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25 headlines
Source-linked reporting
newsweek.com
Newsweek reports that on November 12, Christie's set a record by selling $691.6 million of art in a single night, including Francis Bacon's $142.4 million triptych portrait and Jeff Koons's $58.4 million balloon dog sculpture. The piece discusses Christie’s strategy to expand the secondary market through private sales and the potential disruption of traditional galleries like Gagosian and Zwirner.
roma.repubblica.it
Article discusses liutaio Claude Philippe Lebet of Campo dè Fiori and allegations of selling stolen or unauthorised violins, violas, and cellos including pieces attributed to Stradivari, Guarneri, Amati, Grancino, Guadagnini, Gotti and Ansaldo Poggi; mentions a Paganini-owned violin, a 1960 Giovanni Grancino cello sold without compensation, and a 1730 Stradivari in circulation abroad without proper licenses; references Barborini's request to put Lebet on trial and a prior four-year conviction for appropriation and trafficking.
violinist.com
The page lists well-known violinists who used instruments other than old Italian violins as their primary instruments, defining an old Italian as pre-1800 and a primary instrument as one used in recordings or performances. Examples given include Christian Tetzlaff on a Greiner, Elmar Oliveira on a Koeberling or Young, Eugene Fodor on a Peresson or Vuillaume, Jimmy Lin on a Zygmuntowicz, Mark O’Connor and Hilary Hahn on Vuillaume, and Ruggiero Ricci on a Bellini.
Sotheby’s
A Sotheby’s essay considers how the Dunhuang caves absorbed and transformed artistic influences along the Silk Road.
museumpublicity.com
Roy Lichtenstein Foundation to donate photographs to major institutions. Dorothy Lichtenstein and Jack Cowart announce that about 200,000 black and white prints, color prints, negatives, contact sheets and color transparencies from the Harry Shunk and Shunk-Kender Photography Collection will be given to five institutions: the Getty Research Institute, The Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, Centre Pompidou, and Tate.
hot.detik.com
The article discusses a Stradivarius violin aged 307 years, once stolen in November 2010 from Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym, and its eventual sale at auction for Rp 28 billion.
mediafax.ro
The Romanian article reports that a Stradivarius violin stolen in December 2010 in London and recovered intact in July was sold for 1.6 million euros at a Tarisio auction.
latimes.com
The 1696 Stradivarius violin, stolen in 2010 from a London rail station and recovered in July, sold at auction for £1.4 million ($2.3 million) at Tarisio. The instrument belonged to violinist Min Jin Kym. The sale price was below the £2-million estimate, and the new owner has not been identified.
vietnamplus.vn
The Stradivarius violin owned by Korean artist Kim Min Jin was found and sold at Tarisio in London for 1.38 million pounds (about 2.26 million USD) on December 18. The instrument, crafted by Antonio Stradivarius in 1696, was stolen in 2010 near Euston station. A reward of 30,000 pounds had been offered for its return; a suspect was jailed in 2011, and related items were later recovered.
independent.co.uk
The violin, a genuine Stradivarius made in 1696 by Antonio Stradivari, was stolen from Min-Jin Kym in 2010. It sold at auction for £1.4 million, with related Peccatte and Bazin bows recovered alongside the instrument.
ravenandred.com
Barry Dudley is a violin maker in Georgia who specializes in building five-string fiddles. The article discusses the historical context of five-string instruments and Dudley’s background and inspiration.
bbc.com
BBC News reports that a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin once stolen from Min-Jin Kym in central London sold at auction for £1.38m. The instrument was taken from a Pret A Manger near Euston in November 2010, recovered later, and initially valued along with accompanying bows.
latimes.com
Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud triptych, sold for $142.4 million at a Christie’s New York auction, will be on view at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon; the buyer’s identity remains anonymous. The work portrays three views of Lucian Freud and set a new auction record, surpassing Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The Portland museum will display the piece through March 30 before it possibly returns to its private owner, with support from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
archive.orartswatch.org
Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969, is coming to the Portland Art Museum after a record auction price of $142.4 million; the triptych is on loan from a private collection with anonymous buyer details discussed by Beth Heinrich.
Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s examines a Metropolitan Museum exhibition that places contemporary Chinese ink practices in dialogue with historical traditions.
artlyst.com
Edward Hopper’s Depression-era view of New Jersey, East Wind Over Weehawken (1934), sold for $40 million at Christie’s, setting a US artist auction record. Norman Rockwell’s Saying Grace fetched $46 million at Sotheby’s, contributing to a total collection sale of $59.7 million, and surpassing his prior record of $15.4 million set in 2006.
bbc.com
Edward Hopper's 1934 painting East Wind Over Weehawken sold for $40m (£24.4m) at Christie's to an anonymous telephone bidder, setting a US artist auction record. The work previously held a record of $26.9m (£16.4m) from 2009 for Hotel Window.
toronto.ctvnews.ca
Susanne Hao, an Ontario-raised violinist, traveled to London to perform one final time with a rare nineteenth-century Stradivari loaned by the Stradivari Society of Chicago. The instrument, historically owned by Fritz Kreisler and valued at about six million dollars, has carried Hao as she performs globally before returning it; her last performance was with the London Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven in tribute to her father.
nytimes.com
Carol Vogel reports that Alice L. Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune and founder of Crystal Bridges Museum, is identified as the buyer of Warhol’s Coca-Cola [3] for $57.2 million at Christie’s on Nov. 12, while noting other record sales from the fall auction season.
press.christies.com
Edward Hopper East Wind Over Weehawken sold for $40,485,000; George Wesley Bellows Evening Swell sold for $7,893,000; Georgia O'Keeffe Two Calla Lilies sold for $1,865,000; John Singer Sargent Mrs. Richard H. Derby sold for $1,805,000; Norman Rockwell The Thing to Do With Life is Live It! (Outrigger Canoe) sold for $1,625,000.
press.christies.com
Christie’s evening sale of Old Master & British Paintings in London realises £21,858,250 / $35,803,814 / €26,382,908. The top lot was The Embarkation of Saint Paula by Claude Lorrain, which realised £5,066,500 / $8,298,927 / €6,115,266, a world record price for the artist at auction. The sale set 10 artist records, including for Claude Lorrain, Pietro Fabris and Marten van Cleve I.
randian.art
Zao Wou-Ki’s 1958 oil painting Abstraction sold for 89.68 million yuan (US$14.7 million) at Sotheby’s Beijing, setting a new record for the artist. The sale occurred during Sotheby’s first commercial auction in mainland China, which raised USD 37 million and was accompanied by private sales of Western old masters, modern paintings, furniture, and jewelry. The painting was purchased by Zhang Xiaojun from Shanxi province.
reuters.com
Zao Wou-ki’s Abstraction sold for 89.68 million yuan at Sotheby’s China auction, setting a new record for the artist. The cover lot was estimated at 35 to 45 million yuan. Zhang Xiaojun identified as the buyer. The sale price includes an 18 percent buyer’s premium.
willkie.com
Jury verdict in Dallas federal court found that David Martinez, Studio Capital, and L&M Arts breached a confidentiality agreement in the sale of a 1961 Mark Rothko painting. The case Hoffman v. Martinez et al (3:10-cv-00953) resulted in a $1.7 million unanimous verdict for Marguerite Hoffman, the purchaser of the painting, with trial conducted before Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater.
theartnewspaper.com
The painting is a newly discovered third version of Raphael’s Portrait of Julius II on display at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The prime version is in the National Gallery, London, and a workshop copy is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The Frankfurt work, once sold as an imitator in 2007 Vienna auction, was acquired by the Ellermann collection and later attributed to Raphael and workshop by the Städel; it is displayed alongside the Uffizi version and Titian’s copy until 2 February 2014.