Monthly archive
10 headlines
Source-linked reporting
theartnewspaper.com
Giacometti Association consigns 38 sculptures and a book illustrated by Alberto Giacometti to Christie's in Paris as legal and other costs rise; pieces include a Cubist work, a portrait of Marie-Laure de Noailles, and a “Man in cage” totaling an estimated 4.5 to 6 million euros
theartnewspaper.com
Jean-Michel Basquiat is discussed in relation to recent press coverage and the sale of Lars Ulrich's collection including Basquiat’s selling performance. The article notes Basquiat’s rising prices following his 1988 death and mentions Hamiltons gallery’s upcoming show of eight major paintings and works on paper.
ricerca.repubblica.it
Vincent Van Gogh's The Gardener headline news: Italy wins in Strasbourg; the European Court of Human Rights rejects Ernst Beyeler's demand for return of the painting, awarding a compensation of 1.3 million euros. The painting was involved in a long legal dispute and had been stolen in 1998, along with Le Arlesiana and Le Cabanon de Jourdan, later recovered in weeks.
artforum.com
Niki de Saint Phalle, a Franco-American artist known for her colorful, monumental, cartoonlike sculptures and environments, died in San Diego, California at age 71.
the-independent.com
The Tate gallery acquired paintings by John Constable and Johan Zoffany with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other contributors, to be shown at Tate Britain. Zoffany’s portraits of the children of the 3rd Earl of Bute and Constable’s Fen Lane, East Bergholt, were purchased from private collections using lottery money and support from Tate members and the National Art Collections Fund.
ipswichstar.co.uk
The Constable Trust bought John Constable's life-size Ascension canvas, a religious painting created in 1822 for St Michael's church in Manningtree, for £60,000 with £15,000 in additional conservation-related costs; the work now hangs in St Mary's Parish Church, Dedham.
theage.com.au
The article reports that Mireille Breitwieser, mother of art thief Stephane Breitwieser, destroyed a vast collection worth about £1 billion ($A2.7 billion) by tearing up paintings and discarding objects. The theft spanned works from European museums, including the Louvre, with some paintings cut from frames and hidden; authorities investigated the destruction as part of the case against Breitwieser.
jta.org
The Prague Jewish Museum is suing the Czech Ministry of Culture over its decision to label part of Emil Freund’s collection as national treasures, which restricts the rights of U.S. heir Gerald McDonald to remove 15 pieces looted by the Nazis. The suit, to be heard in the High Court in Prague, argues the designation undermines restitution laws and ethical/legal norms surrounding Holocaust injustices.
independent.co.uk
The article reports Lars Ulrich, the drummer of Metallica, selling five paintings for £9.1m at Christie’s in New York. Notable works include Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Profit I, which sold for £3.7m, and Jean Dubuffet’s Paris Montparnasse, which sold for £3.3m. Ulrich’s art collecting funded by the band’s success is leading him to sell much of his collection to buy a home for his family.
upi.com
The article reports that spring sales of Impressionist and modern works at Christie's and Sotheby's totaled $223.6 million, with Brancusi's Danaide selling for $18.1 million at Christie’s and Paul Cezanne's Pitcher and Plate of Pears selling for $16.7 million at Sotheby’s. Gauguin’s Tahitian Women Near the Palms failed to meet its $15 million estimate, selling for $11.5 million.