Displaying items by tag: frieze masters

Millions of dollars worth of art was sold in London last week thanks to the Frieze art fairs. Frieze Masters, which is in its second year and presents works created before 2000, included the sale of Pablo Picasso’s Femme assise au chapeau (Acquavella Galleries) for $7 million, an abstract painting by Willem de Kooning for $8 million and two Jean-Michel Basquiat works for a combined $9.3 million.

Frieze London, which features established contemporary artists as well as promising newcomers, saw fewer big-ticket items. As the event drew to a close, Gagosian Gallery, which presented five highly anticipated works by Jeff Koons, had no confirmed sales. A sculpture by Takashi Murakami being offered by Hauser & Wirth was also still available as the fair winded down.

Frieze week also includes a number of contemporary art auctions and a number of satellite events, which added to the week’s hefty art sales.

A recently discovered painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger was revealed to the public at Frieze Masters in London this week. Old Master dealer and discoverer of the painting, Johnny Van Haeften, believes that the work is a reinterpretation of a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the artist’s father. The first version of the painting, created in 1566, resides in the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

The Census at Bethlehem was first purchased in 1611 by a collector at Brueghel the Younger’s studio in Antwerp. For hundreds of years the painting remained in the possession of the same English family and although the owners knew of the work’s pedigree, they never publicized their important holding. In the 1940s, the painting was brought to Africa with other family possessions and eventually loaned to the family of Lord Delamere. In an unexpected twist, Van Haeften discovered the painting in Africa, as offshore trustees of the Delamere family now own it.  

The Census at Bethlehem sold for $10 million during the first few days of Frieze.

After ten years, Frieze London continues to be a hit with patrons and dealers alike. A mix of established and fledgling galleries, Frieze attracted nearly 55,000 visitors during its five-day run. Major sales included Paul McCarthy’s White Snow Head (2012) for $1.3 million, Damien Hirst’s Destruction Dreamscape (2012) for $807,650, and Jenny Holzer’s installation Blast (2012) for $525,000. New to the fair, Stevenson Gallery was pleasantly surprised when The Outset/Frieze Art Fair Fund to Benefit the Tate Collection acquired Nicholas Hlobo’s Balindile I (2012).

Stefan Ratibor, Director of Gagosian, said, “We had a terrific fair. Both Frieze and Frieze Masters were quite brilliant.” Victoria Miro of Victoria Miro Gallery added, “I can only say positive things. We’ve had success with all our artists and the market has been surprisingly strong. The fair is truly contemporary with many cutting-edge pieces.”

This year marked the debut of Frieze Focus, a section of the fair devoted to galleries less than ten years old. Focus participant, Mihaela Luteo of Plan B said, “The positioning of Focus has been really very good in cultivating positive reactions. This section gives us the possibility of building our profile in the perfect context. We wanted to introduce artists that may not be so well known and have sold most of the work we brought with us.”

A decade after its debut, Frieze London remains at the forefront of the Contemporary art scene. Frieze's dedication to innovation, risk-taking, and new talent can be thanked for that.

The inaugural Frieze Masters fair is already drawing comparisons to TEFAF Maastricht, the pinnacle of Old Masters fairs that takes place annually in the Netherlands. Featured alongside the contemporary art world staple, the Frieze Art Fair, Frieze Masters has been watching the sales add up.

Highlights include a Louise Bourgeois bronze, Avenza Revisted (1968–69), that was sold by New York’s Cheim & Reid gallery for $1.5 million, Bruce Nauman’s installation, Parallax Shell (1971), along with the drawing for it, which was sold by Sperone Westwater (New York) for $2–3 million, and Pablo Picasso’s Homme et Femme au Bouquet (197) which brought in around $9 million during the fair’s preview thanks to Wan de Weghe Fine Art (New York).

Concluding on October 14, Frieze Master still has plenty of time to keep the sales coming.

Committed to showcasing the best in contemporary art, the The Frieze Art Fair decided to mix things up in honor of its tenth anniversary. Taking place from October 11 –14, the fair will exhibit ancient works at the simultaneous inaugural show, Frieze Masters. The fair will feature 96 galleries offering works from the last 4,000 years. While the inclusion of non-contemporary work encourages crossover collecting, it also allows patrons to explore the past’s influence on contemporary art.

Between the Frieze Masters’ exhibitors and the 175 contemporary galleries participating in the fair, there will be a total of $1.5 billion worth of art in London’s Regent’s Park. After last night’s exclusive VIP preview, it seems that collectors are anxious to buy.

One of the first pieces to sell at the fete was Pablo Picasso’s Homme et Femme au Bouquet priced at $8.5 million. An unidentified U.S.-based collector snapped up the painting at Frieze Masters. Over at the contemporary fair, Paul McCartney’s 2012 mixed-media sculpture, White Snow Head, sold within the first ten minutes of the preview for $1.3 million.

Attracting thousands of visitors from around the world including big name collectors such as Martha Stewart, PPR chief executive officer Francois-Henri Pinault, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, it will be interesting to see the effect the fair’s widened scope will have on sales.

Ever wondered what Luc Tuymans thinks of the Louvre? At Frieze Masters, you’ll find out. The highly-anticipated Frieze London spinoff's talks program is power-packed. Artist Cecily Brown will talk with National Gallery of Art director Nicholas Penny about how she uses traditional imagery and subject matter in her art, while Glenn Brown will discuss his appropriation of historical artwork with Kunsthaus Zurich curator Bice Curiger. Tuymans will offer insight into his decision-making process when painting iconic historical moments in a conversation with Louvre Museum senior curator Dominique de Font-Réaulx.

These events get at the heart of the inaugural Frieze Masters, which plans to mix Old Master treasures with modern masterpieces in an effort to lure collectors out of their comfort zones.