Elizabeth Catlett, “Seated Woman” (1962), carved mahogany (image courtesy Swann Galleries)
One of Elizabeth Catlett‘s wood sculptures has set a new record for the late Mexican-American artist, selling for $389,000 at Swann Galleries’ African-American Fine Art sale. In total, the auction moved $3,679,672 worth of art. Other notable lots in the mix included Henry Ossawa Tanner‘s “At the Gates (Flight into Egypt)” (circa 1926-27), which sold for $341,000; Kenneth Victor Young‘s “Untitled (Abstract Composition)” (1972), and which went for $233,000.
Kenneth Victor Young’s “Untitled (Abstract Composition)” (1972) (image courtesy Swanna Galleries)
The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG) in Germany is returning a 12th-century marble panel to Afghanistan, according to a press release issued by the museum. The marble dado panel was apparently once part of a 78-part frieze decorating a courtyard of the Royal Palace of Sultan Mas’ud III. It found its way to the Rawza Museum of Islamic Art in Ghazni, Afghanistan, before being looted in the ’70s and eventually being purchased by the MKG in 2013. Research into the panel’s provenance revealed its origins in 2014, and the MKG has been taking steps to restitute the panel ever since. According to the museum’s statement, the panel will be housed in Kabul’s Afghan National Museum for the foreseeable future.
Yoshiyuki Takani, “Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki” (1984) (image courtesy Sotheby’s)
A piece by Yoshitomo Nara also broke the artist’s auction at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong Contemporary Art Evening Sale, going for 195,696,000 HKD (~$24,954,175) and topping the lots in a pot of 538,208,000 HKD (~$68,629,593). Other notable pieces that sold included Kaws’s “Untitled (Kimpsons #1)” (2004), which sold for 57,877,000 HKD (~$7,376,424), and Yayoi Kusama‘s “Pumpkin” (1991), which sold for 27,775,000 HKD (~$3,539,924). The separate Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale netted 147,080,000 HKD (~$18,754,906) and saw some of the same artists near the top of the lots. Another of Kusama’s “Pumpkin” series topped that sale, going for 12,175,000 HKD (~$1,551,704). Also of note: several of the pieces in the sale were paintings of popular anime characters. Yoshiyuki Takani‘s painting of the eponymous character from Hayao Miyazaki‘s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind sold for 1,062,500 HKD (~$135,416), for example.
Sanford Robinson Gifford, “An Indian Summer Day on Claverack Creek” (1877-79) oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches (image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced this week that it will acquire 88 new works thanks to a gift promised by Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore. The Met plans to showcase 50 of the works — which include decorative arts from the Aesthetic Movement and Hudson River School paintings — in its upcoming exhibition Aesthetic Splendors: Highlights from the Gift of Barrie and Deedee Wigmore. The exhibition will open December 2, 2019. The gift was announced as part of the Met’s broad 150th anniversary celebration, which will run through 2020.
The retired art dealer Philip A. Bruno, a collector who’s given much of his pieces away over the years, has just offered up 74 works to the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. The cache includes works by William Dole, Lee Gatch, Red Grooms, David Levine, and it will go on view in a new exhibition opening next month titled A Gift to Glasgow from New York: The Phillip A. Bruno Collection. Bruno, whose to the gallery gift coincides with his 90th birthday, now lives in Glasgow.
