Category Archives: Current Events

Olympian Moments in Art

Every four years, the globe celebrates the boundaries that divide it into countries by uniting as one spirit  to glorify the collective we call the human race. It is a marvelous and captivating time which has most of us spectators glued to some form of medium to share this message of unity.

To be honest, it is all about triumph: where winning is the measurement of device: the fastest are measured in milliseconds; perfection is measured by decimal points; the strongest are measured in milligrams; distance is measured by millimeters; and, splash is measured in milliliters.

Victory is determined in fractions. Execution is calculated in years.

These athletes spend their entire lives preparing for the game, the routine, the race, the lift, the shot, the dive. Every waking moment, whether physically, psychologically, or mentally they are preparing, practicing, pondering, dreaming, imagining that they are standing on the top of the podium in the throne of the gods.

It is hard not to be caught up in their dominion. Even as a spectator we feel a part of their achievement.

Olympian moments in art are no different, although most certainly, not the same.

Years upon years might be dedicated to a cycle, a suite, a series and even the documentation or catalogue raisonne to an artist’s particular oeuvre.

March Chagall dedicated a total of twenty five years working on the one hundred five etchings of the Bible Series. Although his dedication was at times intermittent, a quarter of a century was dedicated to the Bible, which Chagall felt was, “the finest piece of poetry every written“.

In fact, Meyer Schapiro, the great art historian said, “If we had nothing of Chagall but his Bible, he would be for us a great modern artist.”

Pablo Picasso, as an octogenarian, completed the three hundred forty seven etching of the 347 Series in a mere seven months. From March 16th to October 5th of 1968, just five years before his death, Picasso displayed his technical grasp in the medium of etching by averaging almost thirteen etchings per week!

The great Dutch artist, Rembrandt, took almost seven years to complete his (greatest) drypoint etching, Christ Healing the Sick also known as The Hundred Guilder, which he completed in 1649.

Christopher White, who wrote a consummate two volume catalogue raisonne on Rembrandt,  Rembrandt’s Etchings. An Illustrated Critical Catalogue said this etching was the “apotheosis of Rembrandt’s activity in etching…

Albrecht Durer, the progenitor of graphic art in Western civilization started the sixteen woodcuts of the Apocalypse series during his first bachelor journey to Italy in 1494-5 and published them a mere three years later in 1498 (at the tender age of twenty seven).

Adam von Bartsch, curator of the Albertina in Vienna worked tirelessly until his death and spent his last eighteen years to complete his catalogue raisonne of the Italian and Northern school of engraver-painters in no less than twenty-one volumes.

Daniel Wildenstein spent over thirty years compiling his four volume opus of Claude Monet’s oeuvre of original work.

Christian and Yvonne Zervos began cataloguing Picasso’s unique work in 1932 and it was finished posthumously in 1970. The catalogue raisonne encompasses thirty-three volumes.

Frits Lugt is but another Olympian. He not only compiled a catalogue raisonne dedicated to collector’s stamps throughout history (1921) he also worked on a supplement to his original work which he published in 1956. In total, this man spent fifty-seven years of his life dedicated to researching collectors’ stamps throughout history.

The same heart and dedication is shared whether one is an athlete, artist or scholar; because, what they have is immeasurable. They all deserve to exist on the throne of the gods.

Art history is no different. It is full of Olympian moments.

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The Scream – Real Estate or Real Mistake

Well, much has been reported since the pastel and oil version of The Scream by Edvard Munch was sold at auction this week. No matter how you feel about the final hammer price of $120 million (with buyers premium) or the piece of art itself, it is certainly one of the most iconic images ever committed to canvas by any artist anywhere.

As far as looking at it as a piece of real estate, the $120 million dollar price tag certainly becomes even more remarkable when you examine it in even more finite terms: at 38 x 23-1/4 inches or 744 square inches of canvas, it comes out to around $161 thousand per square inch (about the size of a stamp); or, for those of us who use the metric system, that is 1889 square centimeters which comes to almost $64 thousand per square centimeter (which is, well, 2-1/2 times smaller than a square inch)!

To be honest, it does not surprise me.In fact, I embrace it. You might not be able to set foot in this piece of property, but it is wall property none-the-less. No tenets. No triple net. No leases. No late rent. No property taxes. No broken leases. No build-outs. No permits. Nothing but real estate that you hang on a wall. It is anything but a mistake!

Although I realize that it is only a painting. I mean you cannot sleep with it (without hurting yourself), you cannot eat on it (with hurting it), you are not going to find the cure for cancer or any number of other maladies with it, you are not going to solve world peace, so the question begs to be asked. Why?

Well, the condensed answer is simple: It is all a matter of possession. Nothing more and nothing less. And if in fact the expression holds true and “possession is nine tenths of the law”, then for a collector, it is the epitome of acquisitions. This purchase of Munch’s, The Scream, is nothing less than eleven tenths of the law.

And for the collector, who battled it out via telephone bid with eight others for twelve historic minutes, this, of course, is the bottom line.

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