Monthly archive
14 headlines
Source-linked reporting
nytimes.com
Paul Gauguin’s 1892 oil painting “Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry)?” sold for $210 million in 2014, $90 million less than originally reported. The New York Times report discusses a London High Court trial that questioned the painting’s sale price and the parties involved.
news.artnet.com
Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Madame Rochas (1975) is mentioned as part of the Cerruti collection loaned to Castello di Rivoli; the collection is valued at about €500 million ($570 million). The article notes the loan to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Rivoli-Torino and mentions Francesco Federico Cerruti’s foundation and the collection’s scope from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
antiquesandthearts.com
Canaletto, “The Coronation of the Doge on the Scala dei Giganti,” pen and brown ink and washes, sold for a record $3,404,385 at Sotheby’s in London. The article discusses the record price and includes quotes from Greg Rubinstein and context about the drawing's place among Canaletto’s works.
itsartlaw.org
The article discusses Jeff Koons and his working method, noting his view that studio assistants do not contribute creatively and that all work is his own. It places Koons in a lineage with artists like Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Gerhard Richter, and summarizes labor-law topics in the arts, including attempts by Koons workers to unionize and subsequent layoffs in 2015–2017.
artsy.net
The appeals court revived a 16-year Nazi restitution dispute over Camille Pissarro's Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie (1897), currently at Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, with potential value above $40 million. The case centers on whether the museum knew the painting was stolen when acquired in 1993 from Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza as part of a $338 million purchase.
sandiegouniontribune.com
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit by Lilly Cassirer’s great-grandchildren, David and Ava Cassirer, over the 1897 Pissarro painting Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, which was looted by the Nazis. The Cassirer family contends the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid aided the looting by not disclosing provenance, and the case was returned to a lower court for further litigation.
theartnewspaper.com
The US Ninth Circuit revived a Holocaust-related lawsuit by the Cassirer family over a Camille Pissarro painting from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid, allowing them to pursue proof that the museum knew the painting was stolen and could be an accomplice to the theft. The painting involved is Rue Saint-Honoré, dans l'aprè̀s-midi, Effet de pluie (1897), which was sold in 1939 under coercive conditions following persecution of Jews. The case hinges on whether the museum acquired the work with knowledge of its theft, under Spanish law as the painting was located in Spain at the time of acquisition.
artforum.com
Andreas Achenbach’s 1861 painting Sicilian Landscape was removed from an exhibition at Düsseldorf’s Museum Kunstpalast because it is believed to have been the property of Max Stern, a Jewish art dealer who was forced to liquidate his art collection and flee Nazi Germany. The painting was on loan from Wolfgang Peiffer, who purchased it in 1999 at a Phillips auction.
latimes.com
The Getty Museum announced the addition of 16 Old Master and 19th century drawings, including a Michelangelo pen and brown ink study, and simultaneously acquired Jean-Antoine Watteau’s painting The Surprise. The Parmigianino painting Virgin with Child, St. John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene is cited as a prior major acquisition, with total values discussed but not disclosed; prices referenced for related works suggest a total well above $31.5 million. The announcement notes the acquisition from a single unidentified British collection and mentions export licenses for all but four drawings.
artforum.com
The Getty announced a landmark acquisition of sixteen master drawings including works by Michelangelo, Lorenzo di Credi, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Rubens, Barocci, Goya, and Degas, as well as a canonical painting by Jean Antoine Watteau. Timothy Potts, the Getty Museum director, called the acquisition transformative for the collection.
nytimes.com
The Getty Museum bought 16 drawings and one painting by artists including Michelangelo, Parmigianino and Watteau from a British collector, with an estimated total price possibly exceeding $100 million. The group includes Michelangelo's Study of a Mourning Woman, Andrea del Sarto's Study for the Head of St. Joseph, Parmigianino's Head of a Young Man, and Watteau's La Surprise; other works mentioned include a Goya sketch, a Degas pastel, and a Cuyp drawing.
news.artnet.com
Michelangelo, Lorenzo de Credi, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Rubens, Barocci, Goya, Degas, Antoine Watteau. Artwork names: La Surprise by Antoine Watteau; Head of Saint Joseph by Andrea del Sarto; Study of a Mourning Woman by Michelangelo; The Destruction of Pharaoh’s Host by John Martin. The purchase reportedly worth upwards of $100 million.
apollo-magazine.com
The article reports that The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired 16 Old Master drawings and a painting by Watteau, including works by Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Rubens, Goya, and Degas. It quotes Getty director Timothy Potts expressing that the opportunity to add such works is unlikely to arise again for some years.
Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s July sculpture sale included a private collection of works retained by Cecil Howard’s descendants, led in the article by Archer at a £12,000–18,000 estimate and Torso of a Boxer in Movement at £5,000–7,000.