25 January 2012
February Contemporary Art Sale will include works by Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Takashi Murakami, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri, and Leon Kossoff With 2011 being Sotheby’s 3rd most successful year of all time for Contemporary Art, – totalling at an incredible $1.17 billion – the auction house is […]
25 January 2012
Portrait Realises £1.4 GBP at Christies Auction on 25 January A portrait from the 17th century which once graced the home of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor and authenticated as a genuine Frans Hals, goes under the hammer at Christie’s New York,today. “Portrait of a Man,” painted in the early 1630s is offered in their sale […]
24 January 2012
The Art Collection Fund seduces new investors with promise of 12% return from $80,000,000 investment in art Investors are to be invited to invest in a European investment group with plans to purchase $80 million worth of modern and contemporary art for a predicted annual return of 12 % over four years. ‘The [Art Collection] […]
14 January 2012
Jail for art dealer in fraudulent Hirst print scam Richard Silver, a part time New York art dealer, who purchased $40,000 worth of fake Damien Hirst prints in 2006 from an ebay seller, in Irvine, Calif, has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for falsifying records and appraisals for a series of fake Damien […]
9 January 2012
Art gave 11 per cent return to investors in 2011, making art a better investment than stocks for second year in a row Despite apparently all pervasive economic gloom elsewhere, the art market has given an incredible 11 % return to investors in 2011 – making art a better investment than stocks for a second […]
30 December 2011
Art Market Reports $10.6bn Record For 2011 Market uncertainty and global instability has led to the biggest grossing year ever, for sales of art at auction. Auction house pre Christmas results have recorded a total of £6.8bn GBP or $10.6bn for this year. This was up on last year’s $9.5bn. China, was the largest growth […]
13 December 2011
We reported on 7 March that the record-breaking £51m Pinner Vase, an 18th century Qianlong-dynasty ceramic sold from a suburban London auction house had been part paid for, by a third party agent. Well the deposit was paid but the lot still remains outstanding and in limbo. The plot thickens, as it is understood that […]
19 November 2011
This week’s 20th Century British and Irish Art sale at Bonhams broke the world auction record for a work on paper by Henry Moore. After a considerable bidding war, the 1941 drawing of a seated mother and child sold for £634,850. It was featured in last year’s major retrospective of Henry Moore at the Tate […]
18 November 2011
Sotheby’s auctions for Modern and Post-War British Art make £8m, selling work by Lowry and the fictional creation Nat Tate Sotheby’s held its first ever evening auction of Modern and Post-War British Art this week, and by all accounts this inaugural event was a success for the house, with the combined total from the evening […]
17 November 2011
Confusion as last week’s total sales of Asian Art hit impressive £57.4 million, despite fact that 44% of lots remained unsold As we reported earlier this month, London has over the past few weeks been host to one of the world’s major Asian art events: Asian Art in London. Officials from the major auction houses […]
11 November 2011
Portrait of Kate Moss set to be sold at Bonhams next week for £18,000, alongside famous images by Robert Maplethorpe and David LaChapelle A nude black and white portrait of supermodel Kate Moss taken by celeb and fashion photographer Albert Watson is set to make £18,000 when it goes on sale next at Bonhams in […]
8 November 2011
Buyers lack enthusiasm at first post-war and contemporary sale of the season, uncharacteristically held by Phillips De Pury Phillips De Pury hosted the first post-war and contemporary sale of the season last night, and, whilst results were by no means as disappointing as those seen at Christie’s last week, neither could the sale be […]
3 November 2011
Sotheby’s have enjoyed considerably more success at their first “Impressionist and Modern Art” sale of the autumn season than their rivals Christie’s, who suffered mixed results on November 1st. In contrast to the Christie’s sale, where excessive estimates for the leading lots seemed to put potential buyers off, the top-valued piece at Sotheby’s – Gustav […]
2 November 2011
Picasso and Degas Fail to Sell At Christies Modern evening sale As we reported on Monday, this week sees the start of the New York Impressionist and Modern art auction season, with all the major houses presenting big-ticket works. The results however, coming from the first sale of the season at Christies were anything but […]
17 October 2011
The aspirational brown motor car is offered by Bonhams Auctioneers “The legendary Pop Artist Andy Warhol’s car is to join other famed autos at a Scottsdale sale of fine and classic cars. Screen goddess Marlene Dietrich’s 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom will be in good company at Bonhams’ inaugural Scottsdale sale come January. The 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver […]
15 October 2011
Sotheby’s Christie’s and Phillips produce healthy results This week has been an important one for the art market, with London’s leading auction houses all hosting major contemporary art sales to coincide with Frieze week. The Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale saw a total sale value of £17,809,000, the third-highest recorded total for their October Contemporary […]
3 October 2011
Lord Forte’s Piccadilly Circus Oil goes under the hammer In November Having been part of hotel tycoon Lord Forte’s personal collection for almost 30 years, a LS Lowry painting of Piccadilly Circus is now going to be up for auction for the very first time. What’s more, it’s estimated that the piece – due to […]
30 September 2011
AIDS charity to benefit from Sotheby’s sale and new photo Portfolio Elton John has announced that his charitable organization, The Elton John AIDS Foundation will auction six important works of contemporary art at Sotheby’s. The sale held on the 10 Nov in New York will include Keith Haring’s untitled 1981 ink-on-paper drawing depicting three men. […]
22 September 2011
Damien Hirst, the YBA worth £215 million, has allegedly been putting pressure on the major auction houses to stop selling incomplete editions of his iconic spin prints. The works were originally sold as a boxed set with original top cover painting. Several of the sets have been broken up and sold off individually. Hirst feels […]
17 September 2011
Personal Items from Elaine Kaufman’s Upper East Side Apartment and Restaurant Art Collection Featuring Works by Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Reginald Marsh, Wallace Berman, Arman, and George Segal to be sold Legendary restauranteur Elaine Kaufman’s estate goes under the hammer early next week. She was an avid art collector as well as a purveyor of […]
6 September 2011
China is now the second largest art market after USA Every September, Shanghai becomes a key destination for the international art world, as the entire Asian contemporary art scene comes together during SH Contemporary for the most dynamic art week of the year. The SH Contemporary 2011 launches between September 8th to 10th, with a […]
11 August 2011
Original works by Picasso and Warhol to go under the hammer The estate of one of Hollywood’s most colorful stars, Tony Curtis goes under the hammer on 17 September. It includes work personally given to him by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. The rare Hollywood star whose off-screen character was often more sensational than […]
15 July 2011
Gustav Klimt Stolen By Nazis To Be Offered By Sotheby’s A masterpiece by the Austrian Secessionist painter Gustav Klimt that was looted by the Nazis during World War II, is to go under the hammer following its return to its original owner’s great-nephew.The 1915 landscape, entitled Litzlberg on the Attersee, is expected to realise more […]
30 June 2011
The Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Sotheby’s last night was the highest total ever achieved in London by a contemporary sale in history. £108,803,550 / $174,129,201 /€120,923,897 was sold, all pre-sale expectations were smashed (estimate: £74-105 million). Buyers from around the globe participated in the auction. Record sell-through rates of 89.8% by lot and 93.9% […]
28 June 2011
The Kay Saatchi Collection went under the hammer as part of the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening auction at Christie’s King Street tonight (28 June). The collection features an outstanding and rare group of early works on paper by Lucian Freud, executed in the 1940s, Ron Mueck’s Big Baby, the first work in the artist’s […]
23 June 2011
Sotheby’s has set a record price for the Viennese Secessionist painter Egon Schiele. The landscape titled “Hauser mit bunter Wasche ‘Vorstadt’ has sold for a staggering £24.7 million or $40.1 million at a London auction held yesterday. Last year, a US court ruling demanded that a leading Austrian museum, pay $19 million (£11.52 million)in compensation […]
12 June 2011
Works Generously Donated by Artists Including: Gilbert & George, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami Chris Ofili, Richard Prince, Paula Rego and Cindy Sherman are predicted to raise unprecedented funds for the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery on 30 June. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery, opening in 2012, will be renovated and designed by Pritzker-Prize […]
7 June 2011
Andy Warhol’s portrait of Blondie star Debbie Harry goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s and is expected to fetch up to $8.8 million (£5.5 million) when auctioned on 11 June. The star a close friend and muse of the artist ,who had her biggest hit, Heart of Glass in 1980 was immortalized by Warhol in […]
6 June 2011
It has been rumoured that Sotheby’s has had its Lawyers sending litigation threats to one of the oldest online publications for writing a leading passage in an article. The report concerns the sale of Jeff Koons’ Pink Panther sculpture from his 1988 Banality series which took place in New York on 10 May. The auctioneers […]
25 May 2011
A record price for a photograph was achieved recently at Christies, New York. Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled #96′, part of a series compiling ten unpublished photographs commissioned by Artforum Magazine In 1981 now becomes the most expensive photograph ever sold. Sherman produced the series as a take off on men’s magazine centerfolds formating them as double […]
7 May 2011
Sotheby’s has announced that its forthcoming London Summer Contemporary Art Evening Auction will be led by “Crouching Nude”, an important canvas by the seminal British Artist Francis Bacon. The painting has never been offered at auction before and should realize at least £10 – 15 million . The oil on canvas was created in 1961 […]