Christies: 101 things we have learned from the Online Magazine

August 30, 2017 10:20 AM

The Online Magazine, our weekly email of editorial highlights from Christies.com, celebrates its 100th edition this week. To mark the occasion, we present a miscellany of useful facts, tips and insights published over the past two years.

Various tidbits from the list:

8. Schubert’s penwork was so clean and clear that a musician would be able to play from it directly, without the need for a fair copy, much less a printed version.

34. The unique Swiss Mad watch by H. Moser & Cie is made partly from Swiss cheese.

40. Jannis Kounellis’s 1969 show at L’Attico gallery in Rome consisted of a dozen live horses tethered to the gallery walls. Hugely popular with critics and the public alike, the exhibition is widely regarded as marking the birth of Arte Povera.

61. Zhang Daqian produced an average of 500 paintings a year. He was 83 years old when he died in 1983.

65. The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, which attracted a record audience of 73 million — or 60 per cent of all US television viewers — was commemorated with the presentation of a pair of custom-made cufflinks to each member of the band.

posted by mandolin conspiracy (6 comments total)

14. Marcel Duchamp once declared that his ambition was to be a professional chess player.

He got really into it. I think he competed in a couple of New York State championships, and he published a theoretical book about "corresponding squares" in pawn endings. GM Larry Evans, I think, estimated that he was about National Master strength. There's a story that his wife, annoyed with his incessant endgame problem study, glued the chess pieces where they were on his board.
posted by thelonius at 11:36 AM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

Potters who are trying to fake ceramics often may not have an original example to look at. They must rely instead on photographs, which do not feature the bases. It explains why, when checking for authenticity, you should always look at the base.

Do be sure the cup is not full of tea when you do this.

Bonus tip: you can tell if a purported vintage piece is fake by tapping it with a metal object. A pot fired in the even environment of an electric or gas kiln will ring like a bell, pieces fired in the uneven heat of a wood-fired kiln will sound a dull clunk. I rarely wear jewelry, but if I'm going to go look at pottery, I always wear a ring so I can surreptitiously check.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:49 AM on August 30, 2017 [4 favorites]

I desperately want more details about the last item in the list.
posted by jfwlucy at 6:07 PM on August 30, 2017

I desperately want more details about the last item in the list.

Hah. I was kind of wondering if it was high-end auctioneer hazing.

101:

I am standing in the Christie’s rostrum — a copy of the famous original designed by Thomas Chippendale — a pen in one hand, the gavel in the other, looking down on a sea of expectant faces. ‘Welcome to the Post-War and Contemporary Art day auction,’ I say, attempting a smile while furiously clenching my buttocks — a technique, I have been reliably informed, that stops one’s hands from shaking.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:15 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

a technique, I have been reliably informed, that stops one’s hands from shaking.

Malarkey? Or Effective Way?
posted by thelonius at 8:38 AM on August 31, 2017

a technique, I have been reliably informed, that stops one’s hands from shaking.

Malarkey? Or Effective Way?

Can't promise anything about shaking hands, but it helps with voice projection and clarity. It's commonly recommended to high-school students giving speeches. (At least, it's recommended by speech coaches who aren't afraid to remind students that they have body parts below their necks.)

It's probably part-posture, part-concentration - clenching reminds them to stand up straight, and it takes their focus off "what do I sound like" enough to start speaking as they've practiced.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:58 PM on August 31, 2017