Monthly archive
15 headlines
Source-linked reporting
arrestedmotion.com
Faile’s large canvas New York City 02 (Lot 169) sold for 49,250 GBP and NYC Butterfly Girl on wood (Lot 168) sold for 16,250 GBP, both within/above estimates. Yue Minjun’s Hope (Lot 266) sold for 193,250 GBP, Feng Zhengjie’s Untitled (Lot 265) for 44,450 GBP, Yan Pei-Ming’s Double (Maurizio Cattelan) (Lot 263) for 42,050 GBP, Zhang Xiaogang’s Portrait (Lot 264) did not sell, and Banksy’s Keep It Real (Lot 170) sold well.
indianartnews.visionsarts.com
Christie’s Hong Kong spring sale of Asian contemporary and Chinese 20th-century art in Hong Kong achieved strong results with 89 percent sold by lot and 98 percent by value, totaling HK$181,657,500 (US$23,379,320). Sanyu’s painting Cats and Birds set a new auction record for the artist, selling for HK$42,100,000. The sale also featured two Zao Wou-ki paintings from the Harvard Art Museum collection, Nous Deux and Vent et Poussière, which brought HK$45 million in total.
m-news.artron.net
Phillips de Pury & Company announced the highlights of the forthcoming London Contemporary Art sales, with the Evening sale estimated at £5.4–7.8 million across 40 lots and the Day sale estimated at £1.9–2.8 million across 132 lots.
artinvestment.ru
Camille Pissarro's painting Naberezhnaya Malakeh. Spring, stolen by Gestapovtsy in 1938 and returned decades later, was to be offered at Christie's on 23 June. The work, owned by Gisela Bermann-Fischer, involved a long legal battle and was valued for Christie's Impressionist and Modern sale at 900,000 to 1.5 million pounds.
fineartpublicity.com
Edward Hopper drawings for Rooms by the Sea (1951) and Western Motel (1957) were acquired by Yale University Art Gallery. The works include two preparatory drawings related to Rooms by the Sea on a single sheet and a single sketch for Western Motel; the gallery notes these studies illuminate Hopper's process and provide documentary context for the paintings.
archive.nytimes.com
The New York Times reports that Judge Jed Rakoff criticized a confidential settlement between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and heirs to Picasso paintings over ownership and Nazi-era sale issues. The articles note the settlement concerned two paintings, Boy Leading a Horse and Le Moulin de la Galette, and that the terms were kept secret at the time.
theglobeandmail.com
Emily Carr's Wind in the Tree Tops sold for 2,164,500 CAD at the Heffel Fine Art auction in Vancouver, making it the fourth most expensive painting sold at auction in Canada. Other high results included Thomas Thomson's Birches and Cedar, Fall at 1,404,000 CAD and Jean-Paul Riopelle's Jouet, with Riopelle's piece reaching near 1.17 million CAD after a phone bid.
latimes.com
Article about a class action claiming Louis Vuitton defrauded buyers by selling Murakami prints as fine art. The suit, led by Clint Arthur, seeks treble damages under California law; a U.S. District Court judge denied LV’s bid to dismiss and set a pretrial conference for Aug. 24. Separately, a related suit against MOCA was dismissed by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.
artnews.com
The National Gallery of Art agreed to return Chaim Soutine, Piece of Beef, 1923, to the heirs of Lorette Jolles Shefner of Montreal, who claimed she was misled into selling the work for about $1 million in 2004. The painting was later resold to the National Gallery for just under $2 million, and the heirs seek repurchase under a court-approved settlement.
auctionpublicity.com
Josef Albers Study for Homage to the Square: High Pasture sold for €220,000; Franz Radziwill Conversation about a Paragraph sold for €355,000; other top results include Josef Albers Study for… at €220,000, Ernst Barlach Spirit Fighter at €180,000, Emil Nolde Peonies in a Blue Vase at €145,000, Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale at €145,000; total Modern Art proceeds €4.5 million.
fineartpublicity.com
Franz Radziwill, Josef Albers, Ernst Barlach, Emil Nolde, and Lucio Fontana artworks were among those highlighted in the Ketterer Kunst inaugural sale, with top results including Franz Radziwill at €355,000 and Josef Albers at €220,000; overall Modern Art brought €4.5 million.
dealbook.nytimes.com
J. Ezra Merkin agreed to sell his art collection for $310 million in a deal that could lead to a future settlement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The collection includes works by Mark Rothko and Alberto Giacometti, and proceeds were to be placed in escrow to potentially repay investors; the agreement followed negotiations with Cuomo’s office.
reuters.com
Ezra Merkin agrees to sell his art collection for $310 million to help potential payments to investors who lost money in the Bernard Madoff fraud. The sale, announced in court papers by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, includes works by Mark Rothko and Alberto Giacometti; proceeds to be held in escrow during litigation.
nytimes.com
Carol Vogel reports from London on Christie’s contemporary art auction, noting thin bidding and a total of 40 works selling for $31.7 million, with top-selling pieces including Peter Doig’s Night Playground and works by Gerhard Richter and Richard Prince.
Christie’s
Christie’s reported £37.1 million for its London Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale, led by Claude Monet’s Au Parc Monceau at £6.3 million. The auction sold 84% by value.