Monthly archive
16 headlines
Source-linked reporting
theartnewspaper.com
J. Ezra Merkin, a central figure tied to the Madoff fraud, offloads a $310 million Rothko collection that will be shown at Moscow’s Garage Center for Contemporary Art. The sale, brokered by PaceWildenstein’s Marc Glimcher, involved 12 paintings and a work on paper dating from 1949 to 1969, with receipts currently frozen as investigations proceed.
auctionpublicity.com
Christie's New York Latin American Art Evening Sale realized $11,004,350 led by Mario Carreño, Leonora Carrington, and Diego Rivera, with five new world auction records for Carrington, Portocarrero, Oiticica, Aizenberg, and Pape. The sale was 68% sold by lot and 77% by value.
artinvestment.ru
The page reports on Christie’s handling of Sam Francis’s painting Gray during a May 13 auction in New York, including a dispute over the final bid of $3 million and testimony involving Joanne Heyler of the Broad Art Foundation. The plaintiff, Gregory Callimanopulos, alleges the painting was sold at $3 million after a bid confusion; Christie’s defense centers on the bid being recognised by Heyler and other staff.
reporter.mcgill.ca
McGill Schulich School of Music violin students won top prizes in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and swept the first four places at the Shean Strings Competition in Edmonton. Carissa Klopoushak won first prize in the E-Gré, with prize money of $5,000, and Alexander Read won second prize ($3,000). Ewald Cheung won the top prize ($8,000) at the Shean contest, with Alissa Cheung, Aaron Schwebel, and Emily Westell taking second through fourth. Klopoushak and Ewald Cheung study with violin professor Jonathan Crow, while Read and Alissa Cheung study with Thomas Williams. Klopoushak will perform in Canadian cities with Philip Chiu later in the year.
Christie’s
Christie’s reported HK$1.07 billion from its Spring 2009 Hong Kong auction series, with more than half of 1,659 lots exceeding high estimates. The auction house said average lot values were about 30% above Autumn 2008 levels despite totals remaining below the early-2008 peak.
fineartpublicity.com
Damien Hirst's butterfly artwork Tranquility sold for HK$13.37 million (US$1.71 million) at Seoul auction Hong Kong Ltd's sale in Hong Kong on 15 May 2009, becoming the artist's most expensive work sold at auction in Asia. The top lot also set a world auction record for a sculpture by Yayoi Kusama.
theglobeandmail.com
Peter Doig’s 1993 oil painting Night Fishing sold for $4,674,500 (USD) at Christie’s in New York, selling within an estimated range of $3-4 million. The auction total for the sale was $93.74 million across 49 lots from 54 on offer, with the work purchased by Victoria Gelfand of Gagosian Gallery.
thetimes.com
David Hockney’s Beverly Hills Housewife diptych sold for $7.9 million (about £5.1 million) at Christie’s in New York, setting a new record for the artist. The sale occurred during Christie’s postwar and contemporary art auction and involved aggressive bidding from high-profile collectors.
latimes.com
David Hockney’s 1966 painting Beverly Hills Housewife sold at auction for a record $7.9 million in New York. The work features Betty Freeman on her patio with a zebra‑print Corbusier lounge chair and an abstract sculpture; Freeman died in January at age 87. The sale was part of Christie’s auction of Freeman’s estate, where 18 of 20 lots sold for a total of $31.6 million, with two works unsold because bids did not meet the reserve price.
thetelegraphandargus.co.uk
David Hockney’s Beverley Hills Housewife sold for 7,922,500 US dollars (£5,236,328) at Christie’s in New York, a record for the artist. The painting is part of the California Dreaming series (1966–1967) and depicts a 1960s California woman on a patio, from Betty Freeman’s collection.
thereporteronline.com
Elizabeth Pitcairn, a Bucks County native, will perform John Corigliano’s Red Violin Suite with Orchestra 2001 at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on May 22, with a repeat performance May 24 at Swarthmore College. She performs with her 1720 Mendelssohn Stradivarius and has a notable history with major orchestras and ensembles.
artnews.com
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening sale topped by Jeff Koons’s Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquoise/Magenta) (1994-2008) which sold for $5,458,5000. The sale totaled $47,033,500 with an 81% sell-through by lot and 78% by value, when compared to estimates and prior years. Other notable results include Martin Kippenberger’s untitled self portrait sold for $4.1 million (auction record for the artist), Christopher Wool’s Untitled (P105) at $1.8 million, Richard Prince’s Can You Imagine at $1,370,500 and My Girlfriend at $662,500, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Red Man One at $3,554,500, and Alexander Calder’s Ebony Sticks in a Semi-Circle at $3.5 million.
nytimes.com
The New York Times reports on Sotheby’s contemporary art sale, noting a recalibrated market with total sales of about $47 million, below its low estimate; Jeff Koons's Baroque Egg With Bow (Turquoise/Magenta) sold for $5.4 million to Larry Gagosian.
ziare.com
The article discusses a violin found in Constanta, Romania, suspected to be a Stradivarius. An expert in the country has not confirmed its authenticity, and the violin reportedly was manufactured in 1721 and may have been stolen from Belgium. Investigators noted that the young people involved claimed to have worked in Belgium and were suspected of intending to sell the instrument for 10,000 euros.
bluegrasstoday.com
The article reports Jesse Cobb and Shad Cobb announcing the loss of four instruments in Nashville, including a Nashville Guitar Company D-size guitar with serial number 03115, a Bart Rider open-back banjo, a Fairfax Abraham fiddle with a Guarneri label, and a Ratliff F model mandolin. Contact information for info leading to recovery is provided.
artobserved.com
Martin Kippenberger’s ‘Untitled’ via Sotheby’s sold for $4.1 million, within estimates and setting a new record for the artist. Christopher Wool’s ‘Untitled’ via Sotheby’s sold for $1.8 million, within estimates and setting a new record for the artist.