Titian at the High Museum

This weekend I had the immense pleasure of viewing the current exhibit, Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting at the High Museum. Comprised of 12 paintings and 13 drawings on loan from Scotland, including works by Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Bassano, the exhibition is a gem. Sixteenth-century Venetian painting is hard to beat. Using oil for the first time in Italy, these artists achieved a painterliness with lively brushwork unmatched in Renaissance art.

The upsetting part of this show? No one was there! I practically had the galleries to myself. The museum itself was busy, but why aren't people going to see this show? The Monet exhibition and automobile design (!) exhibition had huge crowds. This art may be more difficult to appreciate than water lillies that we've all seen on postcards 10,000 times, but it's well worth it. Viewers have to look at it carefully and have some concept of history, but it pays off. Atlantans, this show only runs through January 2. If you miss it, you are really missing out on something special.

Lauren Jones Worth

I have recently come across Lauren Jones Worth's art, and I thought it was worth mentioning here. Her work has an allover decorated quality giving it a conscious two-dimensionality that is particularly appealing. Overlaying patterns create vibrant backgrounds for her subjects, which are primarily scenes from nature. I see influences from Cubism, Martin Johnson Heade, and 17th-century Dutch still lifes in her work, which makes it different from so much of what you see today. Check it out at www.laurenjonesworth.com. If you are in North Carolina, she has a show beginning October 22 at Tyler White Gallery in Greensboro.

Love him or hate him. . . Jeff Koons is coming to Atlanta!

In a lot of ways, Jeff Koons was the 1980s answer to Damien Hirst. Some people loved him and thought he was a genius; other people thought he was a joke. No matter what, everyone did and still does have an opinion about Jeff Koons and the art he creates. Is it tacky? Witty? Offensive? Relevant? Come hear him speak at the High Museum on October 5 and decide for yourself. Click here for details.

Late Works by Late Artists

Click here to read an excellent article from the The Wall Street Journal about the Salvador Dali exhibit currently on at Atlanta's High Museum and what this exhibit signifies in the larger picture. It all goes back to supply and demand. Once people have bought/seen a lot of an artists's ouevre from their "peak" phase, they'll start to look to their later and earlier work.

Boring Art

You can have too much of a good thing, and there is such a thing as boring art. I'm the first to admit that there's not much that's more subjective than art, but there's a lot of bad art out there. While I applaud all the artists who are working and struggling to create something new and original, I'm really tired of all the art that looks exactly the same.

Since the beginning of time, artists have painted the same subjects over and over again. And lots of times they've painted them in similar styles. How many Madonna and Child scenes are there in this world? Or images of St. Sebastian? When the Pope and the Church told you what to paint, you had to do it. In 2010, you don't. The world is the artist's oyster, which is why I'm so sick of seeing the following everywhere I go:

1. Realistically depicted animals suspended on a black background. I'm the first to admit that I was quite intrigued when I first saw these. That was in the early 1990s. Now there is a whole school of artists who must make it their business to paint a trout (fish are particularly popular), a sheep, or a sparrow situated on a black background. I suppose when restaurants snap these up like hot cakes, why not?

2. Muted landscapes in autumnal tones. Particularly prevalent are a flat foreground with several trees, blurred, hazy sunlight, and a highly lacquered canvas. 200 years from now, dealers will have a field day with these. I can hear them now, "In the early 21st century, every well-to-do American had one of these landscapes in their family room."

3. Abstracted, whimsically colored landscapes. The Fauves were great at using color in unexpected ways. Who can't help but love Derain's orange and green skies. To the rest of us, let's give this a rest for a while. How many department stores can you walk into and see a "bold" landscape with purple trees and yellow skies. Enough.

I have the utmost respect for working artists. It's a tough road, and not one that I could follow. But art should be original, and I wish the working artists out there would respect their own inner creativity enough to come up with something new and different. It might not be as marketable, but who knows? It could be the next salmon on a black background.

Bravo's Work of Art

I haven't posted in a while because I've been very busy getting ready for a children's art appreciation summer camp that I'm running. As much as I hate talking about T.V., I have to recommend Work of Art which is on Bravo every Wednesday night. It's similar to the BBC's School of Saatchi which aired last fall in the U.K. and we cruelly have not been able to see here. The premise is the same as all reality shows in that a group of artists who work in various media are given specific projects to complete within tight deadlines. The results vary from resourceful creativity to amateur junk. Their works are judged by a panel (which inexplicably includes socialite China Chow) and each week one artist gets booted from the show.

As in all reality T.V., there are characters you root for, and characters you hate. By far my favorite is the indomitable Simone de Pury who acts as a mentor and cheerleader for the contestants. His facial expressions alone make the show worth watching. It's mindless summer fun and good to see art in mainstream America.

Art Basel

Art Basel, the world's most prestigious art venue for showcasing contemporary art, opens today and runs through the weekend. Over 2,500 artists are represented by roughly 300 galleries who are selected by an international panel of gallerists, curators, and dealers. Those selected compete for the attention of the 50,000 + visitors who attend Art Basel each year. The artists represented are a mixture of the best-known of our day to relative newcomers who are receiving critical attention.

Each summer, art takes over the Swiss city of Basel. The fair is divided into "sectors." For the Art Parcours sector, museums and institutions lend their spaces for installations, performances and site-specific works. For the Art Public Sector, 14 works of art are installed in front of the venue. Art Film is a film series of new films by artists such as Shirin Nesbat.

Here's to a great Art Basel 41!

A Professional Plug

One of my fellow art appraisers based in Scottsdale, Arizona wrote the following piece on the importance of an appraisal for insurance purposes. One additional note that I would add is that a lot of insurance policies require an appraisal for items valued above a specified threshold. Be sure you know what that threshold is and that your valuables are covered.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon as I dozed off on the couch watching one of my favorite television shows. I awoke two hours later when I heard the soft trickling sounds of rain -- inside my house! I immediately ran downstairs and watched as water poured down through the walls from the second floor bathroom onto the first floor. Apparently a pipe had broken and the house was flooding at an amazing rate. My heart raced as I scanned the house to save my valuables. I felt a heavy weight in my chest as I noticed one of my favorite paintings had been ruined.

Did I mention what I do for a living? Yes, I’m an art appraiser. At that moment, I was able to step into my client’s shoes and really see the importance of properly insuring your fine art.

Have you ever read your homeowners insurance policy? I confess prior to becoming involved in the appraisal industry, I was guilty of scanning over my policy and just knowing enough to get by. Sure, I knew the basics of my policy, but not the details concerning my personal property and what exactly was covered, to what extent, and in what situations.

The purpose of insurance is to “indemnify” the insured for a covered loss. Indemnifying is basically putting things back the way they were prior to a loss. Because most regular home-owners insurance policies have limitations as to the amount that will be paid in the event of a loss on fine art and collectables, it is important to carefully review your policy for adequate coverage.

Due to these limitations, many insurance experts recommend a supplementary insurance, also known as a "floater", policy that specifically lists fine art items. These supplemental policies insure the full value of a specific item, such as a diamond ring, Persian rug, and/or fine art that a standard home insurance policy does not cover. To ensure that your item is appropriately insured, properly scheduled on the policy, and that you don't pay too much in premiums for over-insuring an item, you must have an appraisal prepared by a qualified appraiser.

Unlike a car, which is easy to replace with the same model, most fine art pieces are, by definition, unique. Thus, it's especially important to have an independent appraisal based on market research and accepted principles of valuation to estimate its value. An appraisal will also document ownership of the appraised item.

Serious art collectors should work with insurance companies that specialize in fine art and collectables, some of which include Chubb Group, Atlantic Mutual, AXA Art Insurance Corporation, and AIG. To minimize coverage disputes in the event of loss, insurance companies require appraisers to be properly qualified and to adhere to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice which requires, among other items, significant educational experience and regular continuing education.

The art market constantly fluctuates so what you paid for an item likely does not reflect its current value which is why many experts suggest updating appraisals every 3 to 5 years to ensure proper coverage. It's best to make up a list of what you want insured and then speak with your insurance agent about appropriate coverage. By the way, I learned in my situation that water damage is excluded from my homeowner’s insurance policy but coverage would have applied if I had a supplementary policy. Gee, good to know.

Summer at Bonham's

After the astronomical prices we saw fetched at Sotheby's and Christie's earlier this month, the highlights at tomorrow's American Painting sale at Bonham's seem like bargains. That said, the past couple weeks haven't been great for people's investment portfolios, so it will be interesting to see if buyers are more jittery than they were three weeks ago.

The highlight of the sale is this painting, Woman with a Parasol in a Park, painted in 1891 and estimated at $400 - 600,000. Americans love American Impressionism, and the 1990s and early noughties were the heyday for American Impressionism. Since then, the buzz has calmed a bit, although there is still an active market for this genre in the US. Also featured in tomorrow's auction is an important painting by Robert Henri, one of my least favorite painters, and a nice winter scene by Guy Carleton Wiggins. Click here for more information about the sale at Bonham's.

Ambroise Vollard: The Original Star Maker

On June 29, Sotheby's will auction off a collection of paintings, drawing, prints, and books from the personal collection of Ambroise Vollard. Vollard was turn-of-the-century Paris's Kingmaker. He promoted the careers of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse and Picasso. He was a champion of "modern art" at the turn of the century, and a friend to many of his artists as well as a dealer. That said, Vollard was a shrewd businessman at his core. Below, in the words of Henri Matisse, is the story of the relationship between Vollard and Cezanne:

From time to time in the evening, he (Vollard) used to visit him (Renoir). Often, in order to work, Renoir was obliged to throw him out. One day he told him: "You should do something for Cezanne; believe me, he's a great artist."

Cezanne's exhibition took place. Almost everyone was against it. No one could believe it. They thought it dreadful. The bourgeois who know they understand nothing of art -- they not only passed up Cezanne but also Renoir, Bonnard and many others; the bourgeois claimed that Cezanne's painting did not conform to the Greek canan of beauty. . . But this Vollard was a cunning fellow, a gambler, and he had a flair for business. He succeeded in setting up a gallery on the rue Lafitte. Forain said of him then that he was the "tripe-seller" of the rule Lafitte.

Vollard had acquired a considerable number of Cezannes. They were everywhere; the walls were covered with them; there were even piles on the floor, one right next to another, leaning up against the wall. He had managed to buy them at a low price. Cezanne, moreover, had judged him: "Vollard is a 'slave trader.'"

"Slave trader" seems harsh. But art dealers are businessmen just like furniture salesmen and Honda dealers . . . and they always have been.

Celebrity Art Collectors

Click here for a list of celebrities and what they collect. Some of them seem surprisingly well-educated, others do not. That the fame-obsessed Beckhams collect the art of fame-obsessed Damien Hirst should come as a surprise to no one.

Warhol Gets a Lot More than 15 Minutes

Following up on last month's post about this work, Andy Warhol mania continues. At Wednesday evening's contemporary sale, Sotheby's sold this 1986 self-portrait by the artist for a staggering $32,562,500, more than double its high estimate. The last one from this series to sell on the auction block sold in 2002 for $3.1 million. People cannot get enough Warhol right now, a fact which would make no one happier than Mr. Warhol, himself!

Sotheby's Has a Big Night

Riding on the heels of their arch-nemesis and competitor, Christie's, last night's sale of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby's was an undeniable success. While there wasn't a headline-grabbing showstopper like the previous evening's Picasso sensation, the sale boasted a number of quality lots which achieved quality prices. Not to be outdone by rival Christie's, Simon Shaw, head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby's said, “We saw very vigorous and spirited bidding and achieved a total that surpassed that of November and tripled the results achieved in May 2009. We are absolutely delighted with these results.”

All in, the sale brought $196 million to the auction house, just 5% short of the $204 million pre-show high estimate. Of the 57 lots in the show, 50 sold, 43 brought in over $1 million, and four of those 43 brought in over $10 million.

Interestingly, unlike the previous night at Christie's, none of the Picassos in the sale did anything dramatic. In fact, the highest price of the night was achieved by Henri Matisse, mistakenly called Picasso's rival by many. Bouquet Pour le Quatorze Juillet, the artist's celebration of Bastille Day after the end of the first world war, sold for $28,642,500 (estimate $18-25 million). This is an easy-to-love Matisse, painted in his golden period and full of the vibrant colors and textures so closely associated with his work.

Not surprisingly, several works by perennial favorite Claude Monet crept past their high estimate. One highlight of the sale was a portrait by Amadeo Modigliani not seen at auction in 70 years. The 1917 portrait ended up with a Japanese collector who paid $13,802,500 for it.

The sales of the past two nights solidify the fact that like the stock market, the art market is back in a big way. Collectors, dealers, and artists all have good reason for optimism.

Picasso Smashes Records at Christie's

Last night's Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Works at Christie's realized $335.5 million for the auction house, confirming predictions and talk to that art is back. The wunderkind of the evening was Pablo Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, from the collection of L.A. collector Mrs. Sidney F. Brody. The piece catapulted past its $70-90 million estimate and was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for $106,482,500, setting a new record for a price achieved at auction.

The evening was not without disappointments, however. Fertility by Edvard Munch, which was heralded as one of the most important works by Munch still in a private collection and was the catalog's cover lot with an estimate of $25-35 million didn't attract a single bid.

The demographics of the buyers were evenly split between Americans and Europeans, with each comprising 36%. Middle Easterners and Russians made up 24%, and Asians just 4%. Overall the sale was a smash. Can't wait to see what happens at tonight's evening sale at Sotheby's. Stay tuned!

Art Can Be Affordable

This week heralds the opening of the 9th Annual Affordable Art Fair in New York. These types of events are some of my favorite. Even though I spend most of my time talking about art that isn't affordable to most, fairs and events like this prove that art is accessible to almost everyone. Galleries from around the world will showcase work priced between $100 and $10,000. To learn more, visit www.aafnyc.com.

Interview with Auction Star Simon de Pury

Click here to read a fascinating interview with celeb auctioneer Simon de Pury. Recently, he has been curating and heading up themed auctions. These have been met with mixed success, but his confidence in their potential is unwavering.

The Marriage of Art and Economics

Although art people think of themselves as cool and edgy, and economics people as nerdy and decidedly uncool, there are some rules of economics that apply directly to art. The most obvious? Supply and demand.

When people say that the art market is "down" as it was in 2008 and 2009, what does that really mean? It ties in directly to the laws of S & D. When the financial markets are shaky and people don't feel like they have as much money, their art budgets are some of the first things to go. That has a significant effect on local and mid-range gallery markets. What guides the larger market as a whole is what's going on at the major auction houses worldwide.

In the midst of an economic downturn, collectors understand that they won't get as much for their Rothko as they might during boom times. Quite sensibly, they hold off on putting it on the block until the market shows signs of recovery. As a result, auction houses are given fewer and fewer top-tier pieces to sell, and they're forced to sell more mediocre works. Collectors aren't stupid, and once they sense that the offerings by Christie's, Sotheby's, and their buddies are less than fabulous, they stay home. That means the prices achieved for those mediocre pieces are . . . well, mediocre. And the cycle of the downturn in art continues.

The good news is that 2010 seems to be breaking from 2009 in a big way. We're seeing the best works up for sale that we've seen in several years, and prices at sales so far this year are very encouraging. Alberto Giacometti's Walking Man achieved the highest price for any work ever sold at auction ($104.3 million) in London in February, and the Asian market has shown its robustness as the Hong Kong sales earlier this month. The first week of May will bring Sotheby's and Christie's Impressionist and Modern sales in New York, which will us a lot. Both of these have some impressive lots, so we'll be watching!

Boom Time in China

Last week, Sotheby's set a record with $256 million coming in from its series of Hong Kong sales. Not to be outdone, Christie's is hoping to sell $193 million during its spring season sales in Hong Kong. Why such a boom in the Chinese market? It's the old law of supply and demand. Click here to read more.

Everyone Loves a List!

Everyone loves a list, and I'm no different. Each year The Art Newspaper compiles masses of data to determine the most visited museums and exhibits of the year. What's interesting this year? The top four most visited exhibits were all in Japan, whereas London and Paris dominate the list of the top ten most visited museums in the world. Intriguing. Click here to check out the stats for 2009.

Add Art to Your Shopping Cart?

There are countless websites for art sales, and I've always wondered how successful they are. Now there's a new one out of Dubai, www.icanaffordart.com. Their goal of selling affordable original art to collectors is a noble one, and I wish them the best. But I think it will be tough. Even the best photographs cannot capture the rich textures and true colors of a piece; art is meant to be seen and experienced personally. It's not like going to J. Crew and enlarging the image of the cardigan you're thinking of buying. Enlarging the image of a 4' x 6' painting to fit on your laptop screen is hardly going to give you the same effect it will have once hanging in your home! Unfortunately, unlike cardigans, books, and music, I just don't think eCommerce and art are a match made in heaven.

Visiting Winterthur

If you're an enthusiast for American decorative arts, or even if you have any interest at all in American antiques, a visit to the Winterthur is a must. The former home of Henry Francis duPont contains over 60,000 antiques from the period between 1640 and 1860 . I was particularly excited to visit the house itself, but the galleries connected with the house museum are fantastically well organized and curated. The galleries actively engage visitors by comparing various elements and styles clearly and simply -- for example, the differences between claw and ball feet on furniture from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.

To visit the house itself, you have to take a guided tour. My one criticism is that the tours aren't as focused as they could be. I went on the two-hour "Living with Antiques" tour which I was promised was the most in-depth. I wish I could have chosen what area I wanted to focus on. I would have liked to have spent more time in the formal rooms and less time in the rooms focused on Pennsylvania German and folk arts, but I didn't have that option.

All in all, we had a great experience at Winterthur, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Sotheby's Sets a Record!

It's Asia Week in New York, and Sotheby's set a record today for the highest price ever paid for a piece of classical Chinese art. This is not a genre I know much about, except that I find the art extremely appealing in its simplicity. The estimate for the record-setting work, Two Mynas on a Rock, painted in 1692 by Bada Shanren, was $400,000-600,000. The final hammer price? $2.994 million. It would be interesting to know if it was bought by a Chinese or American collector or dealer.

Maastricht Feels the Love

The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht closed earlier this week. 263 dealers from around the world exhibited the best they had to offer to over 70,000 visitors, a 7% increase over 2009's attendance. As another indicator that the art market is recovering more robustly than the overall economy, dealers report significantly stronger sales at this year's fair compared to last year's. The fact that strong sales were reported in a range of periods from Old Masters to Contemporary is even more encouraging. Some highlights:

• Lucas Cranach the Elders's Bathsheba, 1534: $7.1 million
• Mark Rothko's Untitled (Red, White, Orange), 1967: $3.1 million
• Jean-Michel Basquiat's Busted Atlas 2, 1982: $2.4 million
• Jean-Baptist-Camille Corot's View of Florence, 1834: $2 million

Sales in furniture and decorative arts were equally strong.

Warhol's Self Portrait on the Block

Andy Warhol's work continues to command higher and higher prices at auctions. This self-portrait, although famous, is more troubling and challenging than a lot of his lighter, "Pop-pier" works. It will be interesting to see what price it achieves at Sotheby's in May.

Click here to read more.

The Art of the Steal

The Barnes Foundation holds what is probably the most important collection of early modern painting in the United States. As many of you may know, it has been at the center of the type of complicated and nasty battle that could only happen when the art and the political worlds collide. The art school and museum is currently located in a suburb outside Philadelphia. Its founder, Albert C. Barnes, expressly stated in his will that his collection should stay there forever and never be moved, loaned or sold. Somehow, through the complex and convoluted maneuverings of politicians, charities, and beaurocrats, the entire collection will leave the home built for it by its founder and move to downtown Philadelphia in 2012.

The Art of the Steal is a feature-length documentary film that is currently in theaters and covers this story and controversy. It's unabashedly biased, and a lot of the people interviewed come across as preoccupied lunatics, but on the whole, it does a great job of presenting the history of the Barnes Foundation and the events that brought it to the place it is today. As an appraiser, what I found particularly interesting are the numbers thrown around about the value of the collection. The general consensus seems to be that it's valued between $25-30 billion. The collection is comprised of over 800 paintings 69 works by Cezanne, 181 by Renoir, and 59 others by Matisse. The collection is unparalleled by anything else that exists in the world, so giving it a market value would be an incredible challenge. The Dance mural, designed and painted on the walls of the foundation in 1932, is a site-specific work that has very few comparables in the world. His paintings on the walls of the chapel at Vence come to mind. Trying to estimate value for something this enormous with iconic paintings studied in every western art curriculum combined with site-specific installations is mind boggling, and I'm quite curious about where the $25-30 million value originated.

All in all, The Art of the Steal, is a fascinating look at what happens when the egos of art and politics collide.