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The 10 Most Outrageous Things People Bought In October

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richter

October was another record-breaking month in the art world.

This month, buyers flocked toward historic hand guns and paintings. 

The most notable record broken this month was easily the most expensive piece of art sold by an artist who is currently living. 

Butch Cassidy's gun sold for $175,000.

Expensive Cassidy memorabilia 

A .45 caliber gun, once owned by Butch Cassidy, sold for $175,000 at auction

An anonymous bidder bought the Colt Single Action Army revolver. 

Cassidy originally purchased the gun in 1896. He turned the revolver over to authorities in Utah in 1900.



A Texan bought the guns Bonnie and Clyde were wearing when they died for $500,000.

Pricey Bonnie & Clyde memorabilia 

The guns that 1930s outlaws Bonnie and Clyde were wearing when they died sold this month for $500,000. 

An anonymous Texas collector purchased the guns. 

Bonnie Parker's Colt .38 snub-nose Detective Special revolver sold for $264,000 and Clyde Barrow's Colt Model 1911 Government Model semi-automatic .45 pistol sold for $240,000. 



Edward S. Curtis's "North American Indian" sold for $1.44 million.

A painting that exceeded expectations 

Edward S. Curtis's "North American Indian" sold this month for $1.44 million.

It sold for more than its original $1.2 million estimate at Swann Galleries. 



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Why Major Art Museums Are Going Gaga For Islamic Art

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Islamic Art Wing exhibits, Louvre, Paris

Last month, Paris's Louvre museum opened its new Islamic Art Wing amidst uproar over the series of controversial Mohammed cartoons that were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to the tune of $125 million.

And just last year, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art re-opened its Islamic art galleries, which had been closed for renovations for eight years. The Met's revamped galleries, called the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, cost about $40 million.

Click here to jump to photos of the museums' Islamic art wings >>

The fact that two of the world's greatest cultural institutions have invested heavily in their Islamic art collections within the last year is worth taking note. So why are these major museums devoting so much space and money to Islamic art?

For starters, it's worth looking at the investors behind the museums' Islamic art collections. The Louvre's 10-year $125 million project was largely funded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia and his wife Princess Amira al-Taweel, who gave the museum $20 million toward the galleries, according to The New York Times.

“After 9/11 all Arabs and Muslims have the duty and the responsibility to tell the west about real Muslims, about real Islam, and how peaceful our religion is,” Prince Waleed bin Talal said in a statement.

Other Louvre donors were the the French government, corporations like oil company Total, and the governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, Kuwait and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Met's $40 million renovation was funded largely by private donors, including Patti Cadby Birch, an Islamic art collector who passed away in 2007. Other major donors were the Vehbi Koc Foundation of Turkey; New York business family Bijan and Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani; and the Iranian-American community.

A look at the donors shows that the motivation behind these projects goes beyond finances. These new wings seem to promote tolerance and understanding of Islamic culture and history through art.

Sophie Makariou, head curator of the Louvre's department of Islamic art, hopes the new wing will teach lessons about tolerance and diversity through art, according to an AP story. "I like the idea of showing the other side of the coin," Makariou said. "We are talking about a diverse world that goes from the Atlantic, Spain and Morocco to India. It brings complexity."

Similarly, Sheila Canby, the curator of the Met's Islamic art department, said that the goal of the Met's collection is to showcase the art while educating people about Islamic history and culture.

“Thirty years ago there was just a small group of specialists interested in this material and a few people who collected rugs and objects,” Canby said in a New York Times article.“Now there’s much more attention and anticipation, though I think it’s driven by news events that are focused mostly on war. The history and culture represented by the objects in these galleries is still not known nearly as much as it should be, and the goal here is to change that.”

The openings of these two Islamic art wings are promising signs in the midst of a very tense time between the West and the Muslim world.

At the opening of the Louvre's new wing, France's new President Francois Hollande called the wing a "political gesture in the service of respect for peace," according to the BBC.

These two museums are not the only Western institutions to embrace Islamic art—the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has an impressive Islamic art collection, as does the Detroit Institute of Art and the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries—but they are the most well known and impressive cultural institutions to devote entire wings to the artform.  Will other museums follow their cue?

In Paris, the Louvre's futuristic new wing was designed by architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti. It's a bold and modern design that's the most controversial addition to the Louvre since I.M Pei's pyramid, which was built in 1989.

Source: Louvre Museum



The Louvre's $125 million project took about 10 years to build and was financed by the the French government, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, Kuwait and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and corporations.

Source: Louvre Museum



The glass and metal roof allows natural light to filter into the galleries below. The roof is comprised of glass panels flanked on each side by metallic gold mesh sheets. The exterior mesh layer filters daylight and the interior mesh layer serves as the ceiling for the galleries.

Source: Louvre Museum



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Shanghai Is Set To Become China's Next Big Cultural Hub

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China Art Palace

All eyes in the art world are currently turned towards Shanghai, where two major art museums have opened within the past month--and many more are on the way.

China's most populous city has been attracting attention recently with the opening of several private cultural institutions, like the Rockbund Art Museum, the Songjiang Creative Studio and the Minsheng Art Museum. More and more galleries have been opening in Shanghai and the city has plans to open a total of 16 new museums by 2015, according to Jing Daily.

Shanghai's new heavyweight museums

In the last month alone, two major cultural institutions--the China Art Palace and the Power Station of Art--have opened in Shanghai, on the former site of the 2010 World Expo. These state-run art museums are already being compared to iconic global cultural institutions, like New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

The China Art Palace is supposed to be China's answer to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art or Paris's Musee d'Orsay. The museum displays a wide spectrum of art, from both China and abroad. And at almost 700,000 square feet, the space is giant and is possibly the largest museum not just in China, but in Asia.

"The scale and configuration is matchless in Asia," Shanghai culture chief Hu Jinjun said before the museum's opening on October 1st, according to The Squeeze. "It is close to America's Metropolitan Museum of Art, France's Musee d'Orsay and other internationally famous art museums,"

The space is divided into several sections including “Shanghai Brightness,” which features 600 modern art works; “Congratulations from the World,” which has 100 pieces from seven countries; “Splendid China,” which displays 250 works of 21st-century Chinese Art; and “Historical Shanghai Contexts,” which includes 64 works of art from Shanghai. There is also a Masters’ Hall with 460 works from famous Chinese brush painters, including Guan Liang and Wu Guanzhong, as well as loans from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris due to arrive in November.

The Power Station of Art, on the other hand, focuses solely on contemporary art. The building is more than 440,000 square feet and was once a former power station (thus the name). It is the first state-owned museum in China to focus on contemporary art. It produces cutting-edge contemporary art, and is currently hosting the 2012 Shanghai Biennale

China Power of Art“As the home of Chinese modern art, Shanghai has collected millions of works of art over the last two centuries,” Zong Min, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, explained to the Global Times. “There are more than 30,000 boutique works of art kept in the city's public museums and universities.”

The opening of the museums will be a major opportunity for the public to view these works of art, many of which have been stored away for years. And since admission to both museums will be free, officials believe there could be as many as 3 million visitors in the first year.

The censorship question

However, some critics are questioning the relevance of these Chinese state-run museums. Art is supposed to push boundaries, and in a country where the government censors what it deems sensitive or questionable art--whether it's Ai Wei Wei's controversial art installations or Chi Peng's photo of the monkey king in Tianenmen Square--it may be difficult to produce meaningful and provocative exhibitions.

"They're basically modelling themselves on New York or London," Chris Gill, a Shanghai-based artist and arts writer, said in an article in The Squeeze. "China tends to build these huge art museums. The problem is what they're going to put in it. The content side is always compromised by the political situation".

The future of Shanghai as an arts destination

Shanghai’s growing artistic development is no coincidence. Not only will the government-planned expansion raise tourist revenue from those visiting the city, but it is also drawing comparisons to major world cities such as New York and Paris, paving the way to make Shanghai a potential new global cultural hub.

“In the future, Shanghai residents will be able to find a museum and cultural venue within a 15-minute walk of their homes,” a senior official told the Shanghai Daily, according to Jing Daily.

And though the city may still be a far cry from the dynamic multi-faceted art scenes of New York or Paris, it will be interesting nonetheless to watch as Shanghai battles its own strict regulatory environment for private museums and galleries while trying to evolve to show a new, artistic side.

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What's Next?

Step Inside The German Art Fair That Changed The Way We Look At Art

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documenta art

Last month, for the first time in its 11-year history, ArtReview magazine named a curator to the top of its annual list of the art world's 100 most powerful figures.

It was an unusual move, but the magazine felt that the curator, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, fundamentally changed the concept of art exhibitions with her curation of dOCUMENTA (13), a contemporary art show that occurs once every five years in Kassel, Germany, and which ended its most recent 100-day run in September.

Click here to jump straight to the art fair >>

In expanding the show to include not just visual art, but works by philosophers, social theorists, and historians, as well as films, workshops and performances, Christov-Bakargiev attempted "something deeper and philosophically unusual," according to ArtReview.

Unlike other art fairs, dOCUMENTA (13) was centered around a philosophical question: not who thinks, but what thinks, according to Steven Henry Madoff.  "Christov-Bakargiev proposes that things, not just humans, speak; things feel, are violated, and voice their wills," Madoff wrote in Modern Painters magazine. She explored the question through numerous fields, from social and political to literary and economic.

The exhibitions were provocative, asking viewers to rethink how they perceive objects. There was an immense range of works, from Central Asian dolls dating from 2500 BC to an installation of flowing air by British artist Ryan Gander. One of the most talked-about exhibits was Our Lady of Bees, a reclining nude sculpture that featured a buzzing active beehive for a head (pictured). The walls of one room were covered in socially-conscious song lyrics by artists like Bob Marley and The Clash while the accompanying music played from a jukebox in the background. There was even an outpost of Occupy Documenta, where people were encouraged to discuss politics and philosophy.

Christov-Bakargiev also expanded the geographical scope of the show, creating satellite exhibitions in Egypt, Afghanistan, and Canada, and taking over the entire city of Kassel with works by nearly 200 artists.

And even though her most ambitious idea — to ship a 37-ton meteorite from Argentina — did not pan out, Madoff still called dOCUMENTA (13) "the most important exhibition to date of the 21st century." 

With dOCUMENTA (13), Christov-Bakargiev took the concept of the art exhibition somewhere new. It was not just an overview of the current contemporary art world, but an exhibit with a philosophical point of view and expansive definition of art.

Photographer Nick Vlcek visited the exhibition in Kassel during its final days. He shared some photos of dOCUMENTA (13) with us, as well as his impressions of the show, in his own words.

"Empty. The first impression you got walking into the Fridericianum, the main building at dOCUMENTA (13)—the official name of this thirteenth iteration of the exhibition—was of nothingness: the large halls of the first floor were nearly all empty, save for a subtle, light breeze blowing through, courtesy of artist Ryan Gander. An auspicious start."



"It’s not very often you are allowed to walk on top of any art inside an institution, but that was the case with one of Fabio Mauri’s pieces. He was a writer, publisher, film director, and artist, whose work sought an understanding of the human condition through language."



"These placards were marched around Kassel during the opening days of dOCUMENTA (13) as part of the Ida Applebroog exhibition. The source of the phrases are excerpts from personal files that have been kept private for over thirty years."



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Mesmerizing Photographs Capture Cars Being Utterly Destroyed

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DNU jody daunton destruction of cars

Photos of wrecked cars are hard to look at, but it is also hard to look away. That attraction to carnage is what makes Jody Daunton's "The Destruction of Cars" so mesmerizing.

Once interested in documentary photography, Daunton shifted to "image making," and says the scenes in this series "consist of photographs of performative and staged events."

Staged or no, these cars are really being destroyed.

Daunton produced the series for his final major project at University of Brighton in England, and shared the photos with us.

Daunton mangled one car with a piece of heavy machinery.



He smashed another with a piece of cement.



For another, he destroyed two cars in one shot.



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Art.sy Is Changing The Way The World Views Art

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Picasso painting

Do you like Vincent van Gogh? That means you'll also probably like art by Henri Rousseau, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Utrillo and even contemporary artists like John Currin and Laurie Simmons—artists you may have never heard of.

So how can you discover these new artists? With Art.sy, a free website that lets users browse through thousands of artworks to find new art and artists.

Art.sy works with hundreds of galleries around the world to catalogue art and expose it to potential buyers. The company has been around for a few years—mostly researching and building its extensive database of art—but it launched publicly just last month.

The way it works is simple: browse through artworks and click on art that piques your interest. The site will provide information on the piece of art and the artist, and then suggest similar works by other artists that might appeal to you—much like Pandora works with music. You can save searches and follow specific artists. Some of the art is for sale, though not all of it.

The company uses what it calls the"Art Genome Project" to sort and classify works by time period, style, medium, artist, and region. This enables users to search for art by more than 800 "genes," as Art.sy staff calls them. It's also useful to people who are looking to collect works from a specific time period or genre.

Art.sy's goal is to "expose as many people as possible to art," according to its website. Art.sy COO Sebastian Cwilich knows that the company faces a formidable task.

"It's an ambitious enough vision that I expect it will take years to realize," Cwilich said. "Eventually this will be a resource that can benefit anyone who loves art, but this is especially valuable for people who are more removed from major art cities and don't have easy access to the galleries and museums we take for granted."

It's an ambitious goal, but bigshots in the tech and art worlds like Wendi Murdoch, Larry Gagosian, Eric Schmidt and Jack Dorsey—all of whom are partners, investors, or advisors in Art.sy—think the company can do it.

In short, whether you're buying or just browsing, Art.sy is making art accessible to everyone.

See also: Why Major Art Museums Are Going Gaga Over Islamic Art >

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NY Prep School Sells A Monet For $44 Million

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pond monet water lilies

It's good to have alumni like billionaire investment banker Herbert Allen, Jr.

Allen's family donated one of Claude Monet's "Water Lilies" painting to his alma mater, the Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y.

The school turned around and sold the 1905 painting for $43.8 million at auction last night, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Monet sold at Christie's to an anonymous American collector.

The Allens are big art collectors, and the walls of Allen & Co.'s headquarters are filled with American impressionist art, the only type Herb Allen could afford when he was just starting out, according to Fortune.

Tuition at the Hackley School is $37,2000 for high school day students. Surprisingly it is not one of the 50 most expensive prep schools in America.

Disclosure: Allen & Co. is an investor in Business Insider.

DON'T MISS: The 10 Most Outrageous Things People Bought In October

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Whole Story Photo Album By Debra Folz For Helmut Lang

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This is The Whole Story Photo Album by Debra Folz for Helmut Lang.

Why We Love It: This visually arresting photo album is a part of Helmut Lang's new collaboration with Grey Area, a store and gallery combo. The project is based around artist-designed objects that are for sale in Helmut Lang stores and online, in this case Debra Folz's gravity-defying book.

The album can fit 24 four-by-six inch photos in either landscape or portrait format, and the spine is removable to allow the accordion pages to fold out and showcase the entire book at once. Folz's work is as much a standing sculpture as it is a photo album, and comes in either black or grey.

Grey Area Helmut Lang

 

Grey Area Helmut Lang

Where To Buy: Available in Helmut Lang stores or online.

Cost: $150, not including $25 if customers choose to customize the spine text.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

See Also: Eton Boost Turbine For Your Smartphone

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China Has Some Wacky Theme Parks Showcasing The World's Most Famous Buildings

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Monumental China

The World Park in Beijing and Window of the World in Shenzhen are two Chinese parks that feature scale model versions of some of the most iconic buildings and landmarks from around the globe.

Artist Ernie Button set out to capture the bizarre assortment of famous structures. Big Ben next to the Arc de Triomphe, the U.S. Capitol Building at the foot of Mount Rushmore, and the mis-titled “Grand Canyon of Colorado” are just a few of wacky instances he came across.

Walking around the sites, Button began to question what a monument truly is, and what makes the experience special:

After having seen the pyramids at World Park, would a person feel it necessary to travel thousands of miles to experience the authentic sight? And what is a 'real' experience? Even though it feels odd to experience the world in this way, is it really any different than going to grab a meal at a Rainforest Café with the expectation of experiencing the rainforest? 

Button's series “Monumental China” takes us on a journey through these Chinese monument theme parks, all the while playing with scale and our perspective.

A 'giant' woman walks the streets of Venice at the Window of the World, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Source: Ernie Button



A couple looms in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Beijing's World Park.

Source: Ernie Button



Spotlights give perspective to the Window of the World's Sphinx with the Pyramids in the background.

Source: Ernie Button



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Thieves Paid Entrance Fee Before Allegedly Stealing $3 Million Worth Of Art From A South African Museum

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pretoria art museumThieves entered a South African art gallery as paying visitors before holding staff up at gunpoint and producing a "shopping list" of paintings they wanted totalling R27m (£2 million) in value.

The heist saw the three men make off with five paintings by local masters Irma Stern, Gerard Sekoto, JH Pierneef, Maggie Laubser and Hugo Naude, worth R15m, from the Pretoria Art Museum.

They left a sixth painting that had been on their list, Irma Stern's "Two Malay Musicians", valued at R12 million, on the pavement outside the gallery, apparently because they couldn't fit it in their getaway car, a silver Toyota Avanza.

The thieves are said by police to have all paid the R20 (£1.44) entrance fee to enter the capital's art gallery and waited until other visitors had left before launching their raid.

Daywood Khans, a member of staff at the gallery, told local radio station Eye Witness News (EWN) that the men pointed a gun at him and produced a "shopping list" of artworks.

"They pulled out a list and said they were looking for so-and-so painting which is among our old masterpieces," he said.

"They left one of the paintings behind when it did not fit into their getaway car." Stephen Welz, an art expert, told the Pretoria News newspaper that he was puzzled by the theft, as such famous works of art were so well documented that it was nearly impossible to sell them, locally or abroad.

SEE ALSO: Watch A Guy With No Talent Make $1 Million Selling Contemporary Art

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The Hamptons Gets Its First New Art Museum In More Than A Century

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parrish art museum

The Hamptons got an injection of culture when the new Parrish Art Museum, the first new art museum on the East End in a century, opened its doors in Water Mill this weekend.

Plans to move the museum from its longtime home in Southampton to the hamlet of Water Mill were announced several years ago, but it wasn't a smooth journey.

After Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron revealed its blueprints for the new structure, the project's $80 million budget was slashed by two thirds and the architects were forced to go back to the drawing board.

The result was a simplified design  instead of interlocking galleries, the museum was built as a long, narrow barn with a corrugated roof, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote in 2009.

For the most part, Ouroussoff liked the scaled-back design, noting that it took advantage of the light and blended well with the surroundings. But he lamented that the architects were forced to simplify their design to keep within their budget:

What’s scary is what the design suggests about the future. Is this kind of downscaling the beginning of a trend? Herzog & de Meuron is not the only architecture firm that is being put through this process. Just a few days after I saw the new Parrish design, Rem Koolhaas told me that he was in a similar predicament over a condo and screening room design in Manhattan.

It makes you wonder if the cultural consequences of the financial collapse will be as liberating as some have predicted. I’ll be as gleeful as anyone if the excesses and vulgarities of the past decade really do turn out to be over. But it will be a shame if the atmosphere of creative experimentation that coincided with them is over too.

Even so, now that the building is complete, reactions have been mostly positive. Bloomberg's James S. Russell recently visited and praised its simplicity, writing:

Up close the Parrish is quietly monumental. Its great length  615 feet, or about two football fields  and almost windowless solidity exude a powerful primordial calm. It makes the many dormers of the wannabe French Provincial winery next door look tortured.

The new Parrish has three times the exhibition space of the old museum, as well as an event space that will likely be popular with the Hamptons society crowd come summer. Its collection includes more than 2,600 works, many of which are on display for the first time.

Photographer Jeff Cully at EEFAS praised the new museum's size and open layout. He shot some aerial video of the museum in the days before the opening, and shared it with us.

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All Of A Sudden The Contemporary Art Market Is On Fire

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auction auctioneer bid sotheby's

Christie's and Sotheby's racked up close to a billion dollars this week in just two New York sales of contemporary art, making one small corner of the world appear as if the global financial crisis had never happened.

Late Wednesday, Christie's blew away the records for auction splurges with what it said was the highest-grossing contemporary auction ever, raising $412.24 million dollars.

"This evening's sale set a new record total for any Post-War and Contemporary Art sale. Over the past six years, Christie's has led this market first over the $200 million, then over the $300 million, and now over the $400 million barrier," said Brett Gorvy, head of contemporary art.

Leading the way was a canvas of violent black brushstrokes by abstract expressionist Franz Kline that sold for $40.4 million, four times as much as his previous auction record price.

Christie's had estimated the painting would go for between $20 million and $30 million. The result suddenly thrust Kline into the front ranks of the abstract expressionist market, where the likes of Mark Rothko hold sway.

Andy Warhol's "Statue of Liberty" sold for $43.76 million, while another Warhol, "Marlon," which depicts the actor Marlon Brando in familiar brooding pose, sold for $23.7 million, above the high end of the pre-sale estimate.

Jeff Koons' sculpture "Tulips," featuring his trademark shiny, colored metal, fetched $33.7 million, while a Roy Lichtenstein, "Nude with Red Shirt," sold for $28 million, far above the $18 million high estimate.

Another home-run for Christie's was an untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat work that went for $26.4 million, while Rothko's "Black Stripe (Orange, Gold and Black)," went for $21.4 million, just above the high estimate.

Gerhard Richter's "Abstraktes Bild (779-2)," estimated at $12-18 million, sold for $15.3 million.

The exuberance at Christie's near Manhattan's Rockefeller Center was nearly matched the previous evening at Sotheby's, further uptown.

Total sales on Tuesday reached $375.15 million, "the best auction result in any category in the company's history," Sotheby's said. The combined estimates of all lots had been between $277-374 million.

"This has been an extraordinary year for contemporary art at Sotheby's," said Tobias Meyer, Contemporary Art head at Sotheby's. "Tonight's record results bring our 2012 total to well over $1 billion."

There, the big star was Rothko's "No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)," which sold for $75.1 million.

The work described by Sotheby's as Rothko's "seminal, large-scale masterpiece" was selected by the artist for his landmark 1954 solo show at the Art Institute of Chicago and had been in the same collection for 30 years before coming to market.

The winning bid, reached after a prolonged bidding battle in New York, was short of the record $86.9 million paid for Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" at Christie's in May. But it was wildly over the pre-sale $35-50 million estimate.

Also notable was Jackson Pollock's "Number 4, 1951," estimated at $25-35 million and selling for $40.4 million, easily breaking the previous $23 million record for works by the abstract expressionist.

By contrast, the big sales last week of Impressionist art were considered a let-down, with a third of lots failing to sell -- even if Sotheby's did manage to sell Picasso's "Nature morte aux tulipes," painted in 1932, for $41.5 million.

SEE ALSO: Step Inside The German Art Fair That Changed The Way We Look At Art

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The 7 Best NYC 'Young Members' Clubs For Meeting An Eligible Bachelor

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New York Public Library Lions

The New York social season is already in full swing, but it's never too late to join one of the Young Members circles.

Besides being able to fill up your social calendar with annual bashes like last week's Apollo Circle Benefit, the main reason young aspiring socialites and arts patrons join these societies is to mingle with the city's most well-heeled bachelors.

Whether you're into the art aficionados or bow-tie clad socialites, we've got you covered. We've rounded up a list of top organizations you can join to find the right type of guy for you this winter!

This post originally appeared on Guest of a Guest.

Met Young Members

Ages: 21-35

Membership fee: $70/year and up

Boys: The MET young members circle is your best bet for finding the largest selection of boys. The membership fees range from $70 to $20,000, so you'll have plenty of boys from all different tax brackets. As it is one of the more inclusive junior philanthropy circles in the city, you should expect to find down-to-earth members with full-time jobs.

The perks of this membership (and the reason many members choose to join), is the Young Members Party. This annual bash is known for being one of the rowdiest parties, where members come together for a night of drunken debauchery. Most boys will show up in after-work attire (some even in jeans), and it's a great way to meet single boys and get a good feel of the art patron world.

Go here to join.



Met Apollo Circle

Ages: 21-39

Membership fee: $1,000/year

Boy: As one of the more prestigious committees in the Young Members circles, you're going to find the NYC bachelors who are considered the cream of the crop in the Apollo Circle. This one tops our list as their giant fete is tonight and well, why not?

In addition to a number of invitations to private collection viewings, gallery talks, evening receptions, and curatorial tours, you get discounted tickets to the Apollo Circle Benefit Dance and reservations in the exclusive Trustees Dining Room. If you're looking to attend some of the most important events on every junior social's calendar, this is the circle for you. Often referred to as the Upper East Side matchmaking club, expect to see bow tie clad boys being dropped off in a fleet of black Escalades and town cars.

Go here to join.



The Whitney Contemporaries

Ages: 21-40

Membership fee: $500/year

Boys: Forget the opening cocktail receptions or gallery walks around the city, this membership guarantees you an invite to one of the best parties of the season. Their annual art party brings together artists, fashion designers, and other celebs in support of the museum's Independent Art Programs.

Past guests included Bradley Cooper, Emma Roberts, Mariah Carey, Kate Bosworth, and Olivier Theyskens. The Whitney Contemporaries crowd is definitely one of the circles with the most clout, which should give you an idea of how trendy the boys will be.

Go here to join.



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Take A Virtual Tour Of Philadelphia's Inspiring 'Mural Mile'

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Philadelphia Mural

Back in 1984, when Philadelphia was rife with crime and the city was covered in graffiti, Philadelphia's then-mayor, Wilson Goode, decided that it was time to make a change.

So he teamed up with some artists and instituted the Mural Arts Program, a program that encourages aspiring artists to leave their mark on the city. 

Since then, the program has grown into a thriving network of muralists, youth, local businesses, and Philadelphia residents all seeking to add more beauty to the City of Brotherly Love. More than 3,000 murals have now been painted all around the city, and many more are in progress.

We've heard some incredible praise for the program, so we decided to go see it in person. We took the self-guided walking tour of Mural Mile in the Center City neighborhood, and thought it was astounding. See for yourself.

Photographs by Melissa Stanger/Business Insider

'A People's Progression Toward Equality'

Location: S. 8th Street & Ranstead Street

Artist: Jared Bader

This mural represents the ascent toward equality, with each level representing a step forward and the top level being the most progressive. Naturally, Abraham Lincoln—a symbol of emancipation—is depicted. Artist Jared Bader worked with the community to create this mural.

Mural, Art, Philadelphia



'Pride & Progress'

Location: S. Juniper Street & Spruce Street

Artist: Ann Northrup

Located in the heart of the Philadelphia "gayborhood,""Pride & Progress" is the largest gay-themed mural in the world. It captures the progress of the American gay rights movement, which began in Philadelphia in the 1960s. Protesters began gathering outside Independence Hall on July 4, 1966 (depicted in the painted poster on the left), and have been doing so every year since.

Mural, Art, Philadelphia



'Garden of Delight'

Location: Locust Street & Sartain Streeta

Artist: David Guinn

This mural is a tribute to the garden it stands over. The space was once a dirt lot used to store concrete, but the community worked together to transform it into a luscious flower and vegetable garden. The artist, who played in the garden as a child, captured the space in a peaceful, almost dreamy style.

Mural, Art, Philadelphia



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10 Gifts For The Design Freak In Your Life

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girl art museum gallery paintings frames

Are you doing holiday shopping for someone who is constantly perusing design blogs, loves art museums, and thinks that furniture designers are rockstars?

We've rounded up the best holiday gifts for the design freak in your life.

Go retro with Moleskine's new iPad cover.

Moleskine is known for its classic notebooks and planners, so the old-meets-new aesthetic is what makes the company's new tablet covers so cool.

The iPad-compatible cover is combined with blank notebook pages, perfect for the gadget nut who likes to use a scratch pad every once in awhile. iPhone versions are also available.

Price:$74.50



Give the gift of history with a collection of Charles and Ray Eames' films.

Skip the expensive Eames chair and buy your furniture-loving friend a box set of the films of Charles and Ray Eames.

The films, which the husband-and-wife duo created over three decades, range from one to 30 minutes in length and explore topics from history to science.

Price:$80



Spruce up the kitchen with space-saving collapsible bowls.

We love the convenience of Progressive's collapsible storage bowls.

This set of three has 1.5-, 3-, and 5-cup bowls that flatten to a third of their height when they aren't being used. They're also a stylish way to bring lunch to the office.

Price:$14.99 for three



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Stunning Aviation Art Reveals WWII Fighting That'll Never Be Seen Again

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WWII art, military, defense

Battlefield artists are quickly fading in relevance as digital cameras become smaller, more accurate, and cost effective.

Old hand-crafted, battlefield art, though, often characterizes best the antiquated past of armed conflict — war has since become a speedy affair, quick as the shutter of a photographer's camera.

Check out this blast from the past art, as a time machine to the way war used to be waged ...

Until the arrival of dedicated units like the US Army Air Corps "Burma Bridge Busters," low level attacks on Japanese supply lines were carried out by Royal Air Force Hurricane fighter-bombers like the ones shown taking out a bridge here.



Outraged when his guns jammed and determined to take down his foe, Parker Dupouy slammed his fighter into the Japanese plane to take it down.

Way less precise, way more aggressive.



The US was caught so off-guard by the attack on Pearl Harbor that few pilots made it into the air: Lt. Joe Moore was one of them.



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Check Out This 170-Foot-Long Trampoline Trail Through A Russian Forest

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There's currently a 170-foot long trampoline in the middle of the Nikola-Lenivets forest in Russia.

It's an art installation by the design team Salto that is currently on display at the art festival Archstoyanie. The trampoline performance piece is called "Fast Track" and was created by designers Maarja Kask, Karli Luik, and Ralf Lõoke. 

The artists' statement says the trampoline is meant "to create intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context, giving the user a different experience of moving and perceiving the environment." 

Visitors are welcome to jump the length of the trampoline and experience the bizarre nature trail for themselves at the festival. See images of it in action below.

DNU Fast Track Trampoline

 

DNU Fast Track Trampoline

 

DNU Fast Track Trampoline

SEE ALSO: A Proposed Trampoline Bridge Would Let Parisians Bounce Across The Seine

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In Ten Years We'll All Agree That Damien Hirst Is A Joke

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Damien Hirst Shark

Damien Hirst – artistically talentless but a showman and salesman of genius – has been asked to design (or “reimagine”) the statuette for the 2013 Brit Awards. (For readers who live a sheltered life, that’s the annual pop music awards of the British record industry.)

Before I sound off, I’m declaring my interest. I’ve just published a novel ridiculing Hirst and his world and of course I want everyone to read it. I think you’d like the jokes as well as the savagery.

Ever since the 1970s when I first saw an exhibition of dirty nappies reverentially displayed in the Oxford Museum of Modern Art, I’ve been incredulously watching how the art establishment embraced the self-evidently absurd notion that if a so-called artist says a turd is art, it’s art. (I’m not exaggerating. The likely winner of this year’s Turner Prize is, we’re told, displaying ‘a dystopian world where people become turds and turds become people’.) This led to the destruction of art education and the promotion of the Young British Artists (the YBAs)– self-promoters who spotted that to succeed you just had to shock. Hirst did maggots and smelly meat, Tracey Emin did dirt and stains, Martin Creed did lights switching on and off in an empty room and so on and on. Such people flourished, while original, creative and talented young artists – whose brushes the YBAs are not fit to clean– were ignored, derided and left starving in their garrets.

Hence my Killing the Emperors, a satire on the whole cynical, money-grubbing, sensationalist world of conceptual art, presided over by Sir Nicholas Serota of the Tate empire and the Turner Prize, who puts great paintings in storage to make room for the garbage his indoctrinated curators laud to the skies in laughable language that the brave, dissident Jackdaw magazine rightly calls “art bollocks”.

But back to the latest example of useful idiots bowing to fashion. David Joseph, industry supremo and Brits chairman, explained that Hirst "is truly one of the most important British artists ever, and his unique vision will make winning a 2013 Brit an even more special proposition".

The most recent shock-horror production from the artisans Hirst hires to do the work he’s incapable of doing (the poor chap can’t draw, paint or sculpt) is Verity, a 65 ft, 25 tonne statute of a hideous pregnant woman with her insides on display now dominating the hitherto inoffensive harbour town of Ilfracombe. She’s a larger version of Virgin Mother, which Hirst displayed in the Royal Academy courtyard in 2006. For good measure, Hirst’s equipped her with a sword and scales and trumpets her as “a modern-day allegory for truth and justice”.

Since no town council in its right mind would buy anything like this, Hirst has kindly lent it for twenty years. His objective is to bring visitors to the town, not least to his sea-front restaurant. Apparently he also has a vision of building there a large ‘eco-estate’ of expensive houses. He’s thoughtfully made Verity ten inches taller than Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North, so that’ll be a draw for day-trippers who like gigantism.

Whatever he produces for the Brit Awards will no doubt be hailed by Joseph and his gullible chums as a work of genius. The bad news, Mr Joseph, is that Hirst’s prices are tumbling as people begin to grasp that his work is repetitive, cynical, pointless and mostly extremely ugly. His reputation is diminishing steadily – if too slowly – but with a fair wind, in a decade or so the nakedness of him, most of his fellow conceptual artists and the whole rotten art establishment will be visible to everyone.

Read all Ruth Dudley Edwards' Telegraph Blog posts here

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The MoMA Collection Now Includes Your Favorite Video Games

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super mario

MoMA has acquired 14 video games to be installed at the Museum's Philip Johnson Galleries in March of next year. Among the old school games visitors will be able to play are Pac-Man, Tetris, and SimCity 2000.

MoMA also has a list of roughly 40 video games it plans to acquire, including Nintendo games that are currently in ongoing negotiations. The world-famous modern art museum plans to incorporate Snake, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario 64, in addition to an assortment of others within the next few years.

The selected games were chosen due to their impressive interactive design. Not only based on aesthetic qualities, but on the quality of the code, functions, and behavior — the rules, stimuli, and narrative of the games — as well.

Paola Antonelli, the Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the MoMA, had this to say:

"In order to develop an even stronger curatorial stance, over the past year and a half we have sought the advice of scholars, digital conservation and legal experts, historians, and critics, all of whom helped us refine not only the criteria and the wish list, but also the issues of acquisition, display, and conservation of digital artifacts that are made even more complex by the games’ interactive nature. This acquisition allows the Museum to study, preserve, and exhibit video games as part of its Architecture and Design collection."

The museum also addressed the challenges of incorporating certain games into the exhibition. Older games with fragile original cartridges would be translated into newer, updated code for modern computers. Games that take hours to play would become an interactive demonstration to give the player a taste for the game. And games that take years and millions of people to manifest will be made into guided tours with players and designers leading visitors around the game space to help them realize the full extent and possibilities of the virtual world.

See the full list of 14 video games that will be included in March 2013 below, and read more about the collection and games MoMA is planning to incorporate on the museum website.

  • Pac-Man (1980)
  • Tetris (1984)
  • Another World (1991)
  • Myst (1993)
  • SimCity 2000 (1994)
  • vib-ribbon (1999)
  • The Sims (2000)
  • Katamari Damacy (2004)
  • EVE Online (2003)
  • Dwarf Fortress (2006)
  • Portal (2007)
  • flOw (2006)
  • Passage (2008)
  • Canabalt (2009)

SEE ALSO: Patrons Sue Metropolitan Museum Of Art Over Confusing Admissions Policy

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