The article reports that the Franz Hofmann and Sophie Hagemann Foundation paid 285,000 euros to the descendants of Felix Hildesheimer, the original owner of a Guarneri del Gesù violin looted by the Nazis in 1938. The instrument, made by Giuseppe Guarneri in 1706, was later recovered through a legal settlement in Berlin, following the expropriation and the owner's subsequent death in 1939. The compensation amount was raised from 100,000 euros by the Commission for the Looting of Nazi Crimes.
The article reports that Alexandra Conunova was reunited with the c. 1785 Guadagnini violin known as the Ex- Ida Levin fecit Turino, after it was seized at Chișinău Airport in Moldova while on loan from an anonymous Swiss sponsor. The instrument is valued at €2 million and was returned following authentication of documents and ongoing legal procedures, with the case originally sparked by a violin passport issue and a police investigation.
Artprice by Artmarket.com discusses NFTs and their impact on the 2021 art auction market, noting NFT activity represented 8% of global secondary art market turnover and highlighting Beeple’s record as an illustration of pent-up demand. The piece references Botticelli and Beeple among others, and quotes Thierry Ehrmann, CEO and Founder of Artmarket.com and its Artprice department.
The Violin Channel reports that violinist David Garrett visited Cremona’s Museo del Violino to try three famous Stradivarius violins: the 1668 c. Golden Bell, the 1715 il Cremonese/Ex-Joachim, and the 1734 Lam/Ex-Scotland University. The video was filmed in September 2021 by Roberto Domenichini at the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium, with Garrett discussing the violins’ histories and characteristics.
The article reports that violinist Alexandra Conunova has recovered her violin, valued at two million euros. The piece focuses on the instrument's return and its high valuation, highlighting Conunova as the pianist/violinist involved. No other artists, makers, or sale details are provided in the available text.
Clara Saitkoulov, a graduate student at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, will be the first student to use the 1687 Kubelik Stradivarius violin, lent by owner Peter Naimoli. The instrument will be on loan indefinitely to the Shepherd School for student use, with a different student chosen each year.
Jeff Koons is accused by Michael Hayden of copyright infringement related to Koons’s 1989 Made in Heaven series, which allegedly includes a sculpture of a serpent and rock created by Hayden for Cicciolina (Koons’s ex-wife). The case, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks remedies including halting sales and proper credit; Pace Gallery represents Koons. The article discusses fair use considerations and VARA implications in relation to reproductions.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Christie's Announces Americana Week 2022 - Christie's", "Christie's Announces Americana Week 2022"]. Its account reports that new York – Christie’s presents Americana Week 2022, a series of three live and one online sales comprised of 19th Century American Art on January 19, The Collection of Peter and Barbara Goodman on January 20, Important Americana on January 20-21, and an online sale of Chinese Export Art open…
Christie’s projected 2021 sales total of $7.1 billion, with NFT sales reaching about $150 million and Pablo Picasso’s Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Therese) selling for $103.4 million (with fees) in New York in May as the most expensive lot of the year.
The article reports that Moldovan authorities seized violinist Alexandra Conunova’s Guadagnini violin at Chisinau Airport while she was traveling to Moscow, with the instrument valued at €2 million. The instrument is on loan from Cedric Berger, and a petition demanding its return has garnered over 2,000 signatures.
Camille Pissarro, Rue Saint-Honoré, dans l'après-midi. Effet de pluie (1897) is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court review. The painting passed through Lilly Cassirer Neubauer and later the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection; restitution and looted-art issues are at stake in the case brought by the Cassirer family.
The Boston Globe reports that a small drawing sold for $30 at a Concord estate sale in 2016 is now believed by international experts to be an original Albrecht Dürer, potentially worth tens of millions of dollars. An expert panel at the British Museum discussed the work, titled The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a grassy Bench, with some estimates around $50 million in market value.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Christie's First Open Online Sale Achieves Highest Total: $6,080,375 | £4,582,046 | €5,383,904 - Christie's", "Christie's First Open Online Sale Achieves Highest Total: $6,080,375 | £4,582,046 | €5,383,904"]. Its account reports that the sale was 85% sold by lot, 100% sold by value, achieving aphenomenal163% hammer against low estimate.The sale’s top lot was a striking painting by Loie Hollowell, Linked Lingams in Green, Purple and Red.
Daniel Hope is described as planning to play on a Guarneri del Gesù violin. The article notes the instrument’s historic prestige and mentions the ex-Lipiński violin once played by Lipiński and previously admired by Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann. The piece also references Hope’s column in Cicero and contextualizes the instrument’s significance in Cremona.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["The Nile Rodgers Collection Sold to Benefit the We Are Family Foundation Totals $1,640,500 - Christie's", 'The Nile Rodgers Collection Sold to Benefit the We Are Family Foundation Totals $1,640,500']. Its account reports that nile Rodgers commented, “I’m overwhelmed by the success of the auction of the Nile Rodgers Collection today at Christie’s to benefit The We Are Family Foundation.
Sotheby’s documents the market development behind HISTORIC YEAR FOR SOTHEBY’S IN ASIA As 2021 Sales Reach Record High of HK$10 Billion / US$1.3 Billion & Positioning Sotheby’s As the Leading International Auction House in Asia For the Sixth Consecutive Year | Press Release. Its account reports that with a further five sales to go this month in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s sales in Asia now stand at a record HK$10b / US$1.3b (auction and private sales combined), driven by strength and depth of demand, and also by an influx of new collectors from the region and beyond, in turn powered by this year’s…
The Violin Channel reports that a violin signed by Eugenio Degani, a Venetian luthier from the late 19th century, was stolen from a Champs-Elysées Orchestra member on a train between Poitiers and Paris. The instrument is described as being worth several tens of thousands of euros.
Jason, Jackie, and Madalena McManus Holtzman, heirs of Piet Mondrian, filed suit in Philadelphia County Court against the Philadelphia Museum of Art over Mondrian's 1926 Composition with Blue (Schilderij No. 1: Lozenge with 2 Lines and Blue), valued at $100 million. The Holtzmans’ researchers previously pursued related claims in 2020 against Kunstmuseen Krefeld, with litigation ongoing; both cases concern works looted by the Nazis during the Degenerate Art purge. The Mondrian work is a diamond-shaped 1926 piece painted in Paris, once loaned for safekeeping in Hanover before its seizure in 1937, during the Nazi era.
The Violin Channel reports that violinist Alexandra Conunova has created an online petition for her €2 million Guadagnini Ex- Ida Levin fecit Turino c.1785 loaned by a Swiss sponsor after Moldova customs seized the instrument at Chișinău Airport. The article notes the instrument’s on-loan status, the sponsor, and ongoing investigation into the documents and legality of the seizure.
Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Blue (1926) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the subject of a lawsuit by Mondrian’s heirs, who claim the work was stolen by the Nazis. The painting is valued at more than $100 million, and the heirs filed the complaint in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas seeking its return.
Sotheby’s Dubai opened its exhibit of Sandro Botticelli’s The Man of Sorrows, a rare late work. The painting is expected to sell for an estimated over $40 million at Sotheby’s Old Masters sale in New York in January, and is on view in Dubai until Tuesday.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is challenged over ownership of Piet Mondrian's Composition with Blue, a 1926 painting alleged to be Nazi loot by Mondrian's heirs, who filed suit to recover it; the PMA states it was bequeathed by A. E. Gallatin in 1952 and claims the painting has long been in the museum's collection.
René Magritte’s Torse nu dans les nuages, created circa 1937, sold for $9,978,312 at Bonhams in New York, in a dedicated single-owner sale from Amalia de Schulthess. The piece had a pre-sale estimate of $6,000,000–9,000,000 and led to a total sale value of $15,218,808 across 13 lots, all sold by lot and value.
Karl Lagerfeld’s estate sale in Monaco, conducted by Sotheby’s France, sold 582 lots including artworks, cars, garments, and sketches, and quadrupled its pre-sale estimate to reach €12 million ($13.5 million). Notable pieces included a Takashi Murakami portrait, a Gianni Versace portrait, Joana Vasconcelos’s portrait of Choupette, Jeff Koons’s Dom Pérignon Balloon Venus, and a Marzio Cecchi diapason desk.
The Boston Globe reports that Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art is receiving 27 paintings and three drawings worth more than $20 million from Peter Lynch, with an additional $5 million grant to establish the Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection. Notable artists mentioned include Pablo Picasso, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Albert Bierstadt, among others.
Pablo Picasso’s Mousquetaire et Femme a la Fleur sold for about $20 million at Art Basel Miami Beach private preview via Helly Nahmad’s gallery. Christie’s previously sold the work for about $9 million in 2008.
The Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation donated more than $120 million in value to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, including over 60 Riopelle artworks valued at more than $100 million and $20 million in cash to create a new pavilion called Espace Riopelle. The Government of Quebec also contributed $20 million, and the Riopelle Foundation founding families and Yseult Riopelle are cited among the contributors.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art\xa0 Achieves Market Leadership in Asia - Christie's", 'Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art\xa0 Achieves Market Leadership in Asia']. Its account reports that hong Kong – On 3 December, Christie's held three live auctions for the category – The Chang Wei-Hwa Collection of Archaic Jades Part III - Spring and Autumn & Warring States Periods, The Songde Tang Collection - Song Dynasty Ceramics, and Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, generating a…
A Christie’s Hong Kong autumn sales event totalled $192.6 million, with new artist records for Amoako Boafo and Avery Singer. The sale combined two sessions, “Worlds in a Hand” and an international art sale, achieving a 96 percent sell-through by lot and contributing to a total of $258.7 million across related sales.
The article reports the theft of a 19th century violin belonging to an Italian musician of the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, stolen on a high-speed train in France after a performance in Poitiers. The instrument, a violin signed Giulio Degani (label Toloni), is attributed to a Venetian luthier from the late 19th century and valued at tens of thousands of euros.
The article discusses how mega-galleries lure top artists, highlighting Avery Singer, Titus Kaphar, and Jeff Koons among others, and describes strategies such as commissions, incubator support, and program endowments by galleries like Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian, and Pace.