Records For Art This Week

 

When we think of pre-modern painters, the names that come to mind are all male — the Old Masters indeed. But there were women painting too, at that time, and this 1788 portrait by Elisabeth-Louise Vigee Le Brun of Muhammad Dervish Khan, Full-Length, Holding His Sword in a Landscape sold this week at Sotheby’s for $7.18 million. This is a record for a work by any female artist from the pre-modern period.

Sotheby’s New York also sold “Nude Study” by Sir Peter Paul Rubens:

 

The drawing sold for $8,202,000 — a record for a drawing by the artist.

Finally, and with a serious local connection, this from Hyperallergic:

“The only complete archive of Supreme skate decks in private hands sold for $800,000 in an online sale at Sotheby’s last week. The deck was purchased by Vancouver collector Carson Guo, who plans to display the archive in his creative shop, opening in Vancouver in 2020. Assembled by collector Ryan Fuller, the archive includes all 248 decks produced by Supreme over 20 years, from 1998–2018. The archive features collaborations with a number of artists, including Damien Hist, Rammellzee, George Condo, and more.”

Image: A Cool Drink

Changes On The Drive #90

I did the walk yesterday on a cool and grey but pleasant day, just ahead of the mini-version of a polar vortex that we are expecting this weekend.

Harambe, the Ethiopian restaurant at 2149 Commercial, gets an excellent review at 604.com.

I noticed no storefront changes south of First.

The Bench bakery and cafe in Il Mercato Mall has finally opened, and seems to be quite popular. However, I still think it is odd to have a coffee shop in the same building as Tim’s.

 

Along the street at 1399 Commercial, the new Livia Bakery and Cafe is also open — we have a glut of fine pastry shops now.

 

The “pop-up” boutique that operated briefly at 1206 doesn’t seem to have returned, so I am calling this space vacant now.

What used to be Stanley Nails Spa at 1182 Commercial now seems to be called Chi Lash & Brow. Not sure if that is new or whether I missed it earlier.

 

In what I seem to think is another change of name, what used to be the Honest Juice Bar is now called Wilder Juice.

At 905 Commercial, the very popular Downlow Chicken Shack, which closed for a week for revamping, has reopened with new items on the menu, like this monster…

Image: courtesy DL Chicken

 

Vacancies on the Drive this month:  2235 Commercial (4 months vacant), 2086 (13 months), 2088 (13 months), 1810 (11 months), 1812 (11 months), 1801 (25 months), 1744 (3 months), 1735 (4 months), 1409 (5 months), 1408 (10 months), 1206 (1 month), 952 (4 months).

 

Previous editions of Changes on the Drive.

February 2019