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The Case of the Bought-In Richter — A Market Mystery Solved
15/05/2012
Language English The Case of the Bought-In Richter — A Market Mystery Solved Email Print Save Tweet Pin It More Voicesby Judd Tully, Art+AuctionPublished: May 15, 2012NEW YORK — Gerhard Richter is the current King Kong of the art market and his paintings, especially the abstracts, are in passionate demand, as evidenced by the recent flurry of cash chasing works by the German titan during the contemporary sales held here last week. For example, Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild (798-3),” a large oil on canvas from 1993, fetched a record $21,810,500 (est. $14-18 million) at Christie’s on May 8, while “Abstraktes Bild (768-2),” from 1992, sold for $16,882,500 (est. $8-10 million) at Sotheby’s on May 9. So it was a salesroom shocker when Richter’s smaller “Abstraktes Bild (638-4),” an oil on canvas from 1987, died on the block without a single bid at Phillips de Pury on May 10. (The estimate was $3-5 million). It last sold at auction at Christie’s London back in October 1992 for a now-measly-seeming £28,600 ($48,344), about a decade before his market began its current ascent. Had market ardor faded for Germany’s — and perhaps the world’s — greatest living artist? Hardly, at least according to one Chelsea dealer who had tried to sell the painting back in 2002 for €450,000, the price reflecting the rough patch following 9/11, as well as the fact that, in his words, “Richter was not yet the be all and end all of the art market.” “It was a nice painting,” said the dealer, who insisted on anonymity, “and the price was OK for a painting in good condition.” Doubts, however, surrounded this particular Richter. Beyond some acceptable hairline cracks at the bottom of the canvas, the work had suffered an inch-and-a-quarter tear in the lower-right-hand corner. That’s what killed its prospects. A condition report, unearthed from the 2002 period when it was on private consignment here from a Dusseldorf dealer, opined that the restoration was “professionally repaired sometime within the last ten years” and further described the repair patch as “executed in tissue with synthetic glue,” adding that “there is retouch paint on the painting’s surface corresponding this repair.” Even given the current boom for postwar art, the unblemished regard for Richter, and the kudos generated by the current traveling retrospective, “Panorama,” condition can kill a painting’s chances in a sophisticated market environment. Phillips aggressive estimate probably didn’t help either. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ by Judd Tully, Art+Auction,Market News,Market News Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Slideshow: ARTINFO's Tastemaker: Mickalene Thomas
15/05/2012
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Florence & the Machine Release "Breath of Life" Video
15/05/2012
Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It By AntiquietThe video consists of studio footage, with a few cuts from "Snow White and the Huntsman" interspersed. Share This Story Tweet This Post to Stumble Upon Email to a Friend Read moreMusic Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

The Universe Gives Terrence Malick a Title for His Ben Affleck Movie
15/05/2012
Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It By The A.V. ClubOf course, Terrence Malick's films eschew labels, but if you are the dreary sort who insists on affixing names to them, then this should satisfy your need to assign some futile semblance of order to the ineffable.  Share This Story Tweet This Post to Stumble Upon Email to a Friend   Read moreFilm Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Slideshow: Images from the San Francisco Fine Art Fair and artMRKT San Francisco
15/05/2012
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What Are You Drinking? Vanessa Cinti, Cut in London
15/05/2012
Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It By Los Angeles TimesCinti grew up in her parent’s restaurant near Torino, but her parents encouraged her to do something else with her life. She went to university in Urbino where she studied sociology. After university, she started traveling “and the passion came up again... Share This Story Tweet This Post to Stumble Upon Email to a Friend Read moreFood & Wine Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Mission Buys Failed Marlborough Winery
15/05/2012
Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It By TVNZHawke's Bay-based Mission Estate Winery has bought the 100-hectare Marlborough vineyard owned by the failed Cape Campbell Wines, and has taken on the former owners to manage it. Cable Station was put up for tender in October 2010 by the receivers of the... Share This Story Tweet This Post to Stumble Upon Email to a Friend Read moreFood & Wine Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Martin Scorsese Revs Up for “Silver Ghost,” the Story of Rolls-Royce and a Doomed Love Affair
15/05/2012
Martin Scorsese Revs Up for “Silver Ghost,” the Story of Rolls-Royce and a Doomed Love Affair Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by Graham FullerPublished: May 15, 2012The tragic love affair of Lord John Douglas-Scott-Montagu of Beaulieu and his beloved mistress Eleanor Velasco Thornton is likely to be the “Downton Abbey”-ish drama that will propel the Rolls-Royce movie “Silver Ghost.” Variety reported yesterday that Martin Scorsese will co-produce the movie with the 88-year-old Lord Richard Attenborough and his producer partner Anthony Haas. Miss Thornton (known as “Thorn”) was the woman who posed (“in her nightie,” it is said) for the luxury car’s “Spirit of Ecstasy” mascot designed by the sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes. On December 30, 1915, she and Montagu were traveling from Marseilles to India on SS Persia when it was sunk south of Crete by a German U-boat. Montagu was rescued, but Miss Thornton, 35, who had been his secretary and mistress since 1902, was one of 334 people lost. The couple’s daughter Joan, born in 1903 and immediately given up for adoption to avoid a scandal, met occasionally at the Ritz with her father, who died in 1929; his son Edward Douglas-Scott-Montague from his second marriage would also meet her there. She married a surgeon commander in the Royal Navy and one of their two sons coincidentally worked for Rolls-Royce. The story of the affair was told by the Daily Mail when the film was first announced in 20o8. Edward, the third baron, a Conservative politician and founder of the National Motor Museum, endorses the movie, which will also embrace the founding of Rolls-Royce by Charles Rolls (1877-1910), the aviation and motoring pioneer, and Henry Royce (1863-1933). The latter, a brilliant engineer who had previously manufactured dynamos and electric cranes, began developing cars around 1902. The wealthy Rolls was introduced to Royce in 1904 and was sufficiently impressed by his two-cylinder “Royce” to order a range of two-to-six cylinder versions for his London car showroom. Their first model, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was exhibited at the Paris Salon in December 1904. They formed their company in 1906, the same year in which they produced their first six-cylinder (30 hp) model. On June 2, 1910, Rolls became the first aeronaut to make a non-stop double-crossing of the English Channel, a feat he accomplished in 95 minutes. Forty days later, he was killed when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke during an aeronautical display at Bournemouth. He was the first British airman to be killed flying a powered plane. Royce, who had hitherto resisted building aircraft engines, produced his first one, the 12-cylinder Eagle, for the Admiralty and War Office following the outbreak of war in 1914. It’s no surprise that “Silver Ghost” appeals to Scorsese since it contains elements of “Hugo” (in terms of mechanical pioneering) and “The Aviator” – as well as the automotive vision of his old friend Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.” The script for the movie was written by Jeffrey Caine and Sharman Macdonald, the mother of Keira Knightley – who would disgrace neither a Rolls-Royce nor a nightie were she to play Miss Thornton. Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, Film, Graham Fuller, Martin Scorsese, Rolls-Royce, Hugo, The Aviator Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here

Lucy Skaer at Tulips & Roses
15/05/2012
Artist: Lucy Skaer Venue: Tulips & Roses, Brussels Exhibition Title: Force Justify (Part 1) Date: April 20 – May 19, 2012 Click here to view slideshow Full gallery of images and link available after the jump. Images: Images courtesy of Brussels, Belgium Press Release: Force Justify is the second incarnation of a traveling installation. Based on the allegory of the [...] Read full article here

In Five: Rick Ross Teams With Usher, Sneak Peek at “The Master,” and More Performing Arts News
15/05/2012
In Five: Rick Ross Teams With Usher, Sneak Peek at “The Master,” and More Performing Arts News Language English Email Print Save Tweet Pin It by ARTINFOPublished: May 15, 20121. Rick Ross and Usher have released a song called “Touch’N You.” [Stereogum] 4. This trailer for “Amazing Spider-Man” is four minutes long. [Vulture] 3. The release date of Alfonso Cuarón's “Gravity” has been moved to 2013. [Inside Movies/EW]Related: “Children of Men” Recut as the Darkest, Artiest Sitcom Ever 4. See a few frames of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” [AV Club]Related: “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s Possibly Scientology-Inspired Film, Rumored for Fall 5. Cotchford Farm, where both Brian Jones died and “Winnie the Pooh” was written, is up for sale. [Telegraph] Previously: Idris Elba, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, Louis C.K., and Demi Lovato Like what you see? Sign up for our DAILY NEWSLETTER and get our best stories delivered to your inbox. Go to top ↑ Performing Arts, Columnist, In Five, Rick Ross, Usher, Amazing Spider-Man, Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron, The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson, Brian Jones Share: Tweet Email to a Friend Read full article here