Monthly archive
22 headlines
Source-linked reporting
newswire.com
Ashot Tigranyan, a world renowned Russian conductor and concert violinist, acquired a 2011 violin crafted by Eric Benning of Benning Violins in Los Angeles. The instrument, modeled after Tommaso Balestrieri’s 1748 violin, is intended for Tigranyan’s upcoming Mallorca tour.
artnews.com
Mainland China’s mega-collectors; article discusses China’s mainland auction houses led by China Guardian and Poly International, and the rising role of mainland Chinese buyers in global art markets, with figures from Artprice and comments from Sotheby’s Asia and Christie’s Asia about shares of sales and notable international acquisitions.
cn.nytimes.com
The page reports on a Stradivarius violin allegedly donated by Joseph Goebbels to Nejiko Suwa, including details of the gift in Berlin in 1943, the involvement of Hiroshi Oshima, and uncertainties about the violin's provenance and current location; it also mentions related violins seized from other musicians and archival notes from Vienna identifying a Stradivarius labeled Cremonensis faciebat Anno 1722.
telegraph.co.uk
Alix Kirsta reports on Dietmar Machold, a leading violin dealer, who is on trial for allegedly defrauding investors of millions in a case centered on Stradivarius violins.
itsartlaw.org
The article discusses the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Bakalar v. Vavra, affirming that the Schiele drawing Seated Woman With Bent Left Leg (1917) remains with its current owner David Bakalar, ending a long restitution dispute with heirs Leon Fischer and Milos Vavra. The piece covers the drawing's provenance, Nazi-era loss, and implications for future restitution cases.
nytimes.com
The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles announced it had purchased the Knoedler Gallery archive, a collection dating from around 1850 to 1971 including stock books, sales books, a photo archive and correspondence files. The archive offers insight into the history of collecting and the art market in the United States and Europe.
latimes.com
The Getty Research Institute is acquiring Knoedler & Company’s private archives, including sales books and letters from Hermitage paintings, to study provenance and the art market. The archive is expected to fill three shipping containers and complements the Getty’s holdings on the movement of European art to America and major collectors such as Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, and Sterling Clark.
independent.co.uk
Roy Lichtenstein’s 1961 painting Electric Cord, once missing for 42 years after being sent for cleaning, was returned to Barbara Bertozzi Castelli in Manhattan. The work, purchased by Leo Castelli in the 1960s for about $750, was understood to have originated from the Leo Castelli Gallery and passed through several hands before the FBI recovered it.
antiquesandthearts.com
Eric Clapton’s collection provided Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) which sold for $34,190,756 at Sotheby’s evening sale in London, setting a new record for the artist and a benchmark for living artists. The sale occurred October 12 as part of Sotheby’s contemporary art auction, with the work painted in 1994 and measuring 88½ by 78¾ inches.
today.com
The Rotterdam Kunsthal heist stole works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others including Gauguin, Lucian Freud and Meyer de Haan. The paintings are valued at tens of millions of dollars, with Picasso's piece being the best known in the group.
dutchnews.nl
The article reports seven paintings stolen from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal gallery, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, with additional pieces by Gauguin and Meyer de Haan; authorities and experts comment on value and difficulty of selling the works, with estimates suggesting values over €1 million for some and at least €100 million for the haul as discussed by experts.
npr.org
The article discusses Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto and its debut recording featuring violinist Leila Josefowicz; it notes Salonen's influence on the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the work’s award-winning status.
artnews.com
Eric Clapton’s 1994 Gerhard Richter canvas Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold for $34.2 million at Sotheby’s London, setting a living-artist auction record. The previous living-artist record was $28.6 million for Jasper Johns’s Flag (1960-66) at Christie’s New York in 2010. Clapton had previously bought Abstraktes Bild (809-4) for $3.4 million in 2001 at Sotheby’s New York.
telegraph.co.uk
Eric Clapton breaks the record for a living artist with Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild selling for £21.3 million at Sotheby’s in London. The painting had previously been bought by Clapton for about one-tenth of that price in 2001.
punemirror.com
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold for $34.2 million at Sotheby’s London, setting a new record for a living artist. The painting, from Eric Clapton’s collection, was bought by an anonymous bidder after five minutes of bidding.
seenandheard-international.com
Roger Tapping was announced by Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi as joining the Juilliard String Quartet beginning September 2013, and joining Juilliard’s viola faculty in fall 2013. He is currently on the faculty of New England Conservatory and was formerly a member of the Takács Quartet. The quartet’s lineup includes violinists Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes and cellist Joel Krosnick.
artnews.com
The article reports that Christie’s New York will offer Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1905) at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on November 7, with an estimated price range of $30 million to $50 million; the work comes from the estate of Ethel Strong Allen, widow of Herbert Allen Sr.
sueddeutsche.de
The article discusses a clash between customs officers and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble over Stradivari and Guarneri violins confiscated from Yuzuko Horigome and Yuki Manuela Janke, with values of about 6 million euros and 900,000 euros respectively; the issue involved import VAT and alleged tax evasion, and Schäuble ordered the violins released.
npr.org
The article discusses Benoit Rolland, a bow maker, and his work over four decades on violins, violas, and cellos, including his 1,400 bows. It is written by Andrea Shea for NPR’s Deceptive Cadence section, published October 6, 2012.
lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
The 1709 Stradivarius violin loaned to the Manchester Camerata will be played by Giovanni Guzzo at Colne Muni later this month; the instrument is loaned by philanthropist Jonathan Moulds.
sudouest.fr
The article from Sud Ouest reports that a man in Bordeaux risks being charged after attempting to sell an archer belonging to a professional cellist. The value of the archer is cited as about 4,000 euros, and the case involves police actions following an online listing and a trap set by investigators.
art-crime.blogspot.com
Catherine Sezgin of ARCA Blog discusses the documentary Orchestra of Exiles, focusing on Dorit Straus, an ARCA lecturer, and her family’s history, including a Stradivarius violin once owned by Bronislaw Huberman that was stolen and recovered.