What We're Reading: 11/16/22
Once upon a time, there were seven very large paintings that dominated the wall behind the palette-shaped bar at Riccardo’s Restaurant and Gallery, which was as lively an oasis as this city has ever known.
The paintings were first unveiled in 1948, a stunning addition to the restaurant Ric Riccardo (born Richard Novaretti in Italy) opened in 1934 at the corner of Rush and Hubbard Streets. He had been a ship’s mate (and painter, dancer and musician) who married a woman named Mimi, performed with her at a Georgia nightclub, tried to sell his paintings, worked in magazine publishing and ran a restaurant/speakeasy on South Oakley Avenue.
Via Chicago Tribune
Exhibition details available here on CGN
Did Five Paintings Lose Their ‘Oomph’? It’s a $410 Million Question.
When Steve Wynn, the casino magnate, put his elbow through a Picasso he owned, there was little doubt about the damage he had done to a painting he hoped to sell, in 2006, for more than $100 million.
The silver-dollar-size hole in the canvas spoke for itself. His insurance company seems to have disputed only how much value the painting might have lost.
But things are not so straightforward in another insurance case that also involves blue chip art and a boldface billionaire. Four years after a fire at Ronald O. Perelman’s East Hampton estate, holding companies to which he is connected are suing his insurers, contending that the blaze damaged five of his artworks worth $410 million.
Via NYT
One of the country’s biggest contemporary art competitions is effectively shutting down—at least for now.
Last month, the board of ArtPrize, a biennial event in Grand Rapids, Michigan that doled out as much as $450,000 in artist grants every edition, quietly announced that it is “[winding] down its operations” after a 13-year run. The 12th, and last, iteration of the competition concluded just last month.
Via Artnet