13 Picasso works bought for £113m
A london art adviser has spent more than £110m bulk buying 13 works of art by Picasso on behalf of unnamed wealthy clients. Harry Smith, executive chairman and managing director of the art advisory firm Gurr Johns, bought four Picasso works, including a 1937 portrait of the artist’s lover Marie-Thérèse Walter for £49.8m, at a Sotheby’s auction in london on Wednesday night.
The purchases came a day after Smith bought nine of the Spanish artist’s works at a Christie’s auction — all the Picasso lots available. In total Smith spent £113m on Picasso pieces this week. Smith declined to comment on the identity of the client for whom he bought the works but said the art world was in the midst of a fresh love affair with Picasso. Interest in the artist, who died in 1973 at the age of 91, has also been boosted by Tate Modern’s forthcoming show Picasso 1932: love, Fame, Tragedy, the gallery’s first solo exhibition of the artist’s work.
“Picasso is a giant of 20th century art, and his work appeals to collectors and art lovers from all over the world,” Smith said. “The picture of Marie-Thérèse is a masterpiece portrait by Picasso. Its appeal lies in the subject, the date, the condition, the provenance, and the fact it’s completely fresh to the market having been in the family for so long. The art market has a fairly regular supply of Picassos, but it’s rare to see a painting as special and as fresh to the market as this one.”
Keith apologises to Mick Jagger
The Rolling Stones have been rocking together for a half century but the legendary tensions between Keith Richards and Mick Jagger look to be very much alive. Richards has apologised to his bandmate after the guitarist suggested that the fecund frontman needed a vasectomy. “Mick’s a randy old bastard,” Richards told the Wall Street Journal Magazine. “It’s time for the snip — you can’t be a father at that age. Those poor kids!”
Jagger in December 2016 became a father for the eighth time at the age of 73. His son, Deveraux Jagger, was born to his girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, a ballerina in New York who is four decades his junior.
“I deeply regret the comments I made about Mick in the WSJ which were completely out of line,” Richards wrote on Twitter, saying he also apologised to Jagger in person.
The Stones have endured despite decades of hard living and internal tumult. In 2010 Richards published a memoir, life, in which he openly derided Jagger as a needy prima donna and said the other bandmates mocked Mick as “Her Majesty”. Richards even cast doubt on Jagger’s private parts, saying the swaggering singer had a “tiny todger”.
The latest incident comes just after the Stones — some of the highest-earning musicians on the live circuit — announced a new tour leg of Europe to begin on May 17 in Dublin.
Why Elton John stormed off stage
Sir Elton John stormed off stage after a fan — one of a number who had been invited to join him round the piano — tried to touch him as he performed. The singer had invited a group from the audience on to the stage at his las Vegas residency show while performing Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.
In a video clip circulated online, John is seen becoming irritated as one of the fans near his piano repeatedly leans over and tries to touch him and the keyboard. John, 70, appears to shout an expletive at the fan before getting up from his seat and walking off the stage.
After the song finished, and the members of the audience had returned to their seats, John came back on stage. Before performing his next song, Circle Of life, he told the audience: “No more coming on stage during Saturday Night.” It is believed the person who tried to touch the singer was swiftly escorted from the venue. A representative for John has been contacted for comment.