ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Christie’s Offers $5.7 Million More of Yves Saint Laurent's Stuff

Bloomberg / August 12th, 2009

Following a record-breaking, 342.5 million euro auction last February, a second group of artworks from the collection of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his auction-house-owning partner Pierre Berge is expected to fetch up to 4 million euros ($5.7 million) when it appears for ...

Dirty Dark Ages Freshen Up in Paris Exhibit on Bathing

Bloomberg / August 12th, 2009

In the Middle Ages, most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled reasonably good at the wedding. Or so the old story goes. “The Bath and the Mirror,” an exhibition at the Musee de Cluny in Paris, strives to debunk the myth of the filthy Dark ...

N.Y. lawmakers may curtail museum de-accessions

Luxist / August 12th, 2009

Endowments are losing money, which means art museums have less to pay their staff and run their galleries. The solution? Well, they can fire some of their staff, or they can sell off some of their art. In the wake of the National Academy of Design Museum's controversial sale of Hudson River ...

Gem expert Campbell Bridges killed by Kenyan mob

London Times / August 12th, 2009

A renowned Scottish gem expert has been murdered in Kenya by a mob wielding knives, clubs, spears and bows and arrows. Campbell Bridges was known for introducing Tsavorite and Tanzanite, a gem that is one thousand times rarer than diamonds, to the marketplace...

Mona Lisa mugged

Guardian / August 11th, 2009

Leonardo's painting has been attacked with a teacup – is it time for the Louvre to change how it displays its most valuable art?    

L.A.'s Autry Center scraps $175-million expansion plan

LA Times Arts / August 11th, 2009

City approval hinged on Southwest Museum agreement...  

Viennese Culture on the Skids

New York Observer / August 11th, 2009

"Focus: Oksar Kokoschka” at the Neue Galerie comes right on time. The Viennese Expressionist, who died in 1980 at the age of 94, was one of the shattered visionaries of early-20th-century Modernism—a man on the edge....  

Armed gang escapes with £40 million in 'biggest UK jewellery heist'

London Times / August 11th, 2009

(LONDON) An armed gang took a woman hostage as they stole £40 million worth of rings, necklaces and bracelets from Graff's jewellers on Bond Street in what is thought to be Britain’s biggest jewellery robbery.

Museum of Modern Art’s Director Took a $630,000 Pay Cut

Bloomberg / August 10th, 2009

Glenn D. Lowry earned $1.32 million in pay and benefits running New York’s Museum of Modern Art in the year ending in June, down from $1.95 million the year before...

Steal a Classic Ferrari & More at Monterey Sale

Luxist / August 10th, 2009

On August 13th - 15th Russo & Steele will stage their Monterey Sports & Muscle sale in California, offering some incredible deals on classic Ferraris and more. On the high end is this 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, with an estimate of $1 million – $1.1 million...

$14 Million Rolls-Royce on Offer in Museum Sale Could Be World's Most Expensive Car

Luxist / August 10th, 2009

The one-of-a-kind 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II, known as the "Star of India", is being sold off by famed Rolls-Royce collector Hans-Günther Zach, who's liquidating his private museum dedicated to the marque in Germany...

Annie Leibovitz’s Epic N.Y. Renovations Spurred Lawsuit, Debt

Bloomberg / August 10th, 2009

The former owners of two 19th century homes in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village said they regret selling them in 2002 to photographer Annie Leibovitz, who is now in danger of losing the properties in a $24 million lawsuit.

Warhol's portrait of Michael Jackson goes on show pre-sale

Reuters / August 7th, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - A portrait of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, by the King of Pop Art, Andy Warhol, went on show in London on Thursday for three days in the lead-up to an auction in New York of the 1984 painting.  

U.K.'s Government Art Collection Adorns Offices

bloomberg / August 9th, 2009

There is a deceptive John Le Carre feeling about the U.K. Government Art Collection (or GAC). This collection -- equivalent to a small museum -- contains works by such well-known figures as William Hogarth, Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Andy Warhol. The last is an exception...

Jeff Koons: 'We Are Ourselves Inflatables'

UnBeige Mediabistro / August 6th, 2009

Jeff Koons oozes the wild charisma usually reserved for successful dictators. Be glad that he's using his powers for shiny, happy, multi-million-dollar good (and the odd invasion of Versailles)...

S.F. art community fears loss of Gap founder's massive collection

LA Times Arts / August 7th, 2009

Donald Fisher's plan to house his contemporary art in a new museum at San Francisco's historic Presidio ran afoul of preservationists, and now other cities are wooing him.  

Swell Summerhouse: Coliseum-builder's own ruins

Bloomberg / August 6th, 2009

Italian archeologists may have uncovered the summer villa of the Roman Emperor Vespasian near his birthplace in the mountains northeast of Rome, La Stampa newspaper reported.

Cartier-Bresson finally gets the focus

Bloomberg / August 6th, 2009

Better late than never. Two shows in Paris celebrate the centenary of the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was born in 1908.

Serenity now: Chinese Buddha heads Jenack auction

Auction Central News / August 6th, 2009

CHESTER, N.Y. - William Jenack Auctioneers will conduct a 395-lot Fine Art & Antiques auction, featuring a special selection of Asian art, on Aug. 9. Highlights include a Chinese carved limestone head of Buddha, Sui (581-618 A.D.) with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000...

Tea Table Primer

About.com / August 6th, 2009

Through the 18th century right up until the 1770s, a good number of small rectangular tables and round tilt-top tables were crafted in Colonial America, especially in Queen Anne and Chippendale styles. We usually refer to them as “tea tables,” but did they really have much to do with tea?