Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (2010) sold for £3.4 million (£5.4 million including premium) at Phillips' London sale, which helped Phillips reach £18.2 million ($28.6 million) and set top prices for Ai Weiwei. Other notable results included Harold Ancart, Robert Gober, Sherrie Levine, Carroll Dunham, Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, and Jonas Wood, with Dunham and Polke among the highlighted works.
Gustav Klimt's 1902 portrait Gertrud Loew led Sotheby’s London Impressionist and Modern sale, selling for £24.8 million or $39 million after premium. The sale realized £178.6 million or $282 million, within the pre-sale estimate, and was just behind the previous record £186.5 million for the same auction in February. Other notable restituted works included Max Liebermann’s Two riders on the beach and Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism, 18th Construction (1915).
The Guardian reports that Jonathan Green of the Richard Green Gallery discovered an unknown third Monet pastel taped behind two other pastels bought at a Paris auction in 2014. The hidden work depicts the jetty and lighthouse at Le Havre, and the pieces have a provenance linking to Monet and to Paul Durand-Ruel.
Pablo Picasso’s Tête (1969) and Claude Monet’s Iris mauves (1914–17) are among the top lots in Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sale in London, which achieved a mid-estimate of £71.5 million ($112.9 million) across 42 of 50 lots. The Monet sold for £10.8 million ($17.1 million) to an American phone bidder; Picasso’s Tete (1969) sold for £4.45 million ($7 million).
Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Gertrud Loew sold for £24.8m at Sotheby’s in London after a 15-minute bidding war. The sale was part of a 90-minute auction of impressionist and modern art that totalled £178.6m.
Paul Cézanne, Vue sur L’Estaque et Le Château d’If (1883–85), sold for £13.5 million ($20.5 million) at Christie’s London; UK culture minister Ed Vaizey imposed a temporary export bar with a deadline to match the price. The work is in the Fitzwilliam Museum collection, and its export license will be reviewed at year end.
The article reports the repatriation of Basquiat’s Hannibal (1981) and a Roman togatus statue to Brazil. The works were tied to Brazilian financier Edemar Cid Ferreira, who was convicted of crimes related to Banco Santos. The Basquiat is valued at about $8 million, while the statue is appraised at $100,000; both were smuggled into the United States and forfeited by the government.
The painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, titled Hannibal or The Basquiat, and a Roman Togatus statue were repatriated to Brazil after being smuggled into the United States and forfeited to the government. The repatriation ceremony took place in New York City and involved ICE HSI, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Embassy in Brazil.
The article discusses the oldest cello in the world, attributed to Italian luthier Andrea Amati (1570), associated with the Cremonese school, and housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It mentions the instrument nicknamed “King,” its royal commissions for the French court of Charles IX, and details of its provenance from the Hottinger collection to Wurlitzer and to Cremona tourism authorities in 1966. It also notes modifications in 1801 by Sebastian Renault and references figures such as Nicolò Amati, Antonio Stradivari, and the Medici heraldry on the instrument.
The article reports that stolen oboes, trumpets, and hand-crafted violins valued at over $100,000 were recovered due to collaboration between music shop employees in Georgia and North Carolina. Leslie Edwards Fields and Gary Donald Crouse were arrested on theft by receiving stolen property charges after suspicious activity at Atlanta-area shops and follow-up investigations by Atlanta Violin and police in Roswell.
California federal judge John Walter ruled that the Spanish Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid owns Camille Pissarro's 1897 Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie under Spanish law, dismissing a 2005 lawsuit by Lilly Cassirer's great-grandchildren to reclaim the work. The court suggested a fair response to Nazi victims, and the Cassirers plan to appeal to the 9th Circuit. The painting, seized by Nazis from Lilly Cassirer in 1939, had a restitution history and later passed through multiple owners before residing in the museum.
A Camille Pissarro painting seized from Lilly Cassirer in 1939 was ruled by Judge John F. Walter to remain in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid under Spanish law, rather than be returned to Cassirer's heirs. The article notes the museum’s potential concession and cites the Washington Conference Principles and the Terezin Declaration, with statements from Evelio Acevedo Carrero and references to Cassirer’s wartime restitution efforts.
The Amati “King” cello, the earliest surviving bass instrument of the violin family, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art starting June 11, 2015, on special loan from the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. The installation highlights Andrea Amati and his workshop, with related instruments by Amati’s heirs and by Guarneri and Stradivari.
Steve Cohen is identified as the buyer of Alberto Giacometti’s Pointing Man (1947), which sold for $141.3 million at Christie’s. The article notes Cohen’s prior Giacometti purchase, Chariot (1950), for just under $100 million at Sotheby’s, and mentions Greenwich, Connecticut as his residence.
Alan Bond, the Australian ex-billionaire who once owned Vincent van Gogh’s Irises (1889), died at 77 after heart surgery. Bond bought Irises at Sotheby’s New York in 1987 for $53.9 million, a record at the time, and later sold it to the Getty Museum in 1990; the sale and financing arrangements surrounding the painting were controversial.
Steven A. Cohen purchased Alberto Giacometti's L’Homme au doigt (1947) for $141.3 million at Christie’s, setting a record for the most expensive sculpture sold at auction. The work, also known as Pointing Man, was part of Christie’s May 12 sale Looking Forward to the Past. Other noted prices in the sale included Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Algers (Version “O”) at $179.3 million.
The article reports that violins by eight world-famous masters from the 17th to 19th centuries, including Stradivarius, were brought to Yerevan and displayed at the Aram Khachaturian House Museum. A prize winner of a competition related to Aram Khachaturian will be allowed to play on a violin made by a French master 120 years ago for a year to develop his talent.
The article reports that Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas has acquired two sculptures and two paintings by Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010): Maman (1999), Quarantania (1947–1953, with a 1990 cast), Connecticutiana (1944–1945), and an untitled oil on canvas from 1947. Rod Bigelow, Crystal Bridges executive director, comments on Bourgeois's influence on American narrative and feminist art, noting the addition of both sculptures and paintings for visitors to experience in two and three dimensions.
Gauguin’s Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When will you Marry, 1892) is discussed in connection with a reported $300m sale to the Qatar Museums Authority, with Reina Sofia press release cited and subsequent clarifications. The article compares it to Gauguin’s Te Poipoi (The Morning, 1892) and notes related loan and exhibition details.
This Christie’s press release covers iconic Young British Artist works from MONA, Hobart, including Chris Ofili, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Jenny Saville and Damien Hirst, to be featured in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 30 June 2015 in London, with viewings commencing 26 June 2015. The release references The Holy Virgin Mary (1996) by Chris Ofili as a leading work.
David Walsh, a gambling millionaire, is selling four key YBA works in London’s contemporary auctions: Great Deeds Against the Dead by Jake and Dinos Chapman, The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili, Beautiful mis-shapen purity clashing excitedly outwards painting by Damien Hirst, and Matrix by Jenny Saville. The items are expected to fetch £400,000–£600,000, around £1.5 million, £500,000–£700,000, and £800,000–£1.2 million respectively, with auction at Christie’s in London on 30 June 2015.
The article reports that Russborough House foundation plans to consign nine artworks, including two Rubens paintings, to Christie’s London. The highlighted works include Rubens’ Head of a Bearded Man and Venus Supplicating Jupiter, with presale estimates totaling about $12.5 million. The sale is criticized by Irish heritage groups and politicians, who argue for government intervention or other options.