ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

A newly-authenticated Van Gogh

Dutch News / February 24th, 2010

Art experts have decided an 1886 painting titled "Le Blute-fin Mill," depicting Montmartre in Paris, is the work of Vincent Van Gogh. The scene features a large amount of colorful figures, an atypical element in Van Gogh's work, gathered around a windmill. Museum director and collector Dirk ...

University faces more legal hurdles in art collection sale

Tennessean / February 23rd, 2010

Attorney General Bob Cooper issued a statement on Tuesday saying that a collection of 110 works of art, given by artist Georgia O'Keeffe to Fisk University, can not be moved. The Tennessee Supreme Court refused to hear the case so the fate of the artwork will be decided in chancery court within ...

Financial fortunes rise for Boston's Gardner Museum

Boston Business Journal / February 22nd, 2010

Rich in works by Old Masters and American impressionists, the palazzo-like Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum says its investment portfolio closed out the year valued at $161.6 million — some 53 percent higher than at the end of June, the close of its last fiscal year. A rise in the stock market and ...

Was Monet the father of Abstract Expressionism?

Reuters / February 22nd, 2010

With more than 100 works, Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza museum will attempt to show that French Impressionist Claude Monet influenced a stream of young artists of the post-WWII era, such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. On the Web, visit the museum's micro-site on the ...

Austrian museum offers multi-course dinner/exhibit viewing combo

Luxist / February 21st, 2010

On Thursday nights, Vienna's Museum of Fine Arts lures in tourists and locals alike with a tantalizing dinner and dessert buffet, not to mention the masterpieces of art. Leading caterer Gerstner provides a lavish spread, allowing for a taste of Caprese salad after taking in a Canova. Visitors ...

Mid-market art stolen from Europe often lands in U.S.

Naples News / February 18th, 2010

Robert Wittman, the de facto head of the FBI’s art theft program from 1988 until 2008, has tracked down stolen Goyas, a Rembrandt, and five Norman Rockwells, among many other multi-million dollar artworks.  Art and antiques originating in theft hotspots like Europe, South America, and ...

“Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker”

TCPalm / February 18th, 2010

A cache of artworks stolen by the Nazis from an influential Dutch art dealer now graces the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach in a traveling exhibition. Forty paintings, dating from the Renaissance through 19th c., highlights from the 200 works returned to ...

'Cezanne and American Modernism'

Washington Post / February 17th, 2010

A fascinating exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art traces the exuberant, all-over-the-map responses of 33 early 20th-century American artists to Cezanne's works in the decades when his oils and watercolors were more a matter of rumor than a mainstay of modern museums.

Signs of Rebound in Antiques Market

New York Times Art / February 17th, 2010

After 12 months in which antiques sales were down and prices fell, collectors and dealers again flocked to major antique shows last month in New York. Red dots were plentiful, but according to some of the shows' exhibitors, there are still good buys to be had in certain categories, such as ...

The Art of the Steal

Huffington Post / February 16th, 2010

The story of Alfred C. Barnes reflects the American Dream, except, after his death, his worst nightmare unfolded. He rose from poverty to invent a popular drug that helped build an immense personal fortune. His wealth created a world-class art collection (ie., 181 Renoirs), now estimated to be ...

European art fairs will test the waters next month

Auction Central News / February 16th, 2010

March features TEFAF Maastricht, the British Antique Dealers' Association Fair (BADA), and a double-dip recession hovering over parts of Europe. Prices for top-tier art continue to hit the stratosphere so buyers are expected to seize prime offerings from the shows' exhibitors, including a ...

Renaissance renderings that show an artist in love

Guardian / February 16th, 2010

The Courtauld Gallery in London has mounted a powerful exhibition of the greatest drawings that survive from Michelangelo's hand. Many of these sketches, primarily made as studies for sculptures, paintings and buildings, served as the artist's love gifts. ...

Sculpture of a humble man stokes art market to new level

New York Times / February 16th, 2010

In 2009, art auction prices plummeted 24%, according to the Mei Moses Fine Art Index. Economic uncertainty caused art buyers (and sellers) at the very top level to flinch, but perhaps just for a moment. The highest price ever paid for an auctioned artwork, $104.3 ...

Queen Victoria's taste for titillating art exposed

Telegraph / February 15th, 2010

She is portrayed as a repressed and melancholy widow who spent much of her life clad in black. But a new art exhibition will challenge this traditional view of Queen Victoria by revealing her as a passionate, open-minded woman. Opening March 19 at the The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, the ...

Gauguin's 'Nevermore' voted Britain's most romantic painting

Telegraph / February 14th, 2010

The Courtauld Gallery's painting of a Tahitian girl reclining on a bed, against a background of a raven on a ledge and two figures in conversation, won a poll conducted by The Art Fund charity. A shortlist of five paintings from British collections by artists including Samuel John Peploe, Jan van ...

Renoir's influential late period work at LACMA

Los Angeles Times / February 14th, 2010

With subjects like his estate in the south of France and portraits of the family nanny---with and without her clothes on---the late work of Auguste Renoir offers an intimate look at the great Impressionist's surroundings and companions. A traveling exhibition, now at the ...

Italian judge demands return of the Getty Bronze

Los Angeles Times / February 11th, 2010

A judge in Italy has ordered the confiscation of the famed Statue of the Victorious Youth, which is also known as the Getty Bronze. The artwork, which dates from 300 B.C. to 100 B.C., is currently a star in the collection at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In the past, the Getty has stated that ...

Biblical brothers, scorched saints intrigue in Met's Bronzino show

Bloomberg / February 9th, 2010

An exhibition on Florentine artist Agnolo Bronzino (1503-72) at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art serves up almost 60 pieces by this master draftsman ranging from doodles and rough sketches to dazzling figures and portraits -- all serving the function of practice for a separate finished work. ...

PREVIEW: From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance

ARTFIXdaily / January 6th, 2010

Moretti Fine Art will stage their third US exhibition, entitled From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance, at their gallery at 24 East 80th Street, New York, from 19 January to 12 February 2010.  Some twenty works will not only reveal the richness of gold-ground and panel ...

Picasso, other art works stolen from Provencal villa

Reuters / January 3rd, 2010

Thieves have stolen about 30 paintings, including works by Pablo Picasso and post-impressionist Henri Rousseau, from a private villa in the south of France, police said on Saturday. The haul was worth about 1 million euros ($1.43 million). The theft was discovered on Thursday by a caretaker at ...