Masterworks Fine Art Blog

Elisabeth Streb's Extreme Action, One Extraordinary Day, one of the London 2012 Festival Cultural Olympiad commissions; photo by Antoine Douaihy

For those of you who aren’t into sports so much, there will still be plenty to do this summer in London outside of the Olympics. Ruth Mackenzie, formerly head of the Scottish Opera and the Manchester International Festival, has a new project on her hands. Her Cultural Olympiad, running June 21^st through September 9^th, will bring 25,000 artists to Britain from the 204 countries participating in the Games to put on 12,000 events.

Costs will run high, as seems to be the trend in the art world this year [see Christie’s New York evening sale of post-war and contemporary art on May 8^th, which closed at a record $388 million]. Though Mackenzie didn’t give a specific figure on May 2^nd when announcing the Olympiad to the New York press, costs for this incredible program will likely top £52,000,000. “Let’s put art back at the heart of the games,” she urged. Where the funding is coming from is another question, though, as many of the events will have free entry.

This country-wide effort to set art on an equal footing with sports in the arena of mass culture will include the first permanent installation by sculptor Rachel Whiteread; a BMW designed by Jeff Koons; an inflatable ‘bouncy-castle’ Stonehenge that will pop up across the U.K.; and even a light installation designed by the New-York-and-Amsterdam art collective YesYesNo to send messages down the entire 73-mile-length of Hadrian’s Wall, the historic border of the Roman empire.

The Cultural Olympiad promises to be a fantastic blending of all of the arts: theater, dance, visual arts, music and design. Running prior to and after the end of the Olympic Games, it will offer visitors – and athletes, if they can steal away from the field – a chance to consider history and current events through a beautifully contrasting lens. It also might appease grumpy Londoners, sick to death that their city is even more overrun with tourists than usual.

It seems the question is not what to do, but how to do it all?

Sources:

Emily Nathan. artnet. “Cultural Olympiad 2012: Art at the Heart of the Game.” 

Cultural heritage is unique and irreplaceable, which places the responsibility of preservation on the current generation. Whether it is art or monuments, tangible heritage is always at risk and nowhere is this seen to be truer than in Iraq(technically Afghanistan as well but that’s for another blog). Many are aware of the recent history of Iraq, strife with civil discord, war, and a nuclear power conflict, making the issue of protecting their cultural heritage trivial in the big scheme of issues currently at hand. However, Iraq is known as the “cradle of civilization,” for a reason as it is a treasure trove of important archaeological sites including Babylon, Ur and Nimrud. These sites encompass an important part of Iraq’s cultural heritage and they are in danger of being irreparably harmed; thereby making the trivial issue of Iraq protecting their cultural heritage a rather significant one.

Damage done to an archeological site in Southern Iraq

Historically, Iraq has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC.. The area and people survived centuries of successive empires, multiple religious affiliations, and wars to become what John Stewart lovingly refers to as “Mess O’ Potamia” today. Although you can disagree with the current politics occurring in and surrounding the country, you cannot disagree with the importance of preserving and researching the area for the benefit of humankind and history.

That is why I was surprised to read an article titled “Iraq protects its artifacts via satellite” in which the Iraq government is in the process of employing satellites to stop the historical sites from being looted and to reduce their vulnerability to random exploration. There are around 12,000 known archaeological sites across the country which go back to the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Islamic civilizations. According to reports, around 170, 000 artifacts, including the Iraqi equivalent of Mona Lisa – the Sumerian girl’s head, have been lost from Iraq not to be seen again.

Iraq Cultural Heritage Site

Looters have descended upon many of these sites and are in the process of destroying them and extracting artifacts to sell to collectors and dealers. Past archaeological research is being destroyed in the process, as is the potential for future research. A series of international agreements has banned the trade in looted antiquities but these are inefficient with little to none legal holding. This why I wholeheartedly agree with the Iraq Tourism Authority’s plan to spend the next two years building walls around the archaeological sites and developing a specialized department that will control and monitor the areas using the satellite imaging.

All cultural heritage, whether it be sites, artifacts, or art, deserve to be preserved and accessible depending on their condition so future generations can enjoy and learn from them. That is why I enjoy working at the gallery because I feel like in some small way, by helping the art to find the right owner, the art can continue to be appreciated for generations to come and survive a little bit longer in this ever changing world.

The auction season thus far has been truly exceptional. Record breaking sales and artist records are being made all over the place at Christie’s and Sotheby’s due to the rarity of the works being offered and those buyers who covet them. “Super-trophies” are what these rare works with strong provenance are known as, and the “Trophy hunters” are all too happy to buy them up which is great news for the art market and those invested in it through their own purchases of fine art.

Alexander Calder "Lily of Force"

One of four versions of Edvard Munch’s angst-filled pastel on board masterpiece “The Scream” (1895) sold for a record $119,922,500 at Sotheby’s, becoming the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction and the first to break the $100 million mark. A record breaking Mark Rothko oil on canvas, “Orange, Red, Yellow” (1961) sold for $86,882,500 from Christie’s Postwar and Contemporary Art evening sale in which 11 artist records were set while 40 of the 56 lots sold made over a million dollars. An Alexander Calder sculpture “Lily of Force” (1945) went for $18,562,500.

In total, the Postwar and Contemporary Art evening sale at Christie’s delivered $388,488,000, while Sotheby’s posted a $266.6 million evening Contemporary Sale this week, and a $330,568,500 result for their Impressionist and Modern sale last week.

Five artist records were set in the Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale. Francis Bacon’s ferociously distorted “Figure writing Reflected in a Mirror” (1976) and Roy Lichtenstein’s pretty, “Sleeping Girl” (1964) both sold for $44,882,500. While in the Impressionist and Modern Sale, Edgar Degas’s sublime “Danseuse au Repos” (1879), sold for $37 million.

Edgar Degas "Danseuse au Repos" (1879)

With so many great works available and the stock rising on artists such as Calder and Degas, now has never been a better time to jump into the art world and start collecting. Even if you can’t afford those million dollar originals, there is art available for everybody’s price range and taste.

Allow me to reminisce?

Although it was cold and blustery during my visit to Hundertwasserhaus a few years ago, these increasingly summery days remind me of this particular “house in harmony with nature.” The multi-colored apartment building stands out in my mind, in front of some schnitzel gone bad (don’t ask) and an evening viewing art in the Museumsquartier, free of charge. Maybe the sunshine makes me wonder how the trees planted on the building’s roof, terraces and balconies must look with their full coats of leaves.

Decorated with meandering mosaic lines and windows placed at odd angles (organically, the artist would say), Hundertwasser House is as original as its creator. Upon the presentation of the architectural model to the public in 1980, Hundertwasser proclaimed, “Man has three skins: his own, his clothing and his dwelling. All three skins must continually change, be renewed, steadily grow and incessantly change or the organism will die.” He discussed the “window right” of residents to alter the area around their windows, one outlet for life-giving creativity. Furthermore, “tree tenants” were to be planted throughout the building to give it a green shell that would improve living conditions for the entire neighborhood. The artist went so far as to stipulate that children be allowed to draw freely on all public walls, the plaster of which should be changed yearly for this purpose. Hundertwasser considered the environment as well as the structure, and designed walkways that undulate like rolling brick hills. Needless to say, his concept was ahead of its time.

A native of Vienna who originally trained as a painter and printmaker, Friedensreich Hundertwasser (né Friedrich Stowasser ) became one of Austria’s most well-known, albeit controversial, artists. The name he took on, translating roughly to “Peace-Kingdom Hundred-Water”, underscores not only his individuality but his political identity. Throughout his life he championed everything from constitutional monarchies to environmental activism, driven by a commitment to freedom developed during his youth as a Jew in Nazi Austria.

Built between 1983-86 in collaboration with architect Josef Krawina, the building met with skepticism and outright hostility upon completion. Critics ridiculed the green roof and private balconies, and if we consider the often soulless architecture of the late 70’s and early 80’s, we (sort of) understand their aversion. Hundertwasser’s vision overflows with a too-muchness that we can trace to his shimmering colorful prints and paintings.

Labeled everything from a “municipal stillbirth” to “urban planning slapstick,” during its construction, the House has become one of Vienna’s most-visited landmarks. Such success and visibility can be traced to the artist’s innovation. The housing project accounts for quality of life and ‘green’ standards decades before the ideas entered common conversation. The profusion of rooftop gardens in San Francisco or even the High Line Park, New York (which, by the way, just began its own High Line Commission series for art installations) owe some debt to Mr. Hundred-Water and his vision.

Connecting the environmental and aesthetic in his search for quality of life, the artist defined art as vital instead of decorative.

The greatest theft of art in 20th century history was the theft carried out by Nazi Germany, beginning in 1933 and lasting until the end of World War II. Shrouded in secrecy, the Nazis launched a methodical and well-conceived campaign to confiscate and loot Europe of its most valuable art treasures. In this continual drama, these spoils of war were hidden away by the Germans in mines or stashed in secluded areas, sealed off from the world. Some were discovered by the military, some were discovered by citizens, but a majority are still hidden away waiting to be found.

Hitler and Goring selecting art...

According to U.S. estimates, the Nazis stole one-fifth of all the known artworks in Europe. While the Allies returned most of the displaced art in the decade following the war, much of the loot is still missing (and on a side note much of the loot found remains unclaimed- traceable only with costly and difficult investigation). That is where treasure hunters have come into the ever evolving drama. Whether they are driven by money or education, these less glorified Indiana Jones wannabe’s are causing waves in the international media.

Nazi treasure hunters rummage through what was the Axis controlled territory countryside searching for mines or hidden storages. Following clues or trails they have researched or heard about, these dedicated individuals range from scholars to scoundrels, intentions never truly being known. That is why it was interesting to come across an article on ARTINFO titled “Questions Emerge Over Treasure-Hunter’s Quest for a Legendary $800-Million Horde of Nazi-Looted Art” that addresses this issue quite pointedly.

Nazi art loot

A Viennese art historian named Burkhart List, 62, believes he has discovered a looted art collection buried in the mountains of Germany. He will lead an expedition into an old silver mine in the Erzgebirge Mountains, near the Czech-German border, where he believes over 150 works from the collection of Baron Ferenc Hatvany have been stashed for over 60 years. This collection includes masterpieces by such artists as Monet, Cezanne, and Manet, and is estimated to be worth almost $800 million.

List claims he’s not searching for the art to make money, but has interestingly not been in contact with Hatvany’s heirs, nor is he working with the Commission for Art Recovery, which represents the Hatvany family in its own mission to retrieve its lost art. There are multiple organizations that aid in the recovery of stolen art, and the Commission for Art Recovery is a non-profit organization which seeks justice for Holocaust victims of Nazi art theft.

The restitution of Nazi-looted art is a hotly debated minefield of political and social obligations, laws, morals, and rights that span throughout the international community. Different countries have different policies regarding ownership, and even with international conventions set in place to help facilitate such issues, the process is often diluted by all of the competing interests. Masterpieces are certainly not discovered every day, but for treasure hunters, intentions can either help facilitate or destroy the process.

Before the war, Baron Ferenc Hatvany was a descendent of one of Hungary’s richest Jewish families. His holdings included rare tapestries, Old Masters, and one of the world’s best collections of 19th-century French painting. Today, only a handful of paintings have been returned to the Hatvany heirs. Some are on view in prominent Russian museum collections, but most remain missing. Either in private collections or still buried, the hope of finding the collection intact is a stretch. Even if the works are stored somewhere, there is little hope of them being intact. The storage space would have to have been airtight for 68 years and properly wrapped to find the collection in good condition, so why is List searching?

Looted art discovered

The art historian told ARTINFO “he has been studying the collection for 12 years, and recently discovered documents in old Wehrmacht archives that suggested a number of works were shipped in 1944 to two subterranean bunkers north of Dresden.” With the approval of the town’s mayor, List surveyed the landscape and discovered man-made caves that were similar to the ones described in the Nazi documents. Hopeful to find the collection, List plans on conducting an extensive expedition in May with the aid of fellow researchers and an “American media group.” If art is indeed discovered, German law states that the finder must notify the original owner of the property. If the owner cannot be determined, then the finder splits the title to the property with the owner of the land where it is found.

List said he would surrender whatever art he finds to the German government, but some suspect he may have other motives due to his previous working relationship with an individual named Joram Deutsch. Deutsch feels entitled to ownership rights of the collection due to an agreement his father had with the Hatvany’s that has been since been void. Whatever List’s intentions may be, art historians and collectors alike will be waiting to hear the results of his expedition.

Resources:

ARTINFO: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/796779/questions-emerge-over-treasure-hunters-quest-for-a-legendary-800-million-horde-of-nazi-looted-art