Market Archives - Jordi de Nadal

Seven for seven: From Paris to Cluny.

Posted on 16 November, 2017

1. The always surprising Louvre.

If you travel to Paris, don’t miss François Ier et l’Art des Pays-Bas at the Louvre. Conservator Cécile Scailliérez has put together this surprisingly generous, rich exhibition of Flemish and Dutch artists in Renaissance France, whose achievments had been overshadowed by those of their Italian counterparts for too long. The catalogue is a reference work in the field.

2. Picasso, day-to-day.

Picasso 1937. L’anée érotique at the Musée Picasso in Paris gives you more than what its catchy title promises. You can trace Picasso’s amazing work capacity, and his ability to jump from one style to another, in a matter of days, all as part of coherent, brilliant journey on the many languages at his disposal.

3. The quality is old, the money is new.

You will find a good account of the extraordinary sale of the Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi in artnet, plus a video recording the bidding at Christie’s. The auction house’s strategy of offering the Old Master’s masterpiece in a Contemporary Art sale has proved brilliant, since the last two bidders were represented by Francois de Poortere, International Director and Head of the Old Master’s Department, making small advances, and Alex Rotter, Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art for the Americas, who placed great increments, until his winning bid at $450.3 million (including fees).

4. Buy cheap, give generously.

In ARCA’s blog, you will find an interesting article explaining a “clever” fiscal optimization scheme: buy some important ancient artwork at a good price; have it appreciated for much, much more than your purchase price by some “expert” appraiser (duly provided by the seller); make a gift of the artwork to a museum; collect the tax-benefits attached to the donation – worth up to three times than your purchase price.

5. Promising.

*Anonymous (Antwerp), Carved retable of the Passion of Christ, c. 1510. Burgos, San Photo: Lesmes, Capilla de Salamanca* (Hans Nieuwdorp Archive, Illuminare – Centre for the Study of Medieval Art | KU Leuven).

Brepols will publish in January next year “Netherlandish Art and Luxury Goods in Renaissance Spain”, (edited by D. van Heesch, R. Janssen, J. Van der Stock), which will “explore the diverse ways in which Netherlandish art and luxury goods permeated the artistic landscape of Renaissance Spain”, and therefore “providing a fascinating and multifaceted view of the reciprocal relationships between the Low Countries and Spain in the fifteenth, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries”. It will follow a symposium of the same title hold at the University of Leuven, in February 2016.

6. The Tàpies case: a German contribution.

Regarding artist Antoni Tàpies private collection’s sale, I took the side in favor of it, since I had read no article or study relating it to the late artist’s oeuvre. Well, it could be very well I was wrong: Barbara Catoir at the FAZ make a good case presenting it as a “typische Künstlersammlung”, short of any really important work, but with many ties to Tàpies’ creative process.

7. The monk’s treasure.

The heroes of the Révolution missed it, and it remained unearthed until last September: at the CNRS online blog, you can read the report of the fascinating finding of a treasure trove (“2,200 silver coins, 21 gold dinars, a gold signet ring with a Roman intaglio, a folded piece of gold leaf, and a small gold object”) found in the Abbey of Cluny, by a MA student working on the site.

Seven for seven: From New York to Madrid.

Posted on 10 November, 2017

1. A lesson in connaisseurship – and research.

Met Curator Carmen C. Bambach explains to The New York Times how she attributed a new drawing (Sleeping Reclining Male Nude With Boy-Genius) to Michelangelo. She is is presenting it in the forthcoming retrospective at the Met (from November 13th to February 12th, 2018).

2. New issue.

The Autumn 2017 issue of the online journal Nineteenth Century Art Worlwide is out there, and you all can enjoy it for free. Not a single article related to Catalonia or Spain this time, but still full of good contributions, like this rich review of Medardo Rosso’s retrospective in Saint Louis by Susan Waller, Professor at University of Missouri.

3. A Goya for almost 98 Fortuny.

The Garantía del Estado program (equivalent to UK’s Government Indemnity Scheme) insured the early “The Victorious Hannibal” by Goya (oil on cavas, 87 x 131,5 cm), for his recently extended exhibition term at the Museo del Prado, with 18 million euros. At the same time and under the same program, 98 works by Marià Fortuny, which are coming to the Prado for the upcoming retrospective, are covered with 18,804,239.60 €.

4. And a hundred Picasso’s for 1,200,000 €.

No doubt one of the season’s most desired lots for engravings’ lovers is n. 317 of the sale at Ader Paris on November 25th: a Suite Vollard from the collection of Henri M. Petiet (estimate: 1.2 million euros). The lot’s notice summarizes the Suite’s troubled history.

5. Abolish the “scholarship tax”.

A group of leading British art historians have written an open letter against what they call the “scholarship tax”, e. g., the fee for reproducing photos from works in museums in their papers and books – a full report on the subject in the blog of the anti-tax activist Bendor Grosvenor’s.

6. Gurlitt, the aftermath.

According to Marcel Brülhart, Vicepresident of the Dachstiftung des Kunstmuseums Bern, there was not many Nazi-tainted works in the Gurlitt collection they are now exhibiting (Gurlitt: Status Report.“Degenerate Art” – confiscated and sold, until March 4, 2018, with a parallel exhibition in Bonn), but its coming to the Kunstmuseum Bern has prompted research in many other Swiss museum to fill provenance gaps of other works in their collections – interview in F.A.Z.

7. The best must be inside.

*Photo: Museo de las Colecciones Reales*

The new Museo de las Colecciones Reales has announced its opening for January 2020. The building is already competed (and duly awarded, as reported). It is, as you can see, a dry irony for a museum whose mission is to show the Spanish Royals as tastemakers. The collection inside will we, however, splendid – including the exquisite Armory.

Seven for seven: From Collection Godia to the Return of History

Posted on 27 October, 2017

1. Books 1: Keep the curator.

The Godia Fundation left its site in central Barcelona last year and sold some of its works, but kept its curator, Mercè Obón. And so Obon’s contiuous research on the collection keeps bringing new discoveries: in the catalogue for the exhibition hold in Museo Episcopal de Malaga last July (La esencia de la belleza), you will find who the sitters in this magnificient Ramon Casas are, and other interesting new data.

2. Books 2: a Tefaf’s veteran comes afresh.

As we announced some weeks ago, Eguiguren first showed this grand panel in Tefaf Maastricht 2016 as the work of a Spanish anonymous artist, and will now present it in Tefaf New York as the work of the Maestro de Belmonte. To accompany they are publishing a catalogue by Alberto Velasco (Virgin and Child with Musicina Angels. The Master of Belmonte and Late Medieval Aragonese Painting, Eguiguren 2017) which is in fact a complete study of the 16^th century school of Calatayud, completed with other new attributions and a generous supply of technical data.

3. Books 3: Michelangelo

You can already book the catalogue for the upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan (opens on November 13^th), edited by Carmen C. Bambach, at yale.com for $65.

4. Women, women, women everywhere.

*Maruja Mallo. Kermés, 1928. Castres-Musée Goya, Musée d’art hispanique © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Jacques Faujour © Maruja Mallo, VEGAP, Málaga, 2017*

Before going for Olga Sacharoff (1889-1967) in the Museu d’Art de Girona (from November 25^th), you can travel to the Museo Picasso in Malaga to see their selection of 18 Surrealist ladies, under the title Somos plenamente libres. Las mujeres artistas y el Surrealismo (until January 28^th, comment in El Mundo). Meanwhile, Guillermo de Osma shows in Madrid a retrospective of Maruja Mallo (1902-1995), until November 10^th(catalogue here). The exhibition coincides with the launching of Mallo’s oil paintings catalogue raisonné initiative, lead by Mr Osma, Juan Pérez de Ayala and Antonio Gómez Conde. You can send your photos of Mallo’s works to catalogorazonado@marujamallo.com (website: www.marujamallo.com)

5. A family tradition.

The daughter of the late sculptor Pau Gargallo follows her family’s generous tradition with a new donation, this time of five important bronzes to the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid (note from Efe). It is thanks to Mme. Gargallo’s mother that the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya holds an excellent selection of her father’s works.

6. Weimar in Frankfurt.

The Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt opens an exhibition about art in the Weimar Republic, with a fine digitorial – Splendor and Misery in the Weimar Republic, until February 25th, 2018.

7. The return of Seven for Seven’s Challenge: again, find the 7 differences.

Again, too hard. History does repeat itself.

Seven for seven: From Monaco to Iraq.

Posted on 14 September, 201714 September, 2017

1. Morgan the judge.

In the case brought in Monaco against him by his former client Dimitry Rybolovlev, over commissions as his advisor, Swiss “King of the Freeports” Yves Bouvier has been feeling the benefits of a having judge, Morgan Raymond, asking the Russian magnate the right questions (article at Bilan, via artnet). Morgan came in some months ago, after the previously assigned judge asked for a low-key transfer to the Réunion Island (see Le Temps).

2. Fred the art historian.

We read at CODART’s news service Dr. Fred G. Meijer, an specialist in Dutch Golden Age painting, has left the RKD, where he was the point of reference in his role as Senior Curator, and has set up shop by himself (at www.fredgmeijer.com). He offers attribution services, excluding any valuation, on a set hourly fee, plus lectures, essays and collection cataloguing.

3. Manuel the director.

The opening of the magical “Louvre of the Sands” in Abu Dabhi is scheduled for November 11^th. Il Giornale dell’Arte offers you an exclusive interview with his director, Manuel Rabaté.

4. See you in Berlin…

…to see Jean Fouquet’s Von Melun’s Diptych surviving panels reunited, along others works of the master and his contemporaries, at the exhibition in the Gemäldegalerie, until January, 7^th, 2018.

5. And in Florence afterwards…

… at the 30^th Biennale de l’Antiquariato (from September 29^th to October 7^th), the first one after the changes in Italian rules for the export of cultural goods. This changes were partly based on the conclusions of a symposium hold by the Biennale’s organization in March this year.

6. Or even in New York …

*Photo: Cover of the Lindau Gospels, The Morgan Library.*

… to see Magnificient Gems: Medieval Treasure Bindings at The Morgan Library, a small exhibition of their extraordinary holdings on jeweled Medieval bindings (plus their Beatus from San Salvador de Tábara, Castille). But if you cannot visit it, you don’t need to worry, because the Morgan has a put online generous selection of its collection, with thousands of images and fine commentaries.

7. ARCA’s blog.

For me, one of the best blogs in heritage and heritage protection is the one published by ARCA (Association for Research into Crimes Against Art). Their last post is about an Iraqi Jewish Archive to be returned by the US authorities to the Iraqi ones next year. It teaches you about what to do when papers and books have been hit by water: freeze them.

Seven for seven: From Valldoreix to your clients.

Posted on 7 September, 201714 September, 2017

1. In good hands.

The last issue of RESCAT the biannual bulletin of the CRMB, Catalonia’s Institute for Restauration in Valldoreix (Barcelona), includes many examples of the good work the institute is doing with important works of art owned by the Church – among them 31 pieces of jewellery currently in the Museu Diocesà de la Seu d’Urgell or the Mare de Déu del Patrocini in Cardona (photo). You will find also find an interview with Father Jesús Tarragona Bay, a key figure in heritage protection in Lleida.

2. Grandeur.

If you are a Biennale-goer (September 11-17), most probably you are also a Kugel-goer, and next week you will be enjoying their Classical sculptures and Old Masters paintings exhibition, in the new six rooms extension of their grandiose gallery in the Hôtel Collot, at Quai Anatole (article at the Antiques Trade Gazzette, paying).

3. Tefaf NY Fall.

The American leg of TEFAF has posted its list of exhibitors, and photos of some of the works on offer – like this recently attributed Madonna and Child by Musical Angels by the Maestro of Belmonte (146 x 121 cm), at Jaime Eguiguren’s. The doors of the Park Avenue Armory, New York, will open on October 27^th, for just 6 days.

4. The rise of the online catalogue raisonée.

The Wildenstein Platter Institute is following the trend and has plans to put online not only the vast Wildenstein archive, but also the catalogues raisonées of Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Claude Monet. The WPI is a partnership between the Wildenstein Institute and Hasso Platter, the co- founder of the tech giant SAP SE and the man behind, among other things, the successful Museum Barberini in Postdam. Now the obvious advantages of the online catalogue are more and more clear, is good to remember the pioneers, like the Fundació Dalí in Figueres, breaking ground since 2004.

5. Miró introduces Dalí to Breton.

The City Council of Girona has put online the archives of the fabled Galeries Dalmau in Barcelona, given by the heirs of art critic Rafael Santos Torroella following Girona’s purchase of his art collection. You will find there this letter of introduction for Salvador Dalí, written by Joan Miró to André Breton in March 20th, 1920, and also the catalogue with prices of Miró’s first solo exhibition, of just two years before.

6. “Museums are still about their collections, and about striving for a higher experience”

Artnet offered a two-installments interview (here and here) with Philippe de Montebello, on the place of museums in our societies, and his plans to revive the Hispanic Society in New York.

7. Sure you know all that.

In this article in Artnet you will find some basic advice you can always give to someone new to the Old Masters field. I will only add the great joy of discovering, buying and researching a good piece.

Seven for seven: From Florence to Lisbon.

Posted on 31 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Bold.

In its coming auction, Pandolfini has decided to be open about a difficult issue: auctioning to an international audience important works that are already banned, or in risk to be banned, for export, because of public heritage regulations. They will devote them a specific section, with a refined title: Opere di Eccezionale Intresse Storico-Artistico. No more nasty surprises, then.

2. New rules in Italy.

Pandolfini initiative is related to the rules for the export of artworks in Italy. We read in Il Giornale dell’ Arte the Italian senate has approved the reform of the Codice dei Beni Culturali, softening Italian’s strict export rules for private cultural goods in two points. They now give free export to (a) all works not older than 70 years (before was 50 years), provided they have not been classified as of cultural importance; and (b) to works older than 70 years with a value up to € 13,500 (the statement declaring the value being provided by the vendor).

3. Museummaker.

In the FAZ, Ulrich Raulff publishes an obituary for Martin Roth, the former director of the Dresden Museums and the V&A in London. He finds a name for him, “museummaker”, and notes that (in my own free translation):

“Roth was a fundraising genius, and took no shame in it, because he knew very well what kind of fuel needs the most important motor for success in a museum. This motor is called research”.

Otherwise, in artnet you will find a review of his last book, Widerrede, published posthumously

4. Next stop, Barcelona?

If everything goes as planned, Barcelona will have a new large exhibition hall (6350 sqm) that should help it attract the international blockbuster art shows still rare in the city. According to a surprise announcement of an agreement (to be signed in September) between the ICUB, the city house’s body responsible for culture matters, and Fira Barcelona, the one responsible for commercial shows: after a year of reforms to be started in October, the second will allow the first to use of the Pabelló de Victoria Eugenia in Montjuic. The only problem is that this building was wanted by the nearby sitting Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya for expansion. Will see.

5. A proposal.

Let’s contribute with our own ideas for exhibitions in this brand new space. My first one could have for title “Gold for God. Medieval silversmithing in the Catalan-Aragonese Crown”, borrowing from collections in cathedrals (like Zaragoza, Barcelona, Girona, Valencia), museums (Victoria and Albert, Musee de Cluny, Metropolitan), and private collections. The setting could be as elegant as in this room in Zaragoza’s cathedral museum, called Alma Mater Museum.

6. A second proposal.

In any case the agreement for the exhibition hall establishes the principle of more space for art in Montjuic. But I find it a bit too shy: I would rather see a whole plan for all the area, bringing together the museums already there, the university faculties and research centres relevant to the field, the official art restoration centre, the public art library and even the public cultural authorities – and the big exhibition hall, of course. In fact, this is the idea behind the Humboldt Forum in the original Museumsinsel, in Berlin – although back there the Berliners are still asking themselves whether form and function, that is, the somehow rebuild Prussian imperial palace and a colletion in part inhereted from colonialism, are a really good pairing; see director Neil McGregor trying to answer the question in this interview in Zeitonline, and this one in the FAZ (paying).

7. Otherwise, we’ll have always Lisboa.

MNAC vs. MNAC.

Seven for seven: From Los Angeles to Vic

Posted on 17 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Getty’s grand catch.

The Getty has announced its biggest acquistion of drawings ever, a group of 16 works by Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Beccafumi, Rubens, Barocci, G. D. Tiepolo, Degas and others. They include Goya’s The Eagle Hunter, sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 for GBP 881,250. All of them come from the same Britisch colletion, from which the Getty can still make further pruchases. Articles in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times; a press release with the complete list of the works at Getty’s website; and images and name-gessing in The Art Newspaper.

2. The Delgado Collection.

Las Provincias first and Ars Magazine after, report on the 5 years loan of 32 works from the Delgado Collection to the Museu de Belles Arts, Valencia. The artists represetned include Velázquez, Cajés, Meléndez, Murillo, but also Ramsay. They are showing them until October 29th, with a catalogue by the art historian José Gómez Frechina, who was key in managing the loan, and David Gimillo Sanz, a curator in the museum.

3. Restoring the Valencian Van Dyck.

At the web of the same Museu de Belles Arts de València you will find the videos documenting, step by step, the ongoing restoration of their Van Dyck’s Portrait of Francesc de Montcada.

4. Face to face at the National Portrait Gallery.

The NPG London ins hosting an attractive exhibition of Renaissance and Baroque portrait drawings from British collections, with fine sheets by Holbein, Rembrandt, Leonardo, and others. Reviews are enthusiastic, like this one by Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. The Encounter, NPG London, until October 22nd.

5. And in 2020, Morosov.

If, despite some faults in its installation, you enjoyed the grand exhibition of the Collection Schukin in the Fondation Louis Vuitton, here is your next appointment. They announced that in autumn 2020 they will show the Collection Morosov, two brothers from his same circle. This entertaining biography of Shukin gives some insights on their social and professional relationships: Natalia Semenova and André Delocque: Chtchoukine. Le patron de l’art modern, ed. La Collection Chtchoukine, Paris, 2016; 400 p. The Art Newspaper remembers us of Pierre Konowaloff, an active descendant of the Morosovs.

6. Béton box.

This is how the entry to the Musée de Cluny, Paris, will look like, once the building work is finished – by the end of this year, if it goes as planned. For the full renovation project, named Cluny 4, see the feature at museum’s website.

7. See you in 125 years from now?

The blog Mev125 (in Catalan) is closing. It has been open for a year at the excellent website of the Museu Episcopal de Vic, to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Its 40 posts have set an example on how to give relevant information in a clear, reliable, enjoyable way. We have learnt about the museum’s history, the works it houses, and the people behind it – among them, Dr. Eudald Junyent (1901-1978), who gave up a promising career in Rome for it. They will keep all the content uploaded.

Seven for seven: From Bilbao to where your luck will take you.

Posted on 3 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Paret, at a discount.

The Museo de Bellas de Bilbao is exhibiting the first acquisition of Miguel Zuzaga as his new director: an exquisite copper by Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid 1746-1799), The Harbour of Bermeo (60 x 83,5 cm). It was bought in at the sale of its former collection at Christie’s, on December 7h, 2016. The estimate then was GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000; the selling price now has been €900,000, according to EFE’s note. The museum has posted a commentary on the work.

2. Torino wins.

Already home of one of the best Egyptian museums of Europe, and also of the fine Galleria Sabauda, Torino, Italy, has announced it has won the long term loan of extraordinary and very private collection of the late Francesco Cerrutti. It plans to open to the public in January 2019 in its Castello di Rivolo, according to Il Giornale dell’Arte and artnet news. The renowed collection is a careful selection of 300 paintings and sculptures from Medieval to Contemporary, plus 200 rare books and 300 items of fine furniture, which, according to its director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, will make the Castello “the first contemporary art museum in the world to incorporate an encyclopedic historic art collection”. At The Art Newspaper you will find a portrait of Cerrutti and the announcement of a conference about him for 2018.

3. Sacharoff heads north.

Georgia-born refugee Olga Sacharoff (1889-1967) will have her 50th death anniversary celebrated with a retrospective (“Olga Sacharoff. Pintura, poesia, emancipació”) at the Museu d’Art de Girona, opening on November 25th (Elina Norandi is its curator). A good occasion to rediscover her, after her previous retrospective in la Pedrera, Barcelona, in 1994 (catalogue here). Other activities of this Year Sacharoff will be held in Barcelona, where she lived with his husband, the photographer and painter Otto Lloyd, from 1940 until her death.

4. Rosa Maria Malet, segona part?

Rosa Maria Malet is retiring as Director of the Fundació Miró, Barcelona, after 37 years of distinguished service. She gave a long interviewsto Avui, El País and Ara (in Catalan). But perhaps these are not the last words we hear from her in public: “I would perhaps have an opinion and think about different options”, she answered when asked whether she would like to be further involved in culture public matters. The deadline for candidates to her post is July 21st (requirements here).

5. Fortuny revisited.

The Prado will host a generous retrospective of the works of Marià Fortuny (1838-1874), from November 21st 2017 to March 18st, 2018. “This will be an exceptional and unrepeatable exhibition as in addition to examples of his paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints it will include items from Fortuny’s exquisite collection of antiquities and works of art which he housed in his studio”, reads the announcement. It will include his copy of Ribera’s Saint Andrew sold to the museum by truly yours.

6. The French director inside you.

For sure you have always dreamed about directing a big French museum: : Connaisance des Arts offers you a test to finally discover which one.

7. In the meantime.

If you have more modest dreams, however, you can still aply for directorships at Palais Galliera- Musée de la Mode, Paris (until September 15th), Musées de la Ville de Béziers (until August, 31st) or Musée de la Ville de Challon (until September, 15th). All the details in museesemplois.worpress.com.

Seven for seven: From Sijena to Washington.

Posted on 27 July, 201714 September, 2017

1. Italy, capital Sijena.

Among this season’s sleepers, this powerful Adoration of the Magi (155,5 x 130,5 cm) stands out. It came as “Italian School, 16th century” at Stuker Bern last June, 20th. It rocketed from a modest CHF 5,000 estimate to a CHF 130,000 result and can safely be assigned to the Aragonese Master of Sijena, probably for the main retable in the monastery of the same town – his Nativity from the same retable now at the Prado measures 171,5 x 130,5 cm, a difference of 16 cm that may be explained by some trimming on the bottom of the piece.

2. Sunnier days for Venusti?

At Christie’s last Old Masters Day Sale (July 7th), this fine Deposition attributed to Marcello Venusti (?1512/1515 – 1579) rose from an estimate of GBP 20,000 to a final price of GBP 115,000 (including buyer’s premium). It is a record for an artist who, as the title of the forthcoming catalogue by Dr Francesca Parrilla points out, has yet to come out from his friend Michelangelo’s long shadow (Marcello Venusti, un pittore all’ombra di Michelangelo, ed. Campisano, Rome). For a good report on the best results of the rest of the Old Masters sales, see this article at The Telegraph.

3. Already here.

Quite ahead from the opening day, the catalog for the upcoming exhibition “Murillo. The Self-portraits” in the Frick Collection, NY (30.10.2017-10.02.2018) and then in the National Gallery, London (28.02.2018 – 21.05.2018) is already on sale – edited by Xavier F. Salomon, Chief Curator at the Frick, and Letizia Treves, curator of later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-century paintings at the National Gallery.

4. Rigaud reopens.

After a 9M€ refurbishment, the Musée Rigaud reopened last May. Didier Rikner dislikes the result. Anyway, you will still find there the great Retable of the Trinity, by the anonymous Master of the Llotja de Mar de Perpinyà, and also some new loans of works by Aristides Maillol from the Foundation Dina Vierny.

5. Challenging Nonell.

In this interesting article in Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide, Illinois University PhD student Maria A. Dorofeeva explores the reasons behind the negative contemporary reaction to Isidre Nonell’s exhibition in 1903, at the all-conservative Sala Pares, Barcelona: the gipsy, destitute women portrayed in his paintings challenged stablished and reassuring conventions about them.

6. It’s a hospital… are the new NATO’s headquarters …. no, it’s a museum!

The new but not opened Museo de Colecciones Reales (Madrid) has been bestowed with the FAD Architecture Award 2017. Not my taste.

7. Alternatives.

Artsy has a nice piece about fine new buildings for art – among them, David Adjaye’s strong and elegant National Museum of African American Art, Wahington.

20.06.2015. From Barcelona to Basel

Posted on 21 June, 2015

1. The road to heaven.

This Spanish School – Circle of José de Ribera rocketed from an estimate of €4,000 to a hammer price of €350,000. It might be by the master himself, although I won’t rule out the name of Juan Do (Saint Jerome, oil on canvas, 135 x 102 cm, La Suite Subastas, Barcelona June 18^th, 2015, lot 32).

2. The naturalized Pietà.

What came to auction in Germany as the work of an Italinienischer Meister, turned out to be a fine panel by the Spanish Maestro de la Piedad, who was working around 1400 in the Toledo area under a strong Neapolitan or Southern Italian influence. It now belongs to a private collector.

3. A journey with Mr Wiseman.

Wiseman’s extraordinary National Gallery is a filmed play that opens with a rather topical argument about museums and its public (which Director Neil McGregor wins over, thanks to the old lawyer’s trick of asking the other part to produce the actual proof of her quite foggy claim), and takes you all the way up to two professional dances performing before Titian’s Diana and Acteon and its sequel Death of Acteon, as a way to celebrate its reunion. From talking about art to just contemplating it, as Richard Brody puts in The New Yorker, Wiseman’s way is a fascinating journey.

4. The Greek route.

While the magnificient Defining Beauty in the British Museum shows the multiple ways the Greeks explored the human figure; the tiny, carefully selected Maillol and Greece in the Museu Marés, Barcelona, explains which lessons took and retook the creator of the Mediterranée (1905) from the kouros and other archaic examples, during his trip in mainland Greece between April and May 1908. Curator Alex Susanna claims this was a key moment for modern sculpture, since Maillol’s quiet, self-contained forms opened the door to cold, modern, abstract works.

5.And then, Picasso.

No survey would be complete without the Master, so MOMA’s Picasso Sculpture (opening on September, 14th) comes particularly at hand for exploring further the birth of contemporary sculpture. According to David Ebony in Art in America, it will include the 1909 Head of Fernande – and perhaps the 1912 Cardboard Guitar?

6. A word from the lawyer.

Rebecca Foden, the lawyer from Boodle Hatfield LLP that represented Mr Thwaytes in his lost case against Sotheby’s, gives here some valuable pieces of advice about consigning works to auction.

7. The return of the prodigal son.

The most commented piece news from the ground floor of this year’s Art Basel was the return of Helly Nahmad with a spectacular stand (see reports at Artnet and Artnews). But it was not all about big works by big names. I was attracted by the reunion of these little Miró: no less than three, all of the same year (1944), all from the same series. I didn’t dare ask their price.