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February 2016 fine-art market intelligence

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19 headlines

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Fine art

Authentication of Hieronymus Bosch panel at Nelson-Atkins called significant

antiquesandthearts.com

Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlandish, circa 1450–1516) The Temptation of St Anthony, circa 1510-1520, oil on oak panel, 15 3⁄16 by 9 7⁄8 inches. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust. The painting has been attributed to Bosch himself after research by the Bosch Research and Conservation Project and was loaned to Het Noordbrabents Museum for a 500th anniversary exhibition; BRCP called the attribution a significant addition to Bosch's small body of work.

Fine art

Christie’s defies market chill with 138 million impressionist and modern art sale

news.artnet.com

The Christie’s sale, including a separate surrealist catalogue, brought in £138 million and surpassed the previous year’s result. Top lots included works by Picasso, Cross, Magritte, Schiele, Lhote, Picasso still life, Chagall and others, with notable prices such as René Magritte’s 1942 painting selling for £1,986,500/$2,858,574/€2,618,207 and Egon Schiele’s 1909 self-portrait achieving £7.2 million.

Fine art

Maya Widmaier-Picasso denies she sold $106 million Picasso bust twice

news.artnet.com

Maya Widmaier-Picasso denies selling Picasso Bust of a Woman (Marie Therese) twice after reports that Larry Gagosian paid $106 million in May 2015 for the plaster bust and that it later passed to Leon D. Black; Pelham Europe had claimed a contract to sell the sculpture for $42 million, and the legal dispute involves Pelham Europe and Sheik Jassim bin Abdulaziz al-Thani with multiple international actions.

Fine art

What sold at ZsONA MACO 2016

artsy.net

What sold at ZsONA MACO 2016 discusses sales at the 13th edition of ZsONA MACO in Mexico City, including remarks from galleries such as Gagosian and Lisson, and notes on pricing and demand for works by Ed Ruscha and Sterling Ruby.

Fine art

N.Y. art gallery, Sotheby’s chairman settle fake Rothko case

reuters.com

The Knoedler & Co gallery settled a lawsuit over an $8.3 million sale of a fake Rothko painting, resolving remaining claims in a Manhattan federal case brought by Sotheby’s Chairman Domenico De Sole and his wife Eleanore. The De Soles sought $25 million in damages after a related agreement with Knoedler’s former president Ann Freedman; Freedman was expected to testify as the trial proceeded. Prosecutions stem from a broader scheme involving Glafira Rosales, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to wire fraud and money laundering, with Knoedler allegedly purchasing paintings later determined to be fakes attributed to artists including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.

Fine art

Early Lucian Freud painting leads Sotheby’s $100 million contemporary art evening sale

news.artnet.com

Lucian Freud, Crop of Pregnant Girl (1960-1). Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (725-4), (1990). Jean-Michel Basquiat, Despues De Un Puno (1987) mentioned as works in the sale. The sale total was £69 million ($100.5 million) including buyer’s premiums, with four major lots withdrawn and Cetera note on previous records.

Fine art

Lucian Freud portrait Pregnant Girl sells for £16m

bbc.com

Lucian Freud portrait Pregnant Girl by Lucian Freud sold for £16.1m in a London auction at Sotheby’s, far above its £7-10m estimate. The painting depicts Freud’s girlfriend Bernardine Coverley, pregnant with their daughter Bella, in the early 1960s.

Fine art

Why Ellsworth Kelly’s auction market is low-key

news.artnet.com

Ellsworth Kelly’s highest auction record is $5.2 million for Spectrum VI (1969). The article discusses why auction activity for Kelly remains subdued despite strong demand, noting that most blue-chip works remain with institutions or private collectors and trade infrequently. Jacqueline Tran of Matthew Marks Gallery comments on ownership as a priority in acquiring Kelly’s paintings.

Fine art

MFA acquires first painting sold by Frida Kahlo

huntnewsnu.com

The MFA purchased Frida Kahlo's 1928 painting Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) or Two Women (Salvadora and Herminia), a double portrait formerly owned by the Phillips family, marking the first Kahlo work acquired by a New England museum. The work is on temporary display until March 1.

Fine art

Billionaire Ken Griffin spends $500 million on two paintings

news.artnet.com

Ken Griffin reportedly spent $500 million on two paintings, including Willem de Kooning’s Interchange (1955) sold to David Geffen for $300 million and Jackson Pollock’s Number 17A (1948) for about $200 million. The sale, according to Bloomberg, would be a record for the private sale of art and ties to prior records for the artists, with de Kooning previously fetching $32 million in 2013 and Pollock’s top auction price at $58.3 million in 2013. Griffin is noted as founder of Citadel and a prominent art collector with a reported net worth around $6 billion, who has donated to major museums and sits on several boards.

Fine art

Ken Griffin spent $500 million on two paintings: sources

cnbc.com

Ken Griffin spent $500 million on two paintings, Willem de Kooning's Interchange and Jackson Pollock's Number 17A, in a private sale from David Geffen. The pieces were likely the most expensive contemporary artworks, and the individual prices were not disclosed.

Fine art

Art classics fetch $500m in record deal

thetimes.com

Ken Griffin paid $500 million for two paintings: Jackson Pollock’s Number 17A for $200 million and Willem de Kooning’s Interchange for $300 million, in what is described as a record art deal. The sale by David Geffen highlights continued demand among ultra-wealthy buyers for major works.

Fine art

University of Oklahoma to return Camille Pissarro painting to Holocaust survivor

news.artnet.com

Camille Pissarro’s La Bergère Rentrant des Moutons (Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep) (1886) from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma will be returned to Léone Meyer, a French Holocaust survivor. The settlement transfers ownership to Meyer, with the painting to be exhibited in France for five years and, alternately, at OU in three-year intervals.

Fine art

A Blockbuster Deal Reassures the Art World

nytimes.com

The article discusses a $500 million private sale involving Willem de Kooning's Interchanged and Paul Gauguin's Nafea Faa Ipoipo, with Kenneth C. Griffin purchasing the works and David Geffen as seller; the transactions total $500 million and the pieces have been on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Fine Art

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