What’s for Sale at Art Basel – Photo Survey by Todd Levin

A photo survey of offerings at Art Basel 2010.

Gagosian Rome director Pepi Marchetti at the Gagosian NY booth.

If you’re not at Art Basel, and have any interest in what’s for sale, visit art advisor Todd Levin’s Facebook page for a photographic tour (with commentary) of the offerings. His selective survey shows a glut of unexceptional Richter abstractions, loads of pictures by congenitally mediocre Joan Mitchell, flocks of overly-vaunted Basquiats, several floor blobs from the ’60s and ’70s by Lynda Benglis, plus, some extraordinary Rauschenbergs (Gagosian, Krugier), more than one classic Magritte, lots of Cornell collages (probably disgorged by the box-depleted estate), some adorable tabletop Calders (Serrousi), a 1964 sunrise painting by Lichtenstein at Aquavella, and an excellent Miró gouache at Helly Nahmad – breathtakingly overpriced at $8.5 million, notes Levin. He also cautions that a Man Ray drawing of the artist’s famed doctored metronome Object to be Destroyed that sold at auction last year for $8,000 is offered by Ubu for $65,000. Caveat emptor.

Art Basel’s own site has posted photographs for press use. The gallery section is here, and the fair’s more museum-like “Art Unlimited” section here [ed. note: no longer accessible], featuring Urs Fischer (Eva Presenhuber), Zhang Huan (Pace), Dan Flavin (Zwirner), and Michelangelo Pistoletto (Continua), among others.

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Jason Edward Kaufman is an art historian and critic with expertise in museums and the international art world.

A complete list of past articles is available here.

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2010 (1)

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    August 26, 2010, 1:16 am

    Gary Tinterow’s Contemporary Art Agenda for the Metropolitan Museum

    In a wide-ranging interview, the chief curator of modern and contemporary art discusses collection sharing, acquisitions strategy, renovation of the Wallace Wing, negotiations to lease the Whitney’s Breuer building, and more.

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  • Wayne Thiebaud: the Last Interview

    In Wayne Thiebaud, ed. Ulf Küster, catalogue of the exhibition, "Wayne Thiebaud," at Fondation Beyeler, Riehen|Basel, Switzerland, Jan. 29-May 21, 2023, pp. 139-148. [Hatje Cantz, ISBN 978-3-7757-5402-6]

2023 (1)

  • De Kooning’s advice to Wayne Thiebaud

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