Over 400 Lichtensteins Go to the Whitney Museum and an Early van Gogh Sells for $8.3M

Roy Lichtenstein, "Artist's Studio 'Look Mickey' (Study)" (1973), graphite pencil, colored pencil, Magna, cut paper drawn on with graphite pencil, and colored pencil on paper, 19 3/4 x 23 3/4 in (© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein)
Roy Lichtenstein, “Artist’s Studio ‘Look Mickey’ (Study)” (1973), graphite pencil, colored pencil, Magna, cut paper drawn on with graphite pencil, and colored pencil on paper, 19 3/4 x 23 3/4 in (© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein)

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Roy Lichtenstein, "Sweet Dreams, Baby!" (1965), screenprint on white wove paper, sheet: 37 5/8 x 27 5/8 in; image: 35 5/8 x 25 9/16 in (© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein)
Roy Lichtenstein, “Sweet Dreams, Baby!” (1965), screenprint on white wove paper, sheet: 37 5/8 x 27 5/8 in; image: 35 5/8 x 25 9/16 in (© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein)

The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation initiated a promised gift of more than 400 works by Roy Lichtenstein to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The gift establishes the Roy Lichtenstein Study Collection, which includes paintings, sculptures, prints, collages, drawings, photographs, and more. In the coming years, the Lichtenstein Foundation will donate additional works and materials to the Whitney. As part of the agreement, the Whitney will launch a series of public and specialized events at the nearby Lichtenstein Studio in the fall.

“The Whitney Museum has a long history of presenting and collecting Lichtenstein’s work,” Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s director, said in a statement. “The Roy Lichtenstein Study Collection at the Whitney was selected by a team of curators, conservators, archivists, and educators, led by David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, who were charged to think holistically about how this collection would better — and further — our understanding of Roy Lichtenstein, the art of his time, and the history of postwar American art.”

Roy Lichtenstein with his painting Look Mickey (1961) in his West 26th Street studio, New York, 1964. (art © National Gallery of Art; photograph © Ken Heyman; courtesy the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation)
Roy Lichtenstein with his painting Look Mickey (1961) in his West 26th Street studio, New York, 1964. (art © National Gallery of Art; photograph © Ken Heyman; courtesy the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation)

In addition to its new collaboration with the Whitney, the Lichtenstein Foundation announced that it will gift its archives — including Roy Lichtenstein’s studio records — to the Archives of American Art. The gifting will be completed in stages, with more than 500 linear feet in documents being progressively digitized by the Archives.

Vincent van Gogh, "Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes" ("Women Mending Nets in the Dunes," 1882) recently sold at Artcurial for €7,065,000 (~$8.3 million) (courtesy Artcurial)
Vincent van Gogh, “Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes” (“Women Mending Nets in the Dunes,” 1882) recently sold at Artcurial for €7,065,000 (~$8.3 million) (courtesy Artcurial)

An early Vincent van Gogh landscape painting, “Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes” (“Women Mending Nets in the Dunes”) from 1882, was featured in a modern and contemporary art sale at Parisian auction house Artcurial, surpassing its pre-sale estimate of €3–5 million to fetch €7,065,000 (~$8.3 million).

Max Beckmann, "The Egyptian Woman" (1942), oil on canvas, 60 × 30 cm (image courtesy Grisebach; © Fotostudio Bartschnen@grisebach.com)
Max Beckmann, “The Egyptian Woman” (1942), oil on canvas, 60 × 30 cm (image courtesy Grisebach; © Fotostudio Bartschnen@grisebach.com)

A private foundation based in Switzerland acquired Max Beckmann‘s portrait painting “The Egyptian Woman” (1942) in a sale at Grisebach in Berlin for €5,530,000 (~$6.5 million, includes fees). According to the auction house, the price is the highest ever paid for an artwork at auction in Germany.

John Singer Sargent, "A Game of Bowls" (1889) (courtesy the National Trust)
John Singer Sargent, “A Game of Bowls” (1889) (courtesy the National Trust)

After a successful fundraising campaign, John Singer Sargent‘s “A Game of Bowls” (1889) was acquired by the National Trust’s Ightham Mote in Kent, which is the setting for the playful lawn game scene depicted in the painting.

George Wolfe Plank, "Christmas Gifts" (1913), ink and watercolor, cover for Vogue, sold June 5, 2018 for $22,500 (image courtesy Swann Auction Galleries)
George Wolfe Plank, “Christmas Gifts” (1913), ink and watercolor, cover for Vogue, sold June 5, 2018 for $22,500 (image courtesy Swann Auction Galleries)

An auction of illustration art at Swann Auction Galleries brought in a total of $662,872. Top lots included works by Al HirschfeldRussell H. Tandy, and George Wolfe Plank, whose 1913 watercolor cover illustration for Vogue, “Christmas Gifts,” sold for $22,500 (including fees).

The fossil of an unidentified theropod dinosaur discovered in Wyoming in 2013 was sold for €2,019,680 (~$2.4 million) in a sale organized by French auction house Aguttes at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The 150 million-year-old fossil was acquired by an unnamed French collector of contemporary art who plans to loan it to a French museum.

Unidentified dinosaur specimen from Wyoming sold by Aguttes auction house in Paris for $2.3 million (photo courtesy Aguttes)
Unidentified dinosaur specimen from Wyoming sold by Aguttes auction house in Paris for $2.3 million (photo courtesy Aguttes)

The post Over 400 Lichtensteins Go to the Whitney Museum and an Early van Gogh Sells for $8.3M appeared first on Hyperallergic.

Over 400 Lichtensteins Go to the Whitney Museum and an Early van Gogh Sells for $8.3M
By Benjamin Sutton

June 7, 2018 at 12:39PM
via Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/445987/roy-lichtenstein-whitney-museum-van-gogh-auction/