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Sotheby’s to Sell SFMoMA’s $35m Rothko for Acquisitions Firepower

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Sotheby’s will be selling SFMoMA’s untitled 1960 Mark Rothko painting with a $35-50m estimate to benefit the museum’s acquisitions fund. The sale will be held in New York in May:

An important work completed at the apex of Rothko’s artistic powers, Untitled, 1960is one of just 19 paintings completed by the artist in 1960. This year marks a critical juncture in the iconic Abstract Expressionist’s career, following his defining commission of the Seagram Murals (1958-59) and his representation of the United States in the XXIX Venice Biennale (1958) – organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which would subsequently hold Rothko’s first and only major lifetime retrospective in 1961. Untitled, 1960 is distinguished further by its connection to Peggy Guggenheim, preeminent philanthropist and patron of the 20th century.

Untitled, 1960 will travel to London, Taipei and Hong Kong, before returning to New York for exhibition and auction this May.

Neal Benezra, Helen and Charles Schwab Director of SFMOMA, said: “With a spirit of experimentation, diversity of thought, and openness to new ways of telling stories, we are rethinking our exhibitions, collections, and education programs to enhance accessibility and expand our commitment to a global perspective, while sustaining our dedication to Bay Area and California art. Untitled, 1960is being sold in order to broadly diversify SFMOMA’s collection, enhance its contemporary holdings, and address art historical gaps in order to continue to push boundaries and embrace fresh ideas.

Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture, said: “SFMOMA is very fortunate to have rich holdings of Mark Rothko, including his undisputed masterpieceNo. 14, 1960, which was acquired in the late 1990s as the result of another strategic deaccession. The proceeds from the upcoming sale will allow us to make great strides in diversifying the collection.  Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Curator of Painting and Sculpture, and I are creating a focused plan and list of priority acquisitions. Works will be proposed to our Accessions Committee for review as early as May 29, 2019.”

Saara Pritchard, Senior Vice President and Senior Specialist in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Department in New York, said: “Sotheby’s is honored to present Mark Rothko’s Untitled,1960 on behalf of SFMOMA this spring. This exquisite work embodies the height of Rothko’s artistic practice, and provokes an intense emotional reaction in the viewer which was his preoccupation at this time. While featuring all of the expressive and transcendent qualities of Rothko’s 1950s pictures, there is a nuance to the surface, brushwork and layering of colors in the present painting that creates a compelling sense of vibration, movement, breath, life and depth. Given the rarity of works from this period on the market, as well as its connection to the great Peggy Guggenheim, the appearance of Untitled, 1960 at auction this spring will be a major market moment – one we are privileged to present to collectors around the world in the coming months.”

The ownership history of Untitled, 1960 unites the artist and institution with one of the preeminent philanthropists and patrons of the 20th century. A champion of Abstract Expressionism broadly and of Rothko specifically, Peggy Guggenheim’s pioneering vision and commitment to the artists she promoted paved the way for one of the most significant artistic movements in history. Determined to provide a voice and platform to this new generation of artists, Guggenheim gave Rothko one of his first important solo shows in 1945, at her famed Art of This Century gallery. The following year, she loaned the artist’s Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea to SFMOMA’s exhibition of Rothko’s work titled An Environment for Faith, and subsequently donated the work to the institution. Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea remained in the museum’s collection until 1962, when SFMOMA made the direct request to Rothko to exchange the work for a more contemporary example of his oeuvre. The artist obliged, and the museum selected Untitled, 1960, which has remained in their collection to present. Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea now resides in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Announces Acquisition of £9.48m Rembrandt Study

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At Sotheby’s in London last December there was a lot of interest in a Rembrandt oil study from the so-called Face of Jesus group that had been in the same family for 60 years. The guaranteed work was covered with an irrevocable bid and estimated at between £6-8m. It sold for a £8.2m hammer price, or £9.48m with fees. We learned today that the buyer was the Louvre Abu Dhabi:

Louvre Abu Dhabi has acquired a rare oil sketch—Head of a young man, with clasped hands: Study of the figure of Christ, ca. 1648–56—by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), one of the most celebrated artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Painted on oak panel in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands) and identified as the Master’s work in the 1930s, it belongs to a series of oil sketches referred to as Rembrandt’s Face of Jesus group. Head of a young man was purchased by Louvre Abu Dhabi in December.

This masterpiece is the first work by Rembrandt known to have been acquired for a public collection in the Gulf region. It appeared recently in exhibitions at the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Art; and Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. It will make its first appearance at Louvre Abu Dhabi in the exhibition Rembrandt, Vermeer & the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre before joining Louvre Abu Dhabi’s permanent collection.

The acquisition of this rare masterpiece follows the unveiling of 11 new additions to Louvre Abu Dhabi’s permanent collection in October 2018. In keeping with the museum’s mission to highlight cross-cultural connections in a variety of forms, last year’s acquisitions include a range of exquisite objects from around the world and the region, including a monumental Buddhist sculpture from China (11th-12th CE), four tapestries from French royal manufacturers depicting The Hunts of Maximilian, the Duke of Brabant, as well as a rare Ottoman horse armour (15th-16th CE).

Manuel Rabaté, Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “Rembrandt was one of history of art’s greatest storytellers, with an exceptional ability to capture the human soul in his artworks. With this latest acquisition, the first ever Rembrandt joining a museum collection in the Gulf, our visitors can experience the power of his creations first-hand, initially in our opening exhibition for 2019 and following that in our galleries. It will join the 650 artworks of the museum’s collection from cultures around the world, celebrating the universal creativity of humanity”.

Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi, added: “We make each new addition to Louvre Abu Dhabi’s expanding collection with great rigor and care, in order to deepen and enhance the museum’s universal narrative. This exceptional work reflects the new cultural perspectives that emerged during the Dutch Golden Age due to international trade expansion and exchange of ideas. It also demonstrates the great Master’s understanding of the fragility and intense spirituality of life, which inspired so many artists after him.”

The Dutch Golden Age was a brief period during the 17th century when the new Dutch merchant republic, freshly independent from the Spanish Crown, was regarded as the most prosperous state in Europe. Worldwide trade led by the Dutch East India Company, combined with military advancements and new developments in art and science, gave the Low Countries (the coastal region of northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) an important advantage throughout Europe and the world. Major commissions brought Vermeer and Rembrandt to the forefront of a new artistic movement, in which Protestant workers developed new themes and iconographies depicting a more realistic daily life.

In Head of a young man, the face of the black-haired man seems to be both illuminated and rendered through large brushed gestures. The same model appears in a series of studies and works by Rembrandt that was created during the same period as the artist’s renowned Supper at Emmaus (Paris, Musée du Louvre, ca. 1648).

Head of a young man is one of the finest examples of Rembrandt’s seven surviving oil sketches from the Face of Jesus group.  When viewed with the other surviving sketches, it reveals the way in which Rembrandt could find the best angle or profile to use light to portray Jesus “after life,” with the model probably coming from the local Jewish community.

The portrait and subject matter show a new representation in the Christian world. The clasped hands emphasise narrative not distinguishable at first glance. And Rembrandt chose to represent a man in prayer, rather than a king, expressing—in an ecumenical way—the humble humanity of man.

The exhibition Rembrandt, Vermeer & the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre is co-curated by Blaise Ducos, Chief Curator of Dutch and Flemish paintings at the Musée du Louvre and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, Curator of The Leiden Collection and a specialist in 17th century Dutch and Flemish art. The exhibition will be on view from February 14 through May 18, 2019, at Louvre Abu Dhabi.

 

National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC Names Kaywin Feldman Its Fifth Director

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Kaywin Feldman

The National Gallery has announced the end of its search for a new director. Kaywin Feldman, currently the head of the Minneapolis Institute for Art, will become the National Gallery’s fifth director succeeding Earl Powell who has held the position for more than 25 years. Feldman has been in charge in Minneapolis for a decade where she made the institute free to the public. Here’s the NGA’s description of her time in Minnesota:

Kaywin Feldman is a champion of digital technology for expanding access to art. Feldman established a contemporary art department at Mia and new galleries for showcasing the art of Africa. She has overseen a series of experimental installations in the museum’s venerable period rooms, exploring new ways of engaging with history.

Feldman has galvanized the galleries and her field with groundbreaking exhibitions such as At Home with Monsters (2017), which featured the art of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty (2018), a dramatic display of Chinese art designed by avant-garde theater artist Robert Wilson. As a curator, she has helped organize popular traveling exhibitions, includingThe Habsburgs: Rarely Seen Masterpieces from Europe’s Greatest Dynasty (2015), which brought dozens of masterpieces to Minneapolis for the museum’s 100th birthday year.

Her efforts have helped double attendance while bringing international renown to the museum’s art, particularly its Japanese collection, which has more than doubled in size during her tenure. Other acquisitions include works by Kehinde Wiley, Ai Wei Wei, James McNeill Whistler, Edgar Degas, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Born in 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, Feldman’s fascination with museums began with childhood visits and an early interest in archaeology. She earned her BA in classical archaeology from the University of Michigan and an MA from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London. She also earned an MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, specializing in Dutch and Flemish art, and received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Memphis College of Art in 2008. Before coming to Mia, she was the director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee from 1999 to 2007.

Getty Buys Previously Unknown Quentin Metsys Painting

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Christ as the Man of Sorrows, 1520-30, oil on panel, 19 ½ x 14 ½ inches, Quentin Metsys (Netherlandish, 1465 or 1466 – 1530) [pre-conservation]
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles announced today that it bought a previously unknown work of art by Quentin Metsys that has been in a private collection for centuries.

The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, painted between 1520-30 by the great Netherlandish master Quentin Metsys (1465 or 1466 – 1530; variously spelled Massys, Matsys, Metsijs; Quinten). The painting has been in a private collection for centuries and was previously unknown to art historians. Its discovery and attribution expands the oeuvre of one of the leading painters in early sixteenth-century Antwerp.

“Christ as the Man of Sorrows is a powerful and deeply moving painting that exemplifies the sophisticated devotional imagery that made Metsys famous, and played a major role in Antwerp’s renown as a leading center of painting in the early 16th century,” said Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “This discovery adds a major masterwork both to the artist’s oeuvre and to the Getty Museum’s paintings collection. It ranks among our most important 16th-century Northern European paintings and is already attracting much attention from scholars of this period.”

Quentin Metsys was the most prominent and esteemed painter in Antwerp during the early 16th century. He was known for his compelling portraits, sophisticated use of color, and representations of emotion and expression. Drawing on the example of 15th-century predecessors and receptive to Italian influences, his work marked a turning point in the history of Netherlandish art. Over the course of an extremely successful career Metsys introduced new types of portraiture and secular painting, positioning himself as a leader in Antwerp as the city developed a reputation for artistic innovation. Metsys’s reputation endured as the “father” of Antwerp painting, and his works were particularly prized in the early 17th century by collectors and artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The Getty’s new paintingis a powerful yet intimate depiction of Christ, who is shown wearing a crown of thorns that graphically pierces his flesh, his physical torment emphasized by flowing tears. In a remarkably fine state of preservation, the devotional painting is a superbly executed treatment of a popular and widespread subject at the time.

“In Christ as the Man of Sorrows, Metsys combined late medieval specificity – still meaningful in the early 16th century – with a new emphasis on Christ’s humanity. In contrast to earlier devotional images, Christ as the Man of Sorrows was intended to elicit compassion from viewers,” said Davide Gasparotto, senior curator of paintings at the Getty Museum. “This exceptionally moving painting is a striking testament to the artist’s skill and innovation.”

In the Netherlands, Christ as the Man of Sorrows and related subjects, such as the Salvator Mundi, were often paired with an image of the sorrowing Virgin or Virgin in prayer.  Christ as the Man of Sorrows may have once been half of a diptych as part of an altarpiece with the weeping Virgin or perhaps as a separate panel with the Virgin as a pendant. Alternatively, given its scale (19 ½ by 14 ½ inches) it could have been painted as an autonomous devotional image which, at the request of a patron, could have been combined with a depiction of the Virgin. The original engaged frame (now lost) featured an arched top, surrounding the radiance and covering the upper corners of the panel – a typical configuration that focused attention on the head of Christ.

In the late 19th century, the picture, then in a princely collection in Bavaria, was listed in an auction catalog attributed to the 15th-century Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden. The painting remained with the family bearing this attribution through the 20th century. It was never published or exhibited. In 2016, experts assessed the work and attributed it to Metsys, notably for the delicate modeling, crisp details and close resemblance to the artist’s large-scale narrative treatments of other Christian subjects, such as his Ecce Homo (Venice, Palazzo Ducale).

Christ as a Man of Sorrows was exported from Germany to the UK, and the Getty Museum purchased the painting recently in a private sale.

This is the first work by Metsys in the Getty’s collection and the only painting by the master in Southern California. After a short period of conservation and technical study, it will go on view in Spring 2019, exhibited to the public for the first time in modern history, at the Getty Museum, Getty Center.

Pity the Poor Billionaire, Outbid for Art and Building Franchise-Like Museums

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How quickly the emotional tide can turn. In the popular imagination, billionaires bestride the globe unbridled in their appetites and ambitions. But according to Agence France Presse, the poor dears are getting out bid for art. Quoting Artprice’s recent half-year report, AFP quotes Artprice’s foudner Thierry Ehrmann,

“around three quarters of purchases above one million dollars is now by museums”. That trend is being supported by the opening of new museums. “More new museums have been opened since 2000 than all of the 19th and 20th centuries,” said Ehrmann. “And 700 are being founded each year in China.”

Smart folks in the art world were quick to point out that many (most?) of these purchases were, in fact, made for museums by very wealth persons who either funded the acquisitions or were buying for their own museums.

Private art museums, too, are getting more and more attention these days. The Financial Times‘s John Gapper spent his August holiday in the South of France. He’s in Arles to be exact. There he wandered through Maja Hoffmann’s Luma Arles private museum on 15 acres of abandoned rail yards capped by a Frank Gehry architectural feature. Pharma heiress Hoffmann’s €100m+ investment in Arles, which Gapper found “expensively and immaculately bland” didn’t leave him with much of a sense of wonder or awe.

The art business has become so large and globalised through the expansion of museums, auction houses and private galleries that its aesthetic has been commoditised. If you aspire to be the new Henry Clay Frick (the 19th-century US industrialist and art patron) there is a global supply chain of architects and curators eager to make it happen. The question is, what is it all for? One answer is urban regeneration, along the lines of the Guggenheim effect in Bilbao. Art draws tourism of a useful kind — people with money who stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and so forth. No town would protest if a drugs company built a research campus there, so why not an art foundation instead?  […] Anyone who creates jobs in old industrial towns is permitted some imperiousness. Sometimes, they are allowed to build their own monuments. In artistic terms, though, it feels like more of the same. Public museums have spread around the world according to a formula and wealthy patrons can now deploy it themselves. That is franchising, not individuality.

Forget billionaires, it’s now museums that drive the fine art market (AFP)

Billionaires have franchised the modern art museum (FT)

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