Happy Friday, DUers! Welcome to your Friday Afternoon Challenge: Art in the News, Part II!

[CTyankee]

More recent art related stories in the news for you to find! What is the news story (not just the name of the works)?

...now, be good DUbies and don’t cheat!

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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[Buzz Clik]

1. Well, I got #2.

The rest...

[BainsBane]

3. I like the polka dots

No idea who he is though.

[discopants]

11. 2. Basquiat & 3. Damien Hirst

Basquiat sold for a bazillion, & contemporary British artist's work going up on billboards around London.

[BainsBane]

16. right, thanks for that.

[CTyankee]

28. The Basquat "Dustheads" sold as part of a set that sold for a record $495M at auction

recently...

[Buzz Clik]

61. But that was a month ago!

This week, Christie's announced that an untitled Basquiate is going up for auction.

[CTyankee]

62. I hadn't seen that! I wonder why I missed that...I scour the NYT art section daily...

perhaps it happened while I was in London the end of May?

[Buzz Clik]

63. Well, I had to cheat to find it out. But no matter -- I want my money back!

[CTyankee]

64. Of course. I'll give you double your money back!

[CTyankee]

8. I updated my OP to reflect my real objective here which is what the news story is about...

I kinda didn't make that clear at first...my apologies...

[Uncle Joe]

57. I did too, Bush and Cheney's official portrait. n/t

[BainsBane]

2. Sorry, got the numbers confused

Let me start over: 6 is a Degas Bronze. 5, the Van Gogh and 4 the Picasso.

[CTyankee]

4. Yes, but what is the story on these images?

Sorry if my OP wasn't clear at first...

[BainsBane]

5. Oh

I fail on that one.

[Buzz Clik]

7. #2 is Basquiat, marking the opening the opening of the Broadway play about him.

[CTyankee]

9. it is Basquiat, but that isn't the story...

[Buzz Clik]

12. Well, his play is opening.

Something else is happening, I gather.

(When it comes to the arts, I'm about 1/2 inch deep with no breadth)

[Buzz Clik]

41. Fine. I cheated and looked up the answer

This is the real answer:

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Damien Hirst's midrift.

Really upstages the piece, an odd pose from an odd man. Saatchi?

[CTyankee]

10. what is the story in the news regarding this photo?

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Are these pieces part of the Saatchi collection, Nigella and the Strangler and all that?

nt

[CTyankee]

19. no.

[frazzled]

15. The story's about his studio releasing the number of dot paintings

that exist ... so that those who bought them can stop worrying whether there are 20,000 of them out there (thereby deflating the value) or just 1700 or some such number. I read the story in the Times the other week, but forget the numbers.

I am thankful I don't have to work on the catalogue raisonné of these works.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. Well that's interesting. I had no idea.

The dots do stick in the mind.

[CTyankee]

21. Actually, what I was driving at was that he is doing his own catalogue raisonne to deter

forgeries...but you were close enough!

[frazzled]

32. Oh, it's pretty much about protecting the value

of these works, which has been plummeting. It's somewhat unorthodox, as well, for an artist themselves to produce a CR (though Gagosian is apparently part of it, too). That's generally left to outside institutions and scholars, working with the artist (when he or she is alive).

At any rate, this was the article I read the other week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/arts/design/damien-hirsts-spot-paintings-the-field-guide.html?pagewanted=all

[CTyankee]

35. Yeah, I'd never heard of it but yes, of course, it's understandable that polka dots can and will

be reproduced. And art forgery is a big deal. It's amazing to me that art forgery is so prevalent, but it doesn't surprise me I guess...

[panader0]

14. Five is Van Gogh--The postman or something

In Arles I think, but don't know the news story.

[pinboy3niner]

18. #5 is a Van Gogh that could be sold by Detroit to pay creditors

"Portrait of Postman Roulin" (1888) in the Detroit Museum is one of many works that could be auctioned off by the city.

Met Director Decries Detroit Bid to Pillage Own Museum
By Philip Boroff & Katya Kazakina - May 24, 2013 9:01 PM PT

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has joined the Detroit Institute of Arts in opposing any plan for the Michigan city to sell billions of dollars of museum masterpieces to plug a deficit.

“Even in the darkest days of New York City’s fiscal crisis of 1975, and the national economic meltdown of 2008, the cultural treasures closely identified with our own city were never on the table,” Thomas Campbell, the Met’s director and chief executive, said in a statement.

...


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-24/met-director-decries-detroit-bid-to-pillage-own-museum.html

[CTyankee]

22. good for you! Isn't it good news that they are not considering selling the art to satisfy

the city's debt? It was just appalling that the idea was even floated. I'm so glad the MI A.G. ruled it out, saying it belonged to the people of Detroit.

[longship]

52. Indeed, I spent my youth at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

I saw the King Tut exhibit when it visited from Egypt in the early sixties. A neighbor and I took the bus, just like we'd take it to Briggs Stadium to see the Tigers play. The difference was we could always see the Tigers; but Tut was in Detroit for a limited engagement. I was about 12 years old and it was awesome.

The second really memorable visit was the opening of the Tannehill bequest exhibition. Lots of good stuff. Too long ago to remember everything but I recall being enthralled by the Degas and Picasso. The former loved ballet dancers and I'd be able to pick them out anywhere, I think.

Then, there's this totally awesome sight at the Detroit Institute of Arts:

Diego Rivera Mural (one of two on opposite walls).

A detail:


And both murals in context (big):


My question is what the fuck the Detroit emergency manager would do with these? Would he demolish the building to sell these wonderful murals, too?

That invites the question. What sense would these make except in their native Detroit? Context in art is important.

Thank you, CT, for this weekly jaunt. You don't know how important it has been to many of us. Especially those who might not realize how important this is if it is lost.

[CTyankee]

58. that is fabulous!

Sadly, there is just too much money to be made from the masterpieces that Detroit owns for them not to be looked at as a monetized asset. I feel so strongly that art is there for the people that even if I had tons of money I would not buy great art for myself.

I am so glad that the people of Detroit have their museum and that the state's AG is trying hard to protect it.

[panader0]

17. Is four Miro?

[CTyankee]

23. No Miro here (altho I love Miro!).

[panader0]

24. Your weekly contests are one of the best things on DU--thanks

[CTyankee]

25. thanks. I'm sorry if I screwed up the real question on this Challenge...ack...

[jberryhill]

26. #1 is about flooding in India

...as depicted by that Dutch guy.

[CTyankee]

30. Hah, gotcha there! No Dutch guy!

[pinboy3niner]

31. After months of entering Challenges, eventually jberryhill will be right

One day, it will be "that Dutch guy."

[CTyankee]

33. Eventually, he DOES get some "Dutch guys."

I'm glad he pays us a visit...

[jberryhill]

39. He painted a lot of stuff

[CTyankee]

44. did you know that van gogh painted with house paint? I'm not kidding.

It is true. I shoulda used THAT art news story...damn...

[surrealAmerican]

47. Was there much difference at that time?

I don't know much about 19th century house painting, but I figured oil-based, and pretty much the same pigments the artists were using would have been "industry standard".

[CTyankee]

51. good point. I really don't know, but when that story came out recently there was a big fuss.

I guess at that point artists weren't mixing up their own paints and could get them out of tubes but you'd think there would be a real deliniation. Interesting, esp. with van gogh, ...

[BainsBane]

45. number 5 is a dutch guy

[pinboy3niner]

54. He must've been a very prolific genius. I see his works EVERYWHERE!

[jberryhill]

55. Second Only To The Greatest Painter Ever

Sherwin Williams - he covered the globe!

[jberryhill]

34. Okay, but at least I was right about India!

[CTyankee]

36. India? Does that look like India to you? If so, you really need glasses...

[jberryhill]

37. Looks like the picture...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t4NSadMxtg/TMv2uMziyyI/AAAAAAAABJM/j4-GBSnaGZY/s1600/Dressed-up+Ox-cart.jpg

[CTyankee]

38. that's really interesting!

But no, dear...those are, um, horses...

[jberryhill]

56. Oh Yeah?

Well Picasso's Three Musicians don't look a whole lot like musicians to me.

#1 is just a painting. They got the oxen wrong and, in classic European style, replaced the building with a gothic church!

[Buzz Clik]

42. LOL!

[horseshoecrab]

27. #4

#4, Picasso's "Woman in an Armchair" is one of 78 cubist paintings, 33 of which are Picassos, recently donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC by Leonard Lauder.

[CTyankee]

29. Great! Really big news for the Metropolitan Museum! Lauder's early Cubist collection is

a really Big Deal. I just wonder what MoMA thinks about it...

[oldhippie]

40. #1 is "Salisbury Cathedral ..."

#1 is "Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadow" by John Constable.

I guess the story is that it was just purchased by the Tate Gallery to keep it in England?

[CTyankee]

43. Wonderful, oldhippie! You nailed it!

This painting has a sad back story. Constable painted it at the behest of a friend who was the archdeacon of the Cathedral, because Constable's wife had died of TB at age 41, leaving her grieving husband with 7 children. Constable was in the depths of grief and this was his way to paint through it, altho he never really got over his wife's death. You can see the sad touches of it in his stunted tree stump and the other tree that looks like it might fall down at any moment. The lone person in the cart is hunched over and the horses seem tired and struggling. We don't know if the storm has come and is going or if it looms near. A man's grief on canvas...

[WinkyDink]

59. It seems gone; hence, the suggestion of a rainbow. The light "moves" with the cart from left to

right.

[CTyankee]

60. I have read that Constable added the rainbow as a note of hope.

But the guy really struggled with his sadness.

[blm]

46. Here's one for you, CT

http://www.sohnfineart.com/#!services2/c10lb

[CTyankee]

49. An extraordinary exploration. Thank you so much for that, I think I had heard of it but had

not seen the actual works. Incredible work out of that...

[blm]

65. Yes, the actual quality of her artwork and photography should be the larger part of the story

however, it often gets sidelined by the enormity of what came after the publishing of that iconic photo.

http://matuschka.net/homepage.html

[pinboy3niner]

48. #6: Degas bronze cast from "recently discovered" plasters

Photo caption: Canadian VitaPro mogul, philanthropist, and collector Yank Barry showing off one of his 74 Degas bronzes, cast from "recently discovered" plasters.

Adding to the Confusion
By William D. Cohan Posted 08/15/11

A dealer's appraisal of bronzes cast from plasters said to be authentic lifetime works by Degas adds to the controversial nature of the enterprise.

A controversy over 74 plaster casts attributed to Edgar Degas that were supposedly discovered in a French foundry has spread to a dealer’s appraisal of the bronzes cast from the plasters. The most respected Degas experts in the United States have questioned the origin of the plasters, but last year the New York art dealer Stewart Waltzer appraised the set of 74 bronzes at $37.25 million. The most valuable sculpture in the set, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, is worth $15 million, Waltzer wrote in his appraisal.

The experts who question the legitimacy and the quality of the plasters range from Gary Tinterow, chair of the department of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to Daphne S. Barbour and Shelley G. Sturman, National Gallery of Art conservators who published their detailed technical analyses of the NGA’s holdings in the new catalogue raisonné Edgar Degas Sculpture. One expert told ARTnews that the Waltzer appraisal adds to the controversial nature of the enterprise to sell the bronzes as if they were legitimate Degas sculptures.

The plasters were reportedly discovered recently in the Valsuani foundry, outside of Paris. According to New York art dealer Walter Maibaum, he was shown the plasters in 2004 by foundry owner Leonardo Benatov, with whom he reached a deal to have them cast in bronze and made available for sale. Maibaum shared the discovery with another New York dealer, Gregory Hedberg, director of European art at Hirschl & Adler Galleries. Hedberg, after close examination of the plasters, concluded that they had been made during Degas’s lifetime.

...


http://www.artnews.com/2011/08/15/adding-to-the-confusion/

[CTyankee]

50. Excellent. Isn't this guy something?

I don't know if he's legit, tho. I have my reservations...just sayin' ....

But, who knows, right?

[pinboy3niner]

53. It would be nice to have something dispositive, either way

Looks like it will remain an open question unless new evidence turns up. Either way, though, the new bronzes are interesting.