Equinox Gallery of Vancouver sues New York dealer Fred Dorfman over stolen Jasper Johns works; court allows racketeering claim under RICO. The case involves about 37 unfinished or discarded Johns works allegedly stolen by James Meyer and sold by Dorfman+ gallery in Chelsea, with Meyer pled guilty in 2015 and Dorfman facing allegations of mail fraud, wire fraud, and interstate transport of stolen goods.
Picasso's painting The Artist, once lent to the Met and later donated by Thelma Chrysler Foy, is at issue in a suit by Laurel Zuckerman representing the estate of Alice Leffmann and her husband Paul. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska dismissed the amended complaint seeking replevin and damages of $100 million.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art retains ownership of Pablo Picasso’s The Actor (1904-05). Judge Loretta Preska dismissed a claim by Laurel Zuckerman, heir of former owner Paul Freidmann Leffmann, who argued the painting was sold under duress to escape Nazi persecution.
Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, 1904–05, will remain at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after a New York court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Laurel Zuckerman, the heir of a Jewish collector who sold the painting in 1938 while fleeing Nazi persecution; The work is from Picasso’s Rose Period and its value could surpass Picasso’s auction record of $180 million.
The article reports that a federal judge ruled the Met cannot be compelled to return Pablo Picasso’s The Actor (1904–05) to the Leffmann family. The Leffmanns had claimed they were forced to sell the painting in 1938 to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. The painting remained at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after the decision.
Joan Miró, Femme entendant de la musique, 1945. Estimate: $10,000,000–15,000,000 is highlighted among the works in Christie's planned sale of The Collection of Joan and Preston Robert Tisch, which includes over 40 objects and is expected to realize in excess of $80 million. Willem de Kooning, Untitled XVIII, 1976, is also featured with an estimate of $8,000,000 – 12,000,000.
This Work Will Put Mark Bradford among the Most Expensive Living Artists by Nate Freeman discusses Mark Bradford and notes a Hauser & Wirth sale of Bradford work for $5 million, highlighting Bradford as one of the most expensive living artists.
George Condo’s Rainy Day Butler (2012) is highlighted by Sotheby’s as a defining work in the Contemporary Curated sale in New York on March 2. The piece follows the auction of Condo’s Compression IV in November 2017 and is part of a suite including Rescue Scene (1998) and Group of Women. The description emphasizes a fusion of drawing and painting, cubist strategies, and psychological intensity.
Pablo Picasso painting Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) is reported to have an estimated value in the region of £35 million (€39.5 million) in Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale, according to The Irish Times. The article appears in Fine Art & Antiques and discusses auction previews and estimates.
Pablo Picasso’s 1967 work Mousquetaire et nu assis is highlighted as a late-career transformation where he depicts himself as a musketeer; the piece is offered in Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on 27 February 2018 with an estimated £12,000,000–£18,000,000. The article also mentions Jacqueline, Picasso’s muse and wife, who accompanies the musketeer figure.
Pablo Picasso, Mousquetaire et nu assis (1967) is highlighted as the top lot in Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern sale, selling for £13.7 million (low £12 million estimate). Edgar Degas, In the Wings (1882-85) is noted as the second top lot, previously bought in Paris in 1997 for £2.5 million and now guaranteed with an £8 million low estimate. The sale total reached £149.6 million, with 22% of lots unsold, and the event was part of a larger London auction fortnight expected to reach £782 million.
Artprice's 2017 Global Art Market Annual Report highlights the Top-500 artists by annual auction turnover, the Top 100 auction results, and the Artprice100 index, with China noted as the top marketplace at $5.1 billion and a global turnover increase of 20% in 2017. The report also mentions 502,900 artworks publicly sold in 2017 and an unsold rate of 34%. The full report is downloadable for free from Artprice.com.
Discovery: a Russian avant-garde detective story discusses how the painting Still Life with Teapot and Oranges, long believed to be by Mikhail Larionov, was reattributed to Natalia Goncharova after scholarship revealed the true authorship; the work was sold at Christie’s in November 2017 for £2.4 million.
The 1967 Picasso painting Mousquetaire et Nu Assis sold for 13.73 million pounds (about $19 million) at Christie's in London. The work was part of a double evening session of auctions alongside pieces by Monet and Degas.
Pablo Picasso's portrait of his muse Marie-Therese Walter with Dora Maar emerging from the shadows sold at Sotheby's in London for £50 million (€57 million, $69 million), a European auction record for a painting. The piece, dated 1937, is titled Femme au beret et a la robe quadrillee (Marie-Therese Walter).
Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting Femme au Béret et à la Robe Quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) sold for £49.8 million with fees, about $69.4 million, at Sotheby’s in London. The sale was part of an 47-lot evening auction of Impressionist, modern and Surrealist art and was bought by a telephone bidder.
Pablo Picasso’s Mousquetaire et nu assis (1967) sold at Christie’s in London for £13.7 million ($15.5 million). The painting was estimated at £12 million. Degas’s Dans les coulisses sold for £8.9 million, and Picasso’s Figure (1930) sold for £8.3 million. Monet’s Prairie à Giverny (1885) fetched £7.5 million. Christie’s total auction turnover that sale day was £149.5 million with 78% of lots sold. Sotheby’s would present Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) on Feb 28 with an estimated $50 million.