Archives for November 2008

Form 8-K Current Report Filed Nov 14, 2008 As I previously reported, Sotheby's announced on Nov. 7 that it was predicting a loss of about $17 million on its contemporary art sales this month. Now that the sales are over, Sotheby's has reported that the actual loss on contemporary art guarantees was much worse: On the Form 8-K that it filed with the Securities and Exchange … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Loses $28.2 Million on Contemporary Art Guarantees

If I've been blogging lite since the big auctions, it's because I've been on desperate deadline for an article on p. W11 of the "Weekend" section of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal. It concerns an auction-related pet peeve of mine, already quite familiar to CultureGrrl readers. I'll link to it when it's up, probably late tonight.UPDATE: You can read me now---Making Sales Look … [Read more...] about My Auctions Article in Tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal UPDATED

Tom Campbell, back in his open-collar daysI couldn't get a good shot of Tom Campbell at the Metropolitan Museum's press lunch earlier this week, because I was seated at the far rear, facing the back corner. (Are they trying to tell me something?)So since he recently said he's an "open collar kind of guy" and since I'm tired of running the same old headshot, I thought I'd show … [Read more...] about Tom Campbell, Met’s Director-Elect, Meets the Press (again)

Joseph Cornell, "Pharmacy," 1943, subject of a rare bidding warIs there an art-market anodyne in there?Let's put me and this season of lackluster evening sales to bed quickly, if not painlessly.First, the good news:The chief excitement at Christie's contemporary sale tonight was for Yayoi Kusama's "No.2" (one of her white dot paintings). It was the only work that soared above … [Read more...] about Contemporary at Christie’s: Gaveling the Nail in the Coffin

Michael KaiserThe New York City Opera, urgently needing to stop the press-fed rumors that it might cease to exist after the sudden departure of Gerard Mortier, must have rushed right out to the bookstore to pick up Michael Kaiser's new book on "The Art of the Turnaround," after reading about it yesterday in the NY Times. (Just kidding about the last part.)They liked it so much … [Read more...] about NYC Opera Rescue: Enlisting “Turnaround” Expert Michael Kaiser

Attention Firefox Devotees:If you want to watch tonight's contemporary evening sale on "Christie's Live" tonight and your default browser is the latest version of Firefox, dial this number immediately: 877-641-7704. The very helpful tech support agent, David, or one of his colleagues, will walk you through a complicated procedure (which you could never have figured out by … [Read more...] about Department of Tech Trauma: “Christie’s Live” (except on Firefox)

Edward Ruscha's "Strength," selling below-estimate last night at $1.14 million. It's a good visual metaphor for the art market's downward slide.At the press conference last night touting Sotheby's contemporary art results, auctioneer Tobias Meyer expressed gratitude to the "collector community" who had "supported the sale." It was actually life support---enough to maintain a … [Read more...] about Buyer’s Market Continues at Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale UPDATED

Anthony Grant, Sotheby's senior specialist for contemporary art In CultureGrrl, I commented last week on such arcane, mysteriously coded auction-house initiation rites as "irrevocable guarantees," "third-party guarantees," "interested parties" and house "ownership interests." I nostalgically asked: Whatever happened to auctioneers' time-honored role as impartial brokers … [Read more...] about Fallout from the Fallen Market: Sotheby’s Goes Back to Basics

You may well have missed this, but buried on p. 24 of the special "Giving" section in today's NY Times (not linked on the "Arts" web page) is Robin Pogrebin's article, The Nonprofit's Guide to Surviving a Downturn, which draws attention to two timely new books by long-time masters of cultural fundraising. From her description (and considering the prestige and experience of the … [Read more...] about New Cultural Fundraising Bibles Are Spotlighted in NY Times

Gerard Mortier, subject of yesterday's "SundayArts" profile that was overtaken by eventsMetropolitan Museum director Philippe de Montebello's first outing as a TV host, on New York Public Television's (WNET's) SundayArts program yesterday, turned out to be an extended infomercial for his institution, with a focus on its current exhibition, The Philippe de Montebello Years. He … [Read more...] about TV’s “SundayArts”: The Philippe Show Presents…the Philippe Show

Robert Lepage, director of Metropolitan Opera's "The Damnation of Faust"I am a disgruntled survivor of the tacky, ugly and gratuitously busy staging of "The Damnation of Faust" that opened last night at the Metropolitan Opera. It's bad enough to inflict such shallow shenanigans on the lush, lyrical score of a Berlioz opera-house rarity, but I'm horrified by the prospect, … [Read more...] about “Damnation” of the Met Opera: Director Threatens to Make Three-Ring Circus of the “Ring” UPDATED

Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn, cultural co-anchorsYou mean they hired Philippe and not me? Back in February, I received an announcement about a casting call for a "female arts reporter" for Channel Thirteen's (New York's public television's) new culture program, SundayArts. I figured that that since I'm an established radio star, I'm SO ready for television!I e-mailed … [Read more...] about “The Philippe Show”: Leno and Letterman, Watch Out!

Auctioneer Christopher Burge consults with Guy Bennett (left), Christie's international co-head of Impressionist/modern art, before last night's auction.In a kind of French poetic justice, yesterday's big Impressionist/modern sale at Christie's was another gray night, except for Gris. Pun intended, for those of you who know what "Livre, Pipe et Verres" means. That's the title … [Read more...] about Christie’s Does Well with Gris on a Gray Night

Michael Crichton's 1977 Whitney Museum CatalogueEveryone knows Michael Crichton as the author of page-turners like "The Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park." But the author, who died Tuesday at the age of 66, was also a collector of works by Jasper Johns, who chose Crichton to author the catalogue (revised and reissued in 1994) for his 1977 retrospective at the Whitney … [Read more...] about Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns Catalogue Author (and best-selling novelist) Dies

Alice Neel, "Robert Smithson," 1962Remember Christie's Wild and Wacky Night? That was then; this is now:When asked about the prospects for the big New York sales, for an article published earlier today by the Assocated Press, Guy Bennett, Christie's co-head of Impressionist and modern art said:I think we found the right balance in terms of price points and also the quality of … [Read more...] about Christie’s Wan and Woeful Night