Matisse

Texas Foundation To Sell Matisse Bronze Sculptures

The Kimbell Art Museum will be losing the bronze Matisse sculptures it has had on display for over ten years. The Burnett Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas, which owns the series of four Henri Matisse sculptures Backs I – IV, bought the works in 1982 but they have been at the Kimbell since 2000. The Star-Telegram reports that the Burnett Foundation decided to sell the sculptures partly because of the sale of another version of Back IV which sold at Christie's for $48 million in November. The sale set a record price for a Matisse work. The Burnett is a philanthropic foundation which seeks to benefit the community and has spent $420 million over the past 30 years in support of health, education, human services and arts initiatives in the Fort Worth area.

As a bit of a consolation prize the Kimbell will receive two other sculptures from the Burnett Foundation, Henry Moore's Figure in Shelter, and Fernand Leger's La Fleur qui Marche. Both of these used to be on the Kimbell lawn and are now in storage while the museum begins preparation for the construction of its new building. The new structure designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop will allow the Kimbell for the first time to exhibit most of its permanent collection while also hosting major special exhibitions and will also add studios, classrooms and an auditorium. That building is set to open in 2013.

Sotheby's will sell the Matisse Backs as a group but a date has not been announced yet. Some speculate that the pieces will go as a group to another museum, perhaps one with deep pockets like the Getty or an omnivorous collector like Roman Abramovich or Eli Broad.

Tags: henri matisse, kimbell art museum, matisse, the burnett foundation

Great Art in Great Books of 2010

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Books

Asian Art Now by Melissa Chiu and Benjamin Genocchio (Monacelli Press, $60)
Chiu is the Museum Director of Asia Society in New York. Genocchio is an art critic for the New York Times. Together they have written an up-to-the-second survey of contemporary Asian art. Throughout this lavishly illustrated book, the authors reflect on the conflicted responses of artists, both established and emerging, to the super-fast changes in their lives. The book is fascinating primarily because the Asian landscape is changing so rapidly. This forces artists to confront these changes and examine the impact on their social, economic, and urban culture and environment. The front cover is just one example of the dynamic work the two authors examine. It is an illustration of Ah Xian's China, China ---Bust 14, a cast porcelain with traditional Chinese ceramic designs and motifs.

Tags: American nudes, art books, billy baldwin, coffee table books, Fornasetti, henri matisse, Hokusai, Indonesian textiles, Jung, Matisse

Continue reading “Great Art in Great Books of 2010”

Matisse Bronze Tops Christie's Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Last night, November 3, was Christie's turn to host an Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The night before, rival Sotheby's brought in $227.5 million. Christie's had a similarly strong evening with a total of $231.4 million. The 84-lot sale was 80 percent sold by lot and 88 percent sold by value.

Henri Matisse's monumental sculpture Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV) was the night's top lot, setting a record for the artist at $48,8 million nicely above the top estimate of $35 million. This was the first time that a work from the artist's Back series has ever come to auction. Other leading lots included Alberto Giacometti's Femme de Venise V, conceived in 1956 and cast in 1958, which sold for $10.27 million, three works by Fernand Léger from Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky, including La Tasse de Thé, 1921, which realized $8.16 million and Egon Schiele's Mann und Frau (Umarmung), 1917, which sold for $7.36 million.

As at Sotheby's the previous night, this sale too had an unsold Picasso. The 1921 "Maternite," was estimated to sell for as much as $10 million but failed to find a buyer.

Tags: art, art market, art results, christies, matisse, sculpture

Modigliani Painting Sets Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

While most of America was watching election results last night, a few were focused on the art market and specifically on the lady shown above, Modigliani's "La belle Romaine" which garnered a record-setting $68.9 million at Sotheby's in New York City. Sotheby's brought in a total of $227.5 million in the sale of Impressionist and modern art against pre-sale estimates of $195 million to $266 million. It was a nice jump over last year's $181 million sale and another sign of a potential art market recovery.

Amedeo Modigliani's 1917 portrait of a lovely, mostly undressed brunette sold to an anonymous telephone bidder. It was estimated to sell for as much as $40 million. The Wall Street Journal reports that the work's seller, Turkish banker Halit Cingillioglu, bought it for $16.8 million 11 years ago. Another Modigliani in the same sale, a 1917 portrait of the artist's lover, "Jeanne Hébuterne (in a Hat)," went for $19.1 million to a telephone bidder. Monet's "Water-lily Pond," also from 1917, sold for $24.7 million. Henri Matisse's 1942 "Dancer in a Chair, Checkerboard Floor" went for $20.8 million, over its $18 million high estimate.

Not every piece up for bid found a home, 15 of the sale's 61 pieces failed to sell. Matisse's 1934 lavender portrait, "Titine Trovato in Dress and Hat" was up for auction for the second time in two years but Sotheby's failed to sell the work yet again. Pablo Picasso's 1970 double portrait, "Man and Woman With a Bouquet" also went unsold. Matisse has another shot today when Christie's holds its major sale of Impressionist and modern art that includes Matisse's bronze "Back IV" sculpture which could bring as much as $35 million.

Tags: amedeo modigliani, art market, claude monet, Henri Matisse, impressionist art, matisse, modern art, modigliani, monetary policy, Pablo Picasso, sothebys

Giacometti on the Block: Family Collection to Move at Christie's in Paris

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Surrealist, modern and postwar pieces will go under the gavel next week at the Christie's Impressioniste et Moderne auction in Paris. More than 140 lots will be offered on December 1, 2009, with presale estimates ranging from $6 million to $9 million. Among the artists represented in the auction, which consists of the Lefebvre-Foinet collection, are Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst, Henri Matisse and Zao Wou-Ki. The collection was amassed over five generations, with the latest in the family making the decision to sell.

A portrait of Maurice Lefebvre by Giacometti could fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million, but other lots are more attainable. "Lyrical Explosion C," by Alberto Magnelli, is expected to sell for $210,000 to $270,000, and Sonia Delaunay's "Colored Rhythms No. 615" could go for up to $160,000. Playing on the success of the market for Chinese art, Zao Wou-Ki's "5.11.64" could move for as much as $600,000.

Paris has done pretty well through the art market slump, especially when the auctions deviate at least somewhat from the norm. Though there aren't any guarantees, let's keep an eye on this one. It could be the touch of fresh air we need.

[Photo via Christie's]

Source

Tags: art, art auction, art auctions, art market, ArtAuction, ArtAuctions, Artists, ArtMarket, artwork, auction, auction-house, AuctionHouse, auctions, Christies, contemporary art, ContemporaryArt, giacometti, matisse, max ernst, MaxErnst, modern art, ModernArt, paris, paris france, ParisFrance, PostwarArt, surreal, surrealism, surrealist, Zao

Sophie Matisse $16,000 Chess Set

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Like her famous great-grandfather, Henri, Sophie Matisse is a painter and like her step-grandfather Marcel Duchamp she embraces a certain practicality. She's already worked on hand-painted perfume bottles. Now she has created a $16,000 chess set as part of the "The Art of the Game" exhibition. The exhibition will take place at Beyond the Border International Contemporary Art Fair San Diego, scheduled for September 2-4, 2009 at The Grand Del Mar. Five sets have been created each with its own design. Sophie Matisse is represented by Francis Nauman Fine Art in New York.

Tags: chess, matisse, sophie matisse, SophieMatisse

Hedge Funder Shows Off Art Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Most of the time Sotheby's exhibit works they are going to be up for auction soon but the collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen is more about showing off than selling off. Cohen, a hedge fund investor who owns SAC Capital Advisors, has quickly created a collection of some of the most desirable works of modern and contemporary art. He is displaying it at Sotheby's New York in a loan-only exhibition, titled "Women" which runs through April 14. The 20 works show a variety of female forms by artists such as de Kooning, Warhol, Matisse, van Gogh and Picasso. Bloomberg reports that the works have a combined value of $450 million.

While Cohen may not be selling anything now he reportedly consigned at least eight paintings to New York dealers last year. He was said to be trying to raise money for a major purchase that he decided not to make. It may be a savvy move to let the public have a free taste of his collection now when nothing is for sale to whet appetites for private sales later. Or it could be that he's trying to increase attention for Sotheby's. His company, SAC owned 5.9 percent of the company as of March 6 according to an SEC filing.

Tags: andy warhol, AndyWarhol, art, matisse, picasso, richard prince, RichardPrince, steve cohen, SteveCohen

Sotheby's Impressionist Sale

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Sotheby's New York Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale will be taking place this coming week on Wednesday, May 3rd. To tempt more sellers, Sotheby's has fixed the prices of more of the pieces up for auction, guaranteeing sellers at total of $253.8 million. The star piece of the auction, with a minimum price tag of $50 million, is Pablo Picasso's "Dora Maar au Chat," which is offered for sale by a relative of a Chicago businessman.

Other pieces include "Nu couché vu de dos" by Henri Matisse, "La Danse Grecque" by Edgar Degas and "Arlequine au Baton," also by Picasso, all of which have estimated sale prices over $6 million.

Source

Tags: 2006, art, auction, degas, impressionist, matisse, may, new york, picasso, sotheby's

Swann Galleries Prints Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Swann Galleries will be auctioning off 100 Important Old Master Prints and Old Master through Modern Prints on Thursday, May 4. The first part of the two-part auction includes many important prints from the16th century, including Dürer engravings such as Coat-of-Arms with a Skull,1503 (estimate $7,000 to $10,000), and St. Eustace, circa 1501 ($20,000 to $30,000) and Rembrandt etchings such as Self Portrait with Curly Hair and White Collar: Bust, circa 1630 ($20,000 to $30,000). The afternoon session of prints includes Manet’s Le Buveur d’absinthe, etching, 1862 ($7,000 to $10,000), the sweet and simple Cassatt’s Quietude, drypoint on Japan paper, fifth state, circa 1891 shown here ($25,000 to $35,000) and Odalisque, brasero et coupe de fruits, lithograph, 1929 ($40,000 to $60,000). You can view the art at Swann Galleries April 29 to May 3.

Source

Tags: 16th century, art, auction, cassatt, manet, matisse, prints, rembrandt, swann galleries, SwannGalleries

Matisse

Featured Galleries

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular

Also on AOL