Brice Marden’s Event (2004–07) was withdrawn from Christie’s sale, with an estimate of $30 million to $50 million. The piece, marketed for two months, was tied to consignor Richard Schlagman and benefited from Christie’s guarantee despite the withdrawal. The article discusses broader market conditions and the practice of pre-sale withdrawals.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982) sold for $12.63m at Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Hong Kong, part of a $26.89m total. The sale had an 88% sell-through rate across 26 lots, with 23 works sold totaling $26.89m, and Basquiat’s lot was guaranteed and 9% above its low estimate of $11.54m.
The Doré Quartet, students of the String Quartet course, received four historic Italian instruments on loan: Giovanni Battista Ceruti violin (Cremona 1815), Gaetano Antoniazzi violin (Cremona 1885), Giovanni Pistucci viola (Naples circa 1910), and Celeste Farotti cello (Milan 1906). An official ceremony at the Sala Stradivari coincided with a performance of Schubert and Shostakovich.
The Straits Times reports that a painting titled Ecce Homo, attributed to Caravaggio, was unveiled at Madrid's Prado museum after initially being misattributed and nearly auctioned for €1,500. The Prado asserted it is a genuine Caravaggio, and the work will be on display in a nine-month exhibition titled The Lost Caravaggio.
Ron Perelman sold 71 artworks by 25 artists, including Basquiat, Twombly, Giacometti, Warhol, Marden, and Lichtenstein, totaling $963.3 million between March 10, 2020 and January 10, 2022 to pay creditors; about $910.3 million went to creditors.
Monet painting titled The Mill at Limetz by Claude Monet was sold at auction for nearly $22 million, as reported by KMBC. The sale proceeds are intended to fund an endowment and future acquisitions for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (ELMAR) (1982) led the sale with $46.5 million and another Basquiat piece, Untitled (Portrait of Famous Ballplayer) (1981), sold for $7.9 million. Record auctions included Kent Monkman’s The Storm (2020) at $381,000, Martin Wong’s Portrait of Mikey Piñero at Ridge Street and Stanton (1985) at $1.6 million, Diane Arbus’s Identical Twins (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, New Jersey (1966) at $1.2 million, and Reggie Burrows Hodges’s In the Service of Others (2019) at $882,000. Withdrawn lots included Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme au chapeau (1962) and Milton Avery’s Sunset Sea (1958), which influenced presale estimates by reducing the low end from $90 million to $75 million.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced that Claude Monet's Mill at Limetz, 1888, sold at Christie’s in New York on May 16 for $21,685,000. The painting was a partial gift to the museum in 1986 by Ethel B. Atha, with proceeds funding a new endowment to support future acquisitions.
Christie’s New York concluded six live 20th/21st Century Art sales during its spring marquee week, led by the 20th Century Evening Sale, the 21st Century Evening Sale and The Rosa de la Cruz Collection Evening Sale, realizing a combined total of $640,219,290 with strong sell-through. The week highlighted works by Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh and David Hockney, and saw eight records set for artists including Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ana Mendieta, Martin Wong, Diane Arbus, René Magritte and Alexander Archipenko, plus notable collections such as Norman and Lyn Lear and Rosa de la Cruz. One notable sale was Warhol’s Flowers (1964) which sold for $35,485,000 in the 20th Century Evening Sale.
Renoir's Cariatides (1909) and Sisley's Barges (1870) were restituted to eleven beneficiaries of Grégoire Schusterman. The sale in 1941 was deemed a forced sale under Nazi occupation, and the restitution was announced at a ceremony in Paris on May 16, 2024.
Christie’s Spring Marquee Week totals $640 million. Rosa de la Cruz Collection & 21st Century Evening Sale total $114.7 million; 20th Century Evening Sale total $413.3 million; Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale total $75.1 million; Impressionist & Modern Art Works on Paper and Day Sales total $37 million.
Leonora Carrington and Joan Mitchell lead exceptional results for women artists, with Carrington's Les Distractions de Dagobert selling for $28.5 million and Mitchell's Noon and other works contributing to strong totals across the week. Joan Mitchell’s quartet of works, led by Noon, realized $45.2 million with a 100% sell-rate. The Modern Evening Auction saw Carrington set a new auction record, surpassing her previous record of $3.3 million.
David Hockney’s A Lawn Being Sprinkled (1967) sold for $28.6 million. Top seller was Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964) at $30.5 million hammer ($35.5 million with fees). Other highlights include total sales after fees of $413.3 million, hammer total of $346.5 million, lots on offer 64, lots sold 58, sell-through rate 90.6% (95.1% after withdrawals).
Claude Monet's Meules à Giverny (1893) sold for $38.4 million as part of Sotheby’s modern evening sale, which totaled $235 million. The sale also featured Leonora Carrington's Les Distractions de Dagobert (1945) at $28.5 million with fees, with bids from multiple parties and several works withdrawn or undershooting estimates. Other notable artists mentioned include René Magritte and Alexander Calder, with Calder’s Blue Moon (1962) described in detail.
Artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Peter Doig, Hernan Bas, and Jim Hodges are mentioned in relation to works sold in the de la Cruz Collection auction by Christie’s, which brought in $34 million; the standout piece was Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled (American #3) selling for $13,635,000 including fees to the Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan.
The article reports that the Ministry of Culture will restitute two paintings, Caryatids by Auguste Renoir (1909) and Barges by Alfred Sisley (1870), to the beneficiaries of Grégoire Schusterman, a Jewish gallery owner looted during the Occupation. The CIVS deemed the sales forced under anti-Semitic persecution, leading to restitution recommendations; the works were recovered and moved through French national recovery museums before potential return to heirs.
Christie’s New York sales of 21st‑century art and the de la Cruz collection totaled $114.7 million. The event featured records for Diane Arbus, Felix Gonzalez‑Torres, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Ana Mendieta, and Martin Wong, though overall results were uneven amid market headwinds.
The Art Newspaper reports that Christie’s in New York ran back-to-back 21st-century evening sales, including a dedicated Rosa de la Cruz collection sale and a 21st-century sale, achieving a hammer total of $94.6 million ($114.7 million including fees) with six withdrawn lots reducing potential proceeds; the event occurred amid a cyberattack incident affecting Christie’s digital services.
Jason Price profiles Luiz Bellini (1935–2015), a New York violin maker, noting four mint-condition violins from Bellini offered in the May 2024 New York sale after being kept by the maker and discovered by his family. The piece covers Bellini's training, early work with Guido Pascoli, and a foundational apprenticeship at the Wurlitzer firm under Simone Fernando Sacconi.
Phillips's New York evening sale brought in $72.3 million ( $86.2 million with fees) for Modern and Contemporary art, falling short of its $75.9 million to $110.3 million estimate. Two Basquiat works contributed to the result, while Milton Avery and Pablo Picasso pieces were withdrawn from the auction before bidding.
The Violin Channel reports the theft of Sarah Rommel’s 1890 Enrico Marchetti cello from her Seattle home around May 4–5, 2024. The instrument was in a blue-black carbon fiber Accord case with a Charles Espey bow inside, and a Sartory bow was also stolen in a separate bow case; another cheaper bow in a nearby case was left behind. Seattle Police Department case number 24-122155 has been notified.
The article reports that Mark Meng, 57, from Irvine, is charged in federal court with bank robbery and wire fraud related to stealing multiple valuable violins and then robbing a bank. Violins including an 1823 Lorenzo Ventapane valued at $175,000 and an 1870 Gand & Bernardel valued at $60,000 were among those stolen and sold to a Los Angeles violin dealer. If convicted, Meng could face up to 20 years in federal prison. The FBI investigated the scheme.
The article reports that a cello estimated at $250,000 was stolen from a Central District home in Seattle. The instrument is described as an 1890 Enrico Marchetti cello with a blue and black carbon fiber case, and police say it was taken along with bows and other items after a burglary on the 1600 block of 24th Avenue; investigations and a reward update are included.
Jakob Goldschmidt (1882-1955) was a prominent Weimar-era banker who fled Nazi Germany; his art collection was auctioned in 1941. The Renoir painting Blick von Haut Cagnes aufs Meer (View of the Sea from Haut Cagnes) ended up in the Berg collection and was transferred to Osthaus Museum Hagen, which now restitutes it to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt.