Art Market Archives

Sotheby’s Announce Significant Redundancies Due To Coronavirus

Sotheby’s has announced significant redundancies, staff hiatuses, and pay cuts as a result of the Coronavirus.

Art Goes Viral – Edward Lucie-Smith

The coronavirus has been responsible for a major crisis in the art world. Museums and galleries have slammed their doors shut. Increasingly the only way to look at art, in the present situation, is to look at it on a computer screen – or, at a pinch, on the screen of your mobile phone. This is creating a ‘viral’ phenomenon.

And Last But Not Least Art Basel Gets Postponed

Well well, we all knew this was coming. TEFAF Maastricht is currently under fire for infecting the upper echelons of the art world with up to 50 cases of the Coronavirus. It has been linked to over 300 international exhibitors who unwittingly took the virus back to their home countries.

Paul Kasmin Formative Contemporary Art Dealer Dies Age 60

The London-born dealer PAUL KASMIN (1960–2020) has died in New York after a protracted illness. The gallery released the following statement.

Frieze New York 2020 Cancelled

Frieze has announced the cancellation of the ninth edition of the Frieze New York art fair. It falls in line with health and safety guidelines regarding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID19) with restrictions on gatherings of more than 50 people.

London Art Gallery Closures Latest COVID19 Updates

The National Gallery has unprecedentedly cancelled their highly anticipated Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition, scheduled to open on 4th April. The ICA, Wellcome Collection, South London Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, Beaconsfield, and Modern Art Oxford has also suspended opening to the public.

Gagosian Gallery Closes Due To COVID-19

Gagosian, the largest chain of commercial galleries in the world, has shuttered until further notice. The following message was released this morning.

Late Francis Bacon Triptych Set To Soar At Sotheby’s

Francis Bacon’s late large-format Triptych Inspired by the Greek tragedy Oresteia of Aeschylus, will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s. This will be the highlight their Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York on 13 May 2020, when it will be offered with an estimate in excess of $60 million.

Blain|Southern To Close Worldwide Operation

After a tumultuous six months, Blain|Southern has decided to call it a day.

Coronavirus Cancels Art Basel Hong Kong

Art Basel has just announced the cancellation of the upcoming fair in Hong Kong due to the outbreak and spread of the new coronavirus. The fair was already struggling with the uncertain political climate and student riots in the region.

London Art Fair’s Positive Spin On A Diverse Range Of Work – Sue Hubbard

Being asked to write about an art fair is a bit like being commissioned to write about Waitrose and compare tins of baked beans with sardines or chocolate biscuits.

London Galleries Warn Clients About New Anti-Money Laundering Laws

Cristea Roberts, one of London’s leading art galleries, has sent a memo to all of their clients warning of strict new Anti-Money Laundering legislation, effective from 10 January 2020

Lost LS Lowry Painting Sells At Christie’s For £2.65m

A long lost painting by LS Lowry which hasn’t been seen for 70 years has been rediscovered and heads for the auction block at Christie’s in the new year. The work titled The Mill, Pendlebury, painted in 1943 shows workers on a bank holiday with children playing cricket.

Go Bananas! Miami Art Basel What The Dealers Said

Art Basel in Miami Beach closed yesterday with reports of significant sales in all disciplines and mediums. In recent years it has become the cultural meeting point for the Americas, in December attracting collectors and institutions from the U.S., Latin America, and around the globe.

London Art Fair: First UP For The 2020 Art Season

London Art Fair is the UK’s oldest established Contemporary art fair. It returns from 22-26 January 2020, bringing museum-quality modern and contemporary art to the capital.

Your Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 Everything Guide – Artlyst

The 18th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach takes place in the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Centre from 5-8 December 2019.

Sotheby’s Appoints Charles F. Stewart New CEO

Sotheby’s has announced the appointment of Charles F. Stewart as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Stewart succeeds Tad Smith, who served as CEO of Sotheby’s since 2015.

Export Ban For Joseph Wright Of Derby Two Boys With A Bladder

An export bar on Joseph Wright of Derby’s ‘Two Boys with a Bladder’ has been placed on the recommendation of Arts Minister Helen Whately. The work, completed between 1768 and 1770, is valued at £3,500,000 is at risk of being lost abroad unless a UK buyer can be found.

FIAC Paris 46th Edition A Grand Palais Happening – What’s On

As everyone must know by now, FIAC one of Europe’s most important fairs opened for the VIP preview today at the Grand Palais in Paris.

Frieze London Report 2019 – What The Galleries Said

The 17th edition of Frieze London closed on Sunday 6 October, has brought together more than 160 galleries from 35 countries, representing the fair’s most international edition to date and driving excellent sales across the fair.

Banksy: Devolved Parliament Chimp Painting Sells For £9.9m

The largest painting on canvas by the elusive street artist Banksy depicting the House of Commons populated with chimpanzees has sold at auction for a record £9.9m. The 4m (13ft) wide artwork Devolved Parliament was one of the showstoppers in the Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale on Thursday. A “record price for a Banksy painting” “shame […]

An Appreciation of the Life and Work of Susan Hiller – Sue Hubbard

On my way to Tate Modern in the rain, last night, I smiled, thinking just how much Susan Hiller would have liked that there was to be an evening there in her honour. Susan could be famously grumpy and the last time we had lunch together she spent much of it complaining that the Tate […]

Banksy’s 17-Ton Laugh Now Truck To Be Sold At Bonhams

Banksy’s 17-ton truck, covered in graffiti by his own hand, will be going under the hammer at Bonhams on Saturday 14 September, at its motor car auction, the Goodwood Revival sale.

High-Value Paintings Queue For Export As Sterling Drops In Brexit Uncertainties

An outstanding painting by Claude Monet ‘Le Palais Ducal’ 1908 is at risk of going abroad unless a UK buyer can be found . The picture valued at more than £28 million is one of a number of the artist’s works depicting Venice.

Brancusi Sculpture Damaged: Should This Devalue The £18m Work

When someone attacked Michelangelo’s Pieta with a hammer in the 1970s, the sculpture was severely damaged. It was restored and put back on display at the Vatican. A few years later a paranoid schizophrenic slashed Rembrandt’s masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ putting a gaping hole in the canvas with a bread knife, at the Rijksmuseum.

Constantin Brancusi: Elderly New York Art Collector Sues Lawyer Over Deceit

An elderly New York art collector has taken his Philadelphia attorney to court for cheating him out of millions.

Recommended London Art Exhibitions July 2019 – Paul Carey-Kent

The noted writer and curator Paul Carey-Kent gives us his rolling ten recommended Contemporary and Modern art exhibitions for July 2019 in London now.

Christie’s Contemporary Evening Auction Sees Cecily Brown, Dubuffet and Basquiat Soar

The London Summer Art week which includes Contemporary auctions at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, Masterpiece London the art fair recently acquired by Art Basel as well a Olympia and newcomer FairForSaatchi is well on the way.

Bacon, Freud and Saville Top Sotheby’s Evening Contemporary Sale

Sotheby’s London Evening Sale of Contemporary Art has realised £69,143,300/ $87,811,991/ €77,440,496 (est. £58-82.8 million/ $73.5-105 million / €64.7-92.4 million).

Controversial Caravaggio Goes Under The Hammer In Toulouse

A long lost painting attributed by a French provincial auction house to Caravaggio, which languished in a chateau attic in France, for over 100 years goes under the hammer at La Halle aux Grains in Toulouse, on June 27. The much-hyped work just back from a world tour could achieve up to the presale estimate […]

Sotheby’s Sold To Private French/Israeli Media Tycoon Patrick Drahi

Sotheby’s has been sold to the French/Israeli Media Tycoon Patrick Drahi for $3.7 Billion, taking the second largest Auction House in the world from public ownership to private.

Art Basel 2019 Bubble-Wrap What The Dealers Said

Art Basel closed the doors on the 2019 edition reporting buoyant sales to private collectors and public institutions by galleries across all market sector. The fair attracted buyers from over 80 countries and an overall attendance of 93,000.