Friday, July 31, 2009
Bert Stern - Color Photos of Marilyn Monroe
Charts of Art Market Performance of Bert Stern Photographs:
Bert Stern - Marilyn Monroe B&W Photography
Bert Stern photography including works from "The last sitting" are available for sale through www.lydeckerfineart.com in New York, NY. (917)940-3353
Marilyn Minter -Green Pink Caviar video
Click on (title) link to view video
Autographed video is for sale at Whitney Museum, NY, NY
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lehman Mounts Art Bargain Auction With Lichtenstein, Bourgeois
(Bloomberg) -- Roy Lichtenstein’s 1982 print of the Statue of Liberty, once wall candy at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., is expected to contribute about $30,000 to the bankrupt company’s coffers when it’s offered for auction in November.
Lehman will begin selling its multimillion-dollar corporate art collection in a series of three sales at Freeman’s Auctioneers in Philadelphia this winter.
Lehman is shedding 650 lots, projected to fetch a total of $1 million. They include modern and contemporary paintings, prints and drawings, along with a smaller group of American and European paintings and prints from Lehman’s New York, Boston and Delaware offices. Sales are scheduled for Nov. 1, Dec. 6 and Feb. 12, 2010.
“We tried to price things consistent with what they will bring in the current market,’’ said Anne Henry, Freeman’s vice president of modern and contemporary works of art. “There’s a lot of really attractive work at affordable levels.’’
Lehman filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. Proceeds from art sales will benefit creditors. Lehman Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal has said the firm owes as much as $250 billion. (In the beginning of July, Lehman began selling on EBay Inc. items originally produced as freebies for clients and employees.)
Items in the November sale range from an abstract 2007 black-and-blue collage by Venezuelan artist Arturo Herrera, estimated to sell for as much as $15,000, to a surreal 1997 Louise Bourgeois print of an undulating bed with lips for as much as $1,500.
The firm’s art collection consists mostly of European and American art from the 1970s onwards. Willie Cole and French sculptor Bernar Venet are among those offered in this first round of selling.
Rocky Time for Art
The auctions come at a rocky time for the art market. Christie’s International recently reported that its worldwide sales plummeted 35 percent in the first six months of 2009 from the year-earlier period.
“At the moment, it doesn’t look like a good time for sellers,’’ said New York private dealer Meredith Palmer. “I don’t anticipate they are going to get good prices for a lot of these things.’’
On the plus side, buyers may find deals.
“People may see this sale as an opportunity,’’ said Palmer, who said the Lehman name wouldn’t have a big impact. “The provenance isn’t a negative thing,’’ she said. “But I don’t think it has much to add.’’
Lehman hired New Hampshire-based art consultant Kelly Wright in January to inspect artworks at several Lehman offices and storage facilities and recommend a selling strategy.
Competition for Sale
Freeman’s, a 200-year-old regional auction house in Philadelphia, holds more than 30 sales a year. It competed for the consignment against other auction houses, according to Lehman spokeswoman Kimberly Macleod.
Lehman owns more than 3,000 artworks, and some of those aren’t being sold, such as art that hung in Lehman’s New York headquarters. The building is now occupied by Barclays Plc, which acquired Lehman along with a one-year option to buy the art. That option expires in September.
Lehman’s best-known art holdings are 900 works owned by money manager Neuberger Berman, a firm Lehman acquired in 2003. The collection focuses on painting and photography and is the legacy of the company’s art-collecting founder, Roy Neuberger.
Artists represented in Neuberger’s collection include Marlene Dumas, Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami.
The fate of these holdings is undecided. In December, Neuberger management acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal that closed May 4. Management has a one-year option, expiring May 4, 2010, to buy the art.
To contact the reporter on the story: Lindsay Pollock in New York at lindsaypollock@yahoo.com;
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
What is art?
When considering the work of an established artist – work sold at a major action house such as Christie’s or Sotheby’s, say, Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, or graffiti artist Basquiat, for example, armed with any knowledge of Post War and Contemporary art you immediately understand that you’re seeing something of value. And therefore, the painting that you’re gazing upon must be art. And indeed it is art, valuable art. That said; take a moment to look around you. Inspiration for creating great works is right there on the street where you're standing.
With an eye for composition and color in other words the eye of an artist study the façades of old buildings, street signs and sidewalks. Narrow your vision and imagine a frame as though you were looking through the lens of a camera. Snap. Now imagine this image painted on canvas. From the intangible vision comes a tangible picture. Regardless of any existing market value, dear reader, this too is art.
.JPG)
Consider Fountain, a 1917 work by Marcel Duchamp, a piece he called readymades (also known as found art) because he made use of an already existing object—in this case a urinal which he titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt". He purchased the standard urinal from the J.L. Mott Iron Works, brought it to his studio at 33 West 67th Street, placed in a ninety-degrees position, deviating from its normal position of use, and wrote on it, "R. Mutt 1917".
Whether Mr. Mutt made Fountain or not has no importance. He chose it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view, thus creating a new thought for that object. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)
Art is visceral. At the very least it should make you think. The history of the world is in paint, metal, and recycled and found objects. Love, war, death, longing documented on canvases, erected in metals, assembled and installed as works of art in museums and galleries all over the world, reminding us of our past, speaking to us of man and the environment, capturing that emotion we feel when watching a sunrise or the moon hovering over a mountain top..
Conversely, if nothing stirs within, no thoughts come to mind, when contemplating an artist’s work can we still call it art? Individual perceptions taken into consideration, that which resonates within us varies from person to person contingent upon personal experiences, education, and emotional capacity. Therefore, whether or not Duchamp’s commissioned work, Fountain, is thought provoking the fact that it provides fodder for discussion about the importance of ordinary objects seen out of context has allowed it to take its place in the world of art.
Great art doesn’t shout. You have to move in close and listen. Though the phrase art is in the eye of the beholder may be true, taking the time to understand an artist’s statement will often open new doors in the mind, allowing you the viewer to move beyond your own borders of comprehension.
The objective of a good art reviewer is not only to self-interpret, but to understand an artist’s inspiration when creating the work. Understanding the artist’s statement can expand our knowledge of the world and its inhabitants and connect us to the message that is relevant to the exhibition.
Now, go out there readers and take a new look at art and the world around you.
July 28, 1:25 PM · Rachael Lorenz - Portland Contemporary Art Examiner
With an eye for composition and color in other words the eye of an artist study the façades of old buildings, street signs and sidewalks. Narrow your vision and imagine a frame as though you were looking through the lens of a camera. Snap. Now imagine this image painted on canvas. From the intangible vision comes a tangible picture. Regardless of any existing market value, dear reader, this too is art.
.JPG)
Consider Fountain, a 1917 work by Marcel Duchamp, a piece he called readymades (also known as found art) because he made use of an already existing object—in this case a urinal which he titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt". He purchased the standard urinal from the J.L. Mott Iron Works, brought it to his studio at 33 West 67th Street, placed in a ninety-degrees position, deviating from its normal position of use, and wrote on it, "R. Mutt 1917".Whether Mr. Mutt made Fountain or not has no importance. He chose it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view, thus creating a new thought for that object. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)
Art is visceral. At the very least it should make you think. The history of the world is in paint, metal, and recycled and found objects. Love, war, death, longing documented on canvases, erected in metals, assembled and installed as works of art in museums and galleries all over the world, reminding us of our past, speaking to us of man and the environment, capturing that emotion we feel when watching a sunrise or the moon hovering over a mountain top..
Conversely, if nothing stirs within, no thoughts come to mind, when contemplating an artist’s work can we still call it art? Individual perceptions taken into consideration, that which resonates within us varies from person to person contingent upon personal experiences, education, and emotional capacity. Therefore, whether or not Duchamp’s commissioned work, Fountain, is thought provoking the fact that it provides fodder for discussion about the importance of ordinary objects seen out of context has allowed it to take its place in the world of art.
Great art doesn’t shout. You have to move in close and listen. Though the phrase art is in the eye of the beholder may be true, taking the time to understand an artist’s statement will often open new doors in the mind, allowing you the viewer to move beyond your own borders of comprehension.
The objective of a good art reviewer is not only to self-interpret, but to understand an artist’s inspiration when creating the work. Understanding the artist’s statement can expand our knowledge of the world and its inhabitants and connect us to the message that is relevant to the exhibition.
Now, go out there readers and take a new look at art and the world around you.
July 28, 1:25 PM · Rachael Lorenz - Portland Contemporary Art Examiner
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The art of a recession: Gallery owners struggling
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Art gallery owners across the country are finding they have a tough sell these days.
With houses going up for auction, unemployment continuing to rise and the threat of layoffs seemingly ever-present, many gallery owners in art communities such as Scottsdale, Ariz., Santa Fe, N.M., Portland, Ore., and New York City are closing shop, going broke to stay open or drastically changing the way they do business.
"Art is a very discretionary sort of object, and we are in the worst recession arguably in the postwar era," said Jay Bryson, a global economist with Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C. "Obviously somebody who has lost their job in a factory in Indiana probably is not buying art."
ALYSSA PHEOBUS
Even people with plenty of discretionary money aren't spending much on it.
"You're a billionaire and you took a 40 percent hit on your portfolio, now you only have $600 million left," Bryson said. "That's still pretty deep pockets, but 40 percent is 40 percent."
In the gallery district of downtown Scottsdale, at least a half dozen galleries have closed in the past year or are in the midst of closing. Others still are wondering how much longer they can make it.
One recent day, Leslie Levy sat quietly amid the contemporary art she sells in her gallery, which was just as deserted as the streets outside, where the temperature was in the triple digits.
The summers here are always slow because of the heat, but this one is much worse than usual. That's partly why Levy is closing her doors at the end of August after 32 years in business and becoming a private art dealer online.
"I'll tell you what — if I was younger, I'd just keep at it knowing we've not seen times quite as bad as this before," Levy said.
Longtime customer Marylyn Gregory of Bernardsville, N.J., came in the gallery that day to see it one last time and check out what pieces Levy had left of her and her husband's favorite artist. Gregory told Levy she was surprised and upset when she heard the gallery was closing but added, "You're probably doing the right thing."
Gregory didn't end up buying anything that day, saying she needed to check with her husband. Before, she might have been more spontaneous. "Sometimes you'd go to an opening and have a glass of wine, and you're like, OK," she said. "It's certainly the method to get everyone to open their checkbooks."
But like many other art lovers, the Gregorys are more conservative with their money these days.
Levy understands. "People are watching what they spend — cutting back and spending on the necessities of life. That makes sense to people."
ALYSSA PHEOBUS, represented by Becky Smith who knows that all too well. She owned the Bellwether Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood for a decade, but closed at the end of June after watching her revenue plummet to $80,000 gross in the first quarter of 2009. She had $40,000 net, and $10,000 of it went to rent each month.
The $80,000 figure was down from about $350,000 the same quarter in 2008 and about $600,000 during that period the year before.
"I was really startled," Smith said. "It was the spring of '08 where I saw three shows that should have been blockbusters underperform, and I was in shock.
"Things were booming so intensely a couple years ago and the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction, it was impossible to know where I stood," she said. "And I didn't want to be paying for a storefront while I was figuring it out."
In the past two years, at least 24 galleries have closed in Manhattan, mostly in Chelsea, according to New York City-based Artnet magazine, which covers the fine art world. "That's really dramatic," said Artnet editor Walter Robinson.
In Santa Fe, N.M., between 10 and 15 galleries have closed this year, said Christy Walker, managing director of the Santa Fe Gallery Association.
"A lot of people have this idea that running a gallery, the owners make a lot of money, when it's just a lot of effort to make a living off of it," she said. "It's a hard business to be in, and when things are good, things are good, and when times are tough, it's a really tough business to maintain."
Kraig Foote of art one gallery in Scottsdale has done everything he can think of to avoid shutting down.
His house is about to go up for auction because he hasn't made a payment in seven months, he has laid off his two employees and he has resorted to selling his own beloved art collection for a fraction of what it's worth.
"I have given up everything," he said recently in the very empty gallery, which sells work by local high school- and college-age artists.
And still, the threat of closure looms.
"I'm trying to make it to December," Foote said. "I think people will start spending again once they get to the next holiday. They'll say, 'We've saved, let's get something.'"
He paused. "I don't know."
By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer
With houses going up for auction, unemployment continuing to rise and the threat of layoffs seemingly ever-present, many gallery owners in art communities such as Scottsdale, Ariz., Santa Fe, N.M., Portland, Ore., and New York City are closing shop, going broke to stay open or drastically changing the way they do business.
"Art is a very discretionary sort of object, and we are in the worst recession arguably in the postwar era," said Jay Bryson, a global economist with Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C. "Obviously somebody who has lost their job in a factory in Indiana probably is not buying art."
ALYSSA PHEOBUSEven people with plenty of discretionary money aren't spending much on it.
"You're a billionaire and you took a 40 percent hit on your portfolio, now you only have $600 million left," Bryson said. "That's still pretty deep pockets, but 40 percent is 40 percent."
In the gallery district of downtown Scottsdale, at least a half dozen galleries have closed in the past year or are in the midst of closing. Others still are wondering how much longer they can make it.
One recent day, Leslie Levy sat quietly amid the contemporary art she sells in her gallery, which was just as deserted as the streets outside, where the temperature was in the triple digits.
The summers here are always slow because of the heat, but this one is much worse than usual. That's partly why Levy is closing her doors at the end of August after 32 years in business and becoming a private art dealer online.
"I'll tell you what — if I was younger, I'd just keep at it knowing we've not seen times quite as bad as this before," Levy said.
Longtime customer Marylyn Gregory of Bernardsville, N.J., came in the gallery that day to see it one last time and check out what pieces Levy had left of her and her husband's favorite artist. Gregory told Levy she was surprised and upset when she heard the gallery was closing but added, "You're probably doing the right thing."
Gregory didn't end up buying anything that day, saying she needed to check with her husband. Before, she might have been more spontaneous. "Sometimes you'd go to an opening and have a glass of wine, and you're like, OK," she said. "It's certainly the method to get everyone to open their checkbooks."
But like many other art lovers, the Gregorys are more conservative with their money these days.
Levy understands. "People are watching what they spend — cutting back and spending on the necessities of life. That makes sense to people."
ALYSSA PHEOBUS, represented by Becky Smith who knows that all too well. She owned the Bellwether Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood for a decade, but closed at the end of June after watching her revenue plummet to $80,000 gross in the first quarter of 2009. She had $40,000 net, and $10,000 of it went to rent each month.The $80,000 figure was down from about $350,000 the same quarter in 2008 and about $600,000 during that period the year before.
"I was really startled," Smith said. "It was the spring of '08 where I saw three shows that should have been blockbusters underperform, and I was in shock.
"Things were booming so intensely a couple years ago and the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction, it was impossible to know where I stood," she said. "And I didn't want to be paying for a storefront while I was figuring it out."
In the past two years, at least 24 galleries have closed in Manhattan, mostly in Chelsea, according to New York City-based Artnet magazine, which covers the fine art world. "That's really dramatic," said Artnet editor Walter Robinson.
In Santa Fe, N.M., between 10 and 15 galleries have closed this year, said Christy Walker, managing director of the Santa Fe Gallery Association.
"A lot of people have this idea that running a gallery, the owners make a lot of money, when it's just a lot of effort to make a living off of it," she said. "It's a hard business to be in, and when things are good, things are good, and when times are tough, it's a really tough business to maintain."
Kraig Foote of art one gallery in Scottsdale has done everything he can think of to avoid shutting down.
His house is about to go up for auction because he hasn't made a payment in seven months, he has laid off his two employees and he has resorted to selling his own beloved art collection for a fraction of what it's worth.
"I have given up everything," he said recently in the very empty gallery, which sells work by local high school- and college-age artists.
And still, the threat of closure looms.
"I'm trying to make it to December," Foote said. "I think people will start spending again once they get to the next holiday. They'll say, 'We've saved, let's get something.'"
He paused. "I don't know."
By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Nancy Rutter, Painter
Born New York City 1948
Studies: High School of Music and Art
New York University
Arts Students League, Ford Foundation Grant
Atelier 17, Paris, France
Experience:
National Society of Arts and Letters Young Printmaker Award
Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, color etching
Lecturer Limerick College of Art, Ireland
Lived and worked in Ireland and France.
Exhibits: Rose Gallery
Gallery One
Richard Sena Gallery
Tom Caldwell gallery, Ireland
Dalkey Gallery, Ireland
Chateau Pontigard, France
Art Students League of New York
NABA Editions
Lever House
Long Island University
Haddad Lascano Gallery
Collections: Goldleaf and Torello,
Walsh Printers,
Southern New England Bank
Self Brand LLC
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