Celebrity Life

The Baltimore Museum of Art's controversial proposal to auction three works by Clyfford Still, Brice Marden and Andy Warhol from its collections, to raise funds to diversify and maintain its collections, has been shelved.

The practice, commonly called "deaccessioning," has provoked strong reactions and much debate in the last few months.

"1957-G" by Clyfford Still was estimated to sell for US$12 million to US$18 million (between HK$93 million and HK$139.5 million) while Brice Marden's "3" was expected at US$15 million (HK$11.6 million) at a sale at Sotheby's. Andy Warhol's monumental "The Last Supper" was expected to fetch US$40 million (HK$310 million) at a private sale.

The sale of these pieces, which could potentially have generated US$65 million (HK$503.8 million), would have permitted the Baltimore Museum of Art to "rebalance" its collections, adding more works by women and artists of colour. The American museum's "Endowment for the Future" financial plan would also have allowed it to fund the research, conservation, documentation and exhibition costs for these new works, as well as increase the salaries of employees and offer longer opening hours.

[caption id="attachment_211812" align="aligncenter" width="800"] 1957-G by Clyfford Still was originally set to be auctioned as part of the "Endowment for the Future" plan by the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Image: Sotheby's)[/caption]

"We believe unequivocally that museums exist to serve their communities through experiences with art and artists. We firmly believe that museums and their collections have been built on structures that we must work, through bold and tangible action, to reckon with, modify, and reimagine as structures that will meet the demands of the future," said the museum in a statement.

The board of trustees and industry group the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), however, were unconvinced. Two Baltimore Museum of Art board members rescinded US$50 million (HK$387.5 million) in pledged donations, while the AAMD appeared to reverse the temporary guidelines it had issued in April to help cultural institutions weather the pandemic. These directives had relaxed the rules about deaccessioning to permit US museums to sell certain works to finance the care of their permanent collections.

"I recognise that many of our institutions have long-term needs — or ambitious goals — that could be supported, in part, by taking advantage of these resolutions to sell art. But however serious those long-term needs or meritorious those goals, the current position of AAMD is that the funds for those must not come from the sale of deaccessioned art," said Brent Benjamin, president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and the director of the St. Louis Art Museum, in an October 27 letter.

[caption id="attachment_211811" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Baltimore Museum of Art had hoped to receive up to US$65 million from the sale of the three works at Sotheby's. (Image: Jon Bilous/ Shutterstock)[/caption]

While this official statement did not explicitly mention the BMA, opponents of the sale of the Still, Marden and Warhol works seized upon it as proof that the museum's plans were in violation of AAMD directives.

The Baltimore Museum of Art isn't the only US cultural institution contemplating letting go of some of its possessions in response to the pandemic. The Brooklyn Museum recently auctioned off a dozen pieces from its collection at Christie's, hoping to receive up to US$40 million (HK$310 million) to finance the upkeep of its collections. Among them was Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Lucretia" portrait, which surpassed its initial estimation of US$1.8 million to see the hammer fall at US$5 million (HK$37.8 million).

(Main and featured image: Jon Bilous/ Shutterstock)

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Just as its products help skin resist the ravages of time, La Prairie will support the Swiss museum’s efforts to protect and conserve paintings by Piet Mondrian.

The link between La Prairie and the art world has stood strong for as long as the brand has been creating skincare products, its approach to the science of beauty heavily influenced by the spirit espoused by artists – explorative, adventurous, free-spirited and boundary-breaking.

And in an era in which a house’s affiliations speak as loudly as the quality of its wares, La Prairie has sought to deepen and strengthen its connection to society via earnest support of causes that resonate with its own home values, focusing on areas such as Swissness, Science, and Art and Culture.

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Art patronage is a relationship that has existed through all ages, and La Prairie is proud to honour and continue that tradition via a partnership with Fondation Beyeler that will begin this year and continue until 2022.

Just as its exceptional skincare products seek to restore youthful radiance to complexions around the world, La Prairie has sought to reestablish the glory of a series of Piet Mondrian works that sit in the collection of the Fondation Beyeler. After all, the Dutch painter – with his minimalist approach and dedication to purity and precision – has long been an influence for the house, whose packaging exhibits a similar starkness and clarity of vision.

[gallery ids="211724,211725,211726,211727,211728,211729,211730,211731,211732,211733,211734,211735,211736,211737,211738,211739,211740,211741,211742,211743,211744,211745,211746,211747,211748"]

The comprehensive research and conservation project will see the restoration of four paintings: Tableau No. I; Composition with Yellow and Blue; Composition with Double Line and Blue; Lozenge Composition with Eight Lines and Red, which were created between 1921 and 1938 and are among the painter’s most iconic works.

Like the science of beauty, art conservation is deceptively simple – in reality, it is a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary process that is personal to each work, and involves not simply reversing the ravages of time, but anticipating future damage and taking steps to mitigate this, so that the visual intention of the artist can be preserved throughout the ages.

[gallery ids="211752,211750,211749,211751"]

Through its patronage of these processes, La Prairie hopes to reinforce its connection to the community, going on a journey through the past and towards a future that reveals the true timelessness of beauty.

laprairie.com

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The painter's Abstraktes Bild (649-2) painting recently sold for US$27.7 million at Sotheby's "Contemporary Art" sale.

The post German artist Gerhard Richter shakes up the auction market in Asia appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

The painter's Abstraktes Bild (649-2) painting recently sold for US$27.7 million at Sotheby's "Contemporary Art" sale.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

Has the machine surpassed its master?

While prices for Banksy originals climb ever higher, a new AI has been programmed to create artworks that resemble those by the famous British street artist himself. So much so that some art collectors are already snapping up the GANksy creations.

While the works leave no doubt as to the identity of the artist they take inspiration from, the creator of the software, Matt Round, refrains from explicitly mentioning Banksy's name, to avoid any legal complications. The AI software was trained using a bank of hundreds of images of street art, some of which were probably Banksy's works, and was launched in September 2020. You can view a full gallery here.

"All of GANksy's works are original creations derived from its understanding of shape, form and texture. GANksy wants to be put into a robot body so it can spray paint the entire planet," said Round in a statement on his website.

[caption id="attachment_211600" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A new AI called GANksy is offering over 250 works of art for sale online. (Image: GANKsy and VoleWTF)[/caption]

Over 250 works by GANksy are for sale in the form of the exclusive ownership of a GANksy-signed digital file, with prices starting at £1 (HK$10.10) and rising by £1 with every purchase. As of now, according to Round's website, 91 pieces have already found a buyer.

These prices are a far cry from those that Banksy's works routinely fetch; many sell for several million euros. Last week, "Show me the Monet," Banksy's reimagining of a Claude Monet painting, saw the hammer fall at £7.6 million (HK$76.7 million) at Sotheby's London. The piece did not, however, beat the record set by the artist's "Devolved Parliament," which sailed past its initial estimation of £2 million (HK$20.2 million) to sell for £9.9 million (HK$99.9 million) at a previous Sotheby's auction in 2019.

[caption id="attachment_211601" align="alignnone" width="535"] Priest by GANKsy. (Image: GANKsy and VoleWTF)[/caption]

Works generated by AI have been well received at auction in the last few years. Among them is Paris-based arts collective Obvious's "Portrait of Edmond Belamy," which took the art market by surprise when it sold for $432,500 (approximately €365,970) in October 2018 at Christie's -- sixty times its low base estimation of $7000.

Earlier this year, the Bucharest International Biennial for Contemporary Art announced that the chief curator for its 10th edition, set to take place in 2022, will be an AI programme named Jarvis. Jarvis will be trained over two years to use deep learning to gather information on curatorial practices, as well as explore the databases of museums, universities and galleries to select artists and creators who will participate in the Bucharest Biennale. The chosen artists will exhibit their work in a virtual-reality gallery, according to the AI system's creators, Vienna-based studio Spinnwerk.

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Uncertain times call for unorthodox ideas.

Perrotin Gallery is collaborating with Paris' Grand Palais for a giant scavenger hunt, which will take place October 24 and 25. The rules are simple: Participants have to locate 20 artworks by contemporary artists that have been hidden around the empty nave of the Palais. Even more surprisingly, they can take home any artwork that they have found.

Participants will go on the hunt for works that 20 international artists on Perrotin's rooster have donated for the event. Among them are Takashi Murakami, JR, Daniel Arsham, Emily Mae Smith, Laurent Grasso, Iván Argote,Aya Takanoand Bharti Kher.

"Since we don't know where we are going, it is almost as if anything is possible: immense, adventurous, and unapologetic projects make us feel connected to the world in this moment...Works of art are more precious than ever, which is why it is important to offer them to as many people as possible," art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin said in a statement.

The idea for "Wanted!" stems from a project by Elmgreen & Dragset organized in September 2016 by Perrotin Gallery. The Berlin-based artist duo staged an art fair booth in the empty nave of the Grand Palais a month before the opening of the FIAC contemporary art fair.

The 2020 edition of the Parisian event was recently canceled in reaction to a surge in coronavirus cases in France.

In order to comply with social-distancing guidelines, the 13,500 square-metre nave of the glass-roofed Grand Palais, which is also known as a venue for Chanel runway shows, will be filled to 20 percent capacity, and face masks will be compulsory during the entire scavenger hunt.

"Like many... works of art are usually not within my grasp, and I cannot have everything that I see," Chris Dercon, president of the Grand Palais, said in a statement.

"With 'Wanted!', the value of the work depends on the effort made by the visitors. Indeed, the true love of art is often a matter of chance: you often find what you were not really looking for. And it's also true that in many public and private collections, works of art are hidden."

(Main and featured image: Takashi Murakami /Kaikai Kiki/ Perrotin Gallery)

The post Take Home Works by Takashi Murakami and More Artists at This Parisian Gallery’s Scavenger Hunt appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

A series of items once owned by the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, are set to go under the hammer on October 23 in an online sale held by the Guernsey's auction house.

The "Treasures Once Owned by Michael Jackson" sale offers fans and art enthusiasts a collection of 80 lots, including artworks that once adorned Neverland, the late singer's vast Californian ranch and private theme park.

Highlights include bronze sculptures, malachite candelabras and the Jackson 5's first contract with Steeltown Records, signed by Joseph Jackson.

[caption id="attachment_211358" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A Peter Pan bronze sculpture, which used to be displayed in Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch. (Image: Guernsey's Auctions)[/caption]

Items in the sale include a bronze statue of Peter Pan and a wooden model of Captain Hook's ship, both estimated to fetch US$30,000 to US$40,000. The latter was gifted to Michael Jackson by the actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Art enthusiasts will also be able to bid for a rare bronze cast of "Gloria Victis" by the French sculptor and painter, Antonin Mercié, estimated to fetch US$75,000 to US$85,000. Other casts of the 1874 statue are currently in collections held by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

[caption id="attachment_211357" align="aligncenter" width="820"] The Jackson 5's first label contract. (Image: Guernsey's Auctions)[/caption]

The "Treasures Once Owned by Michael Jackson" auction also includes collector's items and memorabilia from the King of Pop's vast musical career, such as the first contract between the Jackson 5 band and the Steeltown Records label. This historic document, signed by Joe Jackson, is expected to fetch US$50,000 to US$100,000. Similarly, an acetate disc of the Jackson 5's first singles could sell for US$10,000 to US$20,000.

According to Artnet News, certain lots in the auction were consigned by Richard LaPointe, who acquired them following a lengthy legal battle with Julien's Auctions and the Jackson estate. The collector, based in Quebec, Canada, had bid on various objects belonging to Michael Jackson that Julien's Auctions planned to sell between April 22 and 25, 2009.

[caption id="attachment_211356" align="aligncenter" width="612"] The Jackson 5's first acetate pressing of singles. (Image: Guernsey's Auctions)[/caption]

This major sale — which could have fetched between US$15 and US$20 million at Julien's Auctions — was ultimately cancelled at the last minute on the request of Michael Jackson's production company, MJJ Productions.

"Now, more than a decade later, the collector has decided to share Michael's cherished items with the world
and give fans the chance to own a piece of the King of Pop's legacy," said Guernsey's Auctions in a press release.

(All images: Guernsey's Auctions)

The post Michael Jackson’s Art Collection Goes Under the Hammer appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Despite the Renaissance artist’s fame, not everyone in Hong Kong has heard of Sandro Botticelli.

That, however, is set to change this month, with the opening of an exhibition of 42 works by Botticelli and other masters at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the launch of a four-month long programme of activities by First Initiative Foundation (FIF) in partnership with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Consulate General of Italy and a host of others. 

As the community partner for the exhibition, whose official title is The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Botticelli and His Times – Masterworks from the Uffizi, FIF has planned a series of workshops and activities designed to encourage the public to learn more about early Renaissance art – and to visit museums and galleries in general.

[caption id="attachment_211138" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Amanda Cheung is the managing director of First Initiative Foundation.[/caption]

FIF managing director Amanda Cheung, whose mother Michelle Ong set up the foundation almost 10 years ago as a way of supporting Hong Kong’s creative community, says that the aim is “to make this exhibition very inclusive and family friendly. FIF is known for bringing unique and accessible educational and community outreach programmes to Hong Kong and we’re beyond excited to devise this special hands-on programme to complement this exhibition.”

[caption id="attachment_211152" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Sandro Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi.[/caption]

Through a lengthy programme of activities that it’s put together, FIF hopes to empower the public to approach art by giving them the tools that provide a new lens through which they can learn to appreciate the beauty of everyday life. “The three key messages that I hope to foster and encourage,” says Cheung, “are that museums are for everyone, that art can be fun and easy to understand, and that it’s everywhere. I did a lot of research on the gap between art and the community and, after narrowing down my vision and identifying the key messages of the outreach, I enlisted help and expertise from the fields of art, education and public relations, who are all friends of FIF. I also put together a young committee consisting of a handful of my peers, so I can run ideas by them as well as make sure that we have diversity and different perspectives.” 

[caption id="attachment_211141" align="aligncenter" width="243"] Francesco Botticini - Madonna in adoration of the Child with Saint John and five angels[/caption]

In total, Cheung and the FIF team have devised various community outreach initiatives, the first being fun and accessible guided tours for visitors to the exhibition. Second, FIF is offering a programme of weekend workshops for the duration of the exhibition, which provide fun, interactive and engaging activities for visitors of all ages that range from coding and science-meets-art workshops for children and parents, to cocktail-mixing for adults – and all with themes or topics linking back to the exhibition. As well as the works of art themselves, the exhibition also features a wall of cards that provide a unique, role-playing unaccompanied guide. Visitors can pick the most appropriate character that matches their mood, with each providing a specially designed itinerary.

Beyond the museum, FIF has also created an illustrated storybook, an activity book and an audio book, as well as soft toys depicting two fictional characters – Sandro, a lucky boar from Italy and Trio, a three-legged toad from Hong Kong. Together, the pair work to solve a mystery that takes in a disgruntled portrait, museum magic and even delicious local cuisine. Based on the exhibition, the charming and educational story touches upon the importance of teamwork, exploration, curiosity and friendship, and will be read aloud to the public during community reading sessions.

[caption id="attachment_211142" align="aligncenter" width="174"] Sandro Botticelli - Madonna and Child.[/caption]

Moreover, film industry all-rounder Andrew Lau has produced a documentary that follows the journey of the Renaissance paintings from the walls of the Uffizi to Hong Kong for this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. Directed by Jessey Tsang, the film offers an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse of the knowledge and expertise necessary, as well as the immense amount of work involved, in putting together a large-scale international exhibition such as this. The film, which is to be screened as inflight entertainment by Cathay Pacific, stresses the importance of cooperation, as well as highlighting Hong Kong’s own talent. 

From curation to design concept to production, each phase of putting together this exhibition has created a building block for the next stage, leading to the opening  at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in late October.

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