Art Market Monitor

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Mnuchin Previews Sam Gilliam for Art Basel

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Mnuchin Gallery has sent out their packing list for Art Basel which opens in Basel in two weeks. Mnuchin can be found at Booth F9 with works by Mark Bradford, Willem de Kooning, David Hammons, Joan Mitchell, Pablo Picasso, Robert Ryman, Sean Scully, Frank Stella, Rudolf Stingel, and Cy Twombly. (Click here to download their packing list.)

Coinciding with Sam Gilliam’s retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Basel, the booth will feature a group of works by the artist, including a special presentation of the vintage Drape painting, Patch, 1970 (above). Last shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 1971, and in the same private collection since then, this work will be unveiled for the first time in almost five decades.

Sam Gilliam Sales Up Ahead of Mnuchin Show

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Quietly and without much fanfare, the market for works of art by Sam Gilliam has been on fire. In the last month, three of his top 5 prices have been achieved, including a record set at $684,500 at Sotheby’s September 27th mid-season sale for Rays from 1971 which was estimated at $100-150k. Also in September, a DC auction house offered Fan Fire IV from 1970 with an estimate of 100-150k. The buyer took it home for $332,400. Earlier this month, Rubiyat from 1973 was offered at Swann’s with a more modest $60-90k estimate. It only took $191,000 to bring the work home that day.

The art market functions in mysterious ways but sales often increase in front of shows that are expected to have a strong effect on the artist’s prominence. It just so happens that Mnuchin Gallery’s Sukanya Rajaratnam has been putting together a show that opens in early November.

Here are some details from the press release:Continue Reading

Steven Mnuchin’s Financial Disclosure Reveals Ownership in de Kooning

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de Kooning, Untitled III

The New York Times’s Alexandra Stevenson identified this work by Willem de Kooning, Untitled III  as the painting mentioned in Steven Mnuchin’s financial disclosure. The work was owned by L & M Arts and bought from that dealer by the 2014 consignor at Christie’s.

Whether Mnuchin bought the painting for himself or, more likely given the financial disclosure for the Offiice of Government Ethics, he provided financing to Mnuchin Gallery, is not known from the press accounts. Here’s Bloomberg’s mention of the work:

The financial disclosures, which Mnuchin signed Dec. 16, show that his income for 2016 was as much as $24 million, based on a calculation by Bloomberg. Mnuchin also owns a multi-million-dollar stake in a Willem de Kooning oil painting.

Mnuchin to Divest Stakes in 43 Investments to Avoid Conflict  (Bloomberg)

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