Sotheby's
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The Headlines
AUCTION ACTION.What a moment forPiet Mondrianfans! Anacclaimed biowas just published. Aretrospective is upat theFondation Beyelerin Switzerland for a few more days. And nowSotheby’swill sell a prime painting,Composition No. II(1930), next month in New York with a low estimate of $50 million, theFinancial Timesreports. The artist’s current auction record is $50.6 million, set back in 2015. More auction news: After announcing in August that they would send some ofAndy Warhol’svery early works to auction, theWarholafamily has tappedPhillipsinNew Yorkto offer two workswhose top estimates total $950,000,Pentareports. Last but not least, here is a remarkable stat, viaBloomberg:Sotheby’sreports that a third of its bidders for contemporary art in Hong Kong sales areunder the age of 30. Feel old yet?
Related Articles
A Rare $50 M. Piet Mondrian is Poised to Break Auction Records at Sotheby's Next Month
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THE PAINTER OF MODERN LIFE.The international powerhousePace Galleryhasadded to its rosterthe filmmaker and painterDavid Lynch,Alex Greenbergerreports inARTnews. “Marc Glimchercame to my house and we had a great talk and some pretty damn good coffee,” Lynch said in a statement, referring to the gallery’s CEO. “I told him I would try to do some good work for his gallery. I think he smiled and said, ‘You fuckin’ better!!!’ ” Lynch had previously been repped byKayne Griffinin Los Angeles, whichmergedwithPaceearly this year. Joining Pace’s roster, theTwin PeaksandThe Straight Storydirector will have New York representation for the first time.
The Digest
Art-world con artistAnna Sorokin—the subject of the Netflix seriesInventing Anna—is out on bail, after being held for 17 months byU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementfor overstaying her visa. Sorokin, a German citizen, has been fighting deportation. She is required to remain at home, and off social media. [BloombergviaVariety]
An American visitor at theChiaramonti Museumin Vatican City smashed a sculptural bust to the floor after asking for an audience withPope Francisand being turned down. Attempting to escape, another piece was reportedly damaged. The man was apprehended.[Artnet News]
U.S. RepresentativeMark Pocan, a Democrat from Wisconsin, has introduced legislation that would begin the process of creating aNational Museum of American LGBTQ+ History and Cultureas part of theSmithsonian.[The Art Newspaper]
Order is restored in the universe. TheYayoi Kusamapumpkin sculpture that was thrown from its perch on Japan’s Naoshima island into the water during a storm last summer is now back on view there after being restored.[ArtReview]
A work thatBanksymade on the side of a house in Bristol, England, around 2000, was almost destroyed when that home was marked for demolition in 2010. However, a local architect saved it and kept it under his bed for the past decade, and has now loaned it to a Banksy show atMediaCityUKin Salford.[BBC News]
Author and television hostPadma Lakshmipaid a visit toSimone Leigh’s show at theU.S. pavilionat theVenice Biennale. Speaking of that project, a related symposium titledLoophole of Retreat: Venicewill take place Friday to Sunday at theFondazione Giorgio Ciniin La Serenissima, andwill be live-streamed.[@simoneyvetteleigh/Instagram]
The Kicker
POLITICAL INTRIGUE.TheIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s director of security and chief investigator,Anthony Amore, is running as a Republican to be Massachusetts’s state auditor, andBoston GlobecolumnistJoan Vennochiasked himabout how his museum experience relates to his potential new post. “The skills are the same. The mission is the same,” he said, explaining, that one is “following facts to the truth.” Amore came to the Gardner 17 years ago and has been involved in trying to find the paintings that were taken in a brazen 1990 heist. He and law enforcement officials believe they know who did it, he said, but “if we put out the names of people we think did it, it would lead to bad leads.”[The Boston Globe]
