ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Ken Griffin Spends $500 Million on Two Abstract Expressionist Artworks

Bloomberg / February 20th, 2016

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has spent nearly $500 million on paintings by Abstract Expressionist masters Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. It ranks among the biggest private art deals ever, with the Pollock price matching Qatar's $300 million purchase of Paul Gauguin's "When ...

Knoedler and the De Soles Settle in Fake Rothko Trial

New York Times / February 10th, 2016

Knoedler & Co. settled with the collectors Domenico and Eleanore De Sole in a highly-watched trial that paraded art experts, curators and artists' family members on the witness stand. The trial undfolded over 12 days in Federal Court in Manhattan, until Wednesday when the parties announced a ...

Knoedler Trial Suspended Right Before Ann Freedman's Testimony

ArtfixDaily / February 9th, 2016

After a lunch break on Tuesday in the high-profile Knoedler art fraud trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the courtroom was packed as onlookers anticipated hearing gallery owner Michael Hammer and former gallery director, Ann Freedman, testify. When Judge Paul G. Gardephe filed in after ...

Knoedler's Ann Freedman Settles Out of Court in Rothko Trial

New York Times / February 8th, 2016

Embattled gallerist Ann Freedman settled out of court with the buyers of a fake Mark Rothko painting on Sunday, reports The New York Times. Collectors Domenico and Eleanore De Sole were seeking $25 million in federal court from Knoedler & Co., its parent company and Freedman, who ...

Chicago Group's Legal Action Disrupts Lucas Museum Plans

Chicago Tribune / February 7th, 2016

A spring groundbreaking for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, planned to open on Chicago's prime lakefront property, may not happen. U.S. District Judge John Darrah ruled Thursday that the state's public trust doctrine may been infringed upon, allowing a lawsuit by the preservation ...

Art Institute of Chicago Appoints New Director

Chicago Tribune / January 28th, 2016

After an international search, the Art Institute of Chicago has chosen James Rondeau, chair of the museum's department of modern and contemporary art, to replace Douglas Druick as president. The museum's board voted Thrusday morning for Rondeau, 46, to become president and Eloise W. Martin ...

"Conspiracy" Claimed in Knoedler Trial Over Fake Art

AFD / January 28th, 2016

Plaintiffs Domenico and Eleanore De Sole in the Knoedler gallery art forgery case were heard on Wednesday. The Manhattan federal-court trial is expected to last four weeks. Taking the stand, ex-Gucci CEO Domenico de Sole, now the chair of Tom Ford International and Sotheby’s, said, “I ...

American Art in the Spotlight at Winter Antiques Show

FOX / January 26th, 2016

TEFAF board member and art collector Michel Cox Witmer was interviewed on FOX News about investment opportunities in American art displayed at the Winter Antiques Show, on through Jan. 31 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Witmer pointed out three works on exhibit that he ...

Sotheby's Loses $12 Million on Taubman Sale, But Wins Top Auction Price For Americana Week

ArtfixDaily / January 25th, 2016

Sotheby’s secured an overall total of $18.9 million for its Americana Week auctions ending Sunday. The news came after Friday's announcement that the auction house had an estimated $12 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2015 as a result of the A. Alfred Taubman sale, featuring ...

Knoedler Gallery Trial Begins Over Fake Rothko

New York Times / January 25th, 2016

Ten lawsuits erupted from the scandal over $63 million in fake artworks sold through New York's once venerable Knoedler & Company gallery. Over the course of 15 years, some 30 works were passed off to clients as by the hands of modern masters---from Jackson Pollock to Mark Rothko. Now, the ...

Library Refuses $6 Million Offer For Its Grant Wood Painting

THOnline / January 25th, 2016

The board of trustees at an Iowa library voted unanimously last fall to reject an offer of $6 million from the John Surovek Art Gallery in Palm Beach, Fla., on behalf of an anonymous client, for a painting it owns by famed Regionalist artist Grant Wood. According to reports, ...

Quirky to Classic Americana Served Up at Sotheby's

Sotheby's / January 21st, 2016

Cornelius Vanderbilt's gold cigar case. A New Orleans Voodoo Clock. And "one of the greatest collections of Americana ever assembled" are what Sotheby's says are on offer this week as part of Americana Week in New York. City-wide auctions, shows, exhibitions and events kicked off on ...

'Ray Spillenger: Rediscovery of a Black Mountain College Painter' Opens in Asheville

Citizen-Times / January 18th, 2016

Ray Spillenger: Rediscovery of a Black Mountain College Painter, on view January 22 through May 21, 2016, at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, N.C., is a ground-breaking exhibition of work by an overlooked artist who was active at the dawn of American ...

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Artists' Resale Royalties Appeal

Lexology / January 13th, 2016

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of last year’s Ninth Circuit decision striking down part of the California Resale Royalty Act, reports Lexology. Writes Nicholas M. O'Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester LLP: "The law provided royalties to artists on sales after the work ...

Portland Museum of Art to Unveil Two Major Acquisitions

MPBN / January 4th, 2016

The 135-year-old Portland Museum of Art in Maine is undergoing a transformation. After a first phase of refurbishment, this noted repository of American, European and contemporary art -- including a trove of Winslow Homer works and the artist's studio -- will open with some changes later this ...

Ellsworth Kelly, Artist, Remembered

Guardian / December 28th, 2015

Famed American abstract artist and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly passed away Sunday at his home in Spencertown, New York. He was 92. Influenced by Picasso and Matisse, Kelly studied art in Paris on the GI Bill after serving in World War II. “In his work Kelly abstracts the forms in his paintings ...

Germany Negotiates Possible $3m Loan Fee For Tehran Museum's Modern Art

TAN / December 26th, 2015

Works from Iran's long-hidden collection of modern art may soon begin to travel. Officials in Tehran are negotiating a loan fee of up to $3m with their German counterparts, reports The Art Newspaper. The fee is for Berlin State Museums to host an exhibition of works of modern art from the ...

2015 in Review: Art Crime

The Creators Project / December 26th, 2015

Sensational stories of art crimes were plenteous in 2015. The Creators Project has put together a list of some of the biggest headlines, ranging from ISIS destroying the ancient buildings and artifacts of Palmyra to the brazen Ukranian ultranationalists who seek an exorbitant "finder's fee" for ...

AD Reveals Overlooked Artists, Styles to Collect Now

AD / December 15th, 2015

Architectural Digest writer Christopher Mason has created a casual survey of styles, periods and artists that the art market has not been "nice" to lately. The current frenzy for modern and contemporary art, from post-war to Pop art and mid-century design, has left a lot of room for new ...

Art Basel Miami Beach Takes Off with VIP Opening

Bloomberg / December 3rd, 2015

A star-studded opening of Art Basel Miami Beach on Wednesday saw a flurry of sales, yet the world's most deep-pocketed buyers were somewhat cautious. The sweet spot for fast sales came in below $500,000 while marquee works by the likes of Andy Warhol and Francis Bason, priced upwards of $15 ...