Christie's started off a big week of auctions with a bang last night. Their 19th & 20th Century Art Evening Sale, the first in a series of auctions of the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, totaled over $646 million dollars. Touted as the most valuable collection ever offered at auction, all proceeds will go to some of the many charities the Rockefellers supported.
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The seventh annual Frieze New York Art Fair, which ran May 4-6, featured more than 190 galleries, curated awards and special sections, a robust talks schedule, and vibrant performance art. The fair, just one in Frieze’s multinational series that includes both a masters and contemporary edition in London and a new iteration in Los Angeles, was housed in a redesigned, labyrinthian temporary structure that stretched across New York City’s Randall’s Island Park.
Modeled after a live bunch of violets, one of the many delights of this brooch is the use of demantoid (green) garnets and yellow sapphires, sprinkled within the amethysts, emulating the real flowers. Green garnets, weighing a total of 3.51 carats, and the 2.01 carats of yellow sapphires, bring brightness to the quiet purple of the carved amethysts. The artfully shaped amethysts capture the look of violets to a remarkable degree.
Sotheby’s recent auction, "A Beautiful Life: Photographs from the Collection of Leland Hirsch," presented fifty striking photos from Hirsch’s private collection. Richard Avedon’s iconic "Dovima with Elephants" led the auction, selling for $375,500, one of the highest prices of the season.
In the spirit of the English poet Alexander Pope, art, like hope, springs eternal. And this year the vernal equinox, signaling the onset of spring, our most hopeful season, occurred on March 19th, the earliest in recent memory. While March 2020 also saw the proliferation of that other “v” word necessitating a period of enforced isolation, artists are possibly the best equipped to weather this period given the solitary nature of most creative activity. Many artists have recognized the uplifting power of spring, particularly in times of societal upheaval.
Art & Object is pleased to present jewelry and other wearable art recently sold at auction. Since the beginning of time, jewelry has proven to be a medium of expression that defines our tastes, our resources, and our sensibilities. Jewelry extends into decorative arts and has become a defining statement of culture. Our column is presented by Ettagale Blauer, author and authority on jewelry design.
The FotoFest Biennial, an international platform for photographic and new media art, is known for discovering and presenting hot new talent from around the world. The Biennial is a citywide production, with Houston's leading art museums, art galleries, non-profit art spaces, universities and civic spaces all involved. This year’s festival theme is INDIA, with attendees coming from 34 countries, and artists from India and the global Indian diaspora representing the identities of their homeland.
Sotheby’s recent American Art auction included works by seven important female artists in a range of styles from classical sculpture to cubism and folk art. Self-taught artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known as “Grandma Moses,” painted "Hurrah for Christmas," one of the highlights of the auction. An autumnal success story, Grandma Moses didn't start painting until 75, becoming one of the most famous folk artists of the 20th century.
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is the latest institution to acquire one of Yayoi Kusama's hugely popular mirrored infinity rooms. Light of Life, 2018, is a seven feet square hexagonal box with three portholes that allow visitors to peer inside. LED lights in changing colors and flickering patterns put on a two-minute show that is reflected infinitely through the mirrors.
Featuring over 3000 artworks from 248 galleries, Art Basel Hong Kong opened this week with the $35 million sale of Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XII (1975). Given that all other major first day sales were male artists, the status quo could use some shaking up, especially in Women’s History Month. Enter the indomitable Guerrilla Girls, feminist art activists based in New York. Known for their signature blend of humor, hard facts and bold graphics, the Guerrilla Girls have been fighting for gender and racial equality in the art world since 1985.
