MarkRothko

What Inspires You, Temple St. Clair?

Filed under: Jewelry, Art

Where do you get your inspiration? Jewelry designer Temple St. Clair tells us about the artists that have influenced her work.

I find inspiration in many different art forms and from many eras – from ancient to modern. I recently accompanied my ten year-old son to the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York City. He was studying Mesopotamia and the Assyrians and Babylonians. His homework was to find and sketch particular artifacts. My favorite kind of project! We sketched together, and though familiar with this period, I never cease to be amazed at the graphic detail of the sculpture and stone carvings. If one of these pieces was placed in a Picasso museum, it could easily be mistaken for one of the modern master's works. In ancient art, the patterns and repeated motifs become the aesthetic vocabulary not only for design but also for symbolic purposes; I find this absolutely fascinating.

Among my favorite contemporary artists are Richard Diebenkorn and Mark Rothko. Both were masters of color. Rothko's colors emanate beyond the surface of his canvases. I believe this is why many museums fill entire spaces with Rothkos. The Tate Modern in London has one of my favorite "Rothko rooms." The color of a beautifully cut gemstone has a life of its own in a similar way. I select gems for individual color, but also for how their colors work together. There are tourmalines and aquamarines that I never tire looking at. For me, that's the fascination of color whether in a natural gemstone or in a painting. In Richard Diebenkorn's "Ocean Park" series, he relies heavily on color for his composition with very little use of actual line. I think about this when I am putting stone layouts together. The colors of the stones as they relate create the design of the piece; the metal work merely supplies the structure.

It is not that one artist or one art form has influenced my work directly. It is more about creating a lifestyle that celebrates an awareness of beauty in art and nature. With my work, I am lucky in that I have been able to cultivate a reason to read and study and explore. I collect ideas, thoughts and images through literature, music, performance, through visits to museums and travel. I keep a sketch or a postcard or a book on things that I particularly love and that move me. It all goes in to my work and my daily life.

Gallery: Temple St. Clair's Blue Inspirations

Tags: jewelry, mark rothko, MarkRothko, richard diebenkorn, RichardDiebenkorn, temple st clair, TempleStClair

Rothko, Diebenkorn and Degas join Obama in the White House

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Celebrity Design

The world's latest Nobel Peace Prize winner also has excellent taste in art. President Barack Obama has skipped the staid portraits that are usually pulled to adorn White House walls and instead opted for three dozen pieces with a bit more of an edge. Works have been pulled from the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Smithsonian American Art Museum to decorate the building the symbolizes executive authority in the United States.

The Obama family is definitely leaning modern, with Rothko, Degas and Diebenkorn among the artists represented. They've also included a word painting by Ed Ruscha. Not wanting to deprive the public of the opportunity to view works on display, the Obamas limited their choices to artwork in museum storage.

There's now a lot of money hanging from those White House walls. "Red Band" by Rothko, "Berkeley No. 52" by Diebenkorn and "White Line" by Sam Francis together are estimated to be worth between $20 million and $30 million. Throw a piece by Jasper Johns into the mix – specifically "Numerals, 0 through 9" – and you get a sense of the collection the Obamas have assembled.

Even with access to a collection of that caliber, though, I'd still never take Obama's job. And, there aren't enough Rothkos out there to change my mind.

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Tags: art, art collecting, art collection, art museum, art museums, ArtCollecting, ArtCollection, artist, artists, ArtMuseum, ArtMuseums, artwork, barack obama, BarackObama, degas, ed ruscha, EdRuscha, hirshhorn-sculpture-garden, jasper johns, JasperJohns, mark rothko, MarkRothko, michelle obama, MichelleObama, museum, museums, national gallery of art, NationalGalleryOfArt, nobel peace prize, NobelPeacePrize, obama, president, president barack obama, president obama, PresidentBarackObama, PresidentObama, rothko, smithsonian, smithsonian american art museum, SmithsonianAmericanArtMuseum, white house, WhiteHouse

Tight Lips Won't Reveal Rothko-Madoff Connection

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Last month, J. Ezra Merkin Ascot Partners LP sold his art collection, which included a hefty dose of works by Mark Rothko, for $310 million. The buyer still isn't known, which is the norm in the art market. But, there are some breadcrumbs along the way which Bloomberg News considered worth following. Interestingly, Merkin's Ascot Partners LP had invested a considerable amount of cash with Ponzi scam artist Bernie Madoff.

Along the way, Merkin's agent, TLIA, LLC, picked up $26.5 million of the $37.5 million in fees. The company is registered to a retired art collector and advisor, Ben Heller, age 83. He isn't talking. PaceWildenstein, which represents the Rothko estate, nabbed the other $11 million. Again, no comment. Yet, TLIA's piece of the commission is a bit high, according to art advisor Liz Klein, but she notes that answers are impossible without the full set of facts. Given the generally silent art market, we're unlikely to get all the facts anytime soon.

Like Merkin, Heller was a Madoff victim - $3.4 million in a charitable trust and $10 million of his own cash went down the drain.

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Tags: andrew cuomo, AndrewCuomo, art, art collecting, art collection, art collector, art market, ArtCollecting, ArtCollection, ArtCollector, artist, ArtMarket, artwork, bernard madoff, BernardMadoff, bernie madoff, BernieMadoff, madoff, mark rothko, MarkRothko, pacewildenstein, ponzi, ponzi scheme, PonziScheme, rothko, scandal

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Madoff Feeder To Part With Art Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff has been sentenced but many of his investors are still looking to recoup some of their money. There may be a potential bit of money coming their way from J. Ezra Merkin, a New York financier who put his clients' money in Madoff's hands. Merkin, a noted art collector, is selling a collection of Mark Rothko paintings and Alberto Giacometti sculptures for $310 million. The painting shown at right is not one of Merkin's Rothkos but shows the style of painting that Merkin will be parting with. He was one of the leading collectors of Rothko works and even bought works directly from the Rothko family in 2004 for $91 million.

THe deal was announced by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who had put a freeze on Merkin's assets. The Wall Street Journal says that around $192 million of the proceeds might make it into the hands of defrauded investors. The rest of the money will go toward paying liens on the art, sales commissions, fees and taxes. According to documents sourced by the WSJ, PaceWildenstein LLC, the gallery that acted as a sales representative for the family, has a $42 million lien on behalf of the Rothko family regarding those paintings bought in 2004 and it is possible that now they will buy those paintings back.

The WSJ article seems to indicate that the price for the collection is high given the recent art market slump. The painting shown at right "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)" which was sold by David Rockefeller in 2007 brought in $72.8 million at a Sotheby's auction but other Rothkos have sold for less and in recent months several Rothkos have failed to sell at all.

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Tags: art, bernard madoff, BernardMadoff, bernie madoff, BernieMadoff, giacometti, j ezra merkin, JEzraMerkin, mark rothko, MarkRothko, rothko

$70 Million Francis Bacon Stars in Sotheby's Sale

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

A Francis Bacon triptych painted in 1976 is expected to fetch about $70 million in the star sale of Sotheby's Contemporary Art auction in New York on May 14. If the work, billed as the most important privately-held Bacon extant, does max out despite all the hand-wringing going on, the price will eclipse Impressionist claptrap like this $40 million Monet while still falling far short of some puffed-up Picassos. (The middle panel is pictured here; see the image gallery for the complete piece.) Back in February, a Bacon triptych sold for $46.1 million at Christie's in London, slightly below estimate, though the one currently on offer is the better work in our opinion.

Also included in the stunning sale is Mark Rothko's 1956 Orange, Red, Yellow, expected to fetch in excess of $35 million; Jean-Michel Basquiat's beautiful Untitled (Prophet I), est. $9 - $12 million; Robert Rauschenberg's 1963 Overdrive, est. $10 - $15 million; Richard Prince's Millionaire Nurse, est. $3.5 - $4.5 million; a 1986 Andy Warhol self-portrait, est. $2 - $3 million; an untitled Cy Twombly, est. $1.5 - $2 million; and a very naughty manga-inspired sculpture by Louis Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami, valued at an astonishing $3 - $4 million.

Gallery: Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction

Tags: Andy Warhol, AndyWarhol, Christies, Contemporary art, ContemporaryArt, Cy Twombly, CyTwombly, Francis Bacon, FrancisBacon, Louis Vuitton, LouisVuitton, Mark Rothko, MarkRothko, Monet, Richard Prince, RichardPrince, Robert Rauschenberg, RobertRauschenberg, Sothebys, Takashi Murakami, TakashiMurakami

Rothko Painting Sets Record in New York

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

A painting by artist Mark Rothko broke the record for postwar art by more than a little at an auction at Sotheby's in New York when it sold for $72.8 million dollars on Tuesday. Although "White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose)," was expected to go for high dollars (presale estimates had put it around $40 million), the over-the-top boost can most likely be attributed to the big name of owner and seller David Rockefeller Sr. -- who says he plans to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.

It was a big night for record breaking sales, as earlier that night Francis Bacon's "Study From Innocent X" broke all previous records selling for $52.7 million, only to be outdone by the Rockefeller's Rothko moments later.

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Tags: art, artist, auction, break record, BreakRecord, broke record, BrokeRecord, david rockefeller, DavidRockefeller, francis bacon, FrancisBacon, mark rothko, MarkRothko, new york, NewYork, painting, paintings, record, record breaking, RecordBreaking, rockefeller, rothko, sotheby's, sothebys