ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

In China, Sotheby's to pursue legal action for non-payments

Luxist / February 10th, 2010

Sotheby's is suing two Chinese buyers for $270,300 because they never paid the tabs they bid up. According to Sotheby's, one winning bidder of a Qing Dynasty cloisonné censer and cover didn't pony up the cash required, "despite repeated requests and demands."  With Hong Kong now the ...

Like Egypt, China demands return of art treasures from abroad

Reuters / November 17th, 2009

China has ratcheted up pressure for imperial treasures to be repatriated, condemning overseas auctions of its relics. Now Chinese art authorities are planning to catalog Chinese pieces currently housed in overseas institutions. The poster child for this movement: Two bronze animal heads ...

Chinese collectors eagerly repatriate their art

Bloomberg / November 4th, 2009

London auction houses are selling 16 million pounds ($26 million) of Asian art this week as a record number of buyers from mainland China flock to Britain. These newly wealthy collectors are buying at the highest level. By Nov. 3, west London dealer Marchant had sold 21 of the 54 pieces of ...

Art Wars: Singapore vs. Hong Kong

Wall Street Journal / October 29th, 2009

Among the trophies of a war between Singapore and Hong Kong: an ancient Chinese imperial throne worth US$11 million which set an auction record in Hong Kong recently. Longtime rivals in trade and finance, Hong Kong and Singapore are vying to become Asia's regional arts hub, part of a strategy to ...

Calligraphy Sells: Record price smashed for Arab art

Maktoob Business / October 28th, 2009

A double calligraphy by Egyptian artist Ahmed Mustafa became the most expensive work by an Arab artist on Tuesday, selling for $662,500 at a Christie's auction in Dubai and raising hopes of a recovery in the Middle East’s struggling art market. Mustafa’s "Remembrance and Gratitude" went under the ...

Chinese Art for Sale: Great English collections going to foreign buyers

New York Times Art / October 24th, 2009

As Asian Art in London opens on Thursday, British collecting in the field of Chinese art is in steep decline, in startling contrast with the strength of the English trade. London is the undisputed international capital of the Chinese art trade, with some 30 serious dealers, more than the whole of ...

Asian Art in London: From 17th-century jade to Mao vases, diverse offerings for sale

Wall Street Journal / October 26th, 2009

Galleries, auctions houses and museums join forces this week for the 12th annual Asian Art in London (Oct. 29-Nov. 7) which will include special shows at some 40 galleries, dealing in the ancient and the contemporary, with works from China, Japan, Korea, India and the Himalayas. Christie's, ...

Buyers Eager for Edo Period: Japanese armor hits record price of $602,500

Japan Today / October 26th, 2009

A 17th century suit of Japanese armor fetched a record $602,500 at an auction in New York on Friday. The successful bid for the Edo Period armor named Honkozane Nimai Do Gusoku—red and blue laced and gold lacquered—marked a new world auction record for Japanese armor, Christie’s said. The armor, ...

"Looking East": Exhibit of young Chinese artists touches on cultural discord

Kansas City Star / October 22nd, 2009

Kansas City art dealer Byron Cohen sold more than $1 million worth of contemporary Chinese art at last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach art fair. Now, his gallery's “Looking East,” an exhibit of seven artists from China, includes works that address discord in contemporary Chinese culture. In three ...

Asia Eyes Ultra-luxury: Auction houses shift sales to Hong Kong

New York Times / October 13th, 2009

In December, Christie’s will auction off “the Vivid Pink,” a bubble-gum-colored five-carat diamond with an estimated value of $5 million to $7 million. But instead of scheduling the sale for New York or Geneva, the city chosen was Hong Kong. Asia’s role in the market for super high-end luxury ...

Market Upswing: Sotheby's reports third highest sales in Hong Kong

Reuters / October 8th, 2009

HONG KONG - Sotheby's made a higher-than-expected $168 million or so in total sales for its autumn Asian auctions in Hong Kong. The sales tally for the array of Chinese antiques and paintings, Asian contemporary art, wine, jewelry and watches was 88 percent higher than its spring sales tally, ...

Building a Taste for Contemporary: Seoul auctioneer aims to corner art market in Asia

Reuters / October 1st, 2009

SEOUL - South Korean auction house Seoul Auction is hoping to interest Chinese and other Asian collectors in modern Western and contemporary art, with the lofty aim of beating Sotheby's and Christie's in the region. The 11-year-old auction house, which earlier this year sold British artist Damien ...

Perennially Popular: This Weekend's Merchandise Mart Antiques Fair

Pioneer Local / September 30th, 2009

CHICAGO - Two local antique dealers are looking forward to showcasing their finds at the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair, Oct. 2-5. Margaret Chung of Three Friends Studio is riding the market high for Chinese antiquities. Her stand will present a sandstone triad with a Buddha figure ...

New Video: Artists recall birth pains of contemporary Chinese art

Reuters / September 28th, 2009

HONG KONG (Reuters Life!) - Just over 30 years ago, not long after the death of Mao Zedong, a group of young Chinese artists staged an exhibition that pushed back on a decade of tyranny and helped pave the way for Chinese art's global rise. Artwork was hung outside Beijing's National Art Gallery ...

Asian Art Week: New Chinese buyers, import restrictions jiggle the market

Wall Street Journal / September 24th, 2009

NEW YORK - Asian Art Week, amid the most entrenched art-market recession in nearly two decades, saw many auction prices go through the roof while other sales languished with 40% unsold lots. Together, Christie's and Sotheby's raised about $56 million, high above expectations. Works from the ...

Asian Art this Fall: Stellar provenance may buoy Sotheby's sales

Reuters / September 15th, 2009

Sotheby's kicks off its sales of Chinese and Indian works of art this week in New York confident that despite the worst recession in 70 years prices for Asian art will be buoyant. Works from the collections of the widow of Nelson Rockefeller, Dr. Arthur Sackler, and other prominent collectors ...

Old Shards to New Video: LACMA exhibits 1,000 years of Korean history

LA Times Arts / September 13th, 2009

In May 1965, two months after the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened its doors, Yook Young-soo, the wife of Park Chung-hee, president of the Republic of Korea, paid a visit. She was so disappointed with the paltry display of Korean art that she gave the fledgling institution 23 ceramic ...

Recession-busting Blockbusters: Ohio museums serve up crowd-pleasing shows, even on small budgets

Cleveland Plain Dealer / September 14th, 2009

Paul Gauguin, Chuck Close, and Dale Chihuly are just a few exhibition headliners this fall in Ohio where blockbusters are keeping the visual arts scene lively. Of note, Cincinnati Art Museum is showing "Roaring Tigers, Leaping Carp: Decoding the Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting" with ...

Collecting Fine China: Antiquities market has a new dynamic

Forbes / September 10th, 2009

The market for ancient Chinese works of art--terra-cotta horses, ceramic vessels, bronzes, jades, and Buddha statues that predate the Tang dynasty (a.d. 618 to 907)--is largely undervalued, and there's still a plentiful supply, from rarities with significant provenance to pieces that simply make ...

Digitized Culture: High-tech copies preserve original art, architecture

asahi / September 8th, 2009

TOKYO - The protection of cultural properties is going digital, with Buddhist sculptures, old paintings and World Heritage sites like Beijing's Forbidden City being preserved as digital images and in video. The move is a result of not just progress in image processing technology but of awareness ...