The article reports that an anti-corruption court in the Philippines ordered the Marcos family to return eight paintings by Pierre Bonnard, Michelangelo, Bernard Buffet, Paul Gauguin, Francisco de Goya, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, and Camille Pissarro, on the grounds that they were purchased with illegally obtained public funds. The paintings seized are La Baignade Au Grand Temps (Pierre Bonnard), Madonna and Child (Michelangelo), Vase of Red Chrysanthemums (Bernard Buffet), Still Life with Idol (Paul Gauguin), Portrait of the Marquesa de Santa Cruz (Francisco de Goya), L’aube (Joan Miro), Femme Couche VI (Pablo Picasso), and Jardin de Kew press de la Serre 1892 (Camille Pissarro). The article notes the Marcos family’s alleged embezzlement during Ferdinand Marcos’ rule (1965–1986) and that roughly half of an over $11 billion illicit wealth amount has been recovered so far.
Vincent van Gogh, Still Life, Vase with Daisies and Poppies (1890) is described as a rare still life with an estimated price of $30–50 million to be offered at Sotheby’s in New York on November 4. The article notes the painting’s provenance, including its connection to Dr. Gachet and its ownership history through Gaston-Alexandre Camentron, Paul Cassirer Gallery, Anson Goodyear, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and mentions that Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet holds the auction record for the artist.
Sandro Botticelli (and studio) Madonna with Child, John the Baptist and Angel, ca. 1475 is up for auction at van Ham in Cologne. The painting, formerly part of the Nardus collection labeled as Nazi enemy property, was restituted after provenance research and is estimated to fetch €250,000–€300,000.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale in New York brought in $28.3 million. Vija Celmins’s Burning Plane, 1965, sold for $3.41 million, exceeding its high estimate and Celmins’s previous sale record. Other notable results included Keith Haring’s Untitled (1988) at $2.74 million, John Baldessari’s 18th and Highland, National City at $509,000, and Philip Guston’s Magician’s Table at $653,000.
Ryedale Gazette & Herald Staff Reporter reports that police are appealing for information about a miniature violin stolen from a house in Hovingham and may have changed hands; they ask antique, music and collectables dealers to contact North Yorkshire Police, 101, select option two for Malton CID.
Damien Hirst’s Signification (Hope, Immortality and Death in Paris, Now and Then) (2014) is part of Paddle8’s cabinet of curiosities drawn from Deyrolle, with proceeds benefiting Victim and Deyrolle. The project includes 50 additional lots and a Wunderkammer-style cabinet displayed at Deyrolle in Paris, with online bidding on Paddle8 from October 14 to October 28.
The page reports on Tarisio's participation at the Violin Society of America (VSA) convention in Indianapolis, noting over 30 highlights from October auctions on display and the bi-annual competition for new makers. It highlights Gold Medals for Collin Gallahue (violin) and Jason Viseltear (viola), a Gold Medal for Emmanuel Begin (violin bow), with Lot 151 in the New York auction ending October 15 and a future hint about Jim Robinson’s silver medal for tone in the February 2015 auction. It also mentions fundraising gifts totaling over $8,000 and a link to the VSA back catalog of journals.
JinJoo Cho, a 26-year-old from South Korea, won the 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis first prize. Tessa Lark (USA) was the silver medalist and Ji Young Lim (South Korea) the bronze medalist; other prizes went to Dami Kim, Yoo Jin Jang, and Ji Yoon Lee. Cho will receive USD 30,000 and other opportunities, including a loan of the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivarius.
Stefan Tarara, a German violinist, won 1st prize at the 2014 George Enescu International Violin Competition in Romania. Fellow prizewinners included Fedor Roudine (2nd prize) and Wonhee Bae (3rd prize). Tarara studies under Zakhar Bron and serves as Concertmaster of the Mannheim Philharmonic; he has previously prize-won several competitions. He will receive 15,000 euros (USD 19,400).
The page reports that Jeff Phillips, a Salt Lake City luthier, won dual gold medals for Violin Tone and Violin Workmanship at the 2014 Violin Society of America International Instrument and Bow Making Competition in Indianapolis. Collin Gallahue also won a gold medal for Viola, with other category winners listed.
The article notes that Sunghee Hong is top in the modern category of the International Violin Makers Competition, with Milena Noventa winning the imitation instrument category, Maria Strelnikova and Andreas Preuss taking the viola prize, Eduard Schwen winning best cello maker, and Luboš Odlas named top bow maker.
Gustav Klimt Portrait of Gertha Loew (1902) is at issue in a dispute led by Loew’s granddaughter Andrea Felsovanyi. The Klimt Foundation may sell the painting, which could fetch more than $30 million, with proceeds potentially split between Felsovanyi and the Foundation; Sotheby’s and Christie’s valuations cited range from $18 million to $25 million.
Marguerite Hoffman sued David Martinez and L&M Arts over a Rothko sale and confidentiality terms; a Dallas judge dismissed the suit after ruling L&M acted without Martinez’s authority, effectively exonerating Martinez. The case involves a Mark Rothko that sold at Sotheby’s for $31.4 million after an initial $19 million purchase.
Gustav Klimt Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912) is loaned to MoMA from a private collector. The painting is one of two formal portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer and has a history involving Nazi seizure and eventual restitution; Adele Bloch-Bauer I was purchased by the Neue Galerie for $135 million and Adele Bloch-Bauer II sold for $88 million to a private collector.
Christie’s announces a stand-alone evening auction in London on Monday, 13 October 2014 featuring 44 works from The Essl Collection, including pieces by Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, Martin Kippenberger, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Cindy Sherman, Frank Stella, Louise Bourgeois, Morris Louis, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Maria Lassnig; pre-sale estimate £40,000,000-60,000,000.
Adolph von Menzel’s gouache on paper Stehende Rüstungen (1886) was restituted to the heirs of Adele Pächter and will be auctioned at Villa Grisebach in Berlin for an estimated €100,000–€150,000. Adele Pächter, Jewish, was persecuted by the Nazis and forced to dispose of her husband Hermann Pächter’s collection; she later died in Theresienstadt. Other works by von Menzel found in the Pächter family’s holdings were also identified as having been sold under Nazi coercion.
The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments acquired the Andrew F. Petryn Collection of String Instruments and Bows, including violins by Nicolò Amati and Andrea Guarneri and three bows by François Tourte. The collection comprises more than 20 objects and came to Yale as a bequest after Petryn’s death in October 2013.
Peter Paul Rubens’s The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (1610–1611) is identified as genuine by Nico Van Hout and will be included in a London Royal Academy exhibition; the work was previously considered a fake by Julius Held in 1950, and is linked to Rubens’s broader legacy from Van Dyck to Cézanne.
This article reports that industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner agreed to finance a new company to purchase the Essl Collection from Karlheinz Essl for about €115 million (roughly $151 million). The deal involves Haselsteiner taking a 60 percent stake in SE-Sammlung Essl GmbH, with 42 banks as creditors and 40 percent held by Essl’s foundations; 44 works will be sold at Christie’s London on October 13.
Sotheby’s profiles NIGO’s collecting practice and a group spanning contemporary art, design and objects tied to the visual culture that shaped his career.