskrach 2008 - Stock Market Crash, recession and the World Economy
Post: The high end Art Market, the auction houses and the end of the bubble.
Link: http://beurskrach.blogspot.com/2009/01/high-end-art-market-auction-houses-and.html


With more than 200.000 lay-offs in Wall Street alone and many more in London and other financial districts around the world, stock markets off between 35 % and 55% globally, property prices like in East Hampton fallen by over 35%, and the gobal recession taking shape, the high end Art Market can be expected to take a heavy hit.

(from The Economist) Neither of the main houses wants to be the first to announce job losses or cancelled sales, but there will be cuts. With smaller auctions comes the opportunity to reduce variable costs such as catalogues and marketing, where there is still a lot of fat.

If there is one lesson to be learned from the autumn it is that there is still an art market, and you can’t say that anymore about all markets. Demand is there for works of exceptional quality. The challenge will be to persuade sellers who don’t need to sell to continue consigning their very best works.

Just how difficult this will be can be seen from the fact that when asked about the coming sales, both houses ignore the Old-Master sales that will be held in New York at the end of January and focus instead on the Impressionist and modern sales the following month. Sotheby’s, for example, has separated a husband-and-wife pair of portraits by Frans Hals in the hope that they will make more apart than together. “The Portrait of a Man Holding Gloves” is estimated at $8m-12m whereas his much plainer consort, shown in “The Portrait of a Woman Holding a Handkerchief” has been set at $7m-9m. The pictures have been consigned by a New York collector and were recently shown in London as part of a marketing tour. Despite that, both pictures are being talked about by dealers and collectors as “not great Frans Hals”.

The outlook for February is brighter. Christie’s has six works from an important European collection. The consignment, which includes works by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is led by a painting by Claude Monet. “Dans la Prairie”, which dates from 1876, was exhibited at the seminal third Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1877 in Paris. It was painted in Argenteuil, where Monet lived between 1871 and 1878, depicts the artist’s wife, Camille, reclined and reading amongst blooming flowers in an open meadow. It is expected to sell for around £15m. Sotheby’s has a rare work by Amadeo Modigliani dating back to 1913, which has been consigned by a British collector and which has not been seen at auction for nearly 30 years. Part of the “Caryatid” series on which Modigliani worked frequently in drawings, this version in oil has a highly sculptural feel.
The estimate has been set at £6m-8m.

But the sale that is generating the most excitement is the three-day auction of paintings, furniture, clothes and sculpture belonging to Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Like the Damien Hirst sale, it will be a party. Christie’s is hoping it will be a bash. Sotheby’s, its rival, is also hoping the sale goes well, for if it does it will mean that perhaps things aren’t quite so bad as they seem.
Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale is in London on February 3rd 2009. Christie’s sale is on February 4th. The three sessions of Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé collection begin in Paris in February 23rd.