THE ART MARKET Vol 55 REHS GALLERIES

>The Trossachs, Alfred Debreanski, Reyhs Galleries



Comments on the Art Market - Volume 55 July 2005

The Americans
The heat continues, at the end of May the interest turned to American paintings and the sale room results did not disappoint the market, though in my personal opinion, some of the paintings were a bit disappointing.
Among the many highlights were Andrew Wyeth's Battle Ensign which made an auction record $3.82 million....

....in December of 2003, made an impressive $856,000, not a bad return in less than 2 years!

Full Report

On the Bay 

Good Art - Bad Art - Fred Ross

ARC Articles - ARC Philosophy Chapter II: Good Art/Bad Art - Pulling Back the Curtain - Fred Ross

Coign of Vantage, Laurence Alma-Adema


" The art of painting, one of the greatest traditions in all of human history has been under a merciless and relentless assault for the last one hundred years. I'm referring to the accumulated knowledge of over 2500 hundred years, spanning from Ancient Greece to the early Renaissance and through to the extraordinary pinnacles of artistic achievement seen in the High Renaissance, 17th century Dutch, and the great 19th century Academies of Europe and America. These traditions, just when they were at their absolute zenith, at a peak of achievement, seemingly unbeatable and unstoppable, hit the twentieth century at full stride, and then ... fell off a cliff, and smashed to pieces on the rocks below.

Since World War I the contemporary visual arts as represented in Museum exhibitions, University Art Departments, and journalistic art criticism became little more than juvenile, repetitive exercises at proving to the former adult world that they could do whatever they damn well wanted ...

Modernism as we know it, ultimately became the most oppressive and restrictive system of thought in all of art history."

Very interesting articles and art gallery
ARC Articles - ARC Philosophy Chapter II: Good Art/Bad Art - Pulling Back the Curtain - Fred Ross

BECOME A SWINE FOR CIRCE'S MAGIC WINE?

Circe


Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses by John William Waterhouse (British, 1849 - 1917)

Enlarge the image

On his return from the Trojan War, Ulysses sailed to the fantastic island of Aeaea inhabited by Circe, a beautiful but powerful sorceress. The land was crawling with swine, the metamorphosed forms of men seduced by her potent herbal brews.

Ulysses lost his entire crew to her charms, but armed with moly, a herb given to him by Hermes, he was able to withstand her spells and force her to release his men from their bestial shape.
Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses
Painting date: 1891 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 149 x 92 cm
Location: Oldham Art Gallery, Oldham, England

I reflect on whether I would have resisted the potent brew offered by Circe and been forced to live as swine for the rest of my life.

Perhaps, unknowingly, I already did and have been transformed into a modern day swine?