Monthly archive
14 headlines
Source-linked reporting
news.socang.com
The article reports that Picasso's abstract painting 'Sivert' (希维特), painted in 1954, sold for 6.9 million Australian dollars (about 6.5 million USD) at an auction in Sydney, setting a new Australian auction record. The anonymous buyer paid 5.75 million AUD with additional fees bringing the total to 6.9 million AUD.
visionsarts.com
Deborah Brewster reports that art market sales in New York exceeded expectations, with Sotheby’s achieving its largest sale by dollar value this week at 362 million and Christie’s posting strong results including Lucian Freud and Mark Rothko works. The two houses generated about 2 billion in artworks over the two-week season, highlighting the ascendancy of contemporary art and a global buyer base.
theartnewspaper.com
Andy Warhol’s silkscreen and acrylic paint ‘Athletes’ series, comprising ten portraits including Muhammad Ali, O.J. Simpson, Chris Evert and Jack Nicklaus, was shown at the Faurschou gallery in Beijing; the set, commissioned by Richard Weisman, previously offered for $28m in London but did not sell, and has now been consigned to the Beijing gallery in time for the Olympics.
auctionpublicity.com
Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings sale on July 9, 2008 in London features works from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including a rare Jan Lievens drawing of Rembrandt’s mother estimated at £70,000-100,000, and a Dirck Crabeth drawing of The Annunciation estimated at £60,000-80,000. The sale also includes works by Rubens and other Dutch and Flemish artists from the collection of the late Jacobus A. Klaver.
indianartnews.visionsarts.com
Elizabeth Blair reports that a Claude Monet waterlily painting sold for $80.5 million, setting a new record for an Impressionist work. The piece underscores that wealthy collectors continue to drive demand even as others tighten belts, with other high prices for Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon works indicating ultra-rich buyers help sustain the market. The article highlights collectors such as Aaron Levine and mentions Russian and Indian buyers and Roman Abramovich as examples of this trend.
smh.com.au
Pablo Picasso’s 1954 oil on canvas Sylvette sold for US$6.9 million at Deutscher-Menzies in Sydney, becoming Australia’s most expensive painting sold. The painting depicts a 19-year-old Sylvette DavId, who sat for Picasso in his 80s; the sale was to an unknown buyer after a bidding war, with Rod Menzies as the painting’s owner.
artinvestment.ru
Two Picasso prints were stolen from Pinakoteka gallery in São Paulo, Brazil, during broad daylight. The works stolen were Picasso’s Painter and model (1963) and Minotaur, a drunkard and a woman (1933), along with two paintings by Brazilian artist Di Cavalcanti Emilianu Lazarus Segal; total value reported over 600,000 dollars and the works were insured.
twincities.com
The article describes the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, highlighting pieces such as a six-string Spanish guitar associated with Bob Dylan, a rare Stradivarius violin with its original neck, and a 1767 Portuguese grand piano. It notes the museum’s focus on historical context of instruments, the size of its collection (about 800 on display from a total of over 13,500), and mentions curator Sarah Richardson and director Andre Larson.
visionsarts.com
Kishore Singh reports that a 1955 FN Souza painting titled Birth sold for Rs 10.6 crore at Christie’s in London, a record for an Indian artist at $2.48 million. The sale also saw Tyeb Mehta’s Untitled work fetch Rs 8.2 crore, and the event set world auction records for 12 artists including Subodh Gupta, Ashim Purkayastha, Justin Ponmany, Nataraj Sharma, Navjot Altaf, HG Arunkumar, Dhruvi Acharya, Amjad Ali Talpur, Anwar Saeed, and Mudassar Manzoor; overall auction take was $25,825,146.
antiquesandthearts.com
Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573–1647) and a set of four landscapes titled The Four Seasons sold for $1.87 million, a world auction record for the artist, at Sotheby’s Old Master paintings sale. The sale also included a Rubens attributed portrait of Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain, and other works that performed well, including a Berckheyde view of Amsterdam and a Marrel still life.
artinvestment.ru
Takashi Murakami's Oval Buddha sold for 8 million dollars at Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland; the buyer was unnamed. The article also mentions Abramovich and Zhukova's attendance, and other Basel fair transactions, including Freud, Bacon, and Murakami works.
milanofinanza.it
Elisa Martelli discusses the market for violins and other string instruments from the 18th to 20th centuries, highlighting Sotheby’s London auction of Albert Cooper’s collection and notable lots by Carlo Tononi, Carlo Bergonzi II, Jean Grand Adam, Tommaso Balestrieri, Silverio Ortega, Giovanni Pistucci, Carlo Antonio Testore, Antonio Zanotti, and a Stradivari piece with a modified top.
scena.org
Dimitri Murrath of Belgium wins the 2008 Primrose International Viola Competition. Second prize goes to Emily Deans and third prize to Molly Carr; various special prizes are awarded to other finalists including YiYin Li, Barbara Buntrock, Victor de Almeida, and others. The event took place at Arizona State University with a panel of international jurors.
artobserved.com
Claude Monet, Edgar Degas. Works discussed: Monet’s Le basin aux nymphaes, Degas’s Danseuses a la barre. $80.5 million for Monet, $26.5 million for Degas. Auction houses: Christie’s London. Regions: London. Currency: USD.