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Pablo Picasso
China’s Zhang Daqian tops 2011 art sales
The late Chinese artist Zhang Daqian was the best-selling artist at auction in 2011 while Spanish great Pablo Picasso dropped out of the top three.
Chinese artists dominate the top end of the art market. Zhang’s compatriot Qi Bashi was the second top seller and six Chinese artists in all were in the top ten, while Chinese art accounts for 40 percent of sales by value.
According to founder of Artprice, China which has held the top spot in art auctions since 2010, took two of its star artists to the head of the annual table in 2011. The third place in the Artprice table was taken by American pop art master Andy Warhol, knocking Picasso who died in 1973 and has been the bestseller in 13 of the past 14 years back into fourth place.
Zhang, who lived between 1899 and 1983, was not only top in sales but he had the best annual haul of any artist ever with 1,371 pieces going for a total of $554 million. Qi, who lived between 1864 and 1957, came in behind, netting art investors $510 million and Warhol hit $325 million.
Sylvester Stallone’s Artwork Goes On Display
Sylvester Stallone isn’t an actor who took up painting on a lark. His commitment to art spans decades and will get its due in a new retrospective exhibit at Galerie Gmurzynska in St. Moritz, Switzerland. 35 Years of Painting, shows around 30 pieces that Stallone has painted, some of them self portraits. Stallone likes to paint on a grand scale, the pictures are large, colorful and bold and he cites Pablo Picasso and Gerhard Richter among his influences. In his acting, Stallone combines broad gestures and big action with moments of surprising delicacy and vulnerability and that’s true in his artwork as well.
The exhibit runs from February 18 to March 15 and is accompanied by a catalogue written by art critics Anthony Haden-Guest and Donald Kuspit. Over the past couple of years, Stallone has been able to command some pretty impressive prices for his art.
‘Walking Man’ Sculpture Sells for $104 Million
Alberto Giacometti’s life-size bronze cast, L’Homme Qui Marche I, was sold by Sotheby’s Auctions for $104,327,006, which is nearly five times its estimated price. The sculpture, which is also known as the “Walking Man,” supplants Pablo Picasso’s Garon la Pipe, 1905, which sold for $104.1 million.
Prior to the auction, a sculpture by Constantine Brancusi’s, Madame L.R., circa 1914″”17, was the highest price paid for a sculpture sold at the auction. It sold for $37.7 million. Giacometti’s previous best-selling piece was the Grand Femme Debout II, 1959″”60. It was auctioned by Christie’s New York at $27.48 million in May 2008.
While no names were divulged, it was reported that at least four bidders were briskly following uphill after Giacometti’s “Walking Man.” It is believed that there are two versions of “Walking Man.” The first one produced was commissioned by a German bank and is privately owned.
Picasso Revisits Switzerland
One of the highlights of the Kunsthaus Zurich museum’s centenary year is “Picasso” (October 15, 2010″”January 31, 2011), an homage to the museum’s groundbreaking 1932 Picasso exhibition, which was the first retrospective of the controversial Spanish artist’s work.
With an impressive art collection of its own, the Dolder Grand is the five-star hotel partnering with Zurich Tourism to offer special rates starting at about $520 per night including breakfast and admission to the exhibit.
The Art Deco”"era show was particularly fascinating because of its curator: Pablo Picasso. For this year’s event, more than 70 of the original exhibition’s 200 masterpieces have been gathered from museums like New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum, London’s Tate Modern, Spain’s Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and other international museums as well as from private collections around the world.
Damien Hirst's works breaks world record
British artist Damien Hirst has broken the world record set by Pablo Picasso in 1998 when 88 of his works fetched prices like never before. A Tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde named “The kingdom” went for $17 million, and “The Golden Calf” an embalmed calf with golden hooves and horns sold for $18.5 million.
Not only this, another work by Hirst christened the “Fragments of Paradise”, a confection of stainless steel, glass and created diamonds sold for approximately $9.4 million. Also, Two of Hirst’s butterfly paintings sold for $2.9 million. Proceeds from this sale was dedicated for charity.
Christie's art sales raises $106.8 million
Pablo Picasso’s 1963 painting that features his second wife, Jacqueline as a model, was sold for $13 million, well above its pre-sale estimate.
The painting christened “Tete de femme (Jacqueline)” was sold alongside Dutch artist Kees van Dongen’s “La Gitane” that went for $11.35 million and Russian painter Natalia Goncharova’s “Espagnole” that earned $10.25 million.
So it shouldn’t be surprising if I say that the entire auction raised $106.8 million.
Rare Picasso masterpieces to be auctioned
Nobody else but only Pablo Picasso could think of making a portrait of himself without being overly self critical. In one-of-its-kind of auction-cum-display, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has planned to put up all its Picasso paintings, drawings, sculptures and ceramics on public display. The auction cum display will also include the damaged and the restored artwork of the legend which is known by the name ŔThe Actor.
The rare masterpieces which will be auctioned are “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” (Christie’s) and “Femme au Chapeau, Buste” (Sotheby’s). While “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” is expected to draw between $70 million and $90 million, “Femme au Chapeau, Buste” is touted to earn $8 million to $12 million.
A Masterpiece by Pablo Picasso up on display at Christie’s
A Pablo Picasso painting – Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto (The Absinthe Drinker) ” will be put for sale at Christie’s auction of Impressionist and Modern Art in London on June 23.
According to Jussi Pylkkanen, head of Christie’s Europe division, the painting is one of the most important works of art to be offered at auction in decades.
Expected to fetch between $46.4 to $61.9 million, The Absinthe Drinker was formerly acquired by The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation at an auction in New York in May 1995 for $29.2 million.
Proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation whose principal objectives are to promote the advancement of the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit.
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