Wall Power (Puck)

Thursday Night Lights What’s going down uptown? Plenty, including Basquiat, Picasso, Franz Kline, Ilana Savdie, Miquel Barceló, and more.

Puck’s art market expert, Marion Maneker @wallpower.bsky.social, swings by a few galleries on the Upper East Side and gives you the rundown of shows, from Franz Kline to Miquel Barceló.

George Lucas’s Jedi Art Trick For more than 15 years, George Lucas has been quietly building a museum of narrative art, whatever that is. Is his ultimate mission to put his movies on par with other art-historical masterpieces?

“For more than 15 years, George Lucas has been quietly building a museum of narrative art, whatever that is. What the museum seems to lack in cohesion and transparency, it makes up for in ego…”

@wallpower.bsky.social catches us up the progress of The Lucas Museum:

Don’t Mess With Textiles Textiles are having a moment as a valid art form. A new Olga de Amaral retrospective in Miami is a festival of technical skill that puts her fabrics, in the words of ICA Miami’s director, “somewhere b...

A new Olga de Amaral retrospective in Miami is a festival of technical skill that puts her fabrics, in the words of ICA Miami’s director, “somewhere between painting and sculpture.”

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Puck’s art market expert, Marion Maneker, moderated a panel at the Independent yesterday titled “Downtown Dealers.”

To receive Marion’s dispatches on the art market, sign up for his Puck private email @wallpower.bsky.social here: puck.news/newsletters/...

Condition Report: Jeffrey Deitch & Sara Lee Hantman A revealing conversation with two essential gallerists about the generational shift toward integrating design and art, and why serious collectors are moving beyond just paintings on the wall.

A revealing conversation with gallerists Jeffrey Deitch and Sara Lee Hantman about the generational shift toward integrating design and art, and why serious collectors are moving beyond just paintings on the wall.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Hockney’s Midnight in Paris At 87 years old, David Hockney has the popularity and longevity to have earned another retrospective, this one at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. His market is finally catching up to his wide appeal, wit...

At 87 years old, artist David Hockney has the popularity and longevity to have earned another retrospective, this one at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. His volume and valuations beg comparisons with even Picasso…

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Paris Printemps The Paris sales totaled about $100 million, with each house selling a single-owner collection, and solid bidding for a range of artists. Maybe it’s easier for Europeans to spend money on art as the ex...

Here’s what the recent art sales in Paris can teach us about the mood of the market heading into the all-important May sales.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

The Marcia Marcus Bull Market On opening night of The Human Situation, the well-heeled collectors at Lévy Gorvy Dayan were helping to drive the market’s historical turn. But works by Marcia Marcus, Alice Neel, and Sylvia Sleigh to...

The art market is embracing a rediscovery of historic, previously underappreciated artists. “The Human Situation: Marcia Marcus, Alice Neel, Sylvia Sleigh” exhibition aligns with that trend—while cleverly incorporating contemporary artists.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Dealer Beware In her required-reading annual report on the art market, Clare McAndrew gathered responses from 1,600 galleries in 58 countries to convey what it’s like to be an art dealer these days. The short answe...

In her required-reading annual report on the art market, Clare McAndrew gathered responses from 1,600 galleries in 58 countries to convey what it’s like to be an art dealer these days. The short answer: It’s hard.

@wallpower.bsky.social breaks it down:

Roy Meets World Roy Lichtenstein, who died in 1997, is going to have a banner couple of years, with a Sotheby’s auction in May, a Whitney retrospective next year, and tailwinds from an art market that tends to retrea...

The late Roy Lichtenstein is going to have a banner couple of years, with a Sotheby’s auction in May, a Whitney retrospective next year, and tailwinds from an art market that retreats to beloved artists when surrounded by uncertainty…

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Gagosian Plays the Hits To mark the end of an uptown era and the revitalization of his downtown flagship, Larry Gagosian has launched exhibitions of Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning, two artists he has shown many times be...

Larry Gagosian has launched exhibitions of Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning to mark the end of an uptown era and the revitalization of his downtown flagship…

From @wallpower.bsky.social

All About That Bass Christie’s May sales will feature works from the collection that the late art and ballet patron Anne Bass kept in a Fort Worth house designed by Paul Rudolph. That collection, with a combined estimate...

Christie’s May sales will feature works from the $60 million collection of Anne Bass, the late art and ballet patron, which she kept in a Fort Worth house designed by Paul Rudolph.

@wallpower.bsky.social has details:

Condition Report: Ed Dolman, Phillips Executive Chairman Phillips executive chairman Ed Dolman opens up about grabbing market share from the Big Two, expanding into Asia, and the Matisse bronze sale that established Phillips as a player in contemporary.

Ed Dolman, the outgoing Phillips executive chairman, opens up about grabbing market share from the Big Two auction houses, expanding into Asia, and the Matisse bronze sale that established Phillips as a player in contemporary.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

The New Sargents in Town In the decade leading to his scandalous and triumphant Portrait of Madame X, the twentysomething expat portraitist made the very most of the city’s salon society scene. A new exhibit at the Met, Sarge...

A new exhibit at the Met, Sargent and Paris, captures a young artist’s decade in Paris at its peak.

@wallpower.bsky.social shares his impressions from the show:

Signs of an Art Market Recovery With an improved hammer ratio and average price per lot over the previous year, the latest New York sales hint at palmy days again. But we’re still far away from the 2022 boom times.

Buyers remain wary and sellers are greedy, but the latest New York art sales hint at a new reality…

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Kennedy Center Conspiracies The MAGA vibe shift has come for public institutions, and museums are emerging as the next target. Will the mood truly impact the way identity art is valued in the culture? Or has the market already m...

The MAGA vibe shift has come for public institutions, and museums are emerging as the next target. Will the mood truly impact the way identity art is valued in the culture? Or has the market already moved on?

@wallpower.bsky.social explores.

Condition Report: Howard Rachofsky and Thomas Hartland-Mackie An inside look at The Warehouse, the Dallas exhibition space fusing two collectors—and two generations—to create a hybrid experiential and educational platform to engage with the public.

An inside look at The Warehouse, the Dallas exhibition space fusing two collectors—and two generations—to create a hybrid experiential and educational platform to engage with the public.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Friedrich Through Trump-Colored Glasses The Met’s new show of echt German romanticist Caspar David Friedrich, whom Hitler co-opted for fascist appeal, raises some interesting questions about our cultural moment.

Why is the Met’s new show, ‘Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature’—a detailed retrospective of an artist that most Americans are only familiar with due to a popular meme—getting so much attention?

@wallpower.bsky.social explores:

Condition Report: Alice Gray Stites’s Art of Hospitality Alice Gray Stites, the top curator of 21c Museum Hotels, discusses the importance of bringing art to the public and the complicated logistics of their hybrid hospitality business.

A discussion with the chief curator of 21c Museum Hotels about the importance of bringing art to the public and the complicated logistics of their hybrid hospitality business.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

The Mod Squad Two new shows—Gabriel Orozco at Mexico City’s Museo Jumex, and an enlightening survey of Brazilian modernists in London—make yet another case for gazing far beyond Europe.

Exploring the Museo Jumex’s ‘Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional’ show plus the Royal Academy of Arts’ ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism.’

From @wallpower.bsky.social

The Mystery of the Morandi Market Artists and collectors swoon over the Italian recluse’s muted masterpieces, but Morandi’s auction market and prices have never followed suit. Will they now?

A second show of Morandi’s art has opened in NY in the span of 4 months. While artists and collectors swoon over the Italian recluse’s muted masterpieces, his auction market and prices have never followed suit. Will they now?

@wallpower.bsky.social explores:

A Gagosian Retrospective Larry Gagosian is being displaced at his 980 Madison Avenue flagship gallery by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which bought the property for $560 million. It’s a fitting end to one era—and a fascinating st...

Larry Gagosian is being displaced at his 980 Madison flagship gallery by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which bought the property for $560 million. It’s a fitting end to one era—and a fascinating start to another.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Asia’s Failure to Launch Just when the art market seemed like it was entering a new stratosphere in late 2022, the trend reversed abruptly. Have Chinese bidders dropped out, or are they simply more hesitant to buy the dip?

What if the reason for the post-2022 art market failure to launch was that the crucial extra bidders, who can significantly increase a sale price just by being there, had gone missing?

@wallpower.bsky.social explores:

Sotheby’s Billion-Dollar Real Estate Play On a year-end call, the auction house reported that fine art sales were down 31 percent last year, and luxury sales and real estate are now driving the company. And that $1 billion investment from Abu...

Sotheby’s 2024 results call last week—reporting that fine art sales were down 31% last year—had a surprising emphasis on the auction house’s $1 billion real estate portfolio.

@wallpower.bsky.social digs in:

The Artnet of the Deal The embattled art market company faces an intense five weeks of politicking that will determine, once and for all, who controls its future—and who will prevail in the Weng–Neuendorf battle.

Embattled art market company Artnet faces an intense 5 weeks of politicking that will determine, once and for all, who controls its future—and who will prevail in the interminable Weng–Neuendorf battle of wills.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

The Morandi Moment Mattia De Luca’s dream was to hold a pop-up exhibition of his favorite artist, Giorgio Morandi, in New York. On the eve of another important Morandi show at David Zwirner, he speaks about his experien...

A candid conversation with Rome-based private art dealer Mattia De Luca about his past Giorgio Morandi shows, and the enduring appeal of an artist who made an entire universe out of everyday items.

From @wallpower.bsky.social

Policing Peter Beard’s Legacy The strength and quality of an artist’s studio or foundation can be the difference between their legacy dissipating into the ether or gathering strength with time.

“The studio seems most concerned with asserting its role as the arbiter of what is, and what is not, a Peter Beard work of art.”

@wallpower.bsky.social chronicles the fight over artist Peter Beard’s legacy:

Guillaume Cerutti to take new arts and culture role at Artemis.

Congratulations to Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s next CEO starting February.

Art in the Apocalypse Los Angeles is burning. And one theme of the fires, which are forcing residents to choose between their possessions, is that art is interwoven into our lives.

“Los Angeles is burning. And one theme of the fires, which are forcing residents to choose between their possessions, is that art is interwoven into our lives.”

From @wallpower.bsky.social