Artelligence for July 2, 2018

Have We Reached Peak Forgotten Artists?:Three years into the shift away from a frenzy for “Zombie Formalists” towards undervalued historical masters,The New York Times quotes a disappointed underbidder on Sam Gilliam’s work, Forth, sold last week at Sotheby’s in London for £910k:

• “We regard Sam Gilliam as a value opportunity,” said Hugo Nathan, partner in the London art consultancy Beaumont Nathan, which bid unsuccessfully for “Forth.” “For a large part of the last decade, it was all about finding new hot young artists,” he added. “Now it’s all about finding forgotten artists.”

In the next paragraph, the Times tells us the flipping frenzy for Jennifer Guidi’s work is likely to continue for some time. …

TEFAF Will Manage New York Fairs Directly: The Art Newspaper announces that Sofie Scheerlinck has been named managing director of the TEFAF New York fairs. She joined the organization earlier this year as director of global integration:

• “The ownership structure of the US fairs will remain the same and, alongside being shareholders, Plummer and Rabin will continue to the sit on the Tefaf New York board. But, they will no longer be involved in the practical organisation of the two fairs or be principal spokesmen.” …

Giambologna’s Mars Bronze Sold to Dresden Museum: The artist Giambologna gave this lifetime cast of his statue or Mars to the Elector of Saxony in 1587. Four hundred and thirty years later, the work enters the state of Saxony’s museum in Dresden after having been owned by Bayer AG. Sotheby’s announced the sale this morning:

• ‘The Dresden Mars’ by Giambologna, due to be offered at auction at Sotheby’s in London on 4^th July, has been withdrawn from sale following a direct offer to the seller of the sculpture, Bayer AG, by the Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden to secure the piece for Dresden. Given the strength of the Museum’s interest in acquiring the sculpture, Bayer has made the decision to sell the work to them via private sale, rather than proceed with auction.  Since Sotheby’s first presented Giambologna’s Mars to potential buyers in mid-May this year, interest from private collectors and museums alike has been strong and mounting. The Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden has secured the sculpture, and Sotheby’s has been reimbursed for its efforts in accordance with its consignment agreement with Bayer. …

Lucian Freud Painting Discovered Beneath Another Artist’s Work May Cover Earlier Freud Portrait: The Antiques Trade Gazette has an interesting story about a consignment to Sworders that is probably an early Lucian Freud landscape. In cleaning and discovering the Freud work beneath another artist’s canvas, conservators made another discovery:

• “This revealed a further layer of paint, which Sworders said is ‘not only is in a palette more associated with Freud’s early portraits, but were it to be a portrait, would bring understanding to the orientation of the inscription/signature verso. Because it is very likely that Freud painted Suffolk Landscape with Welsh Mountains Beyond, thus himself choosing to paint over whatever lies beneath, clearly the decision to leave the painting as it currently is was inevitable.'” …

Too Much Picasso?: The Times says an initiative by the Picasso Museum in Paris—to pursue an “unprecedented cultural experiment” called The Picasso-Méditerranée 2017-2019 project where many of its 5,000 works are being loaned to institutions in France, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Malta and Morocco this Summer—has caused a Picasso exhibition glut:

• “Eric Biétry-Rivierre, the author and critic for Le Figaro, said: ‘It’s not a wave of Picasso exhibitions which is covering France — and from London to Malta — this summer. It’s a tsunami. Some of the exhibitions are excellent. Others are nondescript and do nothing more than surf on the magic of a great name.'”