Monthly archive
16 headlines
Source-linked reporting
theartnewspaper.com
Orazio Gentileschi’s Danaë was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum for $30.5 million (with premium). Frida Kahlo’s Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) was purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for an undisclosed sum. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Street Scene in Front of the Hair Salon was acquired by Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden after being restituted.
news.artnet.com
Phillips held its New Now sale on February 29, with an overall sell-through rate of 51 percent by lot and 60 percent by value. The evening sale total including premium was $1.7 million (low presale estimate $2.8 million) from 13 of 23 lots sold; the day sale totaled $2.7 million from 131 of 266 lots sold. Notable details include strong prices for some younger artists, with several noted around six-figure estimates not selling in the evening sale, and records achieved for younger art stars such as Petra Cortright, Trevor Paglen, and Alex Da Corte.
news.artnet.com
Austria's city of Linz appeals a verdict ordering €8.24 million ($8.96 million) plus interest to the heirs of Olga Jäger over the disappearance of a Gustav Klimt drawing and three Egon Schiele works. The case originated from a long-term loan to the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz (now Lentos Kunstmuseum); the artworks could not be found when requested in 2006.
claimscon.org
Camille Pissarro’s 1886 La bergère rentrant des moutons, also known as La Bergère, is being returned to Léone Meyer after being looted during the Holocaust. The restitution began when Meyer’s relatives found the painting in the Claims Conference database of Nazi-looted art, and the University of Oklahoma agreed to return the work after provenance research and a related lawsuit filed in May 2013.
motl.org
The University of Oklahoma has agreed to return Camille Pissarro’s 1886 painting La Bergère Rentrant des Moutons (Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep) to Holocaust survivor Léone Meyer after a three-year legal dispute. The work, donated to OU by Clara Weitzenhoffer in 2000, was identified as Nazi-looted and will be transferred to Meyer and exhibited in France for five years, with subsequent displays alternating between OU’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and France.
themoscowtimes.com
Vincent van Gogh's The Night Café, valued around $200 million and housed at Yale University Art Gallery since 1961, is at the center of a legal dispute brought by Pierre Konowaloff, heir to Ivan Morozov. The case traces Soviet nationalization policies and questions of international property rights as Konowaloff seeks to challenge Yale's title at the U.S. Supreme Court.
news.artnet.com
Luca Giordano's The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew (1690) and Roeland Savery Still life of flowers (1615) were sold at TEFAF Maastricht; the former to a private European collector for €2 million and the latter to the Mauritshuis in The Hague for €6.5 million, all as part of sales reported by Colnaghi Gallery. The article notes TeFAF's leadership changes with Patrick von Maris taking over from Paul Hustinx and highlights Rembrandt’s The Unconscious Patient rediscovered, along with Picasso works and other Old Master offerings.
nytimes.com
The article covers a dispute over a 1931 Picasso bust of Marie-Thérèse Walter, with Maya Widmaier-Picasso’s family selling and transferring ownership amid legal actions in France, Switzerland, and the U.S. The involved parties include Pelham Holdings, the Qatari royal family agents, Larry Gagosian, Leon Black, and Diana Widmaier-Picasso; the work was previously displayed at MoMA and is now with Gagosian during litigation.
news.artnet.com
Artnet News reports that forty art handlers and six auctioneers at Drouot in Paris are on trial for theft involving artworks valued at about $2.5 million, including pieces by Gustave Courbet, Marc Chagall, and Henri Matisse, plus a 2.08-carat diamond. The case, which began after an anonymous tip and has dragged on for seven years, led to a full staff replacement in 2010 and suspensions of executives; defendants face gang-related theft, conspiracy, and handling stolen goods charges.
news.artnet.com
Pablo Picasso. Artwork: Bust de Femme (Marie Therese) (1931). Sale context involves the Pelham Sale Agreement and a second sale to Gagosian and Leon Black. nearly $50 million negotiated by Pelham; reference to a $105 million sculpture in the headline. The article discusses legal filings in US District Court for the Southern District of New York and allegations of tortious interference by Diana Widmaier-Picasso and entities including Maya Widmaier Picasso, Olivier Widmaier Picasso, the Gagosian Gallery, and Pelham Europe.
greatfallstribune.com
Traci Rosenbaum and David Murray report that Thomas Moran’s Castle Rock, Green River, Wyoming sold for $3.6 million at the Great Falls Mansfield Convention Center, a record for the event. Michael Duchemin of the C.M. Russell Museum comments on the sale’s impact and the room’s excitement.
thenationalnews.com
Anna Seaman reports that Art Dubai, the region's largest art fair, saw 27,516 visitors across the week, with 5,142 in the Collectors’ Preview and 7,211 in the VIP Preview. The event featured artworks from Ai Weiwei, Faiq Hassan, Yayoi Kusama, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Marwan, Nasreen Mohammedi, Jaume Plensa, among others, and noted substantial gallery interest and some sales; around a quarter of galleries sold out.
artlyst.com
Vincent van Gogh's The Night Café is involved in a restitution dispute with descendants of a Russian collector, Pierre Konowaloff. The US Supreme Court rejected his appeal for the painting, which is valued up to $200 million and housed at Yale University Art Gallery.
artforum.com
Yale University won its legal battle over ownership of Van Gogh's The Night Café, 1888, after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal, confirming Yale will keep the painting valued at about $200 million. The dispute traces back to a 2008 claim by Pierre Konowaloff that the work belonged to his family after alleged seizures during the 1917 Russian Revolution.
theartnewspaper.com
Vincent van Gogh’s The Night Café (1888) remains at Yale University after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Pierre Konowaloff. The painting, valued at about $200 million, was at the center of a long legal battle over ownership that began in 2008. The decision affirms Yale’s ownership and ends the dispute.
theartnewspaper.com
The Veronese preparatory drawing for Venice Triumphant, dated around 1581, sold for £15.4m. A UK export licence was deferred on 29 March to allow a UK buyer to match the price, with the work previously owned by the Earls of Harewood and previously traced to Peter Lely and the Pembroke family; the initial deferral runs until 28 June.