ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Paris Judge Fines Yves Bouvier $30 Million for Picasso Thefts

France24 / September 15th, 2015

A Paris court ruled Monday that Swiss "king of freeports" and art dealer Yves Bouvier, 52, must pay a bail sum of $30 million for the "concealed theft" of Picasso works that he sold to Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev in 2013. Bouvier denies any wrongdoing. Picasso's gouache ...

Revised Plan for George Lucas Museum Is Smaller, Greener

Star Tribune / September 13th, 2015

Much-maligned plans for a massive, spaceship-like museum built to house filmmaker George Lucas's art and memorabilia collection have been revised. The new design was revealed in federal court Thursday as part of proceedings for a nonprofit group's lawsuit to halt the construction of ...

Oil Protestors Spill Into British Museum Over BP Sponsorship

Guardian / September 13th, 2015

Dozens of activists disrupted the British Museum and Tate Modern on Sunday in protest of BP sponsorships of the cultural institutions. Dressed in black, some protestors spelled out "NO" with their bodies. The groups involved want the museums to drop BP for future fudning. “They get to purchase ...

Collector Files for Federal Court to Decide Honolulu Museum of Art's Provenance Case

Pcaific Business News / September 13th, 2015

An 80-year-old California art collector facing an $880k lawsuit from the Honolulu Museum of Art has filed for the case to be moved to federal court from 1st Circuit Court. The museum sued Joel Alexander Greene in August over alleged holes in provenance on five Southeast ...

Adirondack Museum's Antiques Show and Sale Opens This Weekend

ArtfixDaily / September 13th, 2015

On the heels of its popular Rustic Furniture Fair last weekend, the Adirondack Museum will host the country's top dealers in art, antiques and vintage pieces embodying the mountain "Great Camp" style this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19 and 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ablaze in ...

Phillips Auctioneers Ups the Ante With More Modern Art, eBay Deal

Fortune / September 10th, 2015

Phillips auction house might soon give larger rivals Sotheby's and Christie's a run for their money. Led by former Christie's CEO Edward Dolman, Phillips is arming itself with new hires (largely from Christie's, along with the former Brooklyn Museum head Arnold Lehman), rebranding its ...

Is North Korea the World's Largest Center of Art Production?

Huffpo / September 10th, 2015

While 63 percent of North Koreans are estimated to work in manufacturing, mining, transportation, government and similar fields, a lucky few are part of a huge artistic center.  Mansudae Art Studio, north of Pyongyang, is one place said to employ 700 artists and a staff ...

Harvard Students Rent Museum Art for Their Dorm Rooms

Harvard Crimson / September 10th, 2015

Harvard students can now decorate their dorm rooms with ilmited edition prints by famed artists from Andy Warhol to Pablo Picasso rented from the Harvard Art Museums. The art rental program dates back to 1972 when an anonymous donor to Harvard's Fogg Art Museum set ...

On the Market: Landscape Architect Lockwood de Forest's Santa Barbara Home

ArtfixDaily / September 9th, 2015

Lockwood de Forest III (1896-1949) was an astute painter of poetic landscapes like his father, the renowned artist-designer Lockwood de Forest Jr. (1850-1932). Yet the younger de Forest (known professionally at Lockwood de Forest Jr.) chose instead to design landscapes, ...

Radar Reveals Another Stonehenge

Daily Mail / September 8th, 2015

A line of 90 massive stone monoliths has been discovered in the U.K., buried for some 4,000 years just one mile from the famed and mysterious Stonehenge. Researchers found the 4,500-year-old stones lined up (unlike Stonehenge's circle) three feet underground by using new radar equipment towed ...

Anish Kapoor Sculpture Vandalized at Versailles Again

BBC / September 7th, 2015

A large installation by Indian-British artist Anish Kapoor has been vandalized for a second time on the grounds of Versailles in France. Titled "Dirty Corner," the rock and sculptural piece was covered with anti-Semitic words. The vandals wrote on the piece that is "the second rape ...

Zoning Board Approves Private Museum in Miami Designed for Massive Artworks

Miami Herald / September 6th, 2015

Miami zoning officials have approved plans for a new private museum to be built by hedge fund manager Bruce Berkowitz. An imposing building on Biscayne Boulvard will house Berkowitz's collection of blue-chip art, including works by Basquiat and Richard Prince. One centerpiece will be a 220-foot ...

White House Announces National Medal of Arts Recipients

ArtfixDaily / September 4th, 2015

Recipients of the 2014 National Medal of Arts have been named by the White House. The highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government, it is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who “…are deserving of special recognition by ...

Director Shake-Up at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris Puts Bustamante In

Artforum / September 3rd, 2015

A new director of the École Nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris has been announced, and it has surprised some. Artist Jean-Marc Bustamante will replace the renowned art academy's fired former head, Nicolas Bourriaud  "This is an outcome we did not expect," reported Le ...

"Holy Grail" of Modigliani Nudes Headlines Christie's Nov. Sale

Bloomberg / September 3rd, 2015

UPDATE: HAMMERED DOWN FOR $152 MILLION Christie's is banking on a nude by Amedeo Modigliani to fetch a record price in the coming fall sale series. Financial markets will be tested following a summer of turmoil when Modigliani’s 1917 “Nu Couche (Reclining Nude)” heads to ...

On the Market: Historic Julia Morgan-Designed Residence

ArtfixDaily / September 3rd, 2015

An early and fine example of architect Julia Morgan's residences in the First Bay Tradition is on the market in Vallejo, Calif. Designed by Morgan (1872-1957) in an eclectic Beaux-Arts chalet-style with neoclassical and Arts & Crafts features, the magnificent home was completed ...

Computer Algorithm Can Copy Artists' Styles

Bulletin Leader / September 2nd, 2015

Researchers in Germany claim that a computer algorithm can copy the styles of artists to create new works in about an hour. Their paper "A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style," submitted to the Nature Communications journal, outlines how a “convolutional neural network” (CNN) can take a ...

Forbes: Inside an $800 Million Family's For-Profit Art School

Forbes / September 1st, 2015

Forbes takes a hard look at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The privately owned for-profit art school "will accept anyone who has a high school diploma and is willing to pay the $22,000 annual tuition (excluding room and board), no art portfolio required," reports Forbes. Just ...

New York State Creates Edward Hopper Citation of Merit to Award Artists

The Art Newspaper / September 1st, 2015

A bill was passed through the New York State Legislature to create a biannual award giving an artist recipient $10,000 and two state-subsidized public exhibitions. The Edward Hopper Citation of Merit, named for the renowned New York-born artist, will be presented to “a ...

Art Consultant BFFs Get New Reality TV Series

ArtfixDaily / September 1st, 2015

Ovation TV will launch a new original series on Oct. 4 that the network says "will take viewers inside the high-stakes, high-priced world of art collecting." Art Breaker$ follows two longtime friends and art advisors, Miller Gaffney and Carol Lee Brosseau, "on their ...