ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Wende Museum Showcases Material Culture of the Cold War Era

ArtfixDaily / November 28th, 2017

The Wende Museum in its new location in Culver City, Calif., is a collections-based research and education institute that preserves Cold War artifacts and history, making resources available to scholars and applying historical lessons of the past to the present. From a vandalized bust of ...

Holt Printing of Declaration of Independence Fetches Record Price at Auction

Watertown Daily Times / November 12th, 2017

One of five known 1776 copies of the Declaration of Independence printed in New York by John Holt sold for a record price to a California collector at auction on Saturday. Blanchard's in Potsdam, New York, sold the newly-discovered document for $1.5 million, setting a world record for any New ...

Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona Sets Auction Record at $17.8 Million

ArtfixDaily / October 30th, 2017

A rare Rolex watch that was owned by the late movie star Paul Newman has sold for nearly $17.8 million, making it the most expensive watch ever auctioned. A telephone bidder secured the watch at a Phillips sale on Thursday. Oscar-winning Newman, who died in 2008 at age 83, wore the ...

Einstein Note on Theory of Happiness Fetches $1.6 Million

NPR / October 26th, 2017

When Albert Einstein was visiting Tokyo's Imperial Hotel in 1922, he gave a bellboy a handwritten note instead of a tip. Scribbled in German on a piece of hotel stationery, Einstein wrote his theory of happiness: "A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success ...

California Wine Country Fires Engulf Historic Structures, Arts Center

SF Chronicle / October 9th, 2017

Fifteen wildfires raged through Northern California beginning Sunday night, destroying homes, schools, businesses, hotels, and multiple wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties and the vicinity. Ten people were reported dead and dozens were missing as of Monday evening. While the massive and ...

Newly Found Copy of Declaration of Independence at Auction in Nov.

New York Times / October 8th, 2017

A trove of historical documents belonging to a descendant of early British settlers in Long Island will emerge for the first time on the auction market next month, reports the New York Times. The star lot of the consignment is a copy of the Declaration of Independence--a rare and newly ...

Hemingway Museum Curators, Cats Ride Out Hurricane in Key West

Forbes / September 11th, 2017

Surrounded by lush gardens, the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum became a fortress to 11 staff members when Hurricane Irma made a direct hit on the Florida Keys over the weekend. Curator Dave Gonzales and 10 staff members, along with 54 cat descendants of Ernest Hemingway's own cat, ...

400 Viking Artifacts Stolen from Museum in Norway

Newsmax / August 21st, 2017

Some 400 objects of Viking origin were stolen from a museum in Norway sometime between Aug. 11 and 13. The pieces were due to be transferred to a more secure location on Aug. 14. "If the stolen objects are not returned, this is by far the most terrible event in the 200 years of Norwegian museum ...

Antiquities Dealers Arrested in Hobby Lobby Probe

PBS / August 1st, 2017

On Sunday, Israeli authorities arrested 5 Palestinian antiquities dealers in Jerusalem. Officials contend that the dealers are connected to the illegal sales of antiquities to Hobby Lobby, the U.S. arts and crafts supply chain that has been acquiring thousands of ancient objects. Israeli ...

Thieves Steal Neil Armstrong's Solid Gold Cartier-Made Lunar Lander Model

Smithsonian / August 1st, 2017

On Friday, thieves targeted the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the hometown of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. Missing is a five-inch tall solid-gold replica of the Lunar Excursion Module, along with award medals and presentation coins in the same ...

Instagram Drives Sales in Vintage Watch Market

New York Times / August 1st, 2017

Facebook's Instagram, with its 700 million users worldwide, is the popular image-centric platform that is now catapulting sales of vintage watches, reports the New York Times. In one recent case, Hodinkee posted a photo of a 1969 Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona Reference 6241 on Instagram. Amidst a ...

$600 Million Historical Art Collection Heads to a Contemporary Art Museum

New York Times / July 17th, 2017

Near Turin, Italy, a private art collection with notable works spanning the 13th-to-20th centuries, and valued at $600 million, will radically transform a contemporary art museum, reports the New York Times. In a statement, the Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte, Castello di ...

UK Antiques Dealer's Murder Linked to First Edition of The Wind in the Willows

Huffington Post / July 10th, 2017

A new documentary reveals the mystery behind a vicious crime that took the life of UK historian and antiquarian book dealer Adrian Greenwood last April. Greenwood's body was found in his Oxford home with 30 stab wounds by his house cleaner. Missing from his book inventory was ...

Los Angeles City Council Approves $1.5 Billion Lucas Museum

Variety / June 28th, 2017

Star Wars creator and art collector George Lucas will finally get his museum built after years of delay when San Francisco and Chicago could not accomodate his plans. Los Angeles City Council voted to approve the $1.5 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Tuesday. Lucas and his wife, Mellody ...

The Living Museum Within Bears Ears National Monument

ArtfixDaily / May 15th, 2017

Southeast Utah's Bears Ears National Monument has been called the "Sistine Chapel" of the West for its ancient wall etchings, notes the New York Times. Some 100,000 archaeological sites comprise this 1.3-million acre landscape known for its cultural significance as a living museum, its ...

Resident Curator at the White House Will Leave His 'Dream Job' in June

ArtfixDaily / May 11th, 2017

White House curator William G. Allman will retire on June 1, as first reported by CNN and announced officially on Tuesday in a White House statement issued from the East Wing. The curator is among the White House resident staff positions that are considered non-political. First lady ...

Chocolate Museum Opens in New York

Conde Nast / March 8th, 2017

On the heels of the very popular pop-up Museum of Ice Cream, a chocolate museum has arrived in Lower Manhattan. This new destination in SoHo (350 Hudson St.) offers chocolate aficionados an in-depth history of cacao, and all its accoutrements, including early artifacts used for drinking. And it ...

NYC's Museum of Ice Cream Heads to California

LA Magazine / February 20th, 2017

The sensational pop-up Museum of Ice Cream that sold-out tickets when it opened in New York last summer is heading to southern California. A new location is expected to open next month, possibly in the Santa Monica/Venice Beach area, according to reports. In five days, all 30,000 tickets were ...

Hitler's 'Mobile Device of Destruction' Sells at US Auction

ArtfixDaily / February 20th, 2017

A telephone bidder acquired Adolf Hitler's red-painted telephone for $243,000 at a US auction. The auction house described the lot as “arguably the most destructive weapon of all time, which sent millions to their deaths.” The unidentified North American buyer purchased the World War II ...

Planned $75 Million International African American Museum Adds Billionaire Board Member

Post and Courier / January 28th, 2017

A proposed $75 million International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, has gotten the boost of a new billionaire board member. Sheila Johnson, billionaire CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts and owner of three professional sports teams, has agreed to join the museum’s board of ...