The silver fox with the golden eye is showing off.

Powerhouse art dealer Larry Gagosian will, for the first time, put his personal contemporary art collection on public view. The cultural and tourism divisions of Abu Dhabi are expected to announce shortly that the gallerist's own works, which include some 72 Andy Warhols, Robert Rauschenbergs and other artworks, will go on exhibit there next month at the personal invitation of the nation's government. The Gagosian collection opens Sept. 22 on Saadiyat Island, future home of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi museums which are currently under construction.

It's all part of the United Arab Emirates' ambitious and deep-pocketed plan to create a cultural scene in the region almost overnight, through a museum-building spree, lavish beachfront art fairs and cultural think tanks that have hosted some of the world's major artists, architects and philanthropists. It's apparently working: Jeff Koons, architect Jean Nouvel and Francois Pinault attended last year's Abu Dhabi Art Fair, and Museum of Modern Art director Glenn Lowry has been the featured speaker at rival/sister art fair Art Dubai. Art galleries such as Pace, Acquavella and White Cube have flocked to area events because the region's royal families are involved as both hosts and art buyers,

The Gagosian exhibition is called "RSTW (Rauschenberg, Ruscha, Serra, Twombly, Warhol and Wool)" and will run during the annual Abu Dhabi Art Fair in November, and may prove a magnet to wealthy collectors to attend. The marquee exhibition is not great news for the auction houses, as their fall sales of Impressionist and Modern art will be held concurrently with this year's fair. The Persian Gulf beaches, plus the chance to see what the famed dealer has kept for himself over the years, may beckon more strongly.

A (rare) speech by Mr. Gagosian was the highlight at last year's Abu Dhabi Art Fair, the event's inaugural year. Mr. Gagosian talked mostly about the motives that drive buyers and the art market, then offered a surprisingly affecting personal account about how sometime-feelings of inferiority as a child turned him into an art dealer. He ended with a sales pitch to the sheikhs how buying art can change the world.

So can selling it--and he should know.

Auction Vet Redux

Hugues Joffre, one of Christie's top rainmakers in contemporary art in the 1990s, has rejoined the company after a decade. Joffre will be one of four International Directors of 20th-century art. 

New Urban Art Group to Fund School Arts

A just-formed nonprofit, the Urban Art Foundation, has come up with an inventive solution to fight cutbacks in arts education in the tristate area. It has arranged for prominent graffiti artists in town for the "Meeting of Styles"--something of the street-art field's annual World Cup--to paint graffiti on New Jersey high school P.S. 15 at a fund-raiser this Saturday and Sunday.

The Urban Art Foundation is the brainchild of New York real estate developer Eric Granowsky, principal of KMG, who was dismayed that his own daughter's school was phasing out arts education.

Artists from about a dozen countries will be given wall space at P.S. 15, which is located at 98 Oak Street in Paterson, N.J. One whole side of the school will be devoted to the project. Admission to the public is $15. Monies raised will go to fund arts programs in area schools.

As previously reported in The Observer, nearly 20 percent of New York City's roughly 1,600 public schools still lack a certified art, music, theater or dance teacher.

Collectors and dealers eager to know whether the art market will roar back after a sleepy August won't have long to wait. Sept. 13 kicks off Asia Week, a twice-yearly (September and March) blitz of themed auctions, gallery shows and museum exhibitions highlighting contemporary and classic works by Asian artists-everything from Tang Dynasty horses to Japanese Pop Art.

Bengali Folk Art painter Jamini Roy is one of the prominent artists whose work is going on the block. Christie's, leaving little to chance, showcased Roy's works to Indian collectors at a tony cocktail reception at the Oberoi hotel in New Delhi earlier this month.

Born in 1887, Roy was a prominent Indian cultural figure during the country's move from British rule to independence. His folk art became emblematic of the rise of India's national identity at the end of the colonial period. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, his work was sought by both Western and Eastern collectors.

Christie's will start off its Sept. 15 auction with 16 of his works, most done in vivid jewel tones mixed with earth and chalk. Prices for Roy's work have been rising in line with a general climb in the Indian and Southeast Asian art market; suggested starting bids for the 16 works in the Christie's sales range from $3,000 to $20,000.

The pre-action viewing of the collection attracted some 35,000 visitors including many French art collectors and a New York-based art dealer named Franck Giraud. The particular buyers for many of the highly-prized works were not disclosed. But it looks like the Daily Transom was correct in predicting that major Russian art collectors would have something to do with bringing back hope to the flailing art market when the time came.

According to the Bloomberg article, "Among the last-minute VIP visitors to the exhibition hall, just four hours before the sale, was Russian billionaire art collector Roman Abramovich, accompanied by dealer Larry Gagosian. Christie’s owner, French billionaire Francois Pinault, was present at the sale."

Last year, Mr. Abramovich made headlines by purchasing a Degas for $26.5 million, a Francis Bacon triptych for $86.3 million, and a painting by Lucian Freud for $33.6 million. And his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova opened an art gallery in Moscow called The Garage not too long ago. Incidentally, Mr. Gagosian was a guest at the gallery's soft opening.

"I can now phone up my clients and say there is nothing wrong with the market," Paolo Vedovi, director of Brussels-based Galerie Vedovi, told Bloomberg after the auction was finished.

According to city records, a limited liability corporation called ROKUSA just paid $16.9 million for the top penthouse at Barbizon/63 on East 63rd Street, the 80-year-old neo-Gothic women’s hotel that has just been turned into superluxury condos.

The building’s sales director, Sharon O’Brien, says that the buyer is François Pinault. “His art dealer was actually the person who saw the apartment first, and then told François about it,” said Ms. O’Brien. “And he flew in from Paris to see it, and then brought in his architect, Annabelle Selldorf.” That’s the star who co-designed Philip Johnson’s Urban Glass House. Jeff Koons is another client.

How many bedrooms will Mr. Pinault’s new ladies’ hotel spread have? “I know she’s reworked the entire apartment inside to turn it into a one-bedroom,” Ms. O’Brien said. “It’s 4,600 square feet for a one-bedroom!”

The spread is actually a tad bigger than 4,600 square feet, considering that the terraces off the apartment’s four corners add 833 square feet.

When Mr. Pinault visited (“impeccably dressed,” the broker said, “he’s very charming”), he liked the penthouse’s high arches and 20-foot ceilings. Though the buyer controls Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Stella McCartney, Ms. O’Brien admitted the penthouse doesn’t have excessive space for clothes. “There aren’t a million closets. It’s not like he bought it for the closet space.”

Maybe he’ll redesign the duplex with some extra storage room. “He’s gutting the whole place and putting in his own finishes—in fact, we left them out,” Ms. O’Brien said. “We left out the kitchen and bathrooms. He’s putting his own in.”

Incidentally, the billionaire didn’t get a discount from the developers for declining their standard wares. On the downside, he probably won’t be spending much time here every year. “It could be one month, it could be three,” Ms. O’Brien said.

It's already been quite a year over at 515 Park Avenue. In just the past couple months, two sprawling duplex apartments have sold for over $20 million.

In February, French billionaire Francois Pinault sold his 5,000-square-foot duplex for $22 million to financier Menachem Sternberg, as reported in The Observer.

Now, technology executive Craig Goldman has sold his luxurious apartment for $21 million, according to deed-transfer records. (Mr. Goldman paid $13.7 million for the apartment in 2001).

We could tell you how great it is, but why don't you see for yourself? Inman News has a five-minute video tour that was made while the apartment was on the market for $26 million, listed with Drew Glick and Richard Ferrari, of Prudential Douglas Elliman.

- Michael Calderone

Christie's owner Francois Pinault sells on Park Avenue, in Manhttan Transfers. Also, artist James Turrell buys in Gramercy.