This element was not half-baked either, from Milo Moiré’s nude selfies, to repeat exhibitionist, Jeff Koons with his enormous, phallic kitten in a sock at Gagosian, visitors got their money’s worth. Yet beyond this, Art Basel is testing the waters of the art market, always much more voracious than auction records. Upon the opening of the fair to the general public, two days after that for VIPs and professionals, a large number of artworks had already been sold.
Modernists and their predecessors: From Monet to Rothko
What is most surprising is the market’s stability for modern art. Helly Nahmad gallery presented a Rothko Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) painted in 1955, with an asking price of $50 million, alongside a series of three small pieces by Joan Miro (Femme et oiseau devant le soleil “Woman and Birds in Front of the Sun” and Femme et oiseau devant la nuit “Woman and Birds in Front of the Moon”). Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lilies) (1914-1917) was probably the oldest piece presented at Art Basel.
Richard Nagy’s masterpiece of the fair was without a doubt Horse & Cows by Max Ernst, dated 1919, from the height of the Dada period. At Hopkins the key piece was a 1914 Paysage cubiste by Albert Gleizes, whilst New York-based Galerie St Etienne decided to present a remarkable series of works on paper by George Grosz, Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner as well as Oskar Kokoschka.
Albert Gleizes, Paysage cubiste (1914). Hopkins Gallery.
This theme of work on paper - the critique of post-war German society - was epitomized by Man with Blinders by Grosz around 1925. Joan Mitchell was celebrated at Richard Gray with Untitled, dated around 1951 to 1952 as well as at Cheim & Read (Untitled, 1977). Parisian gallery Lahumière presented l’Apothéose de Marat by Jean Dewasne for the second time, a piece that they bought to TEFAF only three months ago.
Italian Modernism and Arte Povera
The great names from Modern Italian art were out in force, Lucio Fontana of course, as well as members of Groupe Zero Walter Leblanc and Dadamaino and Groupe N, Alberto Biasi, Edoardo Landi and Toni Costa at The Mayor Gallery, whilst Tornabuoni presented a solo show of work by Paolo Scheggi.
Arte Povera artists also confirmed their position on the art market. Tucci Russo presented an enormous Biliardo piece by Mario Merz, whilst Luxembourg & Dayan gallery dedicated their stand to Michelangelo Pistoletto with the key piece La Gabbia (La Cage, 1974), presented for the first time the year it was made at Sidney Janis gallery in New York. La Gabbia plunges the viewer into a cage of mirrors and embellished bars, an experimental piece referencing Gabbia Specchio (1973-1992). Galleria Continua presented a more recent Pistoletto piece, Color and Light (2014).
Performance and conceptual art: Ana Mendieta and Artur Barrio
Ana Mendieta made her comeback this year, appearing on stands Galerie Lelong and Alison Jacques. Sao Paulo-based gallery, the galeria Millan, dedicated their stand to Portuguese artist Artur Barrio (born 1945), bringing us the author of the Manifesto estético del Tercer Mundo, his 1969 research piece on Brazil’s authoritarian regimes (1964-1985). Salazar’s Estado Novo was also displayed in three photographic series: Avalha Relógio, (1970) a study on the use of torture during dictatorshup; 6 movimentos (1974) and Uma observação, 6 aproximações, 1 recuo, (1975).
Basel’s contemporary side
Works by Marlène Dumas were a must at the fair, considering her ongoing retrospective at the Beyeler Foundation. The David Zwirner gallery sold two of her artworks for $2 and 3 million respectively. A work by Doug Aitken, Bad (2014) was sold by New York-based 303 Gallery for $250,000 to a Middle-Eastern institution, whilst a 1979 Lee Ufan artwork (From Line No 790136) was sold by Blum & Poe for $950,000.
Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija paid homage to Marcel Duchamp at Chantal Crousel with his chrome urinals entitled Long Live American Rock’n’roll! Fuck England! Tiravanija was also present at the entrance of the Messeplatz with his open air restaurant-installation where the artist and his staff were in the kitchen.
So, what did we take away from this edition of Art Basel? Prices are just as mind-boggling, arguably baffling with regards to certain artists, yet it is always fun to judge the mood of the art market by wandering through such a mammoth contemporary art fair.
Other notable sales of the week include:
Pace Gallery sold seven silkscreens by Robert Rauschenberg - priced between $450,000 and $1 million.
Luhring Augustine reports the sale of a 2004 painting by Albert Oehlen, the subject of a solo exhibition at the New Museum in New York, for €600,000 ($675,000) as well as a 14-foot-tall Christopher Wool sculpture priced at $2 million.
Skarstedt gallery sold a 1992 Oehlen painting of oil on fabric for $1 million.
Van de Weghe Fine Art sold a 2009 Christopher Wool painting with an asking price of $5.5 million as well as a five-inch-tall red and black mobile by Alexander Calder sold for $450,000
David Zwirner’s booth sold a $1 million painting by Yayoi Kusama and a $250,000 abstract painting by Oscar Murillo. A painting depicting a young woman by Marlene Dumas, sold for $3.5 million. Agnes Martin’s Mountain II (1969) sold to a European collector for $9.5 million. Luc Tuymans’ Wallpaper (2014) sold for $2 million. Two pieces by Jan Schoonhoven - R70-57 (1970) and R70-10 - sold for $950,000 and $550,000 respectively.
Galerie Perrotin reported the sale of seven paintings by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, including two priced at $1.1 million each.
Dominique Levy sold Gerhard Richter’s 1966 Zen Farben enamel on canvas which carried a $5 million asking price.
Richard Nagy sold an Egon Schiele pencil study for $250,000 to $300,000.
At Galerie 1900-2000, Autoportrait de profil (1963) by Marcel Duchamp sold for €120,000
Sprüth Magers: Rosemarie Trockel’s Untitled (Made in Western Germany) from 1987 sold for €1.8 million to a European collector.
Helly Nahmad; a 1963 Jean Dubuffet painting of a man driving a car, La Route du Pas–de-Calais, for about $6 million. Ten years ago, the painting sold at auction for $577,595.
Xavier Hufkens sold a Cy Twombly paper at its asking price of $2.2 million.
Christophe Van de Weghe sold a tiny Calder for $480,000.
Cheim & Read a work by Joan Mitchell at for $6 million.
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac a Joseph Beuys for €1.55 million.
Source: http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2015/06/21/artbasel-sales-report-3/
Thumbnail: Acquavella Galleries, Galleries in Basel 2015, © Art Basel
