Dear Friends,
June was a full month for the gallery. We welcomed two new additions to the gallery family. Alex Benrimon, a recent graduate of Robert H. Smith School of Business, became Director of Sales in June, and Dustin Stein and his wife Jodi Siegel-Stein gave birth to their first son, Max Harper Stein on June 20.
June also included the opening of the Venice Biennale, Art Basel, the London auction season and lots of art news.
We hope everyone has an enjoyable summer.
Very truly yours,
David Benrimon |
Alexander Melamid, a Russian born artist and Social Realist, who worked with Vitaly Komar for many years, has revealed his latest project the “Art Healing Ministry”. Located in New York City’s SoHo, the “Art Healing Ministry” is a clinic of sorts where ailments of the mind and body can be treated by interacting with fine art. What would a “healing clinic” be without items for purchase such as candles, shoe insoles and prayer cards all with images of artistic masterpieces on them? Melamid diagnoses each patient with a different artist that will cure their ailment, charging $125 for a twenty minute session. Melamid’s project simultaneously explores the value of art in today’s culture while also cynically commenting on society’s latest obsession with health, healing and holistic goods.
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| NYC Latin American Sales Shatter Records |
Sotheby’s and Christie’s Latin American sales took place at the end of May, and many artists set new sales records. Fernando Botero stole the show at Sotheby’s, with many of his works selling for over $1M. Botero’s “Una Familia” was the most successful lot from the two day sale, selling at $1.4M. The bidding on Botero at Sotheby’s two day sale is a testament to art collector’s ongoing love of the Columbian artist. No less than $1.2M was for paid for Botero’s monumental sculptures.
At Christie’s Miguel Covarrubias’ “Ofrecimiento de Frutas al Templo” sold for over three times the estimate at just over $1M becoming the highest paid work by the artist. |
| Impressionist and Modern Auctions |
The art market is lamenting the lack of quality Impressionist materials available for purchase. Christie’s was lucky enough to land the Beyeler estate’s works, which included what was thought to be some jems. However, the highlight of the night, Monet’s “Nympheas” from 1914-1917, and two other lots failed to sell. Of the 92 lots during the marathon sale, 40 of them came from Beyeler and the total for the sale was a healthy $227M (£140M).
At Sotheby’s the sale of just 32 out of 35 lots brought in $157M (£97M). The top lot of the evening was the Schiele landscape, that was being de-accessioned by the Leopold museum because they purchased “Portrait of Wally” after a legal court restituted “Wally” to it's Jewish heirs. The 1914 Schiele entitled “Houses with Laundry (Suburb II)” sold for $40M (£24.7M), including commissions. The evening included a new record for a Tamara de Lempicka work in US dollars, but not in Euros. “La Dormeuse”, a 1930 canvas measuring approximately 15 by 18 inches brought in $6.6M (£4M), despite the just a £2.2-3.2M.
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| Three Masterpieces Discovered After Being Wrongly Attributed |
Philip Mould, a British art dealer and antique specialist, has recently identified three paintings dismissed as anonymous and overlooked at auctions as the work of 17th century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. Mould explains that while art dealers are always keeping an eye out for misidentified works at auction, he was surprised to find so many works by van Dyck mislabeled. After conducting extensive research, Mould realized that the mislabeling had greatly undervalued each painting, so he took a chance at auction and then had each piece properly cleaned and restored to reveal the true maker. Mould blames the mislabeling on a lack of research at the auction houses, as his own research uncovered not only scholarly articles and photographs from the early 1900’s, but also catalogued sales at Christie’s that “attributed” the work to van Dyck. Each work was also poorly preserved, covered in dirt and discolored varnishes, making it impossible to see the details of van Dyck’s exemplary brushstrokes. |
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Hot is Not-So-Hot
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The New York Times recently published a revealing graphic that illustrates the less than ideal trend of many “Hot” contemporary artists in today’s market, especially those artists that were highly prized in the 1980s.
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Steve Martin Gets Duped |
In 2004 Steve Martin purchased what was believed to be a “Landscape with Horses” by German-Dutch Modernist Heinrich Campendonk for $850,000. After selling the painting at a loss in 2006 it has been determined that the painting was a forged work. The comedian took to Twitter shortly after the story broke, tweeting: "I was also once duped by a German vegetarian salad that was loaded with ham."
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Jerry Saltz on American Presence at the Venice Biennale
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Jerry Saltz, known for his simple, yet spot on explanations for everything art has eloquently elucidated America’s presence at this year’s Venice Biennale. On display outside the American Pavilion this year is a monumental Army tank turned upside down with a treadmill complete with a world-class runner perched on top by the artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. Saltz describes the display as “the health club from Hell”, and that it symbolically illustrates America “being grandiose, goony and needy, all the while trying to stay fit.” In person, it is even more overbearing.
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DBFA Donates Elizabeth Taylor Portrait by Andy Warhol |
The Elizabeth Taylor lithograph created by Andy Warhol that was donated by David Benrimon Fine Art to raise funds for the American Foundation for AIDS Research raised over $600,000 toward AIDS research and eradication.
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