Art & Antiques Notes Blog Archive August 2009- ArtfixDaily.com

Art & Antiques Notes

Julie Carlson Wildfeuer

The author of numerous art books and museum exhibition catalogs, ARTFIXdaily publisher Julie Carlson Wildfeuer has also written for regional magazines, Forbes.com, and Antiques & Fine Art magazine, where she served as VP and founding managing editor.

Art world news, exhibition reviews, and notes on collecting.

Blog entries from Art & Antiques Notes for August 2009

John Marin, Marin Island, Small Point, Maine, 1915, at Alexandre Gallery

Destination Maine: Artists' Vacationland

Posted: August 04, 2009 14:27 Last Updated: | Julie Carlson Wildfeuer

Rugged and wild, the coast of Maine has inspired generations of painters to capture its primeval forests and rocky shores in all artistic mediums. Two idyllic rental cottages in Maine offer vacationers dramatic scenery once enjoyed and painted by renowned American artists John Marin and the family dynasty of N.C., Andrew, and James Wyeth. With a documentary on Marin and a feature film on the Wyeths currently in production, these artist hideouts will soon be in the limelight. Cape Split is as remote and quiet today as during the 1930s when painter and printmaker John Marin (1870-1953) exec...

Edmund Tarbell's "An Opal" sizzled up to six-figures at Copley auction

Tarbell's "An Opal" Shimmers at Auction

Posted: August 05, 2009 12:36 Last Updated: | Julie Carlson Wildfeuer

Within the wide selection of Frank Benson bird etchings and Ogden Pleissner sporting scenes in Copley Fine Art Auctions' two-day Annual Sporting Sale, July 15-16, was a softly-rendered, warmly-lit portrait by Boston School artist Edmund Tarbell (1862-1938). Tarbell's "An Opal: Study of Yellow and White Light" pictured a confident Victorian lady. At the Plymouth, Massachusetts, sale Copley hammered down this alluring image for a strong $120,750 (estimate: $100,000-$200,000), part of the auction house's $4.15 million total take, a 30% increase over last year's sales results. The sitter's pose...

Art Basel Miami Beach, the sister show to Art Basel in Switzerland, is a major annual contemporary art fair enjoyed by some members of the fund.

Investors eschew Wall St. for Wall Art

Posted: August 12, 2009 18:55 Last Updated: | Julie Carlson Wildfeuer

Inflation may be lurking around the corner...so what are stock market-skittish Americans considering as investments? Oil, gold, and great art---assets which some experts consider positioned to perform well in the next market upswing. For aesthetically-inclined investors, The Collectors Fund is a novel approach to both enjoying art in the home and diversifying a financial portfolio. With a minimum $120,000 investment, members buy-in to the two-year-old art fund. It's a long-term play with a bit of instant gratification. Members bid (using votes derived from the level of their investment) o...

Theriault's sold this French art doll, circa 1914, by sculptor Albert Marque on July 12 for $263,000.00 (including buyers premium), shattering the previous record for a similar model sold in 2003 for $215,000.00.

Big-dollar Beauties: Dolls demand high auction prices

Posted: August 17, 2009 19:57 Last Updated: | Julie Carlson Wildfeuer

Private collections are yielding some rare and coveted dolls to the auction market this year. An art doll from an Italian private collection provoked a heated paddle battle at Theriault's July 12 sale while the Richard Wright Collection at Skinner's will offer up many more supreme examples of doll-making this October. On the eve of France's Bastille Day, Theriault's hammered down the gorgeously-outfitted French art doll for a world record price of $263,000. The previous record was $215,000 for a similar model sold in 2003. Made in Paris by artist Albert Marque circa 1914, the doll came from...