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Wayside Inn Antiques Show shines in second year
Antiques and the Arts / May 24th, 2011
Forty-six dealers assembled a fresh and inviting display of art and antiques, particularly strong in Americana and New England paintings, for the second annual Wayside Inn Antiques Show in Sudbury, Mass., from May 13 to 15. Guy Leblanc, the historic inn's Director of Marketing, cheerfully ...
New David McCullough book fleshes out Madame X scandal
The Daily Beast / May 23rd, 2011
When popular society artist John Singer Sargent unveiled his portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau at the 1884 Paris Salon---scandal ensued. Author David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, dishes out the scintillating story behind Sargent's most famous painting in his new ...
Qi Baishi painting soars to record $65m at Chinese auction
China / May 23rd, 2011
An ink wash painting by Qi Baishi (1864-1957) set an auction record of 425 million yuan (US$65.4 million) for Chinese art at the Guardian Spring Auction in Beijing on Sunday night. The sale totaled 1 billion yuan (US$649 million). "A Long Life, A Peaceful World," depicting an eagle on a pine ...
Imperial Chinese antiques spike London auction results
Bloomberg / May 22nd, 2011
London auction results in mid-May were boosted 180 percent by a growing demand among buyers for Chinese Imperial pieces. A record 58 million pounds ($93.9 million) was achieved in the sale series, almost three times the 20.6 million pounds total last May, according to Bloomberg. Bonhams alone ...
Cindy Sherman sets auction record for photography
PSFK / May 22nd, 2011
Art advisor Philippe Segalot reportedly purchased Cindy Sherman’s (b. 1954) “Untitled #96″ at a Christie’s auction in New York in May for $3.89 million, a record amount for a photograph at auction. “Untitled #96″ is one in the "Centerfolds" series of ten photographs commissioned in 1981, but ...
Thiebaud takes the cake at Sotheby's Allan Stone auction
New York Times / May 10th, 2011
The estate of Manhattan gallerist and collector Allan Stone yielded a trove of contemporary artworks which began the week of post-war and contemporary art auctions on a happy note. Three John Chamberlain sculptures, 9 Willem de Koonings, and twenty Wayne Thiebuad paintings helped boost the ...
Jewelry auctions in Geneva net nearly €140m
thejournal.ie / May 19th, 2011
Jewels with intruiging provenance or rare qualities piqued bidders' interest at Geneva auctions that fetched an impressive total of about €140m. A tiara commissioned for a German princess was among several record-setting pieces in the spring sale series in Switzerland. Christie’s sold more than ...
Four American artist records in solid Sotheby's sale
ArtfixDaily / May 19th, 2011
Thomas Hart Benton's politically-motivated painting of 1951, titled "Flood Disaster," fetched $1.87 million at a Sotheby's sale of American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture totaling $27.1 million on Thursday. American private collectors purchased the top ten lots of the sale. Six works went ...
Parrish panorama, W.T. Richards seascape buoy Christie's sale
ArtfixDaily / May 18th, 2011
A view of Mackerel Cove at Jamestown, Rhode Island, fetched $1,650,500, triple the previous auction record for a work by 19th c. artist William Trost Richards at Christie's on Wed. The total figure of $22,193,800 for the Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture sale was up over ...
Timely auction of Benton's "Flood Disaster"
CBS News / May 17th, 2011
The devastating effects of the recently rising Mississippi flood waters in the South are echoed in a 60-year-old painting offered at auction this week. "Flood Disaster," by American Scene painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton, is...
Rare Cropsey paintings sell for 100 times estimates
New York Times / May 16th, 2011
Two recently rediscovered works by Hudson River School artist Jasper F. Cropsey fetched a total of $840,000 at a Clarke Auction in Larchmont, New York, on May 15. A winter hunting scene at Niagara Falls snowballed to...
Yale debuts free online collection database
ArtfixDaily / May 13th, 2011
Yale University has launched a massive online database with records on over 250,000 objects from its museums, archives and libraries. Providing unprecedented, unlimited access to the Ivy League school's varied collections, including a tantalizing peek at artwork in storage, the digitization ...
$95m Phillips sale closes out $525m auction series
The Art Newspaper / May 12th, 2011
Phillips de Pury wrapped this week's auction series with a $94.8m sale of 50 lots of which 88% were sold by value, and 76% by lot. It was a Warhol-heavy, four days of postwar and contemporary sales, totaling $524.6m at the major auction houses. Phillips had Warhol's blue silkscreen "Liz #5 ...
MoMA to acquire building from American Folk Art Museum
artinfo / May 12th, 2011
New York's American Folk Art Museum is attempting to alleviate itself of a $32 million debt by selling its West 53rd Street flagship building to neighboring Museum of Modern Art. In a statement on Wednesday, MoMA told Artinfo, "This mutually beneficial arrangement between the two museums will ...
Warhol rules at $301.6 million Christie's sale
New York Times / May 11th, 2011
A bidding battle over a blue Andy Warhol sent the 1963-64 self-portrait to a final price of $38.4 million—well over the $30 million high estimate—at Christie's on Wednesday night. Bidders also confidently pursued Mark Rothko's “Untitled No. 17,” from 1961, to $33.6 million, above its $22 ...
Private art cache of Ernst Beyeler at Christie's sale
news.com.au / May 9th, 2011
Christie's will offer paintings, sculptures and sketches from legendary Swiss art dealer Ernst Beyeler (d. 2010) and his late wife and partner Hildy's private home and gallery collections, including works by Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Matisse, Kokoschka, Klee, Leger, ...
Tribal Art events in New York this week
ArtfixDaily / May 6th, 2011
Traditonal art from Africa, Oceania and the Americas takes center stage in New York City this week with a wealth of gallery exhibitons, auctions, and events focused on tribal art. NYC Tribal Art Week From May 9 to 15, coinciding with tribal art auctions at Sotheby's and Bonhams, a consortium ...
American Folk Art Museum passes fair to new owner
New York Times / May 7th, 2011
Ownership and management of the annual American Antiques Show, a ten-year-old fundraiser for New York's American Folk Art Museum, has been turned over to the Art Fair Company in an effort to stabilize the museum's finances. Faced with a default on nearly $32 million worth of bonds that it ...
More American masterworks exit Westervelt-Warner Museum
Tuscaloosa News / May 3rd, 2011
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, hard-hit by a deadly tornado on April 27, is facing up to $100 million in storm damage, according to reports. The city is also experiencing a cultural loss with the quiet exodus of exceptional artworks from its Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art. Last week, four more ...
American Folk Art Museum executive director quits
American Folk Art Museum / May 4th, 2011
Maria Ann Conelli, executive director of New York's American Folk Art Museum, announced on the museum's website on May 3 that she would be leaving in July to return to academia. The financially-troubled institution missed $3.7 million in payments to a debt service fund connected to bonds issued ...