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Dorothea Tanning, Surrealist Artist, Remembered
ArtfixDaily / February 5th, 2012
American artist Dorothea Tanning, prominent member of the Surrealist movement, passed away peacefully at her home in New York City at the age of 101 on January 31st. A late addition to the Surrealist movement, Tanning had outlived all of her contemporaries. She was well known for her ...
Cezanne Becomes Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold
U.K. Independent / February 6th, 2012
Over the weekend, news spread that Paul Cezanne's "The Card Players" was purchased for $250 million by the Qatari royal family from the collection of the late Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos. The staggering price is almost double the previous record for a work of art.
France Says Guy Wildenstein Owes $330 Million in Back Taxes
ArtfixDaily / February 4th, 2012
The French government is demanding that prominent art dealer Guy Wildenstein pay €250 million ($330 million) in back taxes. The head of the powerful art dealing family is said to have grossly undervalued his father's estate. Overall, the heirs of Daniel Wildenstein (d. 2001) owe...
L.A. Contemporary Artist, Mike Kelley, Remembered
Los Angeles Times / February 2nd, 2012
Known as a pioneering installation artist who put Los Angeles on the map as a contemporary art center in the 1980s, artist Mike Kelley has died at 57. Pending an autopsy, suicide is a possible cause. He was found in his home in South Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday evening. Kelley created ...
Stolen Pissarro Returns to France After Three Decades
ArtfixDaily / February 2nd, 2012
Thirty years ago, back in 1981, Emile Guelton walked into the Faure Museum in Aix-les-Bains, France, only to stroll out with a Camille Pissarro monotype under his jacket. The brazen criminal then managed to smuggle the image, entitled “Le Marché aux Poissons” to the United States where it was ...
Mona Lisa Double Reveals New Discoveries
Telegraph / February 1st, 2012
A recent cleaning of a painting in Madrid's Prado has unveiled some of the mystery surrounding Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-06). Previously thought to be a later and inferior copy, the restored painting has been determined to be the earliest copy of da Vinci's masterpiece, and importantly, created by a key pupil at the same time as the original.
Clock Runs Out on Trial of Antiquities Dealer
New York Times / January 31st, 2012
A three-judge panel in Rome threw out the trial of American antiquities dealer Robert Hecht, 92, ruling that the statue of limitations on the alleged crimes had run out. Accused of receiving artifacts illegally looted from Italy and conspiring to deal in them, Hecht was on trial for six years, concurrently with Marion True...
Old Masters with Staying Power Buoy Auction Series to $122 Million
Telegraph / January 31st, 2012
Falling below expectations, the Old Masters auction sales in New York brought in a combined total of $122 million last week. About one-third of offered lots went unsold. Buyers were choosy and works with conservative estimates sold well, along with enduringly-popular...
Gardner Museum Addition Dazzles Critics, Some of the Crowd
Boston Globe / January 29th, 2012
A glass box-like punctuation point to its original palazzo-style museum, the new Renzo Piano-designed addition of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opened January 19 to critical acclaim, with accolades for the functionality of the architecture itself. The Boston Globe notes, "...its sloping ...
Americana Week Tops $47 Million in Auction Sales
Antiques and the Arts / January 26th, 2012
Nearly $47 million was spent on American art and antiques at five auction houses during Americana Week in New York. About 2,000 lots were offered in sales from January 16 to 22 during the focused series of events that includes a host of related antiques fairs, gallery shows, and museum exhibitions. Five highlights from the sales:
Westmoreland Museum of American Art Receives $8 Million Grant
ArtfixDaily / January 25th, 2012
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, in Greensburg, Penn., has received the largest donation in its history, which will go towards its endowment and capital campaign. An $8 million grant from...
Animal Art Collection of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Offered in New York
ArtfixDaily / January 25th, 2012
A focused collection of artworks, once belonging to philanthropist and art patron Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, has come up for sale to benefit an animal shelter. The late Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge was known as the favorite niece of oil tycoon John Rockefeller, but she is perhaps even better ...
Museum Shows $70 Million Holbein Painting Snapped Up by German Billionaire
ArtfixDaily / January 24th, 2012
Billionaire industrialist and art collector Reinhold Wuerth last year purchased a Hans Holbein painting for about $70 million, the highest amount ever paid for a work of art in Germany, according to reports. An art collector for more than forty years, Wuerth decided that the "Madonna with the ...
Luxembourg-based Art Fund Sets Its Sights on Abstract Expressionists
ArtfixDaily / January 24th, 2012
Wealthy investors and art connoisseurs may be lured into a new investment possibility. A group called the Art Collection Fund is ambitiously inviting investors to join in a plan to buy approximately $80 million worth of art with a potential annual return of 12%.
American Folk Art Museum Rings in 2012 with New Exhibit, Major Donations
ArtfixDaily / January 20th, 2012
A recent $3.5 million in gifts is allowing the American Folk Art Museum to keep its doors open in Lincoln Square on New York's Upper West Side. Last week, a new exhibit opened, "Jubilation/Rumination, Life: Real and Imagined," in the 5,000 square foot space. The 100-piece exhibit is drawn from ...
$1 Million Dollar Sampler, $3.5 Million Highboy Star at Sotheby's
ArtfixDaily / January 22nd, 2012
A John Townsend high chest, inscribed Newport 1756, had it all: original finish, hardware, and finial; impeccable provenance; and style representing the pinnacle of colonial American craftsmanship. From a $2-3 million presale estimate, the piece soared to $3,554,500 at Sotheby's Important ...
George Washington Wine Cooler Reaps $782,500 at Christie's
ArtfixDaily / January 22nd, 2012
A wine cooler, which George Washington presented to Alexander Hamilton as a gift, far exceeded its expected sale price at auction, going for $782,500 on January 19th. The cooler was designed according to specifications given by George Washington himself...
LA Art Show at a Glance
ArtfixDaily / January 19th, 2012
Lively and crowded, the opening night of the revamped LA Art Show: Modern and Contemporary and The Los Angeles Fine Art Show: Historic and Traditional proved a popular success. Running side-by-side with the IFPDA Fine Print Fair and a Vintage Posters section, over 10,000 diverse artworks are ...
Ellsworth Kelly, Female Surrealists Headline at LACMA
ArtfixDaily / January 19th, 2012
Two important exhibitions will be opening later this month at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA.) “Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Painting,” which debuts on January 22, is the first retrospective of Kelly’s print work since 1988. In addition, the first large-scale, international exhibition ...
Knoedler Scandal Entangles Other Art Galleries
ArtfixDaily / January 16th, 2012
Further information is coming to light regarding the scandal around New York's Knoedler Gallery. The Upper East Side gallery abruptly shut its doors in late 2011, hard on the heels of news that two former employees of the gallery were being investigated for allegedly having peddled fake artworks. ...