Top Art Stories: Focus on Jeff Koons

In the top art stories this week, the round up contains a mix of updates of major artworks by Richard Avedon, Van Gogh & Jeff Koons. When the balloon dog (orange) goes to Christie’s for auction, it is bound to make some news!

Anybody in the market for the dog?

Jeff Koons, Orange Balloon Dog

Jeff Koons, Orange Balloon Dog

Peter Brant has decided to sell the coveted ‘Balloon Dog’ (Orange) by Jeff Koons to raise money for the Brant Foundation Art Study Center based in Connecticut. This iconic sculpture will be sold at Christie’s New York in November for an estimated value of $35-55 million. ‘Balloon Dog’ (Orange) is one of five of the series, all of which belong to important art collectors.  Who will be the lucky new owner of this doggie? That is an approximately $55 million question! Source: NY Times

 

Charles James to inaugurate reopening of Costume Institute at Met

After a two year hiatus, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is back in full force with an exhibition on Charles James, the 20th century British-American designer. The exhibition titled “Charles James: Beyond Fashion” will show about 100 garments by James. We wouldn’t want to miss this awesome exhibit in the gigantic, new 4,200 square foot space.  Make sure you don’t either. Source: Art in America

Avedon in Israel

Jeff Koons, Orange Balloon Dog

With the help of Leonard A. Lauder and Larry Gagosian, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem will be adding 74 images by Richard Avedon to their collection.  Though the museum currently has over 75,000 images, it did not own any photos by the famed photographer. Congratulations to them on such an important acquisition! Source: NY Times

 And… More gorgeous sunflowers by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, 'Sunflowers' shown with an orange frame

Vincent Van Gogh, ‘Sunflowers’

A photo of a painting titled ‘Six Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh, which was destroyed in 1945, has been found in the archives of a Japanese Museum. What makes this photo fascinating is that it shows the painting framed in an orange frame (the norm of the era being gilt or white frames). Given that Van Gogh had an affinity to pair complementary colors, his daring choice of an orange frame for his painting makes perfect sense.  It is too bad that the original artwork did not survive for us to speculate further on his decision. Source: BBC

 

This article © galleryIntell. Richard Avedon Self-Portrait © The Richard Avedon Foundation