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A week after the spring season closed at $1.8B, a different Pollock tells a different story — one that didn't sell. This week we read the top of the market: a stalled private sale, a single-owner collection coming to Christie's, the Da Vinci archive reunited, and a busy week for museums.
Good morning. It's Tuesday, June the ninth. I'm Sharon, and this
is Art Market from ALT/FNDATA — a weekly look at the global art
market within the context of the broader economy.
Last week we closed the spring season at $1.8 billion across the
New York sales, led by a Jackson Pollock at $181 million. This
week, a different Pollock did not sell. Here is the picture.
On June 2, Sotheby's in New York attempted a private sale of
Pollock's "Number 19, 1951," an oil-and-enamel work. According to
Artforum, the sale failed to launch. The painting is owned by
dealer Arne Glimcher and was priced at around $50 million. It did
not find a buyer.
The result sits against a strong May season. Those headline
totals were carried by a small number of guaranteed trophy lots.
A privately marketed Pollock from a leading dealer, stalling at
$50 million, is a direct read on demand at the top of the market.
It also lands in an active debate about the gallery model. Artnet
reported last week that Pace Gallery is cutting roughly 50 artists
from its roster, and that chief executive Marc Glimcher called the
mega-gallery model "unfixable." Artnet is now asking whether that
model is collapsing, and reports that Asia's art market is
recalibrating, with India gaining share.
The pressure in this market is concentrated at the top — the
eight-figure trophy tier and the mega-galleries built to sell it.
Our second story is one of the largest public art commissions in
the country. The Obama Presidential Center opens in late June in
Jackson Park, on Chicago's South Side. The $850 million campus,
designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, is built as a
community center as much as a presidential library — with a
museum tower, nicknamed the "Obamalisk," alongside an
NBA-regulation basketball court, a branch of the Chicago Public
Library, a playground, and public gardens.
The art program is substantial: more than 28 commissioned
contemporary works. Among them, according to Hyperallergic, are
Mark Bradford's "City of the Big Shoulders," a three-story
painting of Chicago; Jack Pierson's "HOPE," in marquee letters at
the museum entrance; and Idris Khan's "Sky of Hope," a text
installation drawn from President Obama's 2015 Selma speech.
There is also a tapestry by Nick Cave and Marie Watt blending
Indigenous and Black community histories, and works by Carrie Mae
Weems, Jenny Holzer, Theaster Gates, Lorna Simpson, and Maya Lin.
The curatorial team is led by Virginia Shore, Crystal Moten, and
Louise Bernard.
The center is also drawing scrutiny. Hyperallergic notes concern
on the South Side over gentrification — rising rents and the
displacement of long-term residents — and the open question of
whether the campus will meet its commitments to the surrounding
community.
Christie's has announced a single-owner collection coming to
market: outstanding works from the Collection of the Honorable
Patrick and Lady Amabel Lindsay, to be offered across six
specialist sales between June and October.
Single-owner collections with clear provenance have continued to
draw competitive bidding through the year, even as the open
trophy market has softened.
A new online platform, Leonardotheka, launched this week. For the
first time in more than 400 years, it reunites Leonardo da Vinci's
"Codex Atlanticus" with a second collection of his writings and
drawings, digitally.
The institutions involved are retaining intellectual ownership of
the digital reconstruction. As scholarship and access move online,
control of the digital rights to cultural assets is becoming a
distinct question, and museums are moving to keep that value
in-house.
Several museum developments this week.
In Mexico City, the Museo Dolores Olmedo has reopened after a
six-year closure, during which plans were floated to relocate its
holdings. The museum holds the world's largest collection of
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera works. Kahlo's work rarely comes to
auction, so a flagship public collection returning online
refreshes scholarship and attention around her market.
In Cincinnati, the new FotoFocus Center has opened, giving the
city's photography biennial a permanent home, according to The
Art Newspaper.
And in Italy, art workers have announced a nationwide strike.
From Venice, adviser Thomas Rom has shared his selections from
this year's Biennale, from the main exhibition to the collateral
shows.
Finally, the artist Julio Le Parc has died in Paris on May 30, at
the age of 97. The Franco-Argentinian was a pioneer of kinetic
and Op art, and the last surviving co-founding member of the
Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel.
Today in New York, Sotheby's holds the Art and Design sale of the
Barbara Gladstone Collection, the estate of the late gallerist.
And press accreditation for Art Basel is open this week, ahead of
the fair's June 18th start.
That is Art Market for Tuesday, June the ninth.
I'm Sharon, from ALT/FNDATA. Closing Price is this evening at five
PM Eastern, and Open Bid returns tomorrow morning at six.
