“contemporary” About 92
-
Auction Industry30 Sunflowers by David Hockney to lead Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale
David Hockney, 30 Sunflowers, 1996, oil on canvas, 182.9 by 182.9 cm. Estimate Upon Request. Courtesy Sotheby's. HONG KONG.-Sotheby’s will present David Hockney’s 30 Sunflowers from 1996, one of the most extraordinary and significant masterpieces from the artist’s visionary oeuvre, at the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale, taking place on 9 July in Hong Kong. Created at a pivotal moment in both the personal life and professional career of the artist, 30 Sunflowers is a magnificent update of the classic still life for contemporary times, bearing strong reminiscence to Vincent van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers while articulating an unabashedly radical yet intimately personal approach. Unseen in the market for almost a decade, the radiant, exuberant, and deeply poignant 30 Sunflowers is the supreme quintessence of Hockney’s mature artistic output that powerfully establishes him as one of the greatest figurative painters of the twentieth century. "We are deeply honoured to present 30 Sunflowers, a singularly important masterpiece by one of the most established artists of our time, as the first major Hockney painting to appear at auction in Asia. Following our record-breaking sales in October, especially our success with Western Contemporary art, bringing 30 Sunflowers to Asia attests to Hong Kong’s status as a truly global platform for the Contemporary genre. Having witnessed substantial interest in Hockney amongst Asian collectors in our international sale locations, this was a natural move for us. The flower still life is furthermore a popular motif for Asian audiences, and we are thrilled to present this masterpiece in our upcoming Spring auctions." --Yuki Terase, Head of Contemporary Art, Asia Visionary Masterpiece Suffused with Tradition and TransformationExecuted in 1996, on the brink of Hockney's sixtieth year, 30 Sunflowers marks the epitome of the artist’s return to figurative painting after a decade primarily immersed in photography. The year prior, Hockney had attended exhibitions of paintings by Monet and Vermeer in Chicago and The Hague respectively. Emerging revitalised, he commenced a series of around twenty-five flower still-life paintings with renewed intensity, applying unprecedented attention to creating nuanced, modulated tonalities, masterfully choreographing light and pigment, and adeptly commanding techniques of space,…
-
Auction IndustryPowerful portraits by Amoako Boafo offered at Bonhams Modern & Contemporary Art sale
Amoako Boafo (B. 1984), Portrait of a Young Lady, 2018. 30.5 x 30.2 cm. Estimate: £6,000 - 9,000. Photo: Bonhams. LONDON.- Two works by the rising star and much-admired artist of Art Basel Miami 2019, Amoako Boafo, Portrait of a Young Lady, and Portrait of a Young Man, will feature in Bonhams Modern & Contemporary Art sale on 23 June in London. Each work has an estimate of £6,000-9,000. Born in Accra, Ghana in 1984 and based in Vienna, Austria, Amoako Boafo is a fast emerging artist. Having studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Ghana, he followed curator and fellow artist, Sunanda Mesquita, now his wife, to Vienna in 2014, to pursue an MFA at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. He was awarded the Walter Koschatzky Art Award in 2017, for works on paper by an artist under the age of 35, and the STRABAG Artaward International in 2019 for works by an artist under the age of 40. Last year, Boafo made his Art Basel Miami debut with Chicago’s Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, where the entire booth sold out, and he was firmly established as one to watch. Specialist in Post-war & Contemporary Art and Head of the Sale, Cassi Young, commented: “Amoako Boafo is one of the most exciting and important artists around right now. His striking portraits, with their incredible texture which is worked through the use of his fingers, and the piercing gaze of his figures, confront and captivate the viewer in equal measure. Portrait of a Young Lady, and Portrait of a Young Man are powerful and exceptional examples of Boafo’s practice and his desire to celebrate Black identity. Fresh from his work’s impressive auction debut in February, we are very excited to be able to offer these wonderful works in our sale.” Despite Boafo’s mixed melody of influences, his style has often been compared to that of the famed Austrian artist Egon Schiele (1890-1918). Speaking of this influence on his work, Boafo commented “I just want my paintings to be as free as possible, and Schiele gave me that vibe — the strokes,…
-
Auction IndustryArtcurial announces highlights included in the Modern & Contemporary Art auction in Paris
Chaïm Soutine, Les Figuiers, Céret © Artcurial. PARIS.- Important works by major 20th century artists will be presented by Artcurial in the prestigious sales of Impressionist & Modern Art and Post-War & Contemporary Art, to be held on the evening of Wednesday 8 July and the afternoon of Thursday 9 July. The Modern Art section boasts several French and European collections with highlights including an expressionist masterpiece by Chaïm Soutine, a selection of paintings by Edouard Vuillard, a large composition by Henri Lebasque and an image of a young girl surrounded by roses by Auguste Renoir. Some remarkable works on paper by Marc Chagall and Raoul Dufy are presented alongside watercolours and pastel drawings from various collections. The post-impressionist period is well represented by Henri Martin with his Vue de Collioure as well as Henri Moret’s Brittany landscapes. The sculptures on offer feature a rare example of Implorante by Camille Claudel cast by Blot, linking to work by Auguste Rodin. Another notable lot is a rare self-portrait with figures by the Belgian artist James Ensor, rediscovered after 70 years in the same family ownership. The Post-War and Contemporary Art section features the monumental work by Alexander Calder, with a large-scale and highly original stabile, created in 1963 and 3.5 metres high. This is the first time a stabile of this magnitude has appeared at auction in France. A highlight of the contemporary paintings on offer will be a masterpiece by Pierre Soulages, Peinture 130 x 81 cm, 27 janvier 1981, characteristic of his unique exploration of « outrenoir » (ultra-black). Also starring will be a triptych by the Spanish artist Antoni Tàpies as well as a group of eight works by the Franco-Hungarian artist Simon Hantaï, known for his « pliage » technique of folding canvases. Impressionist & Modern ArtThe Impressionist & Modern Art sale will present an important landscape of Céret by the Russian artist Chaïm Soutine. The bold expressive style of this major piece prefigures the work of American abstract expressionists such as De Kooning, a connection explored in an exhibition at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris this autumn. The…
-
Auction ResultAuction Results: Post War and Contemporary Art at Hindman
Works by Bob Thompson, Miyoko Ito, and Cy Twombly Exceed Estimates Hindman’s Post War and Contemporary Art sale concluded on May 21, 2020, in Chicago with several lots far surpassing their presale estimates. It was held during a week of fine art and design events, with 600 lots offered during four auctions. 74 lots were included in this sale, with 86% selling. The auction total reached above USD 1,500,000. Bob Thompson, The Sack (The Snook), 1961. Image from Hindman. Among the notable results was Bob Thompson’s The Sack (The Snook), which sold for $212,500 after 33 bids. This result is more than seven times higher than the upper estimate of $30,000. Executed in 1961, this piece was created during the artist’s brief stay in Paris. Thompson, an African American artist with a short but notable career, was best known for his figurative works that employed dramatic, expressive colors. He experienced explosive success in the New York art scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s, cut short by his premature death at the age of 28. The Sack (The Snook) appears to draw on Greco-Roman mythology and the Bible, placed in a contemporary context. It shows two hatted figures covering a third in a black robe, while another group shoves a person into a violet sack. “The flattened forms and silhouettes evoke the undulating rhythms and syncopated movement found in jazz music… these elements combine to create an abstracted, dreamlike atmosphere that renders place and time indistinct,” the auction house wrote in the painting’s lot essay. Thompson’s work has seen increased exposure in recent years. He has been included in exhibitions both in the United States and abroad, including African American Art in the 20th Century at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. The market has responded to this trend: an oil painting by Thompson titled Cathedral sold for $327,750 at Christie’s in 2013. Hammer prices for his paintings have crossed $100,000 several times in the years…
-
Art IndustryZeit Contemporary Art Launches a Podcast on Art and Ideas
Zeit Contemporary Art has presented PERSPECTIVES, a new podcast on art and its ideas. In each episode art historian Samuel Shapiro assembles the voices of thinkers, artists and philosophers who approach art and its role in contemporary society from unique points of view. In the first episode, released in conjunction with the online viewing room Joie de vivre, Samuel Shapiro sits with Dr. Eva Specker, a prominent psychologist at the University of Vienna. As a researcher in the Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, a member of the Empirical Visual Aesthetics Lab, and of the editorial board of the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Dr. Specker dedicates her scientific career to questions that might at first seem to belong more to the realm of art history. She investigates how emotion is communicated through works of art, how we experience awe, how environmental context changes the way we look at art, and even how curatorial narratives shape perception. Accordingly, her research takes place in scientific laboratories and art museums, alike. She has conducted fieldwork in the Albertina and Belvedere Museums in Vienna, the Queens Museum in New York, and at the Venice Biennale. Uniquely positioned between the fields of psychology and art history, Dr. Specker is deeply invested in the question of what happens when we look at a work of art. In this first episode they discuss experience and emotion, objectifying the subjective, data-driven curating, authenticity and reproduction, and how our current state of lockdown might impact our emotional relationship to art. Samuel Shapiro is an art historian based in New York City. He has worked at numerous art museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art and The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A graduate of Harvard, where he obtained a degree in History of Art and Architecture and Social Anthropology, Shapiro is soon to begin his doctorate in the History of Art. Founded in 2016, Zeit Contemporary Art is a firm specializing in modern, post-war and contemporary art, located at 590 Madison Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10022. Listen to PERSPECTIVES: Spotify Google…
-
Auction IndustryShannon’s online Spring Fine Art Auction, April 30, features American, modern and contemporary art
MILFORD, Conn. - Shannon’s recently expanded their online auction program in response to the developing “stay home, stay safe” public health initiatives, postponing their Spring catalog and opting to proceed with an Internet-only sale. The online auction will take place Thursday, April 30th at 2 pm Eastern. The catalog is now available on shannons.com and via Invaluable.com. DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT, American (1839-1924), Summer Afternoon, Seine Valley, oil on canvas, signed, 32 ¾ x 25 ¾ inches, Estimate $35,000-45,000Shannon's Fine Art Auctioneers There is no shortage of quality in Shannon’s 185-lot online auction. The sale is led by a Daniel Ridgway Knight painting titled Summer Afternoon, Seine Valley. The painting is of a young peasant woman in a colorful garden, with the Seine River visible in the background. Purchased in New York City at John Levy Galleries, the painting descended in one family for generations and is now being offered at a $35,000-45,000 estimate. Other highlights in American Impressionism include a watercolor Ravine at Arkville, New York by Walter Launt Palmer, Horse Drawn Carriage by the Shore, Florida by Gifford Beal and Preparing the Boat by Anthony Thieme among others. Two large-format Abstract Expressionist paintings by Milton Resnick are being offered from the collection of a private non-profit institution. Each measures over 50 inches in height and both are in original, unrestored condition with provenance from Poindexter Gallery in New York City. Ulysses was painted in 1956 ($10,000-$15,000) and Apparatus in 1958 ($12,000-$18,000), both have been in a private non-profit collection since. Also in the modernist category are paintings by Konrad Cramer, Romulo Maccio, John Little and Lester Johnson. MILTON RESNICK, American (1917-2004), "Ulysses,” 1956, oil on canvas, signed and dated, 57 x 44 inches, Estimate $12,000-18,000Shannon's Fine Art Auctioneers Quality prints have been a staple of Online Auctions at Shannon’s and this sale is no exception with two prints by David Hockney, Celia - Adjusting her Eyelash and Joe McDonald, two by Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled for ROCI and Piece for Tropic and seven silkscreens with baked enamel on steel plates by Jennifer Barlett. Fine prints by John Sloan, Reginald Marsh, Jimmy Ernst and Louise Nevelson will also be sold. “We are fortunate that Shannon’s has the technology in…
-
Auction IndustryLyon & Turnbull’s Contemporary & Post-War Art sale includes works by Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, NYC, 1991. Cibachrome print, A.P., signed, titled, editioned and dated verso, unframed, 71cm x 101cm (28in x 39.75in). Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000 + fees - to be offered at auction 16 April. EDINBURGH.- Influenced by the fashion photography of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, Goldin's earliest photographic works are portraits of close friends glamorously dressed in drag. She intended her work to be an homage to their beauty and courage; exploring drag and its ability to fulfil the fantasy of reconstructed identities. Nan Goldin is an American photographer best-known for her deeply personal and candid portraiture. Her photographs serve to document herself and those closest to her, particularly the LGBTQ community and associated heroin-addicted subcultures. Influenced by the fashion photography of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, Goldin's earliest photographic works are portraits of close friends glamorously dressed in drag. From the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, while she was living in New York, Goldin continued to socialise with and photograph people of ambiguous gender. She intended her work to be an homage to their beauty and courage; exploring drag and its ability to fulfil the fantasy of reconstructed identities. When Goldin first encountered drag queens in 1972, she quickly became obsessed. She explained: “I was eighteen and felt like I was a queen too- they became my whole world. Part of my worship of them involved photographing them. I wanted to pay homage, to show them how beautiful they were. I never saw them as men dressing up as women, but as something entirely different - a third gender that made more sense than either of the other two. I accepted them as they saw themselves; I had no desire to unmask them with my camera.” The Other Side, p.5.) Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, a work to be offered by Lyon & Turnbull on 16 April, is part of a large series of colour photographs of glamorous drag queens taken by Goldin in New York, Paris and Berlin in 1991. This picture was taken in a cab as her…
-
Auction IndustrySotheby’s launches online day sales of Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art this May
Marc Chagall, Devant la fenêtre, executed circa 1974-75. Estimate: $200/300,000. Courtesy Sotheby’s. NEW YORK, NY.-Sotheby’s announced two exciting additions to their sale calendar this May: the Contemporary Art Day Auction Online (open for bidding 4 – 14 May) and the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale Online (open for bidding 4 – 15 May). Sotheby’s has long been a leader in the Day Sale marketplace – since 2017, their Day Sales of Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art in New York have raised nearly $900 million. More than half of all lots offered across those sales exceeded their high estimates, demonstrating the consistent depth of demand in this segment of the market. The new Online Day Sales will present works of the same quality that have driven the success of their live counterparts, offering a curated selection of works by blue-chip artists across the 20th and 21st centuries. Sotheby’s sold $250 million of fine art and luxury goods online in 2019, including $80 million achieved across 129 dedicated online auctions. The dedicated online sales in 2020 have been especially robust, having raised $35+ million to-date and climbing daily – with sales spanning Modern and Contemporary African Art, 20th Century Middle Eastern Art, 20th Century Design, and Photographs closing this week alone. The Online Day Sales will benefit from the debut of their new, immersive digital catalogue, which will be available on sothebys.com beginning mid-April. The ‘digital-first’ design of the enhanced catalogues emphasizes visual storytelling through video, interactive media, and other rich content formats in a way that moves beyond print media. By presenting the objects featured in the sales in a wholly modern way, the digital catalogue encourages deeper engagement with each sale across all collecting categories. Sotheby’s live Evening and Day auctions of Contemporary Art, Impressionist & Modern Art, and American Art, previously scheduled for May in New York, will be postponed to a later date that will be shared in due course. Nicole Schloss, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Day Auctions of Contemporary Art in New York, said: “During this unprecedented moment when live auctions are not possible, collectors worldwide have…
-
Auction IndustrySotheby’s Updates Hong Kong Modern Art Evening & Contemporary Art Sales Schedule
Sanyu, Quatre Nus 1950s, oil on masonite, 100 by 122 cm Estimate upon request. Courtesy Sotheby's. HONG KONG.- In light of the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 virus outbreak, Sotheby’s has made the decision to relocate their Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary Art Sales back to Hong Kong in July. The three auctions - Modern Art Evening Sale and Contemporary Art Evening & Day Sales – originally scheduled to be offered on 16 April in New York – will be moved to the week of 5 July in Hong Kong to join the balance of their spring auction series. Travelling exhibitions in Hong Kong (27 – 28 March) and Taipei (4 – 5 April) will also be postponed, with new dates to be announced in due course. Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby’s Asia, comments: “In reviewing our sale schedule, we have taken into consideration the advice from government and health authorities, the requirements of our clients, and logistical and operational feasibility. As the situation stabilizes in Asia, the relocation of these sales back to Hong Kong will provide the best possible sale context for our consignors and buyers.” In addition to live auctions, Sotheby’s continues to offer a range of sale opportunities and formats, including private sale and online auctions, to maximize flexibility in meeting its clients’ needs during this period. Sotheby’s will shortly be announcing additional sales initiatives to take place in Hong Kong from April – June across multiple channels designed to meet the market demand for transacting across collecting categories. Despite the current challenges, collectors continue to look for opportunities to buy and sell great art.
-
ExhibitionsAMUSE: The Largest Exhibition Of New Works By Stuart Dunkel At Rehs Contemporary
On Monday, April 6th, Rehs Contemporary will unveil a digital exhibition, A|MUS|E, featuring new work from Stuart Dunkel on their website – www. RehsCGI.com. Dunkel, who has seen rapid success in the last few years, has compiled more than 40 original paintings for this project – the largest number of available works in one venue by the artist. Stuart Dunkel’s subject matter ranges widely – his works can be classified as still life, landscapes, or even genre paintings – but one quirky characteristic is consistent throughout… the presence of a little white mouse named Chuckie; his Muse. A muse is most commonly thought of as the source of inspiration for a creative artist – for Dunkel, he thinks of it as more of a “magnificent obsession.” But it is not just about what he is painting, as the artist says, “there is rhythm and harmony; my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of beauty.” Dunkel, a world renowned oboist, turned his full attention from music to painting in the mid-1990s. Early on, much of his work focused on rendering various animals… that was until he submitted a painting of a mouse to a local gallery, where it found a buyer. Ever since, the mouse, which is in the biological genus Mus, has become the iconic feature of Dunkel’s work. The mouse that inhabits his work is clearly autobiographical, but it resonates universally, sharing emotional experiences that range from delight to fear - usually with a twist of humor as well. The seemingly non-stop adventure that Dunkel’s mouse is on, allows the artist to keep a fresh sense to his compositions by developing endless narratives all in an attempt to amuse his viewers. As Dunkel puts it, “Chuckie is a problem solver. He meets life events with a goofy, glass half full attitude; and when the situation turns serious, he often glances out at the viewer in futility and disbelief. The true nature of my paintings is to reflect our human emotions through expression – those of being sad, mad, glad, scared and everything in between.” Along Dunkel’s many explorations, his little white mouse…
