Within the many younger satellite fairs operating among this year’s Armory Week is one with a specific focus on Japan: New City Art Fair, an initiative aimed at showcasing Japanese contemporary art in select international cities. Returning to New York for its second year this Thursday, the fair will be held at HPGRP Gallery and will feature artists from seven galleries hailing from Tokyo, Osaka, and Kanazawa.

Having first kicked off at last year’s Armory Week, New City Art Fair has since traveled as a satellite to last November’s Art Taipei 2012, where it drew in some 35,000 visitors with its enticing mix of contemporary art, product design, and fashion. In its upcoming New York edition, in addition to the event at HPGRP, the fair will also be running a program that showcases authentic cuisine by 10 top Japanese restaurants and cafés in the city; as well as a bus tour leading visitors to the studios of several New York-based Japanese artists, including Noriko Ambe, Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, and Tadaaki Kuwayama.

Kentaro Totsuka, director of hpgrp Gallery in Tokyo, is optimistic about the recent spate of high-profile museum shows of Japanese art in New York, including the recently concluded “Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde” at the MoMA, and the current “Gutai: Splendid Playground” at the Guggenheim, believing that these exhibitions will help to generate more interest in Japanese culture in general. “There will be a small selection of Yayoi Kusama’s work at the New City Art Fair, where visitors will be able to take in Gutai, Kusama, and several younger artists all within the confines of such a small event — a fairly rare and unique setup, in my opinion.”

Totsuka also sees untapped potential in other cities where the fair has been held and where it will travel in the future. “In late April, we are also bringing the New City Art Fair to Osaka, where there are a very small number of contemporary galleries in relation to its population. We are also exploring the possibility of having a Kansai-based art fair that might combine New City Osaka with Art Kyoto.”

The New City Art Fair New York runs March 7-10 at hpgrp Gallery in Chelsea (529 West 20th St. 2W). Admission is free.

David Cairns and Paul Duane’s “Natan,” which was premiered at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival on February 15, promises to be one of the documentary finds of the year. The trailer appears below.

The 66-minute film, which combines archive footage, talking heads, and dramatic imagery, investigates the circumstances under which the pioneering French film mogul Bernard Natan was persecuted and eventually murdered by the Nazis.

In 1929, the Romanian-Jewish Natan (born Natan Tannenzaft in 1886) acquired the huge French film company Pathé and masterminded its vertical integration and involvement in the communications industry. He ushered talkies into France, founded the country’s first television company, and oversaw many key technical innovations. Among the 60 or so films he produced was the epic 280-minute “Les Misérables” of 1934. He gave chances to numerous influential creative figures.

The company went bankrupt in 1935, however, and allegations of fraud led to Natan’s conviction and imprisonment in 1939. (“Natan” incorporates the appalling footage of Natan being filmed against his wishes in court.) When he was released in September 1942, the authorities renounced his French citizenship, despite his having fought for France as a volunteer during World War I. He was handed over to the Nazis and deported to Auschwitz, where he died probably in early 1943.

Like other Jewish people prominent in the arts, Natan had been the victim of the vicious anti-Semitic propaganda that was rampant in the 1930s. (Though Natan was married with two children, he was also the target of homophobic slurs in the press.) He had dabbled in filmed erotica in 1909, but the long-held belief that he produced and acted in hardcore bisexual pornography has been disputed.

In recent times, the film historians of Les independants du premier siècle have ridiculed the claims put forward by Dr. Joseph Slade in The Journal of Film and Video (Summer-Fall, 1993) that Natan was a pornographer. Such claims were also greeted with skepticism by Cairns and Duane, whose film explores how the reputation of a far-seeing film industry leader was destroyed and his vital contribution erased from the history books.

Check regularly on this site for any news about American festival screenings or distribution news for Natan. The film’s Facebook page can be found here. 

Just before Thursday’s opening, of Independent, the quirky Armory satellite fair, its organizers will award the new $10,000 Privatus Prize— named for the British art advisory — to one of the show’s participating galleries or institutions. Curators Clarissa Dalrymple and Stefan Kalmár will be judging exhibitors based on unique presentation and “outstanding curatorial ambition.” According to the organizers, the prize is “intended to reward risk-taking, visionary presentations within the context of the commercial exhibition/art fair.” The word got out about the prize criteria, but the curators declined to reveal too much about the judging process.

Started by dealers Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook in 2010, Independent has become known for its innovative approach to fair presentation. From the start, it threw out the booth-based approach to organization in favor of an open floor plan, a strategy that allows galleries to more easily present forms of art beyond painting and sculpture and creates “a more hospitable environment to the nontraditional,” said fair organizers. In years past, its unique approach did not negatively affect sales — Independent has boasted some of the best sales results of any of the alternative fairs during Armory Week.

“I think it’s democratic, in a way,” Sprüth Magers’s Andreas Gegner said of Independent’s design at last year’s iteration. “So many collectors come in and dart into the booths they know. But here, you can’t tell what work belongs to what gallery.”

First-day transactions are not quite reminiscent of the boom times, when booths would be sold out within an hour of the VIP preview opening, but nearly every dealer at the ADAA Art Show reported sales or works on reserve by Wednesday, with a handful close to selling out.

Tuesday evening’s preview gala at the Park Avenue Armory to benefit the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side was crowded as always, with dealers making sales between bites of foie gras macarons and gravlax tartines. Wednesday afternoon — the fair’s official opening to the public — was more demure, with a few handfuls of contemplative collectors, art advisors, and curators wandering around looking for more in-depth conversations with dealers.

The single-artist booths, which account for about half of the shows at this year’s fair, seemed to be selling particularly well. “Given the size of the booth, it’s an opportunity to create a compelling story about a particular body of work by an artist,” said James Cohan, who devoted his space at the fair to the work of artist Fred Tomaselli. By the end of the day Wednesday, more than half of the two dozen Tomaselli works had been sold, for $20,000 each.

Angela Westwater at Sperone Westwater had a very similar take. “I think the fair has gotten better and better over the years. Those booths that are the most successful are one-person shows — it gives the audience a chance to see one person in depth.” Westwater’s booth focuses on the work of Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. On Wednesday, the gallery reported sales that reached the low-$100,000 range.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the mega-galleries were the ones that had done the most business. Lehmann Maupin came close to selling out of Mary Corse’s monochromatic soft white paintings, which went for $100,000-135,000. Pace almost sold out, as well: Kiki Smith’s funky cast-bronze birds, wolves, stars, and moons sold for $35,000-150,000. David Zwirner reported that just over half of the seven Milton Avery works were spoken for, with two sold and two put on reserve. The gallery would not give exact prices, but said that these ranged from $310,000-380,000.

Gallery 303, which is new to the fair, had one of the more creative booth setups — dark blue walls and wooden furniture matching the antique feeling of contemporary artist Karen Kilimnik’s work. They reported having a great opening day, and weren’t afraid to share details. “We were voted the best booth by many people,” said director Christian Alexa. The gallery sold one painting for around $180,000, another in the range of $80,000, and a drawing for about $45,000.

Lower East Side gallery Eleven Rivington is one of the few to be participating in both ADAA and Armory Show fairs, and has done well for itself at both. At the ADAA fair, eight works by geometric abstractionist Caetano de Almeida sold for $15,000-30,000 each. Gallery director Augusto Arbizo also noted the Armory booth had sold out ahead of Wednesday evening’s vernissage.

Over at Paul Kasmin’s booth, the gallery’s new director Bethanie Brady reported that “Zephyr,” a nickel-plated bronze edition by Brazilian-born sculptor Saint Clair Cemin, sold to a New York collector at the preview. Works by Cemin in the booth ranged from $30,000-250,000, with the editions starting at $40,000. Mary Ryan Gallery had yet to see a sale of works by feminist pop artist May Stevens, but had two drawings on reserve, both in the $20,000-range, and, optimistically, the dealer said she expects to see more interest from museums later in the week.

The Armory Show may be celebrating its centennial, but young artists — and the collectors who support them — dominated the VIP opening. For one thing, the Armory Show’s Focus section, with energetic crowds and sales, wasn’t this year’s sideshow.

“People seem to be buying a lot in the young section,” said art advisor Wendy Cromwell.

Twenty minutes into the fair’s preview, Focus galleries were already reporting strong sales. “The first thing we sold was this Paul Gabrielli box to John Waters,” said Invisible-Exports co-owner Benjamin Tischer, pointing to a chained-up cardboard box that went for $6,500. The gallery also sold two of the artist’s wooden soap-dish sculptures.

Next door, meanwhile, Monique Meloche had already sold Joel Ross and Jason Kreps’s photograph of a desolate Illinois landscape for $7,500, plus a neon work by collective Type A and an installation of bronze-plated shoes by Kendell Carter.

Connersmith gallery was offering Lincoln Schatz’s photographs of American innovators for $5,000 each, but a collector had placed the entire set of 89 on hold. Across the way, Gagosian’s booth of Warhol paintings brought star power to this subsection of the fair.

Despite the buzz at Focus, big-ticket sales were few and far between. Modestly priced works, however, like 32-year-old TM Davy’s lush paintings of candles at Eleven Rivington, were selling fast. The gallery sold all 20 paintings in three hours, the works priced between $2,500 and $3,500. Kavi Gupta Gallery sold two ink-stained canvases by James Krone for $6,000 each as well as a paint-splattered fabric work by Angel Otero for $35,000.

The lower price points suggest a shift in the Armory Show’s collector base, according to art advisors. With the arrival of Frieze New York, which returns to Randall’s Island for its sophomore edition in May, blue-chip buyers may not feel the need to shop at the piers. Still, said Cromwell, “collectors who are buying new artists are all here.”

Major international dealers, most of which are also participating in Frieze New York this spring, did manage to secure a handful of marquee sales. “Let’s just say we’ll be rehanging tomorrow,” dealer Sean Kelly said. Lisson sold a maroon fiberglass disk by Anish Kapoor for $455,350 and a grisaille canvas covered with sandpaper by Allora & Calzadilla for $125,000. Victoria Miro sold a glistening blue and black web painting by Yayoi Kusama for $400,000. Sprüth Magers sold three works by George Condo — two works on paper for $45,000 and one painting for $250,000 — as well as a shaggy yarn sculpture by Rosemarie Trockel for $228,000.

Two of three grainy, soft-focused video installations of flower bouquets by Diana Thater also sold at David Zwirner. Priced at $150,000, both went to private collectors. That one of them has an art foundation pleased Thater, who was at the booth. “I don’t like my work disappearing,” she said. “I like it to go to institutions and museums so it can be seen.”

Smaller New York galleries noted the fair marked a welcome return to business as usual. “We’re back to being dealers as opposed to hurricane victims,” said Ed Winkleman.

To see photos, click on the slideshow.

— Marilyn's Lips Lead Online Warhol Auction: A 1964 lithograph of Marilyn Monroe's lips titled "I Love Your Kiss Forever Forever" proved to be the top lot in Christie's first online auction of works from the collection of the Andy Warhol Foundation, fetching $90,000 — or a whopping 16 times its pre-sale high estimate of $5,000. The sale, the first of several drawing on the Warhol Foundation's holdings, brought in a total of $17 million. Warhol himself was the sale's biggest star, though, with 12 self-portraits selling for a combined total of $116,200. [LAT]

— JR's Street Art Hits the Pavement: The famed French photo-muralist and TED Prize-winning street artist JR has launched a new limited-edition collaboration with trendy footwear brand Bagua. And we say limited edition, we really mean it! The arty new shoes are so exclusive, only close friends of the artist and the company will be able to get their hands — and feet — on them. The black-and-white loafers feature one of JR's trademark closeups on an eye, rendered in Lichtensteinian Ben-Day dots. [Hypebeast]

— Man Finds Art Treasure Trove in Garage: The new owner of a cottage in Bellport on Long Island found thousands of works by little-known — though recently rediscovered — painter, bookmaker, and comics artist Arthur Pinajian in his garage. Some of the artworks have already sold for $500,000, while the rest have been appraised at a total of more than $30 million by Warhol appraiser William Hastings Falk. Pinajian, 50 of whose landscape paintings are currently the subject of an exhibition at the Fuller Building in Midtown Manhattan, lived in Bellport with his sister until his death in 1999 at at 85. [AP]

— Bar Lions Have Royal Provenance: A pair of snarling leopards that are front and center in the current “Treasures of the Royal Courts” show at London’s V&A have a surprising history behind them. Until recently, they were decorations in a French bar, run by retired Englishman Andy Delahunty, who salvaged them from a pub in Surrey. Turns out, they may have been carved as a monument to Anne Boleyn at the behest of Henry VIII. The most telling detail? The leopards had lion tails, which happens to be one of the emblems of Boleyn. [Guardian]

— Spoils of Oakland Museum Double Robbery Recovered: Police in Oakland have arrested Andre Taray Franklin and recovered a Gold Rush-era jewelry box he is accused of having stolen from the Oakland Museum of California during a January 9 break-in, and he is also a suspect in an investigation into a similar burglary that took place at the museum last November, when pistols from the same period were lifted. "It is a happy day for Oakland and the state of California," said museum director Lori Fogarty. "We have our beautiful and historic jewelry box back in the museum and a suspect in custody." [CBS San Francisco]

— Tacoma Museum Settles Squabble With Donors: Washington state's Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) has reached an agreement with the Young family over a collection of ancient Chinese robes and gems that they donated to the institution in the 1970s with the understanding that they would remain in its permanent colleciton, but which the TAM recently opted to auction. Under the terms of the agreement, the museum will continue to sell off the collection, but use a portion of the revenue to acquire works by Chinese American artists, crediting the Young family for the donation. "We are pleased that this all has been resolved," said museum director Stephanie A. Stebich, "and are happy that the Young family will continue to be a part of the Tacoma Art Museum." [Seattle Times]

— Milwaukee Museum Makes Peace With War Memorial: As part of a $25-million expansion project unveiled last year, the Milwaukee Art Museum proposed to take over control of the nearby War Memorial Center, but that plan engendered a dispute — over, among other things, who should pay for the monument's renovations and maintenance, and profit from its parking lot — that appears to finally have been defused. Former state Supreme Court justice Janine Geske has brokered an agreement betweent the museum and the county, which owns the building and its grounds, though the resolution still needs the approval of the museum and War Memorial, the County Board, and the County Executive. [Journal Sentinel]

— Philly Museum Goes Underground: The Philadelphia Museum of Art is nearing completion on an $81-million, two-year expansion project that it has nothing to show for: The entire complex, which includes education spaces, conservation labs, storage areas, and other backstage facilities, is housed underground beneath the museum's iconic building. The museum's objective was to "respect the architectural integrity of the original building," said museum president Gail Harrity. "What they’ve done is so impressive." [CBS Philadelphia]

VIDEO OF THE DAY

ARTINFO's video team talks to Invisible Exports Gallery at the 2013 Armory Show

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Spring/Break Arrives Early in Soho For Curator-Driven Fair's Opening Night

Single Artist Booths Soar at ADAA Art Show, With Sales off to Brisk Start

Our most-talked-about stories in Visual Art, March 4-8, 2013:

— ARTINFO spent most of the week at the Armory Show: Rachel Corbett and Julia Halperin noted the dominance of young artists at the marquee fair of New York’s Armory Week; we selected our favorite booths; Benjamin Genocchio picked out the best of the best; Matthew Drutt sought out the fair’s hidden gems; Judd Tully surveyed offerings on the Modern art side at Pier 92; Chloe Wyma picked out the best-dressed attendees; and Janelle Zara spotted Jay-Z and Beyoncé at MoMA’s Armory party.

— Meanwhile, uptown, Shane Ferro noted a nice mix of classic and contemporary offerings at the Art Show in the Park Avenue Armory, while Kristen Boatright offered a video tour of the ADAA’s fair.

— Sara Roffino found a surprisingly refined and subtle showcase on view at the satellite fair Scope, from which we picked our favorite booths and works.

— Elsewhere around Armory Week, Julia Halperin found a pleasant mix of heady and adventurous works at the Independent, and Benjamin Sutton perused the terrific presentation at the SPRING/BREAK Art Show’s sophomore outing.

— Rachel Wolff visited the studio of fast-rising Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie.

— LaToya Ruby Frazier discussed her upcoming solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.

— In the final section of our Innovators series, we looked at Fred Benenson’s project to translate Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” into emojis.

— Janelle Zara attended the Storefront for Art and Architecture’s opulent 30th anniversary gala.

— Céline Piettre took a closer look at Jesús Rafael Soto’s just-opened solo show at the Centre Pompidou.

— Architectural photographer Iwan Baan offered some insights into his process, and described what it’s like to shoot for Rem Koolhaas.

For the second time in two weeks a director who made his name in world cinema is seeing his English language debut appear on screens in American multiplexes. Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, who directed the original Swedish adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” directed the Colin Farrell-staring “Dead Man Down,” which hits theaters today. This comes a week after “Stoker,” the first film shot in English by Korean director Park Chan-Wook, hit U.S. theaters. With this in mind, we thought it was a good time to go over some of the best English-language debuts of the recent past.

“Brother”

Director: Takeshi Kitano

The Japanese Renaissance man (in addition to being a director, he's also an actor comedian, gameshow host, singer, author, and painter) came to the attention of American film buffs with his bizarre and hypnotic 1990 movies about the Japanese mob. For his first foray into filming in English, Kitano stuck with what he knew and wrote, directed, and starred in a film about a lone Yakuza officer who flees Japan and sets up shop in America.

“21 Grams”

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

The Mexican director followed up his critically acclaimed debut, “Amores perros,” by exploring the fall out of a car crash from multiple view points. The 2003 film – which starred Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio del Toro– was a hit with critics and was one of those rare indie films that actually manages to succeed at the box office, tripling its $20 million budget.

“The Constant Gardner”

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Released three years after his breakthrough, “City of God,” the Brazillian's 2005 movie is an adaptation of spy lit legend John le Carré's novel of the same name. The movie starred Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, who took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress that year.

“My Blueberry Nights”

Director:Wong Kar-wai

For this 2007 film, the Hong Kong-born director left his native country for a film about a woman, played by Norah Jones, trying to cure a broken heart with blueberry pie and a cross country trek. Though interesting in its own right, the film is mostly of note because it features Kar-wai working with cinematographer Darius Khondji– the director had worked with Christopher Doyle on his previous seven films.

“Funny Games”

Director:Michael Haneke

The Austrian director, whose film “Amour” won this year's Academy Award for best Foreign Language film, went a strange route for his English language debut. He took his own film, which was only a decade old, and created a shot-for-shot remake with only the film's setting (now in America), cast (which now featured Naomi Watts and Tim Roth), and language changing.

This week, ARTINFO has sent its intrepid staff into the aisles of Armory Week fairs all over New York, charged with reviewing the art they saw in a single (sometimes run-on) sentence. (To see our One-Line Reviews as an illustrated slideshow that will move more quickly than you can possibly read it, click here.)

assume vivid astro focus at Suzanne Geiss Company (booth 907), “alter visions after fatalities,” 2013, the Armory Show

The art collective known as assume vivid astro focus snares visitors inside Suzanne Geiss's booth with an immersive clash of tranny paintings, neon lights, and psychedelic wallpaper, all of which is apparently some kind of comment on gun control. — Rachel Corbett

Kevin Cooley at Kopeikin Gallery, “Launch Failure,” 2012-2013, Moving Image Contemporary Video Art Fair

Kevin Cooley has precariously stacked five television monitors atop one another, synchronizing them to play video of a disastrous rocket launch that slowly mesmerizes the viewer as the would-be spacecraft travels skyward through each of the screens before it suddenly bursts aflame and quickly plummets downwards, its path provoking that sinking stomach feeling as you watch the fireball grow smaller and merge with the ground. — Alanna Martinez

Myla Dalbesio, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, and Grace Villamil, “alonetogether” (curated by Amanda Schmitt), SPRING/BREAK Art Show

By covering the walls and ceiling of one of the Old School's classrooms in mylar thermal blankets, its floor in cushy carpeting, and projecting abstract, colorful videos over the shiny, fractal surfaces, this trio succeeded in conjuring the titular disjointed experience, one that is half sensory deprivation tank, half bleary-eyed collective acid trip, and entirely evocative of a stereotypical spring break experience.— Benjamin Sutton

Günther Förg at Galerie Forsblom (booth 506), “Untitled,” 2008, the Armory Show (sold)

Günther Förg's composition of simple, colorful paint scribblings at Helsinki-based Galerie Forsblom is one of those works that you think you could do yourself, but as you keep staring you realize that no, you couldn't. — Shane Ferro

Kysa Johnson at Morgan Lehman (booth 532), “blow up 203 - subatomic decay patterns after Piranesi's Ruins and Waiting Room (Bank of America),” 2013, the Armory Show

The furniture and walls of Kysa Johnson's full-scale recreation of a Bank of America waiting room are covered with ghostly chalk drawings that come together, from a certain angle, to depict a totally new image: a plunging vista of Roman ruins (inspired by Piranesi) that, viewed up close, is composed of jittery clouds of symbols, the notations for various subatomic particles (a brainy device which one of this New York artist’s signature). — Ben Davis

Sophia Wallace at Baang and Burne Contemporary (booth A09), “Cliteracy: 100 Natural Laws,” 2013, Scope New York

Just in time for International Women's Day, Sophia Wallace's confrontational neon, text-based work, “Cliteracy: 100 Natural Laws,” takes over Baang and Burne's booth at Scope, exploring the ways in which society uses language to describe the female body, and the pervasive misinterpretation, misrepresentation, and illiteracy that have characterized our historical inability to understand and describe female sexuality. — Terri Ciccone

NEW YORK — The final days of an art fair are somewhat like the last week of a gallery exhibition: By now the real business is done, but the dealer is obliged to go on with the show. The bigger the art dealers, the less likely you are to find them minding their booths. They’ve moved on to other deals, and other fairs, in other cities. Nothing more to sell means nothing more to do.

This year sales seem to have been good, though it depends on whom you talk to: some dealers are peppy, reporting lots of sales and even a few sold-out booths. But there are also quite a few dealers that have yet to close a deal, particularly at the smaller galleries that, arguably, are most in need of recouping their fair costs. For them, participating in fairs is a real financial gamble.

Anecdotally, it seemed that the big buyers were well known to the dealers, with fewer galleries reporting sales to new collector clients. Most dealers also reported an overwhelmingly domestic audience, with fewer European and Asian collectors in evidence. This makes sense, for with so many similar fairs in other parts of the world, collectors no longer need to travel to New York. Or maybe it has something to do with Frieze Art fair arriving in May, during the auctions.

No doubt the accent on domestic buyers influenced the recipe for booth success. The dealers who did well seemed to be those with local standing and existing clients, or who brought with them the work of internationally recognized brand-name artists. After all, Americans love their brands. New York dealers did especially well, along with the big British galleries.

Both Eleven Rivington and Sean Kelly had a great week, selling out their booths on opening day and rehanging work for day two. Sprueth Magers, based in London and Berlin, did exceptionally well, selling 12 works by gallery artists including Barbara Kruger’s “Untitled (The Meaning of Life Is That It Stops),” 2008, for an undisclosed price, three works by George Condo between $45,000 and $250,000, a Sterling Ruby collage for $65,000, and four works by Cyprien Gaillard for €18,000. The gallery said the majority of these sales were to American collectors.

Zurich-based Andreas Huber, a first-timer at the Armory, sold out on opening day. Works by Florian Schmidt went for €16,000 at his booth. Kavi Gupta reported selling his Theaster Gates work — the commissioned artist at last year’s edition of the fair — for $125,000. British dealer Thomas Corvi-Mora reported a similar smattering of sales. Works by his artists Lunette Yiadom-Boakye, Imran Qureshi, Brian Calvin, and Anne Collier all sold in the $20,000-30,000 range.

The last word goes to Warhol, whose work and legacy were everywhere at the fair. It might be the anniversary of the original Armory Show, but it felt more like a celebration of the Pop art master, who died 25 years ago.

To see images, click on the slideshow.