The case United States v. One Oil Painting Entitled "Femme en Blanc" by Pablo Picasso involves a United States District Court for the Central District of California decision reported as 362 F. Supp. 2d 1175 (C.D. Cal. 2005). The court discussed venue in California over a painting located in Illinois, noting the painting's transport through California. No monetary amount is stated in the excerpt. The opinion is dated March 31, 2005.
William Scott works sold at Sotheby’s and Sotheby’s Olympia in London, involving dealer Richard Green and collector David Thomson, with several pieces realizing prices well above estimates. Highlights include Four Forms, Blue on White, 1971 selling for £106,800 ($206,007) and Two Whites, 1963 selling for £70,800 ($136,566); a small chalk drawing sold for £45,600 ($84,800), and a gouache of black-and-white lines against orange for £51,600 ($99,580. The 31 works were estimated to fetch £240,000 but realized over £1 million.
Marlene Dumas's Number Comes Up discusses the rise in the market value of Marlene Dumas's paintings, highlighting record prices such as 1987's The Teacher sold for $3.34 million at Christie’s in London and other notable auction highs including Feather Stola (2000) and Wet Dreams, among others.
The Independent reports that the Tate used an £8m insurance gambit to regain ownership of two Turner paintings stolen in 1994. The gamble yielded £17m, enabling further acquisitions and cataloguing, including plans to invest £10m in new art and finish cataloguing Turner Bequest, and to expand public access in Southwark. The article mentions the two Turners, Shade and Darkness and Light and Colour, the Morning after the Deluge, and notes the insurer payout of £24m and subsequent recovery of the titles.
The Turner family condemns the Tate for plans to spend funds from JMW Turner’s bequest on other artists, including Damien Hirst and Rachel Whiteread, rather than Turner-related projects. The issue concerns £24 million from the insurance windfall for two stolen Turner works, and how the funds are to be allocated for the collection, catalogue, and care.
Canaletto's The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day is expected to fetch £5m at auction; the painting is part of Antonio Champalimaud's collection which includes works by Fragonard and Boucher and French furniture, sculpture and Chinese porcelain. The collection will be shown at Christie's in King Street, London, from the start of June.
The article reports Texas museums receiving substantial gifts: the Dallas Museum of Art receives more than 800 postwar and contemporary artworks and an anonymous $32 million donation for future acquisitions; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is set to gain about $450 million from the estate of Caroline Wiess Law, potentially raising its endowment to about $800 million. It mentions collectors in Dallas (the Rachofskys) and their acquisitions with works by Rachel Whiteread, Tom Friedman, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Lucio Fontana, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Donald Judd, and Bruce Nauman.
Edvard Munch works recovered after a restaurant theft in Oslo; the items include a 1915 watercolor titled Blue Dress and two lithographs, one a self-portrait and one of Swedish artist August Strindberg, with a total value of about US$257,000
Landon Thomas Jr. and Carol Vogel report that Steven A. Cohen, a Greenwich, Connecticut hedge fund magnate, has spent hundreds of millions on art over the past five years, acquiring works by Pollock, Manet, Monet, Degas, Warhol, and Lichtenstein, and recently paying $8 million for Damien Hirst’s 14‑foot tiger shark.
Landon Thomas Jr. and Carol Vogel report that hedge fund magnates, led by Steven A. Cohen, are shifting the art market by using large capital to acquire major works such as Pollock, Manet, and Monet pieces.
The Raphael was bought by the National Gallery for £22 million in February 2004. The article discusses the background of how the Getty Museum previously bought Madonna of the pinks for £35 million and how the National Gallery raised funds, including an £11.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.