ARTNET NEWS

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., successfully sold its Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting, Woman Picking Flowers, ca. 1874, at TEFAF Maastricht two months ago. Taken to the fair by the London-based gallery Dickinson, the picture had a price tag of $15 million; the unidentified buyer is said to be a European collector. The model for the work is thought to have been Camille Monet, the painter’s first wife, who died at age 32 in 1879. Proceeds of the deaccession are earmarked for future art purchases, of course.

German Neo-Expressionist Anselm Kiefer is bringing his mournful gray esthetic to the City of Love. Kiefer’s “Salt of the Earth” -- several sculptures using salt as a symbolic element of transmutation and rebirth -- goes on view at the Magazzino del Sale, the Renzo Piano-restored space at the Fondazaione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova in the Zattere in Venice, June 1-Nov. 30, 2011, in conjunction with the 54th Venice Biennale. Also on view: A cycle of 116 black-and-white canvases by Emilio Vedova. [image: Anselm Kiefer, Das Salz (detail).]

Curious about the on-the-road life of electronica mastermind Moby, the one-time SUNY Purchase photo and film student? Then head for the Clic Gallery at 255 Centre Street in New York, which launches a nine-city tour of Moby’s new photographs on May 11, 2011. Moby’s 128-page book Destroyed (which is also the name of his new album, inspired by a flashing “unattended luggage will be destroyed” airport sign) includes 55 photos, ranging from mundane hotel rooms and surreal cityscapes to aerial landscapes and abstract compositions of cloud forms. Prints start at $850.

The Affordable Art Fair New York, May 5-8, 2011, which bills itself as “the place to buy art priced from $100 to $10,000,” brings 80 art dealers to 7 West 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building. Participants range from A.I.R. and the Art Students League to Victoria Kovalenchikova (Amsterdam) and Will’s Art Warehouse (London), the gallery launched by Will Ramsay, founder of the fair. General admission to the exposition is $20, but on Sunday, Mother’s Day, mothers with children get in free. [Image: Deborah Azzopardi, Cynthia Corbett Gallery]

The 8th annual HOWL! Festival, June 3-5, 2011, brings Beat poets John Giorno, Ed Sanders and three days of art, poetry, music and more to Tomkins Square Park in the East Village. The free festivities include the “Art around the Park,” with works made on site and displayed on the park fence, and a new “kid’s carnival” offering games, arts & crafts and miniature golf.[Image: Vangeline Theater, photo by the Jackie Factory].

Mark your calendars! The National Academy Museum and School Spring Gala is set for May 19, 2011, with cocktails, a silent auction, dinner and awards. Artists from Will Barnet to Dana Schutz have donated artworks for the auction; the gala’s honorees are Stephen Antonakos, Morton Kaish and Kevin Roche. The best part is the dress code: Creative black tie. Tickets start at $500; contact Kristin@bowenandco.com. [Image: Alex Katz, Sharon (detail), 2009.]

Nils Kantor, the son of the pioneering art-dealer couple Paul and Ulrike Kantor and an art dealer in his own right, is converting his gallery at 7025 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles into a “novelty boutique.” Opening June 13, 2011, Kantor LA boasts sports memorabilia, vintage toys, Playboy Club memorabilia, Star Wars figures and punk rock stickers as well as artworks by Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol and others. Nils must be “cleaning out the attic,” said one fellow Angeleno.

Let the hoity-toity New York art world obsess over Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. In London we have the Animal Art Fair, May 5-8, 2011, bringing more than 40 animal artists who paint, sculpt and draw lions, tigers, horses, ducks, dogs and more to Fulham Palace. General admission is £10, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked for Tusk, a charity that works to protect African wildlife. [Image: Michael Miller.]