Auction Thriller: Michael Crichton's Private Art Collection at Christie's

An encaustic Stars and Stripes painting entitled Flag made between 1960-1966 by U.S. artist Jasper Johns. From the private collection of late American author Michael Crichton. [Credit: AP/Lefteris Pitarakis]

LONDON — American author Michael Crichton was well-known for his best-selling novels and popular television shows, but he was also a private and passionate art collector. Crichton, the man behind Jurassic Park and ER, died of cancer in November 2008 at the age of 66. He left behind an impressive art collection of 20th century masterworks worth an estimated $32 million. The lot will be up for auction at Christie's New York on May 11.

Crichton's collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Four of the pieces went on display at Christie's London on Friday and will be on view until February 12.

The star of the show is the iconic Flag of 1960-1966, one of a series of paintings by American Abstract Expressionist artist Jasper Johns. The piece once hung in Crichton's Beverly Hills bedroom and hasn't been seen publicly since he purchased it directly from the artist in 1974. Crichton was considered such an authority on Johns that the artist asked him to write the catalog for a 1977 retrospective. The last Johns flag painting sold at auction fetched $12.1 million in 1989.

"I never really cared whether a particular piece was major or minor, typical or atypical of the artist's work, or whether the artist was fully or thinly represented in my collection," Crichton wrote of his art collecting philosophy. "I just bought images that I enjoyed looking at."

[Source: AP]
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Auction Thriller: Michael Crichton's Private Art Collection at Christie's

Can't Afford a Michael Jackson Painting? Buy His Opus

Just when Michael Jackson mania seemed to quiet down a bit, the King of Pop is back in the news this week; the sale of his portrait at Art Basel Miami Beach and the release of the ginormous Official Michael Jackson Opus are making headlines.

Over the weekend, artist Kehinde Wiley's 11.5 foot by 10.1 foot portrait of Michael Jackson, entitled Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II, sold to a German collector at ABMB for an impressive $175,000. Although Jackson never saw the final painting, depicting him on horseback, dressed in regal garb and attended by two cherubs, Wiley, who initially thought voicemails from the late pop star were a prank, said she felt a responsibility to complete the piece commissioned by Jackson in 2008.

If you're not willing to fork over the really big bucks, $249 will buy you a copy of the monumental 404-page The Official Michael Jackson Opus: The Ultimate Celebration of an Icon, featuring hundreds of rare, previously unpublished photos and images of exclusive drawings and paintings depicting the pop star. The Opus also includes personal essays by celebrities like Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Paula Abdul, Sugar Ray Leonard, Spike Lee, Jane Fonda and many others. Released this week, the mammoth tome weighs a whopping 26.5 pounds.

One of the book's images getting a lot of attention is artist David Nordahl's painting, simply entitled Michael. The painting shows a scantily-clad Jackson surrounded by a group of nude cherubs. Nordahl painted hundreds of works for Jackson, who spent millions building up his private art collection.

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[Images: Top - Kehinde Wiley, "Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II." | Bottom - David Nordahl, "Michael."]

Can't Afford a Michael Jackson Painting? Buy His Opus

Met Museum Repatriates the Naos Egyptian Artifact

CAIRO -- Egypt's Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, is continuing his scavenger hunt through the world's most prestigious museums. Since taking office in 2002, Hawass has been on an archaeological quest for so-called stolen Egyptian antiquities. Earlier this month, there was a dispute between Hawass and the Louvre Museum in Paris, ending only after the museum agreed to return 5 fresco fragments. On Monday, New York's Metropolitan Museum confirmed it will be the next institution to send an artifact back to Egypt.

The Met acquired its Egyptian relic from a private collector about a year ago, making this the first time a museum has purchased an item solely to repatriate it. The object is a red granite fragment belonging to the ancient "Naos," a pharoanic shrine honoring the 12th Dynasty King Amenemhat I, who ruled 4,000 years ago.

Hawass claims to have recovered 5,000 Egyptian artifacts thus far, however not all of his campaigns have been successful. Berlin's Neues Museum is refusing to hand over its bust of Queen Nefertiti, and the Rosetta Stone is still housed in London's British Museum.

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[Read More - The Met Returns Egyptian Artifact | AP]

Met Museum Repatriates the Naos Egyptian Artifact

Garage Sale Picasso: Is a Two Dollar Purchase Worth Two Million?

SHREVEPORT -- Antique furniture, used clothing, old books...those are the typical garage sale offerings. Once in a while you even find an item worth bargaining for, and for just one dollar another person's trash becomes your treasure. For two dollars, you can have that painting in the cheap little frame, the one over there with the fake "Pablo Picasso" signature scribbled across the front of it.

That was the scenario at Edith Parker's garage sale - except in this case, the Picasso painting may be real. Parker, who resides in a Shreveport, Louisiana trailer park, inherited a pile of leftover junk from her recently deceased neighbor. She knew her neighbor was an art collector, but his family assured her the painting in the pile was just a fake. So Parker sold the item to Teisha McNeal for $2.

Most of us use the internet to find answers to our most curious questions; McNeal got home with her $2 purchase and curiously searched for it on the web. What she found led her to believe the painting was not only authentic, but stolen. While the FBI has since confirmed the work is not stolen, "They told me that it looks like an original," McNeal said in an interview.

Whether the painting is worth two dollars or two million remains to be seen, but maybe we'll all think twice before skipping out on our neighbor's next yard sale.

[Read More - Finding Art Treasure in the Trash | ABC News] 

* * * * * UPDATE * * * * *

10/29/2009 -- "Looks like an original" does not mean is an original. The Shreveport Times has reported that the $2 garage sale painting is NOT an authentic Picasso. "As far as we can tell, the painting does not appear to be an original," said Steve Hall, supervisory senior resident agent of the FBI's Shreveport office. "The dimensions of the print do not match the dimensions of the original Picasso painting."

The outcome isn't as surprising as it is disappointing. Still, you never really know what treasures you may find if you don't at least look...

[Read More - $2 Yard Sale Acquisition Spurs Frenzy of Calls | Shreveport Times] 
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Garage Sale Picasso: Is a Two Dollar Purchase Worth Two Million?

Top ART News: Week in Review | Oct. 11 - 18, 2009

■ Van Gogh Letter Exhibits a Method Behind the Madness | More >

■ Editions with Additions: Working Proofs by Jasper Johns at the National Gallery of Art | More >

■ Will the Frieze Heat Up London's Art Market | More >

■ Bailout Forces Royal Bank of Scotland to Share Art Stash with Public | More >

■ 19K Portrait Is a Leonardo da Vinci Worth Millions, Fingerprints Show | More >

■ Can Hirst Paintings Intoxicate Like Formaldehyde? | More >

■ British Museum Has Two Months to Return Artifact to Iran, Or Else | More >

■ Tate Modern Replaces Indecent Brooke Shields Photo, Reopens Gallery | More >

■ The Painter of Black and Light: Soulages at the Pompidou | More >

■ The Art World's Most Influential Figures | The Power 100 List (2009) | More >

■ Human Art Experiment Ends After 100 Days | More >

■ 19K Portrait Is a Leonardo da Vinci Worth Millions, Fingerprints Show | More >

■ Art Collector Waives Insurance Policy for Stolen Andy Warhol Paintings | More >

■ Michelangelo's Travelogue Includes a Tour of Seattle | More >

■ Archaeologists Crusade for Ancient Murals in Syria | More >

■ Fairey's Lawyers Drop Case After Obama "HOPE" Poster Artist Admits Lies | More >

■ New Olympic Medals Unveiled for 2010 Olympic Games | More >

Top ART News: Week in Review | Oct. 11 - 18, 2009

Tate Modern Replaces Indecent Brooke Shields Photo, Reopens Gallery

LONDON -- A nude photograph of a ten-year-old Brooke Shields has been removed from Tate Modern's exhibition entitled Pop Life: Art in a Material World. The Richard Prince photo (Spiritual America, 1983 - detail shown above left) was deemed offensive by some exhibit attendees, prompting a museum visit from officers of the police's obscene publications unit.

A police spokesman “explained the legal position which is clear that anyone convicted of distributing or showing an indecent image of a child would automatically be placed on the sex offenders register.” But is it "indecent" when the image is displayed in a cultural establishment, like the Tate, and in the name of art?

The museum temporarily shut down, but reopened Tuesday - sans the 1983 photo. A later version of the Richard Prince work (Spiritual America IV, 2005 - detail shown above right), was hung in it's place.

Many in the art world believe the authorities' investigation (and threats) went too far. Art lawyer Mark Stephens commented, "With exhibitions in cultural institutions [it] can rarely, if ever, be in the ‘public interest’ to prosecute. It [would not be] in the public interest to prosecute [Tate over] this Richard Prince image, particularly taking account its long history of public exhibition.”

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Pop Life: Art in a Material World (Oct. 1 - Jan. 17, 2010)  @ Tate Modern | Website
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[Read More - Richard Prince Photo Withdrawal "Not in Public Interest" | The Art Newspaper]

Tate Modern Replaces Indecent Brooke Shields Photo, Reopens Gallery

British Museum Has Two Months to Return Artifact to Iran, Or Else

TEHRAN -- A clay artifact dating from the 6th century BC is the center of a dispute between Iran and London's British Museum. The Cyrus Cylinder, currently in the British Museum's possession, is an object relating to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia, who Iranians consider a great historical hero. Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization has given the British Museum a deadline of two months within which to return the cultural relic to Iran.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi explained, "There was an agreement between Iran and the London museum to the effect that the...cylinder would be lent to Iran for display." Qashqavi believes the controversy over Iran's spring election caused the museum to reconsider the arrangement.

A spokeswoman for the British Museum said they intend to send the item to Iran citing "a number of practicalities" as reason for the delay. But Iran is sticking to its two month deadline. "If within this period this pledge is not honored then all agreements in archaeological research, trade fairs and so on with Britain might be harmed," Qashqavi threatened.

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[Read More - Iran Says Museum Broke Pledge on Artifact | Reuters]

British Museum Has Two Months to Return Artifact to Iran, Or Else

Bailout Forces Royal Bank of Scotland to Share Art Stash with Public

A previously hidden trove of British artwork, one of the largest corporate collections in Britain, will soon be shared with the public. The Royal Bank of Scotland has been criticized for keeping its 2,200 piece art stash out of public view - until now. The bank has reexamined their position, considering the artwork is now 70% taxpayer-owned after a treasury bailout saved RBS from collapse. RBS has yet to disclose a comprehensive list of the artwork or reveal its value, however the collection is said to include paintings and prints by artists like LS Lowry, David Hockney, Patrick Caulfield, Sir William McTaggart, Johann Zoffany and Joshua Reynolds.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND /The Guardian/ -- RBS has told the Guardian it broadly agrees with its critics that it now has a public duty to share its collection and is in discussions with museums and arts experts, including the National Galleries of Scotland, which runs five galleries in Edinburgh, about possible loans and exhibitions.

Colin Tweedy, the chairman of Arts & Business, an influential charity which promotes culture and the arts in business, said the bank's silence about the collection and its failure to show it publicly had been frustrating and worrying. "I can understand their embarrassment, but the difficulty is that the collection seemed to have disappeared," he said. "I was worried it had been thrown away and damaged. My view is that this is something they should be proud of, instead of being embarrassed." He added: "It is not only a public duty but also a business opportunity, because people will see some wonderful British work and realize it is owned by RBS."

The department of culture urged RBS to put its works on show: "We want the British public to have access to great works of art, whether they are in public or privately owned collections. We would encourage any business which owns a corporate art collection to enable it to be seen by the public where practicable."

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[Read More - Royal Bank of Scotland Agrees to Put Hidden Art Collection On Public Display | The Guardian]

Bailout Forces Royal Bank of Scotland to Share Art Stash with Public

Egypt and the Louvre End Their Rift Over Relics

The argument over artifacts between France and Egypt may finally be over. The countries have been in a standoff as the Louvre Museum debated whether to return antiques that Egypt says were stolen - or else, the country threatened,  Egypt would cut all ties with the French museum indefinitely.

PARIS /Bloomberg/ -- France said it is returning to Egypt five fresco fragments acquired by the Louvre Museum, saying there were “serious doubts” about their provenance, and responding to Egyptian demands for their return. The 35-member commission overseeing France’s national museum collections unanimously agreed that the fresco fragments from the wall of a prince’s tomb must be given back. Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand has decided to return them.

The mural fragments, from the tomb of a prince of the XVIIIth dynasty, “were acquired in good faith by the Louvre in 2000 and 2003,” the ministry said. “In November 2008, following the rediscovery by archaeologists of the tomb from which the frescoes seemed to originate, serious doubts emerged as to the legality of their exit from Egyptian territory.”

Earlier this week, Egypt suspended co-operation with the Louvre, saying the Paris museum was not returning the mural paintings removed from Luxor in the 1980s. The Supreme Council of Antiquities said the Louvre was refusing to honor an agreement to give back all stolen and smuggled Egyptian antiquities to the Arab country.

Zahi Hawass, the head of the antiquities council, has been on a campaign since 2002 to recover Egyptian antiquities located abroad, including the bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin’s Neues Museum, which opens next week, and the Rosetta stone at the British Museum in London.

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[Read More - France to Give Back to Egypt Five Artifacts Bought by Louvre | Bloomberg]

Egypt and the Louvre End Their Rift Over Relics