Art World Then and Now: Knicks' Last Championship Runs

The New York Knicks' return to the NBA playoffs prompts a look back at the art world during their last championship appearances. In 1999, the Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs. That year, the 48th Venice Biennale, titled "dAPERTutto" and curated by Harald Szeemann, established the modern format of a central show with national pavilions. The Whitney Biennial hired external curators for the first time. The Armory Show had been founded in 1994, but the art fair boom was yet to come with Art Basel Miami Beach (2002) and Frieze Art Fair (2003). Tate Modern opened in 2000, but had already commissioned Louise Bourgeois's "Maman" for its Turbine Hall. The "Sensation" exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum sparked controversy over Chris Ofili's "The Holy Virgin Mary," leading Mayor Rudy Giuliani to threaten funding. The YBAs dominated the art scene. In 1973, the Knicks won their last championship. That year, the first Whitney Biennial (formerly Annual) mixed mediums and featured 220 artists including Helen Frankenthaler, Donald Judd, and Joan Mitchell. The Scull Sale at Sotheby Parke Bernet in October marked a turning point in the art market, grossing $2.2 million and establishing living artists as collectible assets. Land art, performance art, and feminist art were emerging; Robert Smithson died in a plane crash. SoHo was landmarked, and graffiti became recognized as an art movement.