The Amon Carter Museum of American Art acquires The Caves (1869) by Robert Seldon Duncanson. The painting, oil on canvas, was previously owned by Cincinnati abolitionist Richard Sutton Rust and is now on display in Fort Worth with access beginning May 4. Also on view are watercolors by Adrien Mayers and works by Romare Bearden and Sedrick Huckaby, with Bearden featured in a related summer exhibition.
The Sotheby’s sale featured works by Cézanne and Modigliani, among others, with strong bidding from international collectors. Cézanne’s Les Pommes sold for $37 million (about $41.6 million with fees) and Modigliani’s Amazone was also highlighted. The auction was part of a broader spring Impressionist and Modern Art sale that exceeded expectations.
The Getty Museum has acquired two Old Masters, including a rare Rembrandt self-portrait from around 1628 and a Canaletto scene of Venice from around 1738, for undisclosed prices. The Rembrandt was previously auctioned in England in 2007 and valued by experts in the tens of millions of dollars; prices may be revealed when the museum applies for an export license. Timothy Potts, Getty Museum director, commented on adding the painting to the collection and its significance.
The Getty Museum announced the acquisition of two European paintings: a rediscovered Rembrandt self-portrait and a Grand Canal view by Canaletto. The entries include remarks by director Timothy Potts about strengthening the collection of early Rembrandts and Italian views.
The article discusses Jackson Pollock, Number 19, 1948, which sold for a hammer price of $52 million ($58,363,750 with buyer’s premium). It also notes Christie’s overall contemporary sale total of $495,021,500, a record, and mentions other works including Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Dustheads selling for $43.5 million.
Barnett Newman’s painting sold for $43.8 million in New York, an artist record, at a Sotheby’s contemporary art auction that totaled $293.6 million. Gerhard Richter’s photo-painting “Domplatz, Mailand” brought in $37.1 million at the same sale. A Yves Klein piece, “Untitled Blue Sponge Sculpture,” sold for $22 million.
Barnett Newman’s Onement VI sold for $43.8 million at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction, a record for the artist. The total haul was $293.6 million, above the $283.9 million estimate; Francis Bacon’s Study for Portrait of P.L. did not receive any bids.
Gerhard Richter’s 1968 painting Domplatz, Mailand sold for $37m (£24m) at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new record for a living artist. The work was bought by Donald Bryant and previously hung with the Hyatt hotel group; the sale followed Richter’s 2012 record in London for Abstraktes Bild owned by Eric Clapton.
Christie’s May 2013 Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York achieved $495,021,500 with a 94% sell-through rate. The event featured works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean‑Michel Basquiat, with 16 new world auction records set and several top prices cited such as Pollock’s Number 19, 1948 at $58.3 million and Lichtenstein’s Woman with Flowered Hat at $56 million.
The New York Times reports that Christie’s postwar and contemporary art sale in Rockefeller Center totaled $495 million, the highest art auction sales figure. The sale featured 12 artists including Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, with Pollock’s No. 19, 1948 fetching $58.3 million.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Dustheads sold at Christie’s for $48.8m, setting a new world record and surpassing the previous record of $26.4m. The seven-foot-tall canvas, depicting skull-like faces, came from the collection of Tiqui Atencio and was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.
Christie’s reported a total of $495,021,500 for its Contemporary art auction, with 94% of lots sold. The sale featured Pollock’s Number 19, 1948 and Jean-Michel Basquiat works leading the results, including a Basquiat piece that set a record at $48.8m, and Roy Lichtenstein’s Woman with flowered hat at $56.1m.
John Constable's 1831 painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows was acquired by Tate Britain for £23.1m after previously being on loan to the National Gallery for 30 years. The work was secured through grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund, The Manton Foundation and Tate Members, and will tour the UK after a spell at Tate Britain.
John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) has been secured for the British public at £23.1 million with tax concessions, equivalent to an open market sale of £40 million. The acquisition is part of the Aspire partnership with Tate Britain and five national/regional galleries, enabling the painting to be viewable across the UK.
Zhang Daqian, the so-called Picasso of the East, saw a set of four large Zhang Daqian scrolls titled Lotus sell for HK$80.51 million at Christie’s Hong Kong; the Sotheby’s sale of 24 works titled A Master’s Secrets Unveiled grossed HK$330 million, with Daoist Goddess Playing Panpipe fetching HK$74 million.
Ellsworth Kelly, Black Form II, 2012, acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from Matthew Marks Gallery; the piece is an aluminium wall sculpture described as resembling a bulbous capital C and measures seven feet by six feet. The acquisition is part of a year featuring special presentations by nine museums including MoMA and Tate Modern to celebrate Kelly’s 90th birthday.
A dispatch from the 2013 Art Basel Hong Kong edition describes the international mobility of Chinese contemporary artists and the fair’s role as a gathering point for that community.