Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

At 90, Etel Adnan Is Just Another Artist In Her Prime

June 2, 2016 by Marion Maneker

Etel Adnan from Documenta 13

The Wall Street Journal does a profile of the Levantine-turned-California painter-poet, Etel Adnan who is seeing a market emergence as she begins her 10th decade. Although Adnan’s work first gathered attention when it was shown four years ago at Documenta 13, her work has been popping up consistently at art fairs as well as now getting gallery shows around the world. The WSJ thinks this is remarkable considering today’s taste:

The fact that artistic renown has descended upon a nonagenarian woman who paints tiny abstractions and writes poetry and prose of quiet force and complexity might seem like a historical accident. Today’s contemporary art market, after all, places a premium on large, shiny, expensive objects. Adnan’s work is the anti-Ozymandias—a corrective to exuberant art-world bling. There is none of the bravado or self-regarding mythologizing of other artists of her stature. And yet, invitations stream in daily for exhibitions, collaborations and symposia. “I am happy it didn’t happen any sooner,” Adnan says of all the attention, adding, “It’s ironic, isn’t it, at a time when I can’t really use the money.”

 

Why the Art World Has Fallen for 90-Year-Old Etel Adnan (WSJ)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Artelligence for May 24, 2018Artelligence for May 24, 2018
  • A Russian Lover of Soviet Realism Shows How Individuals Shape Undervalued MarketsA Russian Lover of Soviet Realism Shows How Individuals Shape Undervalued Markets
  • Vernissage TV: Design HighVernissage TV: Design High
  • Phillips Has Richter Abstract for Hong Kong SalePhillips Has Richter Abstract for Hong Kong Sale
  • Chinese Collectors with Private Museum Tip an Interest in Old MastersChinese Collectors with Private Museum Tip an Interest in Old Masters
  • Christie’s Reports 25 Percent Drop in Sales for 2020, Forecasts Record $1.2 B. in Private SalesChristie’s Reports 25 Percent Drop in Sales for 2020, Forecasts Record $1.2 B. in Private Sales

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • Mark Rothko, Tamara de Lempicka, Mickalene Thomas to Star in Phillips London Evening Sale
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor