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Most Popular Art & Antiques News of 2011 on ARTFIXdaily
ArtfixDaily / December 21st, 2011
Museum acquisitions and deaccessions, auction records, gallery exhibitions, legal matters, and art fair highlights lead the content to spark ARTFIXdaily readers' interest in 2011. The top news stories of the year spanned from Ai Weiwei's detainment to a rediscovered Leonardo da Vinci, from a ...
American Folk Art Museum May Exhibit at Seaport Museum
GalleristNY / December 20th, 2011
Two New York museums that have narrowly survived the current economic times will possibly partner together in a series of exhibitions hosted by the Seaport Museum in 2012. Earlier this year, the American Folk Art Museum was forced to...
UK Dealers Bemoan EU Art Tax; US Lawmakers Introduce Droit de Suite Bill
BBC News / December 19th, 2011
British art dealers are lamenting the enforcement this January of a "droit de suite" which provides artists' heirs - within 70 years of their death - with a percentage of the re-sale price of their work. Also, a droit de suite bill to provide living artists with resale royalties for auctioned works was introduced last week in the U.S. Congress.
Pre-Raphaelite Picture Reaps Auction Record Price
Northampton Chronicle / December 18th, 2011
A world record price was set for the work of Frank Cadogan Cowper (English, 1877-1958) at Christie’s in London for a 40in by 30in painting titled Our Lady Of The Fruits Of The Earth. Created in 1917, Cowper's vibrant oil had been expected to sell for between £150,000 and £250,000, but in the ...
Surrealist Price Surge in $19 Million Sotheby's Sale
ArtfixDaily / December 18th, 2011
Last week, Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art evening sale reached its high-end estimate, totaling $19.3 million. Three pieces by the German Surrealist Max Ernst (1891-1976) drew the biggest bids. Ernst's scene of bizarre battling characters drew...
Stanford to Showcase Anderson Collection in $30 Million New Building
ArtfixDaily / December 16th, 2011
Stanford University has chosen the New York-based architectural firm Ennead Architects to design the structure that will house the University’s recent acquisition, the impressive Anderson Collection. This art collection was one of the most outstanding private collections of 20th century ...
Elizabeth Taylor’s Precious Jewels, Gowns Take the Crown at Auction
ArtfixDaily / December 15th, 2011
Seven world records were set at the jewel auction of the late Hollywood screen legend, and ardent jewelry lover, Elizabeth Taylor, that took place at Christie’s New York this week. On Tuesday, 80 singular lots were offered and all 80 quickly sold, fetching a total of $115.9 million, making it ...
Well-attended American Art Fair Shines in New Venue
Antiques and the Arts / December 14th, 2011
The fourth incarnation of The American Art Fair triumphed at a dazzling new venue from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2011. Held for the first time at the Bohemian National Hall, a Renaissance Revival style building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the focused fair featured 17 leading gallery exhibitors offering prime examples of historic American art.
First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum
ArtfixDaily / December 13th, 2011
A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. ...
Virtual Art Buying Gets a Boost From New Websites
Wall Street Journal / December 12th, 2011
A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.
New Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to Showcase Important American Art
ArtfixDaily / December 12th, 2011
Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. ...
Museum Curator as Art Detective
Boston Globe / December 11th, 2011
At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...
Private Collection of L.C. Tiffany Paintings Featured in Exhibition
ArtfixDaily / December 11th, 2011
This weekend, an exhibit opened at the Nassau County Museum of Art, featuring approximately 125 of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s oil paintings and works on paper. The works are on loan from a private Long Island collection. Tiffany traveled extensively in Spain and North Africa, and several works in ...
Record Prices for Old Masters in London Auctions
ArtfixDaily / December 8th, 2011
Several artists achieved world record prices at the series of Old Masters paintings sales in London this week. A work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger sold for an artist auction record price of £6.9 million ($10.7 million) at Christie's in London to lead its $37.6 million Old Master & ...
Another Rediscovered da Vinci?
ArtfixDaily / December 7th, 2011
A group of art historians, organized by UC San Diego Professor Maurizio Seracini, believe that a lost da Vinci masterpiece is hidden behind a 16th-century fresco created by Giorgio Vasari in the Palazzo Vecchio. They've been given permission to drill...
New Technology Rediscovers a Hidden Rembrandt
Reuters / December 6th, 2011
A painting attributed to one of Rembrandt's students has now been identified as one done by the master's hand. An advanced x-ray technology has revealed outlines of a self-portrait by a young Rembrandt underneath an oil painting of an old bearded man.
Record Attendance, Heady Sales at Miami Art Week
ArtfixDaily / December 5th, 2011
The tenth edition of the largest contemporary art fair in the U.S., Art Basel Miami Beach drew a record 50,000 visitors while the city's anchor fair, Art Miami, more than doubled its collective sales figures over last year and achieved a record gate of 55,000.
"The Splendor of Cuba: 450 Years of Architecture and Interiors," a Rewarding Peak at a Rich Culture
ArtfixDaily / December 5th, 2011
This lavishly-illustrated tome, written by West Indian decorative arts specialist Michael Connors, is an unprecedented tour of stunning and architecturally significant Cuban palacios, mansions, and private homes that have been meticulously preserved, previously un-photographed, and inaccessible to ...
Significant Acquisitions for Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
ArtfixDaily / December 5th, 2011
Earlier this year, the Getty Center acquired a significant work by renowned French painter, Édouard Manet. This week, it will go on view. The oil painting, entitled “Portrait of Madame Brunet,” is characteristic of Manet’s early Realist style and dates from the period when he created his two ...
Feds Investigate Possible Forgeries of Modern Art
New York Times / December 4th, 2011
Works by iconic postwar artists such as Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, as well as Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn, are being examined in a federal investigation. Under scrutiny as possible forgeries are a number of these modern masters' paintings and drawings sold through prestigious Manhattan galleries. The questionable artworks came to market through...