July 2017 Art News

LOS ANGELES – The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the most important acquisition in the history of the Museum’s Department of Drawings. Acquired as a group from a British private collection, the 16 drawings are by many of the greatest artists of western art history, including Michelangelo, Lorenzo di Credi, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Rubens, Barocci, Goya, Degas, and others. From the same collection, the Museum has acquired a celebrated painting by the great eighteenth-century French artist Jean Antoine Watteau.  

Opening this fall on October 7, The Phillips Collection presents an exceptional exhibition inspired by the museum’s celebrated Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880–81) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Comprised of more than 40 carefully chosen works from private and public collections around the world, Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party explores the process by which the artist created his masterwork, while also recounting and illustrating stories of the diverse circle of friends who inspired it. The exhibition is Eliza Rathbone’s first as Chief Curator Emerita.

Continued global demand and creative sale planning helped to drive a rise in Christie’s auction sales to £2.2bn ($2.8bn, up 14%), a 29% increase from the same period in 2016. Overall sales were £2.35bn ($3bn, up 1%), an increase of 14% compared to £2.1bn in the first half of 2016.

There was an increase in the number of works sold over £10 million, with 38 lots sold compared to 14 from the same period last year and a 29% increase in the number of new buyers over £1 million.

In the late 16th century Jost Amman (1539–1591) became one of northern Europe's most prolific printmakers and book illustrators. This special installation contextualizes Amman's particular style of combining precise simplicity and fanciful imagination to produce economical woodcuts for books on a wide variety of topics. In the Library: Jost Amman and 16th-Century Woodcut Illustration will be on view from September 5, 2017, through January 5, 2018, in the East Building Study Center.

About the Installation

DALLAS, Texas  — Some of the most recognizable cultural figures and historical events are represented in the prints offered in Heritage Auctions' Photographs Online Auction. Bids have been registered for a number of pieces with the end of bidding arriving July 19.

DALLAS, Texas — A diverse offering of prints and multiples covering a variety of mediums is being offered now during Heritage Auctions' Prints & Multiple Online Auction. Bidding is scheduled to conclude July 18 and all of the 178 lots are garnering significant interest, with a number of items already exceeding pre-auction estimates in bidding.

This weekend saw a bidding jamboree in our two-day, two-session auction on July 8-9. The sale focused predominately on American Furniture and Fine Arts with exceptional results and record-breaking prices coming for Southern objects.

Combining art, fashion, science, and conservation, the revelatory exhibition Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures brings together—for the first time—a newly discovered drawing by Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) and some 14 of his paintings that have been identified with it including the Gallery's own Young Girl Reading (c. 1769).

Ahead of the Printed Books & Manuscripts auction on 26th July, Specialist Carmen Donia explores the 'Cries of London'—a recurring theme in English printmaking for over three centuries, through ten framed prints (Lot 183) offered in the sale.

Whether in broadsides, books or engravings, the 'Cries of London' was a recurring theme in English printmaking for over three centuries. The very first set appeared in Paris around 1500 and between 1687 and 1739, the ensemble was first introduced into England by Dutch and Italian artists.

Phillips and Artsy are pleased to announce Summer School, a co-curated selection of 45 artworks for new and seasoned collectors alike. This online-only auction is the first ever collaborative sale between the two companies.