CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2017
On the Auction Block
In a review in next week’s New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl addresses the fanfare surrounding the record-breaking auction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which he regards with scorn. “The sale transferred a bragging right,” he says. He also writes on a Michelangelo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an Edvard Munch show at the Met Breuer. [The New Yorker]
A Rose Period Pablo Picasso painting worth an estimated $70 million is expected to lead a Christie’s sale of works from David Rockefeller’s collection, ARTnews reported earlier this morning. But that’s not the only major work hitting the auction block at the sale, which is slated to take place this coming spring. A painting by Henri Matisse will set a new record if it hits its estimate of $50 million. [ARTnews]
Openings and Reopenings
With the University of California, Irvine planning to build a Museum and Institute of California Art, Christopher Knight addresses the complicated history, or lack thereof, of art from the Golden State in a new piece in the Los Angeles Times. He also proposes some Los Angeles–based architecture firms that could work on the museum. [Los Angeles Times]
The Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson will relocate from Paris’s Montparnasse area to the city’s Marais neighborhood, the Art Newspaper reports. Along with the move comes a new appointment: Françoise Hébel, formerly the director of Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, who will now be the foundation’s managing director. [The Art Newspaper]
The Berkshire Museum Saga
Three people want the Massachusetts Appeals Court to decide whether they have the right to stop a sale of works from the Berkshire Museum’s collection, the Berkshire Eagle reports. Their request had already been denied once when the sale—which has since been postponed until at least December 11—was still scheduled to take place on November 13. [The Berkshire Eagle]
For a broad look at this ongoing case, consult Andrew Russeth’s article for the forthcoming Winter 2018 issue of ARTnews. “The deaccessioning question cuts to core issues about the public trust and nonprofit stewardship,” Russeth writes. [ARTnews]
Fire
A fire broke out yesterday at the Santander Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Spain, Artnet News reports. Fortunately, no museum staff and no artworks in its collection were harmed in the blaze. [Artnet News]
The Talent
According to a press release, Ricco/Maresca cofounder and co-director Roger Ricco is splitting with the New York gallery, “to live my next stage of life,” he wrote. Frank Maresca will stay on with the gallery as director. [Press Release]
An announcement from yesterday revealed that Nasher Museum of Art curator of academic initiatives Marianne Eileen Wardle will now be the director of the University of Wyoming Art Museum. She will begin at the museum in late January. [Press Release]
Dogs
Gizmodo reports that archaeologists have found 8,000-year-old cave drawings of dogs wearing leashes in Saudi Arabia. Those are some very old, very good boys. [Gizmodo]