Monthly archive
14 headlines
Source-linked reporting
artobserved.com
The article discusses Ileana Sonnabend’s estate sale, noting private transactions by her children, with an estimated value near $1 billion and works by Rauschenberg, Warhol, Koons, Johns, Lichtenstein, and Twombly. It references coverage from The New York Times, Art Forum, Bloomberg News, and Art Info.
myartnews.blogspot.com
Edvard Munch's Girls on a Bridge and a large Fernand Léger Cubist work are highlighted in Sotheby's New York sales previews, with Léger estimated at 35 to 45 million dollars and Munch's Girls on a Bridge estimated at 24 to 28 million dollars; the piece notes previous sale of Munch’s work in 1996 and mentions guarantees on several works by Giacometti and a portrait by Caroline Tamagno, with total New York biannual sales potential around 1.8 billion dollars.
artforum.com
The Sonnabend heirs sold about six hundred million dollars worth of paintings and sculptures in two private sales to pay estate taxes, according to Carol Vogel in the New York Times. The collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly; the estate is valued at over one billion dollars and taxes exceed half the value. The buyers were represented by dealers Franck Giraud, Lionel Pissarro, and Philippe Ségalot, with Sonnabend’s son Antonio Homem and daughter Nina Sundell inheriting the collection.
nytimes.com
Carol Vogel reports that the heirs of Ileana Sonnabend have conducted two private sales worth about $600 million to cover estate taxes, involving works by Warhol, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Twombly; buyers include GPS Partners and the Gagosian Gallery, with total art valued at over $1 billion.
nytimes.com
David Barboza reports Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction of Chinese contemporary art brought in nearly $18 million, led by Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3 which sold for just over $6 million, above its $3.4 million high estimate. The sale set a record and exceeded presale estimates of about $12 million for the session; other noted artists mentioned include Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ai Weiwei and Sui Jianguo.
auctionpublicity.com
The sale in Hong Kong for the first part of the Estella Collection totaled HK$139,352,010 (US$17,887,230), with Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: The Big Family No. 3 leading at HK$47,364,500 (US$6,061,619). The Estella Collection is described as the largest and most important Chinese Contemporary Art collection to appear at auction, and the result exceeded estimates. The sale was 97% sold by value and 90% sold by lot; the remainder of the collection will be offered at Sotheby’s New York in autumn.
artinvestment.ru
In Madrid, the Prado Museum exhibition featuring works related to the 1808-1814 war has removed the painting Colossus by Francisco Goya from the catalogue amid doubts about its authenticity. Prado director Miguel Zugaza and art historians are cited as considering the work a possible forgery, with further research to be published in forthcoming journals.
smh.com.au
Damian Hackett of Deutscher and Hackett describes a cautious but active art auction market. The sale in Melbourne saw several works undersold relative to estimates, with notable results for Tom Roberts, John Perceval, Charles Blackman, Pro Hart, Bessie Davidson, Will Ashton, Henri Matisse, and Andy Warhol, and a total of about $5.05 million with 78% of lots sold.
antiquesandthearts.com
The article discusses the Jewish Museum’s exhibition Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning and American Art, 1940–1976, running May 4 through September 21. It highlights works by 31 artists including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and references critical perspectives by Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg.
artforum.com
Heirs of the artist Kazimir Malevich settled a dispute with Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, receiving five paintings in return for the right to keep the remaining Malevich works in the city’s collection. The heirs argued that the original seller, Hugo Haring, had no right to sell the paintings to Amsterdam in 1958, and plan to withdraw their US action permanently.
arthurrogergallery.com
John T. Scott: A New Orleans Artist 1940-2007 discusses Scott, his role as educator and mentor in New Orleans, and the 2005 Circle Dance retrospective at the New Orleans Museum of Art. It mentions the accompanying catalog with a foreword by Ellis Marsalis and an introductory essay by Richard J. Powell, and references Scott’s concept of “jazz thinking” and works like Making Whopee (1986).
nytimes.com
Marei von Saher and her daughter Charlène stand before Jan Steen’s Sacrifice of Iphigenia (1671) at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, after restitution of Nazi-seized art. The painting, previously in the Rijksmuseum, is part of a large restitution initiative involving Dutch- and Nazi-era looted works, with several other works by Van Dyck, Bellini, Lorrain, Lippi, and others being returned and exhibited.
theartnewspaper.com
The article reports that Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family bought Damien Hirst’s Lullaby Spring for £9.7m at Sotheby’s London in June 2007, the highest price for a living European artist at auction, and is also believed to have purchased the Rockefeller Rothko for $72.8m at Sotheby’s New York in May prior, with both works now in Doha as part of a growing Western-art collection. It cites independent confirmation by The Art Newspaper for the Hirst purchase and notes the Rockefeller Rothko’s alleged presence in the Al-Thani collection, though not independently confirmed.
Christie’s
Christie’s announced three London Asian Art Week auctions for May 2008, covering Chinese ceramics and works of art, Japanese art and design, and a South Kensington sale. The group was expected to exceed £7.5 million, with highlights including Qianlong jade, 17th-century ceramics and Japanese prints.