Henri Gervex painted Yachting in the Archipelago in 1898, while a guest on board the magnificent yacht, Namouna, belonging to Gordon Bennett, the owner of the New York Herald and an international media entrepreneur. Bennett, who is probably depicted as the gentleman in white suit, leaning against the cabin in the posture of Captain of his vessel, moved frequently between New York and Paris.
As we had reported last June on the passing of the artist Christo at age 84, it was not unexpected that an auction sale might ensue offering art and other belongings from his estate. And sure enough such a sale took place this month at Sotheby’s with the alluring title “Unwrapped: The Hidden World of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” As the auction houses love to brand them, here was truly an iconic collection.
Between 1985 and 1989 I acquired a group of paintings from Rozhdestvensky from the 1920s and 30s. In 1985, I bought several works from what one might call his female series: Seated Woman with a Jug, Portrait of a Woman in Red, Girl in a Red Beret, which he said was one of his very last paintings.
—Dr. Valentina Jerlitsyna-Zharskaya, July 2020
This reminiscence found in a catalogue note for a sale of Russian Art that took place recently at Sotheby’s in London riveted my attention. I might have ignored it—had the prices achieved for the paintings cited not been so shocking.
Thinking about the many novel ways in which the art market is rebuilding and reinventing itself these days, I am reminded of the 1948 RKO comedy “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,” starring Myrna Loy and Cary Grant. It’s a whimsical, hilarious tale of resilience in the face of never-ending challenges and setbacks.
Before watching the sale online this morning at Christie’s of Impressionist and Modern Art, which included a painting by Boudin we were selling for a New York family, I found myself reminiscing. Not so much about the painting—a gorgeous French port scene dated 1890—but rather of the family itself. For while we had sold many works for them in years past—furniture and decorations, Russian art, maritime memorabilia as well as Impressionist and Contemporary paintings—this was the very last item remaining in the collection.
Settled into a new reality, one in which cocktail receptions, crowds and people waving paddles in a packed saleroom all seem a thing of the past, the art market has shown surprising resilience and ingenuity. As we expected in developments over the summer, big changes were coming.
“As he lay battling for his life, after testing positive for Covid-19 this spring, the board used his condition for their own advantage, and voted while he was incapacitated to permanently close the New York gallery.”
One cannot say that the past few months have lacked drama in the art market, despite the cancellations, closures and shut-downs across its entire landscape. For word has now filtered out that the venerable Marlborough Gallery, which opened in London in 1946 and has enjoyed decades of prominence and power, has now shuttered its rooms on West 57th Street in New York.
“A new chapter opened in the most breathlessly followed art-world scandal of the past year as American federal agents arrested fugitive dealer Inigo Philbrick on the Pacific island of Vanuatu.”
June 18th, 2020: The above flash from Artnet News, on a crime story that has been swirling for months, showcased an alluring but obscure destination. For Vanuatu is a chain of islands in the South Pacific, some 500 miles west of Fiji and far, far removed from the art world. But it is where the infamous American dealer Inigo Philbrick took refuge from his many creditors and claimants, and where he was finally arrested this past weekend. Soon he may be transferred to another, less enchanting island—the dreaded Rikers—to await his fate.
News this week from Sotheby’s of their “cross-category” evening sale in London on July 28th showcasing an early Rembrandt oil painting brought signs of renewed activity in the salerooms. And what better name to put front and center at this moment, like a battle shield against the many grim adversities roiling the art market in 2020, than Rembrandt, the gold standard of Dutch old masters.
“All our projects are totally irrational, totally useless. Nobody needs them. The world can live without them.”
On the website for the artist Christo, who died this past week at age 84, one takes a dazzling tour through videos and photographs of the many projects he dreamed up in his long career. One early, unrealized project of 1964 caught my attention, for it summed up Christo’s fearless, poetic vision.