In Memoriam
Tête d’arlequin 1971 – 2013 R.I.P. See the sad NY Times article reporting the theft from a museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and the subsequent cremation of 7 artworks, including this wonderful, late Picasso drawing.
Drawings are a Buy
In a recent post I argued that Picasso drawings are on a tear. In this one I’ll offer reasons why they are still a buy, especially relative to other Picasso mediums, as well as relative to drawings by other “modern masters”. (Before we begin, in case you’re wondering whether I have any conflict of interest, I should submit that in this case I have no particular disclosures to make except for the general case, which is that we own and offer for sale Picassos in all of these mediums.) The art market is in a state of perpetual disequilibrium, as we have earlier discussed, and the Picasso market is no exception. But among Picassos, the medium in which the
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The Missing Link?
Costume du manager français pour le ballet “Parade”(Costume of the French Manager for the Ballet “Parade”, 1917) This small (23 cm) but complex cubist ink drawing and wash is a delightful discovery, the “missing link” between the preparatory, simple sketches, mostly line-drawings, all of which are in the collection of the Musée Picasso Paris, and the finished costume for the French Manager in the ballet “Parade”. The costume itself was destroyed and is now known only from the period black-and-white photographs. An example of the earlier drawings The present drawing is the culmination of all of the earlier ones, presumably the final step before Picasso (or his craftsmen) created the actual costume: The French Manager’s costume “Parade” was the first
Picasso’s Estate Stamp Signatures
Question: Concerning the debate about signatures, I would like to ask a question about the use of the Picasso signature stamp. Could you…advise when and for what occasion this stamp was used? H.J.I. Answer: I’ve looked back at the “IS IT SIGNED?” chapter and realized that I should add this explanation there, but I’ll also blog it here for easier access. A word about the estate stamp signatures: After Picasso’s death, his heirs authorized the creation of a stamp of Picasso’s signature, which his printer applied to various posthumous editions. Since there are numerous unsigned editions, it may at first seem random that some prints were selected for this treatment but not others. A likelier explanation is that the estate-stamped prints
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Drawings are on a Tear
Seems to me that drawings are on a tear, much as sculptures have been for the last several years. Oils have long outpaced works on paper and 3-D objects, by more than I would have expected. Of late however there has been a meteoric rise in the value of works in both of these laggards. Three very high-end sculptures have recently been sold (the $100M+ Giacometti, and a Matisse and a Modigliani each topping $40M), which is a big step in correcting this market disparity. (Picasso sculptures have topped out at just under $30M, more because of lack of availability than desirability, I believe.) With drawings, it might be too soon to be conclusive, given the small number of recent
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The Results are In
…but I don’t mean the elections. There were so many astonishing results in the NY auctions this week. For the sake of brevity (and diplomacy), I’ll limit my comments to the two paintings I previewed (below) as well as one particular drawing. Let’s start with the drawing, by far the most riveting result. Le Viol (The Rape, 1940), pen, brush and ink on paper, 38 x 46 cm, was estimated at $4-6M but fetched $13,522,500. This result speaks for itself, though I’m not exactly sure what it says. Except that it breaks the world’s record by a mile for a black-and-white work on paper by Picasso. It also comes in at the heels of the third priciest Picasso work on paper
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In the Eye of the Storm
My hats off to the Yanks! You are truly irrepressible! These have been the toughest days any region of the country has faced since NY was hit by 9/11 and New Orleans and vicinity by Katrina. As a result, the NY Stock Exchange was closed for two days this week, but it took but one day for the art market to resume in full force, at least uptown where the floodwaters were not as severe. Auctions this week went on as scheduled or were delayed by no more than a day. Downtown, where the depredations of the storm were more severe, repairs are already underway. It is truly amazing how quickly you jumped back and resumed business as usual.
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Wuzon da Block?
There are a number of lovely Picasso paintings and works on paper in NY this season, but the one that stands out the most is the above oil painting of Françoise at Christie’s. Although Picasso created quite a number of beautiful drawings and prints of his new lover, his paintings of her were generally not among his best. Tête de femme (1952) is that much more remarkable, because it certainly ranks as one of the finest paintings of Françoise, arguably one of the two best. The other one, La femme-fleur (The Woman-Flower), is in the subject’s private collection. (In the end, it seems Françoise didn’t fare that badly….) Picasso must have been pleased with this painting. The day before he had painted
(Blue) Chips off the Old Block: 2012 Spring Auction Review
Though the year in art has just begun, I feel nonetheless confident in saying that the best buy of the year has already occurred. Le repos (The Repose, 1932), a serene portrait of Marie-Thérèse sleeping on her hands, is the finest artwork I’ve seen all year and one of my very favorite portraits of this model. Smallish (46 cm), yes, but I for one don’t judge artworks by their size, unlike so many of the real estate speculators in the art market. This gem sold at Christie’s NY in May for just under $10M on an estimate of $5-7M. (It last sold in the same room a decade earlier for just over $3M, and before that was bought in at
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A Picasso for $14?
Check out the ABC News story for which yours truly was interviewed, “A Picasso for $14? Ohio Man Buys Print in Thrift Store”. Well, I guess I’m just not satisfied with 15 seconds of fame–I’d like to catapult to 20! So here’s what the kind journalist edited out of my comments. Despite all the problems with the poster, and particularly with the signature, that she quoted in that story, the journalist made it sound like I had concluded the signature was fake and maybe even the linocut. Actuallly, all in all, I imagine that the print is real, the red signature was distorted photographically to give it a pinkish hue, and it is just an unusually unevenly faded but
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