ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Philippines to Offer $21m Worth of Imelda Marcos's Jewelry at Auction

Guardian / February 14th, 2016

The Philippine government will hold a public exhibit and auction of the jewelry collection of  the widow of Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda, this spring. Experts have appraised the ill-gotten collection  at about 1bn pesos ($21m). Marcos's jewelry was seized after the popluar revolt that ...

As Trial Looms Over Courbet Nude, Facebook Censors Copenhagen's Mermaid, Philadelphia's Pop Art

San Jose Mercury News / February 14th, 2016

An appeals court in France has ruled that a lawsuit brought against Facebook by a Parisian teacher can move forward. The ruling comes after recent uproar over Facebook's censorship of art images, including an iconic statue and a Pop Art piece on view at major museums. Facebook suspended the ...

Casa Kimberly: Luxurious Love Nest of Hollywood Legends Reborn as Antique-Laden Boutique Hotel

Casa Kimberly / February 11th, 2016

Star-crossed lovers Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton escaped the glare of 1960s Hollywood life for a picturesque, then-unknown fishing village called Puerta Vallarta. Romance lives on the two adjacent casitas that the glamorous celebrity couple built on a cobblestone hillside overlooking ...

Bidders Clamor For Lucian Freud's Tender Portrait of 'Pregnant Girl'

Mirror / February 11th, 2016

A Lucian Freud (1922-2011) portrait of his sleeping 17-year-old lover sold at Sotheby's for £16.1 million, well above the estimate range of £7-10m. Six bidders pursued the work at the Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London. "There is arguably no other portrait by Freud that is more gripping, ...

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 ...

Sleep in Van Gogh's Bedroom After Viewing the Exhibition at Art Institute Chicago

ArtfixDaily / February 10th, 2016

Vincent van Gogh’s painting of his bedroom in Arles is arguably the most famous chambre in the history of art. So important was this composition that Van Gogh made three distinct versions and considered it his finest painting. Now, for the first time in North America, all three versions of the ...

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 ...

Ecuador Repatriates 567 Cultural Objects From Argentina and Spain

culturaypatrimonio / February 8th, 2016

Some 567 cultural objects have been returned to Ecuador by Argentina and Spain, according to minister of culture and heritage in Ecuador, Guillaume Long. Long announced on Feb. 3 that the objects were formally handed over in Quito, in a ceremony with Argentina’s ambassador to ...

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 ...

Artists Make a Statement With Trump Campaign Bus

Hyperallergic / February 4th, 2016

David Gleeson and Mary Mihelic, cofounders of politically minded art collective T. Rutt, purchased their idea of artistic "raw material" on Craigslist---a Trump campaign bus once used in Des Moines, Iowa, by the Republican presidential candidate. Since late last year, the pair has ...

Prince Charles Makes Millions For Charity From Prints of His Watercolors

Telegraph / February 4th, 2016

The Prince of Wales has become one of Britain’s most successful living artists, selling millions of pounds worth of prints of his paintings. An analysis of sales of limited edition lithographs conducted by Clarence House and released to The Telegraph shows that the Prince has earned £2  ...

Dozens of Looted Antiquities Tied to U.K. Art Dealer Returned to Italy

Independent / February 2nd, 2016

Two "priceless" Etruscan earthenware sarcophaguses and 45 boxes of “exceptional pieces of ancient Etruscan art” were taken from a Geneva freeport and returned to Rome on January 14.  “The antiquities had been brought to Geneva by a former high-profile British art dealer, whose name ...

Man Goes Missing In Search of Art Dealer's Hidden Treasure

Outside / February 2nd, 2016

Santa Fe art and antiques dealer Forrest Fenn, 85, wrote a memoir in 2010 with a mysterious poem containing clues about where he hid a $3 million treasure trove. An estimated 65,000 people have gone searching in the Rocky Mountains for Fenn's 12th-century bronze chest supposedly filled with gold ...

Gentileschi's Record-Setting Nude Masterpiece Acquired by Getty

Getty / January 29th, 2016

An auction record was smashed for the work of 17th century Italian artist Orazio Gentileschi with his sumptuous depiction of nude "Danae" being showered with gold. The J. Paul Getty Museum won the rare-to-market Baroque masterpiece for $30.5 million at Sotheby’s in New York on ...

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 ...

Art Institute of Chicago Receives Its Largest Cash Gift Ever

Chicago Tribune / January 27th, 2016

Massachusetts collector Dorothy Braude Edinburg, who died in Jan. 2015, has donated $35 million in her will to the Art Insitute of Chicago. The gift is earmarked for new art purchases and the final amount of money is yet to be determined. A supporter of the museum for 25 years, Edinburg ...

Art Loss Register Challenged in Complaint From Art Recovery Group

The Art Newspaper / January 27th, 2016

For 25 years, Art Loss Register (ALR) has provided a due diligence service for clients looking to unravel the provenance of artworks, and a database of stolen and missing artworks. Former ALR staffer Chris Marinello left in 2012 to found Art Recovery Group (ARG) which launched in ...

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 ...