Henri Matisse, Léda et le cygne (1944-46). Courtesy Sotheby’s.

$120 Million Pritzker Collection Goes to Sotheby’s in New York

A collection of works by some of the key artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, from the holdings of major Chicago collectors Jay and Cindy Pritzker, will be among the artworks included at Sotheby’s inaugural marquee Impressionist and Modern sale at its new Madison Avenue home this November.

Via Artnet

Leaner, nimbler and more discreet: why some art advisory firms are growing in a downturn

While the major auction houses have shed staff amid a bearish market since the pandemic, a gaggle of “super advisories” has been born, some founded by former top-level auction rainmakers with decades of experience and bulging address books.

Without the vast overheads of auction houses and galleries, the leaner, nimbler, more discreet advisory model chimes with a cautious market. “Many of us advisors have thought, what about a Super Advisory firm: taking five specialists from different departments in the auction houses and putting them to work without the overheads,” says Josh Baer, author of the Baer Faxt trade newsletter and himself an art adviser. “The biggest cost for an art adviser is travel and you can easily stop that. It just makes sense that they could be more efficient and competitive.”

Via The Art Newspaper

Long-Lost Painting By Rubens From 1613 Found in Paris Mansion by French Auctioneer

A long-lost, dramatic painting of Jesus Christ‘s crucifixion by 17th century Flemish master painter Peter Paul Rubens was found in a mansion in Paris, and will be auctioned this fall.

Christ on the cross (1613) was discovered by French auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat last September, while preparing to selling the private residence in the city’s 6th district, according to AFP, which first reported the news.

Osenat said the large Baroque painting measuring 42 by 29 inches was “a true profession of faith and a favourite subject for Rubens, a protestant who converted to Catholicism”.

Via ARTnews

In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths

Public sculpture has been under fire in recent years, from the politics of portraiture to a wild hypothesis that a man is living inside Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” (2006) — nicknamed “The Bean” — in Chicago.

One genre that seems to have navigated the culture and conspiracy wars without much tumult is sculpture popular with children. The beloved José de Creeft’s “Alice in Wonderland” (1959) in Central Park remains an all-ages favorite, while Greg Wyatt’s “Peace Fountain” (1985) at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, with its cavalcade of mythical creatures, has become a more recent classic.

I thought of these when I saw Jeffrey Gibson’s new sculptures on the Fifth Avenue facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Via NYT