Gustav Klimt’s 1907 portrait Adele Bloch-Bauer I, known as Woman in Gold, is discussed in Christie's story about its restitution after Nazi looting and the subsequent legal battles leading to ownership in the United States and Austria. The article covers Adele Bloch-Bauer, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, Maria Altmann, Randol Schoenberg, Arnold Schoenberg, Ronald Lauder, and the Belvedere Museum, and mentions the arbitration in Vienna and the U.S. Supreme Court involvement.
Masumi Shinohara is named managing director for Asia at Sotheby’s, moving from head of Japan. Nathan Drahi, ongoing Asia MD, will relocate to New York with details of his new role to be announced. The announcement notes Shinohara began January 1, reporting to CEO Charles Stewart, and relocating to Hong Kong from Tokyo, working with Asia leadership including Wendy Lin, Nicolas Chow, Jen Hua, and Jasmine Prasetio.
The Art Newspaper reports on the documentary The Spoils (2024), which examines two exhibitions in Düsseldorf about Max Stern’s art collection, including Stern’s forced sale in 1937 and the subsequent restitution debates. The piece notes Stern’s persecution, the sells through Lempertz, and his eventual settlements in Montreal, with coverage of Düsseldorf’s exhibitions and the involvement of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project.
Constantin Brancusi’s La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée (portrait De Nancy Cunard) (1932) sold for $71 million at Christie's New York on May 15, 2018, setting a new auction record. The piece, conceived in 1928 and cast in 1932, was acquired directly from the artist and later involved figures such as Nancy Cunard, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Duchamp, and Elizabeth Stafford; previous record was La Muse Endormie (1909) sold for $57.37 million at Christie’s in 2017.
Agnes Martin, Grey Stone II (1961), sold for $18.72m at Sotheby's in New York on November 8, 2023. The work is one of only four paintings by Martin that used gold leaf. It helped set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing her previous record by $989,700.
The Paris court secured 135 stolen paintings valued at over €200 million ($208 million) for the family of Uthman Khatib, part of a larger 1,800-piece collection purportedly taken from a German storage facility in 2019. The works include pieces attributed to Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, and Natalia Goncharova.
The painting is signed Elimar and is claimed by LMI Group International researchers to be a lost van Gogh translation of Millet’s The Reaper. It was purchased at a Minnesota garage sale for under $50 and later sold to LMI Group in 2019; a 450-page report supports the attribution to Vincent van Gogh.
Gustav Klimt's Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) (1917-18) sold for $108.7m (£85.31m) at Sotheby's in London on June 27, 2023, to a Hong Kong collector after a ten-minute bidding war. The painting previously last sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 1994 for $11.66m, setting Klimt's prior auction record. The sitter's identity is unknown, with speculation it may be model Johanna Staude.
Lucian Freud's Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) (1981-83) sold for $86.27m at Christie's in New York on November 9, 2022. The painting, based on Watteau, features Freud's circle including Celia Paul, Suzy Boyt, her son Kai, and Bella; a girl named Star lies on the floor. The sale surpassed Freud's prior record of $56.16m set by Benefits Supervisor Resting (1994) at Christie’s in New York.
The Australian showman was a passionate collector, with a particular fondness for the louche literati of 1890s London and the paintings of his fellow antipodean Charles Conder. Jonathan Bastable trains the spotlight on the objects he treasured
A new show at London’s Royal Academy, Brasil! Brasil!, charts the emergence of artists such as Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Djanira and Alfredo Volpi — inspired by their encounters with Europe’s avant-garde, but also channelling Brazil’s vibrant indigenous cultures
Christie’s silver specialist Jill Waddell tells the fascinating stories behind these kunstkammer marvels, from a 14th-century beaker to a full set of 17th-century playing cards
Head of Outsider Art Cara Zimmerman profiles the most significant artists of the category. Their genre-defying works tell powerful stories of adversity and triumph