Sotheby’s staged a benefit auction in London to raise funds for the Whitechapel Gallery, with works by 61 artists; the event total reached £2.8 million ($5.2 million), exceeding the presale high estimate of £2.3 million. Notable sales included Peter Doig’s Charley’s Space (1991) at £820,000, Damien Hirst’s Raffinose Undecaacetate at £450,000, Albert Oehlen’s Pro Brown at £150,000, Richard Diebenkorn’s Green (1986) at £140,000, and Tony Cragg’s Finnish Totem (2000) at £90,000.
The article covers Phillips de Pury & Company’s inaugural London sale during Frieze week, featuring 71 lots over two hours with most sold. The top price was £568,000 ($1.1 million) for Piotr Uklanski’s The Nazis, 1998, followed by £478,400 ($889,800) for Fang Lijun’s 2002 painting; total proceeds were £8.6 million ($15.8 million) with 15 records set.
The Herald Times reports on Peter Jacobi's profile of Michael Duff, who transformed from a microbiology academic in Bloomington into a master bow maker. The article covers Duff’s background, his violin study, and his partnership with luthier Ole Dahl that influenced his craft.
The Times reports that the graffiti artist Banksy set a new auction record at Sotheby’s in London for a series of Kate Moss pictures styled after Andy Warhol, which sold for £50,400, and a Mona Lisa stencil sold for £57,600, both over his previous £21,000 record. The Moss series were bought by a private collector and had been estimated at £10,000 to £15,000.
Le Rêve punctured refers to Picasso's 1932 painting Le Rêve being punctured, as reported by Artnet, with mention of Steve Wynn and hedge-fund billionaire Stephen A. Cohen. The piece also notes Kerry James Marshall as one of the 2006–07 Wexner Center Residency Award winners, with prior winners including Zoe Leonard, Josiah McElheny, Maya Lin, Ann Hamilton, and Barbara Kruger.
Jacques-Louis David’s Portrait of Jean-Pierre Delahaye is revealed to be the centerpiece of a small LACMA exhibition after being sold at auction and acquired with funds from the Ahmanson Foundation; the painting, created in 1748–1825, is described as a rediscovered masterpiece and marks a significant event for the museum.
Helen Frankenthaler, The Sound of the Bassoon, 1974 sold for $411,200. Jean Metzinger, La Roulette, 1926 sold for $388,800. Warhol Moonwalk (Yellow) fetched $45,600. Roger Brown, City Lake, 1971 sold for $36,000.
Christie’s reported £44.0 million across five London contemporary-art sales, including record totals for its October contemporary and Italian auctions. More than 25 artist records were set during the week, led by Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese at £2.136 million.
The Stradivarius violin, once owned by Lorand Fenyves who taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario and the Banff Centre, sold for $1,436,000 US at a Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers sale in Boston. The instrument, estimated to have been made in 1724, has a history of names used to distinguish Stradivari instruments, and the new owner has not yet been revealed.
David Geffen is reported to be deacquisitioning pieces from his collection, including Jasper Johns’ 1959 False Start and Willem de Kooning’s 1955 Police Gazette, with buyers reportedly Kenneth Griffin and Steven Cohen. The article notes this could fund a bid for the Los Angeles Times and mentions a large upcoming Christie’s sale.
Jasper Johns’s False Start sold for $80 million and Willem de Kooning’s Police Gazette sold for $63.5 million in private transactions to Kenneth Griffin and Steven A. Cohen, respectively, totaling $143.5 million.
The Globe and Mail reports that the Thomson family pledged more than $5 million to secure two dozen works from the Dundas Collection of Northwest Coast First Nations art at auction, returning the pieces to Canadian institutions for the first time since 1863. David Thomson purchased the works in memory of his late father Kenneth and is expected to gift them to the Art Gallery of Ontario, which is renovating to house the Thomson Collection.
Catherine Clabby reports from Greenville about East Carolina University's laboratory study of Stradivarius violins using lasers and other 21st-century tools. Violin maker Samuel Zygmuntowicz and other experts brought 1715 and 1734 Stradivari instruments and a 1735 Guarneri to ECU for analysis.
The article covers mid-season sale totals for Impressionist, modern and American art, noting strong demand from European buyers due to a stronger euro. At Sotheby’s, Jean-Pierre Cassigneul’s L’heure du thé sold for $180,000, and La Sieste realized $69,360; the sale total was $4.5 million. Three Henry Moore sculptures were among top lots, including Interior Form at $78,000 and Seated Figure: Thin Head at $72,000, with a Maquette for Warrior Without Shield selling for $66,000.