Ran Ortner, who won the $250,000 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids for a painting of the sea, Open Water, could have painted it in 19th-century Russia.
Back then, however, he wouldn’t have been tapped for the top take-away. Even casual observers would have noted what he owes to Ivan Aivazovsky, whose massive paintings of the churning sea go on and on. Aivazovsky would get the cash while Ortner got applause for his skill. Historians would have tagged his work as “in the school of.”
Meanwhile, the Financial Times notes a trend juxtaposing historical and contemporary art:
October 8 sees the London gallery Robilant + Voena unveiling a show in which young British school artists respond to Old Master paintings. Most have been commissioned for the show and include some startling juxtapositions. A dreamy, sensuous piece by Old Master Ary Scheffer has inspired Tom Gallant to make a flowing paper collage like a fluttering of scarves. Paul Morrison has created “Ilex” (2009), a bold silver-on-linen work that reprises the exploding volcano in Pierre-Jacques Volaire’s fiery “Eruption of Vesuvius at Night” (about 1777) and Alexis Teplin’s brightly-coloured oval abstract painting echoes François Boucher’s “Venus Restraining Cupid” (1762). Prices range from £1,800 to £28,000 for the contemporary works, and from £50,000 to £1m for the Old Masters, who include Meissonnier, Carlo Dolci and Nicolas Tournier.
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