gustav klimt

New York's Best: "Vienna 1900"

Filed under: Events, Art

Before you climb the museum stairs to see "Vienna 1900: Style and Identity" head for the Neue Museum's Cafe Sabarsky, a dead ringer for an old-world Viennese cafe. With its Josef Hoffmann and Adolf Loos inspired decor, this cafe is a best bet for great coffee and strudels as well as catching the vibe of the exhibition's, turn-of-the-century Vienna. The museum's 1914 building, an Upper East Side landmark, is steps away from Central Park at 1048 Fifth Avenue at 86th Street. (The museum's name means "new gallery.")

Tags: Gustav Klimt, JosefHoffmann, Kolomon Moser, museum event, museum exhibition, neue galerie, new york city art, new york city events, Oscar Kokoschka, Secessionist art, vienna

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Most Expensive Bathroom Tile is Replica of Famous Painting

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

A tile company in Exeter has taken on an especially artistic and intricate endeavor to create what has turned out to be one of the world's most expensive bathroom tiles: a 2' x 2' replica of Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss.' Each tile measures 2' x 2' and is a combination of beautiful ceramic colors and precious metal accents of 24 carat gold and platinum, all of which are put together through a painstaking process that started with three years of planning and ends after 17 separate firings in the kiln. The limited edition tiles are available through Original Style for £400 each.

Gallery: Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' Bathroom Tile

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Tags: art, bathroom, decor, gustav klimt, most expensive, most expensive bathroom tile, tile

Sotheby's and Christie's Show that Art Market Comeback Is Real

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The art market's biggest question turned out to have a $200 million answer at Sotheby's on Wednesday night. Led by Alberto Giacometti's "L'Homme Qui Marche I," which an anonymous bidder picked up for more than $104 million, the auction house realized a total take of $235.7 million on 31 sold lots. Nobody expected this outcome, not even the most optimistic art market spectators, let alone a committed pessimist like me. Of course, my first instinct is to suggest that we wait for the contemporary art sales next week, but it's hard to deny that this week's outcome is both promising and exciting.

The Giacometti set a new record for the artist, sailing past the $27.5 million picked up by "Grand femme debout II" at a Christie's sale in May 2008. In driving nearly half the auction's sales, this piece made it clear that the art market comeback is more than the wishful thinking of collectors who have spent more than a year and a half watching their pieces lose value. A year from now, we'll be looking at "Homme" as the symbol of the art market's recovery, much as we've come to see that final $85 million Francis Bacon sale in May 2008 as the peak before the decline.

Eight lots failed to sell at the Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern evening sale, but this hardly matters when considered against the auction's overall performance. Presale expectations were beat by more than 100 percent, thanks in large part to the fact that 17 of the lots sold for more than £1 million each. Three lots crossed the £10 million threshold. Works by Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Gustav Klimt and Camille Pissarro easily pushed into seven-figure territory.

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Tags: art market, ArtMarket, auction houses, auction-house, AuctionHouses, auctions, cezanne, Christies, ChristiesAuction, ChristiesAuctionHouse, giacometti, gustav klimt, GustavKlimt, klimt, Sotheby, sothebys