Zhang Daqian’s imitation of Wang Ximeng's Imperial Landscape fetched HK$370,495,000, the highest price for a Zhang Daqian Chinese painting at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, during the Chinese paintings spring sale. The work is titled Zhang Daqian imitation of Wang Ximeng Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, with a gold-green ink landscape motif painted in 1947 and sold after an eighteen-minute bidding war to a Asian private collector. Sotheby’s reported the overall sale total for Chinese paintings at HK$517,923,300 with a near 90% sell-through rate.
The 308-year-old Stradivarius violin, played on The Wizard of Oz soundtrack and other Golden Age Hollywood scores, could fetch a record £14 million at auction. It was made in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari and once belonged to Toscha Seidel; the instrument has a storied history with Hollywood cinema and various owners.
Sotheby’s presents the Paul Yeou Chichong collection across its Modern Evening, Modern Day and Old Master sales, bringing together works spanning Old Masters, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, with a central group by Paul Gauguin.
The article discusses a 1736 Guarneri violin owned by Regis Pasquier that could fetch up to 10 million euros at auction in France. Sophie Perrine of Aguttes compares the instrument to a Leonardo da Vinci painting, Rembrandt, or Goya, highlighting its significance; Pasquier bought it more than 20 years ago and has played it publicly at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Opera Garnier.
The press release covers three evening auctions at Sotheby’s Hong Kong that together realised HK$1.74 billion / US$221.8 million, the highest total ever achieved in a single evening at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. It mentions notable sales including De Beers Blue Diamond at HK$451 million / US$57.5 million, Picasso’s Dora Maar at HK$169.4 million / US$21.6 million, Louise Bourgeois pieces including Spell-Binding Bronze Spider IV at HK$129 million / US$16.5 million, and engagement of artists like Wu Guanzhong, Chu Teh-Chun, Yoshitomo Nara, and Pablo Picasso.
Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, 1939 is highlighted in Sotheby’s Hong Kong modern and contemporary art evening sales which total $164.2 million, within the HK$927 million–1.4 billion ($118 million–$178 million) presale range. The auction featured high sell-through and records for 14 artists, including Anna Weyant, Louise Bonnet, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Robert Alice, Chris Huen Sin Kan, Michael Lau, Atsushi Kaga, and Peter McDonald.
The article reports that Sonixinema released Contemporary Soloist: Viola, a Kontakt Player powered library featuring articulations such as Legato, Sustains, Spiccato, Pizzicato, Tremolo, Col Legno, Arpeggio Crossings, Warped Sustains, Circular Bowing, Harmonic Falls, Harmonic Wavers, Harmonic Glissando and Seagull Screeches. It highlights performance by violist Bruce White, and notes the product is designed for modern cinematic sound with an intuitive interface, available at a 30% introductory discount (£69 GBP, regular £99 GBP). A bundle including Cello, Violin, and Viola is £227 GBP, and a free Contempory Viola: Freebie patch is offered for testing with the full version of Kontakt.
The article discusses a 1736 Guarneri violin from Cremona, handmade by Giuseppe Guarneri, currently owned by Regis Pasquier, and valued at up to $10.6 million with a base estimate of $4.2–4.8 million. It notes that Guarneri violins are extremely rare and that no Guarneri Del Gesu violin has appeared at auction for more than a decade.
Reuters reports a 1736 Guarneri del Gesù violin, owned by virtuoso Regis Pasquier and described as a ‘Leonardo da Vinci of violins,’ could sell for as much as €10 million at auction in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. The instrument is crafted by Giuseppe Guarneri and is one of about 150 violins by the luthier; Sophie Perrine of Aguttes speaks to its significance.
The article discusses a near three-century-old Guarneri violin, praised as a Leonardo da Vinci of violins, which could fetch up to 10 million euros at auction in France. It was crafted in 1736 by Giuseppe Guarneri, owned by Regis Pasquier, and will go to auction on June 3 after a three-day viewing; base price is 4 to 4.5 million euros.
Pablo Picasso’s portrait Dora Maar and Wu Guanzhong’s Plum Blossoms were among top lots that surpassed HK$100 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary evening sales on April 27, 2022, contributing to a total of $164.2 million for the two events. The sale featured strong Asian buyer participation and online bidding, with a De Beers diamond lot as a single-lot sale.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Christie’s Announces 20/21 Marquee Week Day Sales - Christie's", 'Christie’s Announces 20/21 Marquee Week Day Sales']. Its account reports that nEW YORK – Christie’s is pleased to announce the Spring Marquee Week Day Sales taking place this May in New York.
Paul Russell writes about restitution of looted art from World War II, focusing on three cases involving the Flersheim family and artworks by Jan Toorop; the article discusses Dutch museums and restitution efforts, including Thames at London (Boijmans Van Beuningen) and Prayer Before the Meal.
The Giuseppe Rocca violin, an 1861 instrument from the Alessandro Scarlatti Conservatory collection, was recovered after disappearing during the 1990s. Police and conservatory officials coordinated the return, with involvement from curator Giovanni Paolo Di Stefano and Renato Meucci, among others.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Christie's Launches Art Relief Initiatives for Ukraine - Christie's", "Christie's Launches Art Relief Initiatives for Ukraine"]. Its account reports that new York / London – This April and May, Christie’s will present an international program of exhibition and sales initiatives from London to New York to benefit Ukraine.
The press release discusses Zao Wou-ki’s painting 29.09.64., described as his largest and most valuable work from the 1960s, to be offered at Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale on May 26 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The work is from the artist’s 1960s Hurricane Period and carries an estimated price of HK$220,000,000 – 280,000,000 (US$29,000,000 – 36,000,000).
The U.S. Supreme Court revived a longstanding lawsuit over the ownership of Camille Pissarro’s Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, which the Cassirer heirs allege was sold under duress to a Nazi art appraiser and is now housed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid; the court’s decision centers on applying state law rather than federal law in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act case. The painting, valued in the tens of millions, was surrendered to the Nazis in 1939 and remains a restitution target for Lilly Cassirer’s heirs.
The Art Newspaper reports that the US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on April 21, remanding the case over Camille Pissarro’s Rue St Honoré, apres-midi, effet de pluie (1897) to a California court. The painting, owned by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer and held by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, involved a dispute over which law applies in FSIA-related expropriation claims.
The article discusses a decades-old restitution dispute over a Camille Pissarro painting, Rue Saint-Honoré, dans l'après-midi. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that state law should apply, benefiting the heirs of the painting’s owner against the Spanish museum currently holding it.
The Supreme Court unanimousy ruled to send back to lower courts the dispute over Camille Pissarro's Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain, determining whether Spanish or California law should apply to restore the painting to the Cassirer family. The painting, valued at tens of millions and currently in a Spanish museum, was believed lost or destroyed by the Cassirer family for decades.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Cassirer family descendants, requiring a Spanish museum to turn over a Camille Pissarro painting that was stolen by the Nazis in 1939. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the decision, applying California law to the case despite the museum being operated by Spain; the painting is valued at about $40 million.
The Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Community Partnership announced that Tate Modern in London, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and the Pinault Collection in Paris and Venice will acquire artworks from Souls Grown Deep’s collection, marking the first time works from the collection are acquired internationally. The foundation holds the largest collection of artworks by Black artists from the Southern United States, with about 1,000 works by more than 160 artists.
Thomas and Doris Ammann built a renowned post-war and contemporary art collection and became respected art dealers. The collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Robert Ryman, Brice Marden and Sigmar Polke, with other talents such as Francesco Clemente, Ann Craven and Klaudia Schifferle. Christie’s is offering highlights from the collection in New York in May to benefit the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation.
Mark Rothko is mentioned alongside Yayoi Kusama and Yolanda López in MCASD's new acquisitions. Kusama's Dreaming Pumpkin (2012) is gifted by Joan and Irwin Jacobs for the lobby of the expanded La Jolla campus. Yolanda López's Runner: On My Own! (1977) will be shown at the MCASD Downtown campus. The article also lists additional acquisitions from Mely Barragán, Maren Hassinger, Richard Hunt, Isaac Julien, Anselm Kiefer, and Morris Louis, as MCASD expands its collection and presents its inaugural collection installation.
The violin worth about 100,000 euros owned by Enrico Tedde of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées was stolen from a train between Paris and Poitiers and later found near a Paris trash bin by a passerby. The instrument, a late 19th-century violin, was recovered thanks to clues including the owner's passport and sheet music, and Tedde confirms the emotional impact of the loss and recovery.
Pablo Picasso’s Buste d’homme dans un cadre from the Estate of Sir Sean Connery is highlighted as a lead work for Christie’s Hong Kong 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale, scheduled for 26 May at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The work is described as one of Picasso’s finest late paintings with an estimated value in the region of HK$150 million/US$19 million.
Loie Hollowell Point of Entry (Blood-Orange Moon Over Orange Sac) sold for $1,050,000, setting a new record for Hollowell in the United States; Pablo Picasso Etudes VII (d’apres Manet) sold for $150,000; Maria-Mela Muter Fishing Town with Women on Beach/Seascape with Trees sold for $106,250 in Clars’ modern and contemporary sale in Oakland, California.
Claude Monet’s La Mare, effet de neige (1874–75) will be offered at Christie’s New York in May as part of an evening sale of 20th century art. The work is being sold as part of a restitution settlement for its original German Jewish owner, with proceeds split between the owner’s heirs and the current French owners; the price is expected to be between $18 million and $25 million. Monet’s previously set auction record of $110.7 million was achieved at Sotheby’s in New York in 2019.
The piece by Yves Klein, selling receipts for invisible zones, fetched over $1 million at auction; the buyer paid with cryptocurrency for the first time at Sotheby’s, with the piece once tied to a ritual of burning receipts and half the payment dumped into the Seine. The receipt, signed by Klein in 1959, was owned by Jacques Kugel and later Loïc Malle before auction; the sale surpassed its estimated range of $300,000 to $550,000.
BlogSicilia reports that 26 valuable instruments were stolen from the Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, with the most important piece recovered being the Giuseppe Rocca violin from 1861, valued at 350,000 euros. The instrument was returned to the conservatory by the Carabinieri in the presence of directors and curators, after lengthy investigations and international legal steps.
The 1861 Giuseppe Rocca violin, stolen in the late 1990s, was returned to the Conservatorio di Musica Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo during a ceremony on April 8, 2022. The return involved Magg. Gianluigi Marmora and was witnessed by university and museum officials, following a lengthy investigation that traced the instrument through restitution and a 2007 private sale in Germany, with a total value cited around 350,000 euros.
Phillips’s preserved release documents Phillips to Host at the Crossroads a Collection of Works by Lee Jaffe and details the principal works, sale terms, or market results.
Christie’s announces Old Masters | New Perspectives: Masterworks from the Alana Collection, featuring Italian Old Master paintings, sculptures, and Antiquities. The sale, comprising over 50 works, will be held in a single-owner live auction at Rockefeller Plaza on June 9, 2022, with a global tour to London, Hong Kong, New York, and Los Angeles; proceeds will benefit a charitable arts and education organization. The collection highlights Gothic, Italian Renaissance, and Baroque works led by Fra Angelico, Orazio Gentileschi, and El Greco.
The Muncie Star Press reports that police recovered a valuable 1948 Gaetano Gadda violin stolen from a member of Orchestra Indiana, traced to a residence in Anderson, Indiana, and returned to its owner. The instrument had been stolen in 1984 and previously recovered in 2008; authorities say it has sentimental and monetary value, possibly approaching six figures.
Jeff Koons created the BMW art car THE 8 X JEFF KOONS, which sold at Christie’s charity auction for 475,000 dollars, with proceeds going to the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC). The one-of-a-kind BMW M850i xDrive Gran Coupé edition was signed by Koons and is part of a limited run of 99.
Christie’s documents the market development behind ["Christie’s Presents a Rediscovered Drawing by Michelangelo - Christie's", 'Christie’s Presents a Rediscovered Drawing by Michelangelo']. Its account reports that paris – Christie's is honoured to announce the sale of a previously unknown drawing by Michelangelo, A nude young man (after Masaccio) surrounded by two figures , executed early in his career.
Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room (1901) is discussed in the context of infrared imaging that revealed hidden underpaintings in Blue Period canvases. The research, linked to the exhibition Picasso: Painting the Blue Period at the Phillips Collection, builds on prior scans of The Blue Room by John Delaney and colleagues at the National Gallery of Art.
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach will perform its penultimate program of the season, “Spectacular Sextets,” at the Norton Museum of Art featuring Brahms String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat, Op. 18 and Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence. The ensemble includes Arnaud Sussmann, Chad Hoopes, Matthew Lipman, Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, Nicholas Canellakis and Colin Carr.
The article reports that Katie Gannon, a violinist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, had her rare 18th-century Italian-made violin stolen during a burglary at her Cathedral area home. The instrument was handcrafted in 1795 and was bought for $18,000 about 15 years ago.
Philip Guston Nile, a 1958 Abstract Expressionist work, is headed to Sotheby’s in its first public auction debut in decades, alongside other works from his later figurative period. The piece will be offered in Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction in May to benefit the O’Donnell Foundation and coincides with the Philip Guston Now retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe (2018) is noted as being on view at the Hirshhorn Museum. The article discusses the cost range of Infinity Rooms, stating prices have risen from under $1 million to six figures up to many millions, and mentions comparisons to artists like Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. It also highlights museum attendance statistics related to the Kusama installation.
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin's Basket of Wild Strawberries sold for €24.4 million ($26.8 million) at Artcurial in Paris, but the Louvre has moved to acquire the painting and classify it as a national treasure to prevent export. The sale set a new auction record for Chardin and for an 18th-century French painting, with Artcurial handling the auction in Paris.