The article reports that Niccolo Paganini's instrument, a Cremonese violin by Carlo Bergonzi, is going to auction for the first time. The violin, created in 1720 and one of fifty surviving Bergonzi works, is priced with an asking bid of 500,000 pounds (about 185 million forints). Sotheby’s Tim Ingles notes the instrument’s condition may affect the price, and suggests it could be bought by someone who will play it. Paganini died in 1840, and his son Achille inherited ten Stradivaris among many violins.
The article reports multiple record prices at Paris auctions overlapping FIAC: Michel & Liliane Durand-Dessert's 154-lot sale at Sotheby’s totaled €4.47 million with records for Luciano Fabro, Giovanni Anselmo, Giuseppe Penone, Salvatore Scarpitta, and Giulio Paolini, plus a Morellet record. Cornette de St-Cyr’s 179-lot sale totalled €3.56 million with strong response to the Veranneman Foundation ensemble; highlights include Niki de Saint Phalle, César, Yan Pei Ming, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol records.
Tokyo auction market report from Nikkei Art Auction Data states total annual sales at Japan’s five major auction houses reached ¥13.968 billion ($129 million) in 2004, up 43 percent from the previous year. The piece notes prior trends, specific house results (Shinwa Art Auction, Mainichi Art Auction, AJC Auction, Art Masters, Discovery National Auction), and notable high-priced lots including Ryuzaburo Umehara and Sotaro Yasuda, as well as Western paintings by Renoir and Matisse.
Julian Guthrie reports on the opening of the new de Young museum in San Francisco, noting that the project faced design challenges, lawsuits and funding issues before its public opening. The article discusses private funding, Prop. A bonds, and the broader context of San Francisco politics and public-private partnerships surrounding the museum’s transformation.
The article reports that the Museum of Modern Art received a gift of 174 contemporary works from Los Angeles developer Edward R. Broida, including works by Philip Guston, Vija Celmins and Christopher Wilmarth. The gift is valued at about $50 million, and includes 36 works by Guston across paintings, drawings and prints, significantly expanding the museum's Guston holdings.
The article reports Sotheby’s London and Piasa in Paris holding print sales on Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, respectively, with strong demand and notable prices. Highlights include Picasso Femme au tambourin (£321,600) and Edvard Munch Liebendes Weib (£288,000) at Sotheby’s, Warhol pieces among top prices, and a record price for Gabriel de Saint-Aubin at Piasa (€48,130). Jonathan Pratt of Sotheby’s notes strong performance with many new buyers, particularly in the contemporary section.
The article discusses Steven A. Cohen purchasing two major paintings, van Gogh's Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat (1890) and Gauguin's Bathers (1902), previously associated with the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and Las Vegas casino owner Stephen A. Wynn; brokered by William Acquavella, with reported figures around $110 to $150 million.
The San Lucas, one of the apostles from El Greco's workshop, was sold for 1,992,200 euros at Christie's second Spanish art auction in Madrid at the Westin Palace. The painting and its companion, Santiago el Mayor, were found in a Zaragoza collection and had been covered by retouching, now revealed to be in good condition; the original canvas and frame bore inscriptions. The sale price exceeded the initial estimates for the two pieces, with Mujer durmiendo (El sueño) by Antonio López fetching 684,000 euros, above the 400,000 to 600,000 euros estimate.
Not provided in the article text. The page discusses Marguerite and Robert Hoffman and architect Bill Booziotis, the guesthouse/garden pavilion, the surrounding art collection, and connections to the Dallas art scene, including artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Willem de Kooning, Joseph Beuys, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Janine Antoni, Charles Ray, Pipilotti Rist, and references to the Rachofskys and the Dallas Museum of Art.