Monthly archive
32 headlines
Source-linked reporting
tarisio.com
The article reports that David and Amy Fulton and the family of Cameron Baird have donated the 1690 ‘Tuscan, Medici’ Stradivari viola to the Library of Congress in a transaction valued at $30 million. It notes the viola’s history, including its loan to the Budapest String Quartet and its permanent gift by the Fulton/Baird family.
Christie’s
Don’t miss your chance to own works by Pablo Picasso, Leonora Carrington, Joan Miró and more at entry-level prices, only in Christie’s 20th/21st Century Art Day Sales on 13 May
news.artnet.com
Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917) is discussed; the sale reached $32 million but fell through after a restitution settlement failed to proceed. The painting had an anonymous buyer from Hong Kong and involved provenance gaps reportedly linked to the Lieser family and the Nazi era.
slippedisc.com
The article reports that Antonio Stradivari made few violas and that one of the surviving violas, the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola, was acquired by the Library of Congress as a gift from David and Amy Fulton and The Tuscan Corporation. The instrument has a custody history including previous loan to the Library since 1977 and is now part of the LOC collection, renamed to Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1690, viola, Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici.
euronews.com
Armenian violinist Haik Kazazyan won the inaugural Classic Violin Olympus in Dubai, taking €200,000 and a Stradivari-model violin. The event featured 12 violinists performing in six rounds at Dubai’s Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, with Kazazyan delivering renditions of Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Beethoven and Alexey Shor and an encore inspired by a YouTube recording of Frank Peter Zimmermann.
apnews.com
AP News reports that a violin built in 1941 by Franciszek Kempa while imprisoned at Dachau contains a hidden note describing it as a trial instrument made under difficult conditions. The note, dated Dachau 1941 and signed by Franciszek Kempa, was discovered by Hungarian art dealers during a repair, revealing the instrument’s troubled origin and Kempa’s craftsmanship. Dachau, near Munich, was the site of brutal captivity until its liberation in 1945, with tens of thousands believed to have died.
bbc.com
BBC News reports that a violin once played by Titanic band leader Wallace Hartley in the 1997 film sold for £54,000 at auction. The instrument, used to perform Nearer My God To Thee as the ship sank, was auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire; a letter by survivor Archibald Gracie sold for £300,000 at the same auction.
Christie’s
From Basquiat to Brown, Fontana to Monet and more, Christie’s experts unveil highlights from this May’s 20th and 21st Century Art sale week
bublikartgallery.com
Egon Schiele drawing from 1916 ordered by a New York judge to be returned to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum. The Art Institute of Chicago, which acquired the work in 1966, was found to have relied on disputed provenance and has to relinquish the drawing after evidence suggested forged documents by Swiss dealer Eberhard Kornfeld.
theviolinchannel.com
A Milanese 1694 Giovanni Grancino violin worth $650,000 was recovered after being stolen from a University of Southern California graduate music student on April 2, 2025. Detective Stephanie Gutierrez led the investigation, and a suspect has been charged and arrested; the violin had been on loan from private owners in LA to a Koreatown music shop.
jethromarles.co.uk
Christopher Wood (1901-1930) Drying sails at Mousehole is a 40cm x 50cm work on wood panel that sold for £479,100. The page notes an auction world record price for the artist and lists exhibitions and literature related to the work.
Phillips
Christie’s examines PHILLIPS TO OFFER NINE MUSEUM-QUALITY CARTIER CLOCKS HAILING FROM A PRESTIGIOUS PRIVATE COLLECTION ACROSS SPRING AUCTIONS IN GENEVA AND HONG KONG and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
Christie’s
Having grown up in a Texas oil town, the artist developed a lifelong concern for the environment. To mark the 55th Earth Day, we look back on a career synonymous with a passion for our planet
latimes.com
The Los Angeles Times reports that a Giovanni Grancino violin, made in 1694, was stolen from USC on April 2 and recovered by LAPD with a suspect charged with grand theft. LAPD Det. Stephanie Gutierrez helped locate the instrument, which has a certified value of $650,000.
chicago.suntimes.com
Timothy Johnson, 39, of Douglas, is charged with one felony count of robbery and three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer in connection with the theft of a one-of-a-kind violin from Cyrus Spurlock on a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop. The rectangular case has been recovered, the violin itself remains missing, and Spurlock values the instrument at $10,000 while hoping for information leading to its return.
press.christies.com
Claude Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule is highlighted in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale in New York. The work is an oil on canvas from Monet’s Les Peupliers series, painted in 1891, with an estimated price range of $30 million to $50 million. The painting has notable provenance and exhibition history, including an early showing in 1892 and ownership by Paul Durand-Ruel before entering a private collection.
ground.news
The 1694 Giovanni Grancino violin was reported stolen from a USC student on April 2 and has been recovered by the Los Angeles Police Department; a suspect has been charged in connection with the theft. The instrument is valued at $650,000.
nbcsandiego.com
A Giovanni Grancino violin valued at $650,000, made in 1694, was stolen from a University of Southern California borrowed instrument and later recovered in good condition. A homeless man was charged with felony grand theft in connection with the theft.
Christie’s
The beloved author and illustrator’s art collection offers a peek into his diverse sources of enchantment — from William Blake to Mickey Mouse — coming to Christie’s in June
artnews.com
The article reports that contemporary auction sales fell 27 percent in 2024 to $698 million, with related details from the Hiscox Artists Top 100 (HAT 100) report. It notes declines in speculative and post-2000 works, a drop in high-value lots, and that most 2024 sales occurred in New York. Yayoi Kusama (image caption) is referenced in the context of a display for auctions in Hong Kong.
chicago.suntimes.com
Emmanuel Camarillo reports that Cyrus Spurlock’s one of a kind maple and spruce violin, a gift from his older brother who crafted it, was stolen on a CTA train at Clark and Lake; Spurlock, 22, is offering a cash reward and the instrument is valued at $10,000.
Phillips
Christie’s examines POST-MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN, ALONG WITH MID-CENTURY FRENCH AND ITALIAN WORKS, LEAD PHILLIPS’ LONDON AUCTION and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
fadmagazine.com
Paul Cézanne, Portrait de Madame Cézanne, circa 1877 is highlighted as the leading work in Sotheby’s Modern Perspectives: The Collection of Rolf & Margit Weinberg, to be offered in New York with an estimated price range of $5,000,000–$7,000,000. The collection includes works by Cézanne, Matisse, Degas, Kandinsky, Munch, Moholy-Nagy, and Schiele, and will be exhibited in New York from May 2 before the May sale.
Christie’s
The Poon family has dedicated centuries of effort to preserving China’s artistic heritage within a single lineage. Christie’s is honoured to present a selection of paintings and calligraphy from the Poon Family Collection this spring, including a rare treasure The Album of Small Standard Script Calligraphy by leading Ming dynasty masters
musecool.com
Viktoriia reports that a rare 1715 Stradivarius known as the Baron Knoop sold in a private transaction for $23 million (£17.8 million), setting a new world record for violins. The instrument was crafted during Stradivari’s Golden Period and last changed hands from US collector David L. Fulton, who purchased it in 1993 for $2.75 million, to an anonymous buyer with the sale brokered by Joseph Bein of Bein & Company.
pocketmags.com
The Strad reports on auctions in London’s October sales, including highlights such as a brace of Gaglianos and a cavalcade of Sartory bows; Ingles & Hayday sold a 1783 Gennaro Gagliano violin for £216,000.
pocketmags.com
The Strad article discusses October London auction results with a Gagliano violin and Sartory bows highlighted. Ingles & Hayday sold a 1783 Gennaro Gagliano violin for £216,000; Ingles & Hayday total sales were about £2 million with 54.5% lots sold; Tarisio sold 78.3% after-sale with two top lots left. The piece is part of The Strad January 2026 & String Courses 2026.
apollo-magazine.com
The article discusses the market and visibility of women artists, noting exhibitions and renewed interest in rediscovered female artists, and touches on sales activity at major auctions to assess whether this attention translates into stronger market performance.
christinebethreish.com
The article discusses why restitution cases involving Nazi-looted art remain unresolved in 2025, focusing on the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim seeking the return of artworks and the challenges of provenance and legal frameworks that complicate restitution efforts.
Phillips
Phillips details PHILLIPS’ SPRING SEASON OF LIVE PHOTOGRAPHS AUCTIONS TOTALS $9.2 MILLION, including the artists, works, estimates, and sale context documented in the release.
christies.com
Piet Mondrian’s 1922 painting Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black and Blue, 1922 (oil on canvas, 21¼ x 21 in) is highlighted as a peak example of Neo-Plasticism. The work will be offered in Christie’s New York in the Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works sale in May 2025, with the sale featuring more than 30 works from René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and Andy Warhol.
buttercup.com
Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 concluded with significant sales. Hauser & Wirth sold a Christina Quarles painting for USD 3.5 million; Thaddaeus Ropac secured seven-figure deals including a USD 2 million bronze sculpture and a USD 1.5 million oil painting; Takashi Murakami’s Tan Tan Bo: Wormhole (2025) sold for USD 1.35 million through Gagosian Gallery.