The Art Newspaper reports on Collect, the Crafts Council's new international fair for decorative arts, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It discusses the significance of placing decorative arts on par with fine art and mentions key figures such as Karen Turner and artists like Ron Arad, John Makepeace, Danny Lane, and Grayson Perry. The article notes Collect as Europe’s first international crafts fair and its endorsement by the V&A.
Bacon Estate and Dealer Settle A Two-Year Suit Over Pricing discusses the settlement between the Francis Bacon estate and the artist's dealer Marlborough U.K. and Marlborough International over alleged undervaluing of Bacon paintings in England, with each side bearing its own costs and avoiding a lengthy trial.
Francis Bacon paintings Man In Blue VII, Head, and Portrait of Man with Glasses IV are listed for auction at Christie’s in London and are anticipated to raise over £1m (€1.4m). The article notes Bacon’s later works and his posthumous rising reputation, including a 1954 work and other pieces described as among his darker, angst-ridden canvases.
The page reports a BGH decision dated February 7, 2002, case I ZR 304/99, regarding copyright in the integration of a protected artwork into a new Gesamtkunstwerk, and discusses damages and considerations under UrhG §§ 14, 23, and 97 Abs. 1. It includes the leitsatz about creative Bearbeitung, author’s personality rights, and damage assessment, as well as the instance history (OLG Frankfurt am Main, LG Frankfurt am Main) and a Tatbestand involving the works by Hundertwasser and related framed prints.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired six major works by American painter Frank Stella, donated by gift and partial purchase from Peninsula collectors Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson. The works include early pieces such as Polk City (1963) and Zambezi (1959); five of the works will eventually be on public view at Quadrus in Menlo Park, while one is to be hung in the museum. The total appraised value is described as likely in the seven figures, though the museum declines to estimate exact value.
Camilo José Cela y Rosario Conde regalaron el miró rasgado a su hijo; este vendió la obra en Italia en 1996 por 37 millones de pesetas, pero Jordi Vilafranca recibió alrededor de 4 millones de pesetas. El heredero está implicado en demandas penales y civiles; la obra fue adjudicada en una sala de subastas en Prato y su última cotización en una galería italiana fue de 877,977 euros.
The Rockefeller 3rd collection of Asian art has a new permanent gallery at the Asia Society headquarters in New York. The Asia Society and Museum expansion costs $38 million and will host a rotating display of Rockefeller works and other Asian art.
The article reports Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern sale achieving a high total with four new world records, selling 11 paintings over £1 million and a sale total just over £41 million (£58.2 million in USD). It notes the previous London sale record of £76.5 million set in November 1989 and mentions comparable results from Sothe’s in London and New York sales, with quotes from Christie’s Jussi Pylkkänen and Melanie Clore. It also describes notable works such as Monet’s Prairie de Limetz (1888) and other works tied to the Saint Francis of Assisi Foundation.
The article reports on the exhibition French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin, organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and presented at the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York City, running through May 18. Works highlighted include Theodore Gericault’s Man Clutching a Horse in Water, Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s Head of a Young Woman, and Alphonse Legros’s Head of a Man.
The granddaughter of Marc Chagall says she feels lucky after a rare $1 million Chagall work, Study for Over Vitebsk, stolen from The Jewish Museum in Manhattan last year, was recovered and returned. The 1914 watercolor and gouache on paper was authenticated by Bella Mayer, a Chagall Committee member, and turned up in a Topeka postal package marked undeliverable. The painting had been on loan from a private collector in St. Petersburg, Russia.