{ Antonioni’s L’Eclisse, 1962 | previously }

{ David Hammons, Untitled, 1989 | car windshield, metal, wood, and steel pole with foil }

{ David Hammons, Untitled, 1987 | wood, wire, rubber balls and bottle caps | Zwirner & Wirth }

{ David Hammons, Untitled, 2000 | crystal, frosted glass, light bulbs, light fixtures, hardware | Palazzo Grassi, Venice }

{ David Hammons, High Falutin’, 1990 | metal (some parts painted with oil), oil on wood, glass, rubber, velvet, plastic, and electric light bulbs | MoMA, NYC }

More than 40 photographs owned by the descendants of Edward Weston will go on the auction block in April, where they are expected to fetch up to $1.4 million. Among the highlights are three 1920s platinum prints including “Charis on the Dunes,” a nude of his wife, who was a frequent model in his works. It is expected to bring $100,000 to $150,000.

{ CNN | Continue reading | News for art buyers | Sotheby’s | Press Release | PDF }

related { Tina Modotti’s endless ability to reinvent herself }

related { Sotheby’s sale shows that in the art market, the party goes on }

{ Jeff Koons, Woman in a tub, 1988 | porcelain, edition of 3 }

{ “Woman in a tub was based on a postcard. I wanted the piece to be cropped like a photograph. It isn’t a violent cropping.” — Jeff Koons | Taschen }

{ American Apparel ad | retail locations Miami & Key West }

{ Norman Mailer dies at 84 | photo: Garry Winogrand, New Mexico, 1957 }

{ Cai Guo-Qiang, Head On, 2006 | installation of a pack of 99 life-sized wolves barreling in a continuous stream towards—and into—a constructed glass wall | Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany | photographed by Ihara and Mathias Schormann }

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“Marilyn Monroe agreed to pose nude for Vogue, with no make-up on her body, as long as the session could take place in LA. Rather than work in a studio, Stern decided to take a suite (No. 261) at the Bel-Air Hotel, Monroe had not been photographed in the nude since the Tom Kelley calendar pix. “I waited for her like a lover, like a bridegroom before his wedding, pacing the floor checking the ice in the Dom Pérignon 1953 vintage champagne, spraying the suite with Chanel No. 5.” Monroe arrived with Vicky, her hairdresser, five hours late. For 12 hours Stern snapped away, draping Monroe with necklaces, veils and two large roses, supplied by Vogue. The results were remarkable but too daring for Vogue, who decided they didn’t want the nudes. Another session was quickly arranged, this time Monroe wore clothes and make-up. The day before Vogue published, Monroe was dead.”

The three-day session yielded 2,571 photos of which no more than 20 were published by Vogue.

The Crucifix, one of the photos that Monroe hated and put a red pen through in the form of a thick cross. After the shooting, Marilyn Monroe rejected herself some of the pictures, marking them with a red pen (not lipstick), directly on the film.

“She hated the scar on her midriff from a recent gall-bladder operation, I told her it was beautiful. She was at a time in her life when she needed to re-invent herself, I think that’s why she accepted to pose for me, she drank gallons of Dom Pérignon, got drunk and fell asleep.” (Bert Stern)

{ Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe, 1962 | Continue reading }

{ Ellsworth Kelly, Sculpture for a Large Wall, 1957 | 104 anodixed aluminum panels }

In 1956, when he was 34 years old, Ellsworth Kelly was invited to create a sculpture for the lobby of Philadelphia’s Transportation Building which housed the old Greyhound Bus Terminal. The piece he made, Sculpture for a Large Wall, was the largest work of his career to that point.
{ ArtSeenSoho }

{ A big fat Philly flub } The Ellsworth Kelly “Sculpture for a Large Wall” was sold by Ronald Rubin for about $100,000. Then Matthew Marks turned around and sold it to the Lauder’s for about $1,000,000. The piece was later donated to MoMA by Carole and Ronald Lauder.

It was Kelly’s first sculpture, first commission and one of the first uses of anodized aluminum in fine art in America. The fact that no one complained when this unique masterpiece left Philadelphia while they raised $200,000 to retain Isiah Zagar’s kitschery makes Sid Sachs (director of the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at the University of the Arts) a very sad man. And the quality of the work and its importance is attested by the fact that MOMA used it every chance it could in ads and bus stop kiosks.

An early wood, wire and cardboard study.

{ Ellsworth Kelly, Studies for Sculpture for a Large Wall | MoMA }

{ Maurizio Cattelan, La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour), 1999 }

{ Adrian Piper, Out of the Corner, 1990 }