Left, the “Elegy” painting that the dealer Julian Weissman bought from Glafira Rosales and sold to an Irish gallery that later demanded its money back; right, Motherwell’s “Spanish Elegy (Alcaraz) XV,” from 1953, which is part of the catalogue raisonné sponsored by the Dedalus Foundation.
Published: February 22, 2012
The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. This version of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” dated 1895, will be up for sale at Sothebys in May
"It has adorned everything from mugs and t-shirts to key chains, anti-George Bush campaign buttons, inflatable dolls and iPad covers. Now a version of Edvard Munch’s celebrated painting “The Scream’’ will be up for sale at Sotheby’s in New York on May 2nd, the auction house announced on Tuesday morning. Officials there estimate it could bring more than $80 million." -- Carol Vogel for the NY Times (2/21/2012)
As economy weighs on European collectors, confident Americans are big buyers
"Confident American bidders lifted the sales to a combined $713 million, with Christie's $457 million total topping Sotheby's roughly $256 million. Overall, the results easily topped the houses' low estimates of $413 million."
"It has never happened before, and it will be another six years before the New York contemporary art planets align the same way again: Two sprawling contemporary surveys — the New Museum’s second-ever Triennial, which opened Wednesday, and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 76th Biennial, opening March 1 — will be on view simultaneously.
Long after the Art Basel Miami Beach crowds have left South Florida, the art fairs continue.
A Colossus in Clay Speaks a Generation’s Message -- By RANDY KENNEDY (February 14, 2012)
The fourth floor of the New Museum was in ruins. It was almost impossible to walk without stepping on a piece of wood or a pile of rubble, and a fog of dust hung so thickly in the air that it had begun seeping into other parts of the building through the vents.
"The Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling was to be part of a new development on 155th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue and include affordable housing. The building was to be designed by the British architect David Adjaye — who was commissioned for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington — and include a performance space, a library, a store and a cafe."
