KAWS CELEBRE

Calvin Klein, Silkscreen on offset, 51.3 X 30.3, 3/5, signed Cornette de Saint-Cyr: Sunday, October 26, 2008, sold for $9,597

Brian Donnelly was born in New Jersey, educated at the School of Visual Art in New York, worked as an illustrator for Disney, became a graffiti artist in New York and currently works as an artist showing his work in galleries as well as designing his own line of toys and clothing for a company in Japan called Original Fake.

Kaws OriginalFake Pillow, Brown, produced by Medicom Toy, $78 sold here

Kaws first became well known as a a graffiti artist around New York by placing his art atop bus stop advertisements, billboards, and walls. He has said he chose the moniker "Kaws" for no other reason than he liked the way the letters looked together in his graffiti script. Today, the artist finds himself in a place many professional artists would like to be: He's famous. But it is not the kind of fame that makes him known exclusively among wealthy collectors and art professionals. Kaws was born in 1974. He is part of generation "X" (an interesting coincidence since he likes to use the "X" in the place of eyes in many of his works). But like many of his generation, he is a man of many income streams. There is the art which can bring in a lot of money. Wikipedia says that the artist's sculpture "Wonderful World" recently sold in Japan for $400,000. There is also the clothing line, the toys, and the knicknacks which appeal to an entirely different group of buyers. These items are affordable and allow a younger consumer to know and appreciate his work.

If creating a future market for his expensive works by grooming his young buyers now is an inventive tactic, then Kaw's ability to interest his own generation is nothing short of marketing genius. By taking familiar and comforting images such as the Smurfs, the Michelan Man, and the Simpsons and transforming them into something entirely new and recognizably "Kaws", Donnelly has enticed a market of buyers who find those images both familiar and new. And as any owner of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup cans could tell you: Familar + New = Vast Fortune.

Chum, painted cast vinyl, 2002, 13 X 8.5 X 4, edition of 500, stamped, Philips De Pury (London), Sept. 6, 2008, sold for $1,836

JUNE MEANS BUNNIES & ROOKWOOD

Rookwood Bunny paperweight, 1961, cinnamon high glaze, impressed with Rookwood date and shape 6160. Estimate $250-$350

It is June which means it is time for the rabbits to start eating the vegetables in your garden. It also means that it is time for the Fine American and European Art Pottery and Art Glass annual sale at Cincinnati Art Galleries. The sale will take place on June 6th and June 7th.

Rookwood began in 1880 by Marie Longworth Nichols and ended production in 1960. Over the years, Rookwood followed the trends and became proficient in many styles including art nouveau, arts and crafts, and art deco. One thing that never changed was the company's quality. From the beginning, the company employed talented artists whose craftsmanship was second-to-none. Nichols desired for her company to be different than the other companies who produced commercial products. To differentiate her company, she hired artists who already had reputations as good painters and craftspeople. The early green and gold colors of Rookwood glazes came from clay in the Ohio Valley Region.

For more information or to view the auction online visit the Cincinnati Art Galleries website here.

THE MARKET IS DOWN BUT CASHBOX IS NOT HURTING

Still Life with Cash Box, Roy Lichtenstein, 1976, sold at Christie's on May 12 for $1,986,500

The numbers are in and the market is down....again. On May 12, Sotheby's sold 39 of 48 lots for a total of $47,033, 500 while Christie's May 13, 2009 sale achieved $93.7 million and sold 49 of 50 lots. Artnet Magazine reported that the total price of the Christie's sale was down considerably from just twelve months ago. In May 2008 the sale price at Christie's for the night was $348 million. In fact, just six months ago, the total sum was $113.6 million. On the upside, the rate of decline during the last eighteen months has slowed and while there were some considerable 'deals', record prices were achieved at the sale. Among the record prices were David Hockney's 1966-67 work entitled Beverly Hills Housewife which sold for $7,922,500 and Roy Lichtenstein's Still Life with Cash Box from 1976 which sold for $1,986,500.

Engraved by Paul Revere in 1768 and handcolored in 1770 by Christian Remick, 9 3/4" X 15 1/2", sold at Northeast Auctions March sale for $469,000

It is not just the large auction houses which have reported high highs and low lows. At Northeast Auctions (Manchester, NH) March 21 & 22 sale the total realized price was $1.786 million. While 1000 of the 1103 lots sold, the prices for most of the lots were down considerably. The sale of a very nice Queen Anne highboy proved that even furniture was not immune. Just nine months ago the very same piece which sold for $90,000 brought $55,575 in this sale. In fact, it was just two rare lots that brought the total up for the night including a rare Paul Revere engraved print of troops landing in Boston as well as an ivory portrait in miniature of George Washington.

MEMORIAL DAY ART

Philadelphia Patriotic Scene, Frank Godwin, Gouache on board, 18 1/2" X 17",
American Illustrators Gallery (212) 744-5190 Send Email

BASKETS AT EASTER

If you celebrate Easter, you are probably familiar with the traditionally shaped Easter Basket. Usually, these "wicker" or "splint" baskets are made from williow, cane, or reed. In the U.S., Nantucket Baskets and Williamsburg baskets are common. You may be surprised to learn that basket making is one of the oldest crafts known to man. Because of the organic materials baskets are made from it is difficult to know just how old the craft acutally is. However, the oldest-known baskets have been carbon dated from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. This is longer than any known examples of pottery. Today, the craft of basketmaking has evolved to suit the tastes of our times. Now, more than ever, baskets are more than utilitarian vessels. Consider the "Jacaranda Basket" seen above. This basket was made by Michael and Christine Adcock of Adcock Studios. Mr. Adcock studied art and ceramics at the University of California Santa Cruz, taking a traditional route in art by becoming a studio potter. On the other hand, Mrs. Adcock studied art at the University of California and then contacted traditional weavers who taught her the craft. Her route was less traditional as she arranged to live and apprentice on the Papago Reservation. Together, these two artists collaborate to create vessels made of clay and natural fibers. Like many other basketmakers throughout the world, their innovations have helped elevate the craft of basketmaking to an art form.

This Easter, as you watch the children gather their eggs in wicker (or plastic) baskets consider the ancient form. Remember that the shape of the basket is an ancient one that ties us to distant lands and earlier peoples. It reminds us that while many things may change many more remain the same. The art and craft of basket making continues.

PONZI SCHEME "MADOFF" WITH ART COLLECTOR'S CASH

Jasper Johns, Diver, 1962 owned by Norman Braman is on ArtNews 'Ten most Wanted Works of Art" list

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) listed him as a benefactor in their 2005-2006 capital campaign but Bernie Madoff has likely hurt the arts more than any other individual in history with his Ponzi scheme.

For those that don't know, a Ponzi scheme is a duplicitous investment deal that involves the promise of abnormally high profits to investors. The money paid to early investors is gleamed from later investors rather than from returns generated by an actual business.

At age 95, Carl J. Shapiro, a prominent Boston art patron and the former director of Vanity Fair Corporation was one of Mr. Madoff's most unsuspecting victims. Shapiro and his wife, Ruth's namesake foundation, "The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation" lost a shocking $145 million in the Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The Foundation was a large contributor to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, and the Norton Museum in Palm Beach. Mr. Shapiro was also a strong advocate for the foundation of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Even more unfortunate was the fact that Mr. Shapiro was one of Mr. Madoff's most loyal investors and introduced him to many of his other future "investors" at their shared country club in Palm Beach.

But Mr. Shapiro was not the only wealthy art patron to lose money with Madoff. Norman Braman, a billionaire, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, and owner of many important and coveted paintings including Jasper John's Diver (which is on ArtNews 'Ten Most Wanted Works of Art' List) was also duped.

RARE FINDS FETCH RECORD PRICES

Aubrey Beardsley, The Climax, Pen & Ink, Sold $213,300, Skinner, Nov. 16, 2008

♦

Last week I had a discussion with another art person about why understanding the history and availability of an item or item is important to market value. This led us into a deep debate about whether or not value is determined by more than past sales figures. As an appraiser, I know that it is, and, hoping that person will read this article I am going to illustrate the point.

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was born in Brighton England in 1872 but his family moved to London in 1883. After several different jobs including a stint in an architect’s office and with an insurance company, Beardsley settled on art as his profession on the advice of Sir Burne-Jones. In 1892 he attended the Westminster School of Art.

Eventually, Beardsley became a caricaturist, an illustrator, and most importantly a provocateur. He was, by far, the most controversial artist of the Art Nouveau period—often depicting dark subjects and the grotesque. But today, it is the work he completed while working with Oscar Wilde on his play Salome that has captured the art world’s attention.

An appraiser near Boston was conducting a routine inspection of an older client’s items when he walked into the bathroom and spotted two of Beardsley’s original drawings over the vanity. The drawings, entitled The Platonic Lament and The Climax are part of only 13 illustrations Beardsley completed for the Oscar Wilde play. Incredibly, the client inherited the works from his grandfather forty years ago and had no idea of their importance. Nine of the pieces are held by the Fogg Museum at Harvard and the whereabouts of these two pieces had been unknown for more than eighty years.

The Climax (pictured) was auctioned for $213,300 (a world record for Beardsley’s work) and The Platonic Lament auctioned for $142,200. Collectors realized that this was likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire two of the final three pieces of the suite created for Salome. Certainly it was not just those interested in collecting Beardsley’s works that were interested in purchasing the pieces. There are also those who collect items related to Oscar Wilde or to Wilde’s plays that were likely interested in the illustrations as well.

Some credit must also be paid to the astute appraiser who recognized the significance of the pieces when he saw them. What if the client had simply had an “estate sale” conducted by someone who was not familiar with Beardsley. Those pieces might have sold for a fraction of what they were worth or they may have never been discovered at all.

For those of you who are counting, there is still one missing illustration. It is entitled Enter Herodias and if it is found it could possibly break the record set in November.