The gift was announced in tandem with the museum’s annual Art of the Party gala, where Griffin and the Colombian artist Delcy Morelos were honoured

BY ALBERT CHEN

Phillips is set to dazzle the art world with its highly anticipated November Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art in New York, showcasing an impressive lineup of 33 lots featuring trailblazing masterpieces and contemporary gems. Slated for November 19 at 5 p.m. EST at their 432 Park Avenue location, this event promises to attract global collectors with an appetite for significant works by renowned masters and contemporary talents alike.

The headline piece is Jackson Pollock’s Untitled, circa 1948, a quintessential example from his revolutionary drip painting period. This work, making its first public appearance since the major 1998-1999 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and London’s Tate Gallery, once graced the private collection of legendary design icon Florence Knoll. Emphasizing Pollock’s transformative impact on 20th-century art, Untitled encapsulates the raw energy and abstract innovation that redefined the use of paint as an expressive medium.

Equally captivating are two rare double self-portraits by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol from the early 1980s. This marks the first time that such pivotal works have appeared together in a single auction. Basquiat’s self-portrait, executed on three hinged panels reminiscent of a religious altarpiece, immortalizes his figure crowned with his signature dreadlocks.

The piece is infused with references to jazz legends like Thelonious Monk and Ben Webster, positioning Basquiat within a lineage of influential Black artists while anchoring his early identity as SAMO©, his graffiti moniker. This evocative work has passed through prestigious collections, including those of Larry Warsh and actor Johnny Depp, and has been exhibited globally, enhancing its already storied provenance.

Warhol’s double self-portrait, first shown at London’s Anthony d’Offay Gallery and part of a significant touring exhibition in the early 2000s, delves into the artist’s exploration of identity and fame. Originating from his collaboration with photographer Christopher Makos, Warhol’s portrayal—donning no disguise yet fully “in character”—embodies his introspective later works, emphasizing his dual existence as both artist and iconic subject. This piece represents a crucial prelude to Warhol’s creative partnership with Basquiat, spotlighting the interplay between their individual paths.

Cy Twombly’s Crimes of Passion I (1960), another standout, exemplifies his Baroque Paintings. Painted during his early years in Rome, the work channels the timeless allure of antiquity, blending mythological themes with abstract expressionism. The bold reds and charged forms evoke themes of love and violence, a testament to Twombly’s synthesis of the classical and the avant-garde. Once in the collections of rock legend Eric Clapton and Heiner Friedrich, this painting underscores Twombly’s status as a master of symbolic depth.

Modern art luminaries also feature prominently. Pablo Picasso’s Buste d’homme (1964), part of a series painted in one day, captures the boldness of his late style and pays tribute to Henri Matisse. Picasso’s use of Fauvist colors and expressive forms nods to his admiration for Matisse, whom he first met in 1906 through Gertrude Stein. This work, unseen for six decades, emerges as a testament to Picasso’s lasting experimentation and homage to his contemporary.

Joan Miró’s Peinture (1950), from his Spontaneous Paintings series, embodies his playful and fluid style, further diversifying the sale’s appeal. The collection bridges the historical with the modern, featuring works by Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt, as well as contemporary stars like Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, whose Watcher stands as a powerful example of her portraiture, and Derek Fordjour’s Twelve Tribes, showcasing the rich textures and narratives that have captured collectors’ interest.

Marking her auction debut is Li Hei Di with Unfolding a flood (2022). This piece captures the artist’s exploration of identity through vivid, abstracted storytelling, underscoring Phillips’ dedication to emerging talents alongside time-honored names.

The sale follows Phillips’ recent success with Basquiat’s Untitled (ELMAR), which garnered $46.5 million, and confirms the market’s ongoing fervor for works by both Basquiat and Warhol. As Jean-Paul Engelen, President, Americas, and Robert Manley, Deputy Chairman, noted, this auction epitomizes Phillips’ commitment to meeting the dynamic tastes of their discerning clientele with works that boast exceptional quality and provenance.

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The post Pollock, Basquiat, Warhol, Twombly Headline Monumental Phillips Auction appeared first on World Art News.

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Guggenheim Museum presents “Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930”

From 8 November 2024 to 9 March 2025, the Guggenheim presents the first in-depth examination of Orphism, which emerged in Paris among a group of cosmopolitan artists in the early 1910s—when changes brought on by modernity were radically altering notions of time and space.

Source: Guggenheim Museum, New York · Image: Robert Delaunay, “Circular Forms” (1930). Guggenheim Museum, New York

The poet Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term “Orphism” in 1912 to describe artists who were moving away from Cubism toward an abstract, multisensory mode of expression. Apollinaire’s concept referenced the Greek mythological poet and lyre player Orpheus—who swayed nature and challenged death with his song—equating the ephemeral abstraction of his music with Orphism’s transcendent character.

Associated artists such as Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, František Kupka, and Francis Picabia created kaleidoscopic compositions that captured the simultaneity of modern life. Some investigated chromatic consonances and contrasts in their prismatic works, while others engaged with the rhythms and syncopations of popular music and dance. They drew inspiration from Neo-Impressionism’s color theory and the Blue Rider group’s philosophies. When pushed to its limits, Orphism meant total abstraction.

Alongside the formal harmony and dissonance related to color and sound that underpins Orphist compositions, the exhibition will reveal sociocultural corollaries sparked by transnationalism: the connections that greater mobility fostered between artists from myriad countries who converged in Paris as well as the tensions that geographic and cultural dislocations could engender. Harmony and Dissonance will employ Orphism as a generous and elastic category to embrace a spectrum of artists experimenting with abstraction in the early twentieth century. Thus, selected works by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Mainie Jellett, Fernand Léger, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Morgan Russell, and others will be among those in the presentation. Around a quarter of the exhibition’s works hail from the Guggenheim’s collection, the very body of art that Frank Lloyd Wright designed the museum to house, aptly honoring the building’s 65th anniversary in fall 2024.

El Museo Guggenheim presenta “Armonía y disonancia: orfismo en París, 1910-1930”

Del 8 de noviembre de 2024 al 9 de marzo de 2025, el Guggenheim presenta el primer examen en profundidad del orfismo, que surgió en París entre un grupo de artistas cosmopolitas a principios de la década de 1910, cuando los cambios provocados por la modernidad alteraban radicalmente las nociones de tiempo y espacio. .

Fuente: Museo Guggenheim, Nueva York · Imagen: Robert Delaunay, “Circular Forms” (1930). Museo Guggenheim, Nueva York

El poeta Guillaume Apollinaire acuñó el término «orfismo» en 1912 para describir a los artistas que se alejaban del cubismo hacia un modo de expresión abstracto y multisensorial. El concepto de Apollinaire hacía referencia al poeta y lirista mitológico griego Orfeo, quien influyó en la naturaleza y desafió a la muerte con su canción, equiparando la abstracción efímera de su música con el carácter trascendente del orfismo.

Artistas asociados como Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, František Kupka y Francis Picabia crearon composiciones caleidoscópicas que capturaron la simultaneidad de la vida moderna. Algunos investigaron consonancias y contrastes cromáticos en sus obras prismáticas, mientras que otros se involucraron con los ritmos y síncopas de la música y la danza populares. Se inspiraron en la teoría del color del neoimpresionismo y las filosofías del grupo Blue Rider. Cuando se lo llevó al límite, el orfismo significó una abstracción total.

Además de la armonía formal y la disonancia relacionadas con el color y el sonido que sustentan las composiciones orfistas, la exposición revelará corolarios socioculturales provocados por el transnacionalismo: las conexiones que una mayor movilidad fomentó entre artistas de innumerables países que convergieron en París, así como las tensiones que las fronteras geográficas y culturales dislocaciones podrían engendrar.

Armonía y disonancia empleará el orfismo como una categoría generosa y elástica para abarcar un espectro de artistas que experimentaron con la abstracción a principios del siglo XX. Así, obras seleccionadas de Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Mainie Jellett, Fernand Léger, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Morgan Russell y otros estarán entre las que estarán en la presentación. Alrededor de una cuarta parte de las obras de la exposición provienen de la colección del Guggenheim, el mismo conjunto de arte que Frank Lloyd Wright diseñó para albergar el museo, en honor al 65 aniversario del edificio en el otoño de 2024.

The alleged vandals are said to have targeted the homes of board members with “Jewish-sounding names”