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Striking masterpieces on view at the Frick
New York Post / March 11th, 2010
Gainsborough, Rembrandt, and Canaletto are a few of the European masters on loan from London's Dulwich Picture Gallery to New York's Frick Collection. View treasures such as the 1771-72 portrait of the lovely Linley sisters, before scandal and tragedy marred their lives, expertly captured by ...
Bank goes after art dealer Edelman
Reuters / March 11th, 2010
Former corporate raider turned art dealer, Asher Edelman, has been sued by Emigrant Bank for more than $3.1 million after allegedly defaulting on some loans, including one to buy "Torse de Femme" by Alberto Giacometti. Edelman, who runs a modern art gallery on the Upper East Side, said in an ...
Abstract expressionists get splashed on stamps
NJ.com / March 11th, 2010
The U.S. Postal Service is printing 3 million sheets of stamps featuring bold works by 10 American artists of the mid-20th century. The 44-cent commemoratives showcase Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Clyford Still, ...
Museum sues art insurer over Salander's steals
Courthouse News Service / March 11th, 2010
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is suing AXA Art Insurance for not honoring a $1.5 million claim for two paintings consigned by the museum to a bankrupt New York art dealer. "The Harbor" by Maurice Prendergast and "Mountain Landscape" by Arthur B. Davies were given to Lawrence Salander, of ...
Behind-the-scenes look at the perenially popular "First Ladies" exhibit
Washington Post blog / March 10th, 2010
The First Ladies Exhibition, including a display of inaugral ball gowns, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, is one of the most popular elements of the museum. Newly expanded, the gallery now includes Michelle Obama's white, Jason Wu-designed gown. Take a tour ...
Experts divided over Degas discovery
The Art Newspaper / March 10th, 2010
The Art Newspaper's Martin Bailey delves into the story of a set of plasters, uncovered in France, with a possible link to Degas. If the attribution rings true, this cache could represent one of the greatest of recent art finds. The unauthenticated plasters have already been cast ...
High hopes for blue-chip art sales at TEFAF
Luxist / March 10th, 2010
The Dutch city of Maastricht is now hosting 263 top dealers, bringing about $2.7 billion worth of art and antiques to the world's biggest art fair, TEFAF. Opening night, this Thursday, may be a litmus test for how buyers will react to such offerings as a $15 million ...
Christie's picked to auction $150 million Calif. art collection
New York Times / March 10th, 2010
Valued in excess of $150 million, the modern art collection of Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody will be sold at Christie’s in New York in May. Mrs. Brody died at age 93 in November. Christie's was able to secure the collection, after a battle with Sotheby's, by offering the ...
Annie Leibovitz gets help with her debts
Montreal Gazette / March 9th, 2010
Photographer Annie Leibovitz has turned to a private equity firm to help restructure her enormous debt load. Last summer the celebrity photographer narrowly averted foreclosure after she missed a payment deadline for her $24 million loans owed to Art Capital Group. Her properties and archives ...
2010: A scaled-back Whitney Biennial
California Literary Review / March 9th, 2010
The simple title "2010" for this year's Whitney Biennial seems appropriate for a recession-era show with a pared-down selection of works. From art described as "mere decorative" to "humanistic," this 75th iteration of the influential American art venue, on view at the Whitney Museum through May ...
Donor displeasure over Western Reserve Historical Society auctions
Cleveland Plain Dealer / March 9th, 2010
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Sunday that the Western Reserve Historical Society has been quietly selling pieces from its collections at auctions to pay down a staggering $7.2 million debt. The Ohio institution's debt has been reduced to $2.6 million, but gone from the collections are ...
Amazing details of hidden Giotto come to light
Vancouver Sun / March 9th, 2010
Restorers used ultraviolet light to examine paintings by Giotto, who is credited as the first of the Renaissance masters, in the Peruzzi Chapel inside Florence's Santa Croce church. Centuries-old restorations have obscured the chiaroscuro effects and original details by the artist's hand. Under ...
A sale chock-full of clocks
Luxist / March 8th, 2010
Nearly 500 lots, dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries, in a wide variety of styles and price ranges, is on offer at the Bonhams & Butterfields Fine European Furniture and Decorative Arts sale in Los Angeles on March 29. With a focus on pieces of English, French, Italian, Spanish ...
Art market rebound talk at Armory Week
Bloomberg / March 8th, 2010
Some exhibiting galleries at the bevy of fairs making up New York's Armory Week, which ended March 7, report the art market is back to "crazy," although collectors were keen to get quality at the right price. Sales at the Art Show included small watercolors depicting flowers and pregnant ...
Bonhams eyes Asia for expansion opportunities
Wall Street Journal / March 8th, 2010
Following last week's announcement that Bonhams will open an outpost in Tokyo, Robert Brooks, the London-based chairman of the international auction house, now plans to relaunch a branch in Australia. Bonhams already has a presence in Hong Kong, where rivals Christie's and Sotheby's have also set ...
Cost-cutting pushes up profits for Sotheby's
BusinessWeek / March 8th, 2010
Sotheby’s reported a fourth-quarter profit of $73.6 million, its second best quarter ever, reportedly due to a downsizing of staff (1/5 lost jobs), salary cuts, and the elimination of money-losing price guarantees. Chief Executive Officer William Ruprecht has now had his full salary restored to ...
Vermont Statehouse displays $1.5 million painting
WCAX / March 7th, 2010
A genre painting by 19th c. American artist Thomas Waterman Wood, whose top auction price is $180,000, according to AskArt, has been valued at upwards of $1 million. The 28-by-40-inch work, from the T.W. Wood Gallery, was hung in the legislative lounge of Vermont's Statehouse in an effort to ...
Optimism, sales at New York's Armory Week
Luxist / March 7th, 2010
The modern and contemporary art fairs last week were upbeat. Luxist lists four reasons: Big names brought in buyers, solo booths let collectors focus on one artist, big-ticket sales were back, and traditional art provided a counter-point to the cutting-edge. Recent record-smashing auction ...
American Indian art from Thaw collection dazzles in traveling show
Cleveland Plain Dealer / March 7th, 2010
Cleveland Museum of Art has organized a powerful survey of art made by Native North Americans during the tumultuous resettlement years between 1820 and 1920. The 120 works on loan from the Fenimore Museum's renowned Thaw collection, mixed with 15 pieces from Cleveland's own collection, delivers ...
The appeal of duck decoys
Clevelan Plain-Dealer / March 7th, 2010
The collecting bug hit Jon Deeter, of the Ohio Decoy Collectors and Carvers Association (ODCCA), with the gift of an old, beat-up decoy carved in the 1930s. He now pursues the thrill of hunting down antique decoys, especially vintage Mason Decoy Factory. The 33rd annual ODCCA Show on March ...