Monthly archive
17 headlines
Source-linked reporting
nytimes.com
David Aaron Carpenter is the violist reviewed in Allan Kozinn's New York Times piece about his Weill Recital Hall program, noting his Naumburg Viola Competition win and collaboration with pianist Julien Quentin.
artnews.com
The Phillips auction in New York raised 8.2 million for a New Museum benefit, followed by a 42.3 million Part One sale of 81 lots, with 69 sold. Top results included Jeff Koons’s Bikini (Dots) selling for 1.05 million and Richard Prince’s Untitled (Nurse) at 1.9 million; Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XVI sold for 5.9 million, and Prince’s Registered Nurse brought 4.3 million. Record prices were set for Jules de Balincourt, Mark Grotjahn, Steven Parrino, Rudolf Stingel, Carroll Dunham, Wim Delvoye, and others, with notable participation from Charles Saatchi as a seller.
artnews.com
The Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale totaled $269.7 million, its third-highest total, but Vincent van Gogh’s The Fields (Wheat Fields), 1890 failed to sell after an opening bid of $20 million. The auction had 76 lots offered with 56 sold (74%), by value 68% sold, and Sotheby’s later reported a $14.6 million loss.
artnews.com
The Christie’s Part One contemporary sale totaled $325 million, led by Mark Rothko’s Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange), 1955, which sold for $34.2 million. Other notable results included Thomas Struth, Yoshitomo Nara, Rudolf Stingel, Fred Tomaselli, and Richard Prince breaking records or achieving significant gains; Zhang Xiaogang and Lucian Freud also posted notable prices, while several lots failed to meet estimates. The sale featured multiple records and showcased strong demand despite broader market concerns.
artnews.com
Sotheby’s conducted a Part One contemporary auction that brought in $316 million, the house's highest total in any category, with Francis Bacon and Jeff Koons leading the sale. Warhol followed as the next top artist, with several records set across 65 lots offered and 17 records achieved.
is.fi
The OKO Arts Foundation, owning nine historical string instruments from 1698–1867, is seeking a new player for four violins including a Stradivari known as Iiriläinen, currently with Réka Szilvay. The foundation, established in 1987, recently acquired a cello by Nicolas Lupot and watches market prices, noting a potential Guarneri violin in London priced around 2.1 million euros. One Stradivarius named Hammer was sold at Christie’s in New York for about 2.4 million euros this year.
nytimes.com
Carol Vogel reports on the Met’s refurbished Art Nouveau Wisteria Dining Room, created 1910–1914 for a Paris apartment and designed by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and unveiled with expanded galleries.
artforum.com
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, owner of a Pablo Picasso painting, faced a court ruling about restitution claims related to a forced sale by a German collector’s relative; Christie’s had valued Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto, 1903, at forty to sixty million dollars.
abc.net.au
The article reports that a white sculpture titled Smoking Woman by Fernando Botero sold for US$1.6 million at a Christie’s Latin American art auction, setting a record for Botero’s sculpture. The auction overall fetched US$21.7 million, with other record prices for Remedios Varo and Amelia Peláez, and notes about notable Oaxacan artists like Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo, and Rodolfo Morales.
cbc.ca
No artist or artwork details provided beyond the CBC News article title. The page discusses sales by Jeff Koons and Francis Bacon, including Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) by Koons and Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1 by Bacon, with prices $46 million US and $23.6 million US respectively, as part of Sotheby’s contemporary and postwar auction in New York.
irishexaminer.com
Francis Bacon paintings Study For Bullfight No 1, 2nd Version and Self Portrait are expected to sell for more than €35m at Sotheby’s in London. The works come from a private European collection and follow the recent Bacon sale of Study From Innocent X for €37.7m in New York.
artforum.com
The article reports that Christie’s in New York offered seventy-one lots from Allan Stone’s collection, with prices reaching record levels for Willem de Kooning and other artists. The auction totaled $52.4 million with seven unsold lots, and notable records included Nix on Nixon by Alfred Leslie selling for $385,000.
artforum.com
Charles Saatchi has agreed to create a “Saatchi Room” in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, providing a changing selection of contemporary art for a room in the General Staff Building. The move follows the October 24 opening of Saatchi’s exhibition “USA Today,” tying into the Hermitage 20/21 project to extend post-1917 art display. Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull was reportedly possible for loan next spring, though arrangements were not finalized.
nytimes.com
The New York Times reports that on opening night of Christie’s fall auction, the Matisse painting L’Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue sold for $33.6 million, a record price at auction for Matisse, with bidding between Guy Bennett and Franck Giraud and Christie’s buyer’s premium included; the sale occurred at Christie’s Rockefeller Center and drew competition among collectors, dealers, and bidders.
observer.com
The Matisse painting L’Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue (1937) sold for $33.6 million at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale at Rockefeller Center, a record price for Matisse at auction. The buyer’s identity was not disclosed. The overall sale totaled $394.9 million.
nytimes.com
Matisse painting titled L’Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue (1937) sold for $33.6 million at Christie’s, setting a new auction record for the artist. The buyer was unidentified and bids were relayed by telephone to Guy Bennett, head of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art department. The prior record for a Matisse was $21.7 million.
theartnewspaper.com
Leonardo’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder was recovered on 4 October after a theft four years earlier from Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The ninth Duke of Buccleuch died on 5 September, shortly before the recovery. Four men were charged in Dumfries in connection with the theft, including two solicitors. The artwork’s attribution is questioned by some scholars, but if accepted it could be worth over £50m; an insurance payment of £3.2m was made and is expected to be returned in exchange for full title to the painting.