Kerstin Brätsch wins the Edvard Munch Art Award
The artist succeeds Camille Henrot, who won the prize’s inaugural edition in 2015. Brätsch was chosen by a prestigious jury which included Centre Pompidou director Alfred Pacquement and New Museum artistic director Massimiliano Gioni.
The prize, recognizing the work of artists inspired by the Norwegian painter, is endowed with $65,000 and also includes a residency in Oslo and a solo show at the Munch Museum. Born in 1979, Kerstin Brätsch is represented by galleries Gio Marconi (Milan) and Gavin Brown's Enterprise. (New York) More via Artnews.
Kerstin Brätsch working on her Mylar paintings.Photo: © Readsreads.info
Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale in New York realizes $269.7 million
Despite a result well below that of competitor Christie’s — whose Impressionist and Modern sale realized $479.3 million earlier this week — Sotheby’s total of $269.7 million reflects the auction house’s pre-sale estimate which stood at between $204.1 and $295.2 million. Only 7 out of the 64 lots offered went unsold.
Asian collectors have largely been responsible for the sale’s success and a new record was set for a work by Marc Chagall, whose painting Les Amoureux (1912-1913) sold for $25 million, well above its presale estimate of $18 million. The result smashed the artist’s previous record, which stood at $14.9 million. New records were also set for Vilhelm Hammershøi and for a work on paper by Georgia O’Keeffe. Two Monets sold for over $20 million. Read more via The Art Newspaper.
Marc Chagall’s Les Amoureux, sold for a record $28.5m (with fees) at Sotheby's © Sotheby's
Olga Viso steps down as director of the Walker Art Center
After a decade at the head of the Minneapolis institution, director Olga Viso has announced she is stepping down. Over the last few months, Viso led a fundraising campaign that raised $75 million, but she also found herself in the midsts of the debates sparked by Sam Durant’s installation Scaffold, which outraged the local Native American community.
During her tenure, Viso oversaw the acquisition of works by Marlene Dumas, Jimmie Durham, Ana Mendieta, Lee Ufan and Jack Whitten. Read more on The New York Times.
Olga Viso — Credit Matthew Hintz for The New York Times
The Joan Mitchell Foundation awards its 2017 grants
Founded in 1993, the Joan Mitchell Foundation has revealed the awardees of its 24th “Painters & Sculptors Grant”. The 25 recipients represent a “wide range of artistic practices, ages, ethnicities, and geographic backgrounds”, and include Solomon Enos, Michi Meko, Analia Segal and Pamela Council. The American residents, aged between 27 and 62, are for the most part (80%) “non-white”.
They will each receive €25,000 and will be eligible to apply for an artist residency in New Orleans. More via Artnet.
Ruth Buentello's Under the Mexican Colchas (2012). Acrylic on Canvas with Ribbon, 40 x 60 in. Courtesy the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
