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U.S. Returns Valuable Trove of Antiquities to Italy
NBC / May 26th, 2015
American investigators relieved some American collections of looted antique artifacts worth multi-millions of dollars and presented them to Italy. In a repatriation ceremony on Tuesday, dozens of objects — including a 4th-century sarcophagus lid in the form of a sleeping woman — went on ...
Andrew Wyeth's Iconic Image Remade with Oil Spill by UK Artists in Shell Protest
Guardian / May 26th, 2015
The open field and quaint house depicted in Andrew Wyeth's famous painting "Christina's World" have been replaced with the dirty gloom of an oil spill by a group of UK artists. The figure's pink dress appears in stark contrast to dark and smoky oil fields. British art collective ...
Artist Tania Bruguera Among 163 Detained in Cuba's Weekend Crackdown
PanAmPost / May 25th, 2015
Artist Tania Bruguera and over 160 others were arrested in Cuba over the weekend as part of the most recent government crackdown. Politcal protests resulted in 70 people detained in Havana, and another 93 arrested in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. Brugeura was detained for an ...
ISIS Controls Museum, Historic Sites in Palmyra After Deadly Takeover
BBC / May 24th, 2015
Syria's ancient town of Palmyra was seized by Islamic State militants last week. Reports on Sunday put the death toll at about 400 civilians after ISIS took control, ransacked a museum and barricaded the town. ISIS has made a public show of destroying what they see as "false idols" in museums ...
Grateful Dead Memorabilia Stolen Post-Sale from Auction House
NWHerald / May 24th, 2015
Police are investigating the theft of about $75,000 worth of Grateful Dead memorabilia from a Chicago-area auction house. Donley's Auction Services hosted the Grateful Dead Family Jubileee Auction, celebrating the band's 50th year, on April 11 and 12. Around April 25 and 26, several items ...
Arthur Dove Painting Fetches $5.4 Million at Christie's; Thomas Moran Leads Western Art from William I. Koch Collection
ArtfixDaily / May 21st, 2015
Two marquee lots fell flat in Christie's American Art Sale on May 21 while definitive works by several artists far exceeded estimates. Topping the $29,822,500 (with fees) total sale was Arthur Dove's early modernist masterpiece "Boat Going Through Inlet" (circa 1929) which brought $5.4 ...
Speculation Swirls Around Buyer of Record $179 Million Picasso
Page Six / May 21st, 2015
“Les Femmes d’Alger,” the Pablo Picasso painting sold at Christie’s this month for a world record auction price of $179 million, went to an anonymous telephone bidder. The buyer's identity has been kept private since the May 11 sale. Now sources have told Page Six that former Qatari Prime ...
O'Keeffe Flower Painting, Tiffany Glass Lead Sotheby's Sales
ArtfixDaily / May 20th, 2015
Masterworks of Tiffany and Prewar Design from the Warshawsky Collection led Sotheby's sale on May 19 to $8 Million total, topped by a Tiffany "Oriental Poppy" Floor Lamp which sold for $1.1 Million, an auction record for the model. The next day American Art fetched a total $38.3 million, just ...
Rybolovlev Family Trust Joins Picasso Heir in Legal Action Against Art Dealer
Art Newspaper / May 18th, 2015
Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev's family trust has reportedly joined a Picasso heir as a plaintiff in legal proceedings against French art dealer Olivier Thomas. Paris police questioned Thomas last week in regards to allegations that works by Pablo Picasso were stolen from Catherine ...
Turkish Authorities Seize Possible Cezanne Painting
World Bulletin / May 18th, 2015
A work possibly by the French post-Impressionist master Paul Cezanne was seized by police in Turkey’s northwestern province of Yalova following a tip. Thought to be ‘Young Italian Woman at a Table’, and valued at $150-200 million, the painting was sent to the Museum Directorate of Bursa ...
Court Battle Continues Over Peggy Guggenheim Art Collection
Telegraph / May 18th, 2015
A feud that dates back 20 years has resumed in a Paris court over the Peggy Guggenheim collection of art housed in Venice. Works by Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Kandinsky, Dali and Miro that Guggenheim acquired in the mid-20th century are part of a priceless collection in the Peggy ...
Mondrian Fetches Record $50.6 Million at End of $2-Billion Sales Series
Reuters / May 15th, 2015
The record-smashing week at New York auctions continued on Thursday night when a work by Piet Mondiran sold for 50.6m, the highest price ever achieved at auction for the Dutch artist. Titled Composition No III, with Red, Blue, Yellow and Black, the 1929 work embodied Mondrian's signature ...
Greece Passes On Legal Action Over Elgin Marbles
BBC / May 14th, 2015
Despite waging a high-profile campaign for their return, Greece will not take legal action against the UK over the repatriation of the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon's famous sculptural frieze. About 30 percent of the marbles reside at the British Museum. They were acquired 200 years ago by Lord ...
Estate of Pop Artist Marjorie Strider Sues Over Art Sales
NY Daily News / May 14th, 2015
Art collector Michael Chutko of Morristown, N.J., wants to sell works by Pop artist Marjorie Strider at a Chelsea gallery this month. But the sales of Strider's art, valued at $6 million, are on hold after the artist's estate alleged that Chutko does not own the artworks. Chutko maintains he ...
Christie's Achieves First-Ever $1 Billion Week; Artist Auction Records Smashed at Sotheby's
NYT / May 13th, 2015
Demand for instantly recognizable works by blue-chip artists with investment value is driving a record-shattering week at New York's series of art auctions. By this Wednesday, Christie's had achieved the art world's first $1-billion week by a single firm, reports the New York Times. ...
Burmese Ruby Tops Record-Setting $160.9 Million Jewelry Auction in Geneva
Forbes / May 13th, 2015
Buyers clamored for Cartier jewles and more in Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale on Tuesday. The sale reached over $160.9 million, the highest ever total for any jewelry auction. In all, 93.5 percent of the 484 lots sold with a number of auction records set at the sale ...
Art Dealer Robert Ellsworth Left Waitresses a Hefty Tip
NYPost / May 11th, 2015
Renowned Asian art dealer and collector Robert "King of Ming" Ellsworth left two of his favorite waitresses massive tips in his will. Ellsworth, who died at 85 last August after a fall, gave $50,000 each to Maureen Donohue-Peters, 53, and her niece Maureen Barrie, 28. The pair served ...
Picasso Brings $179 Million, Breaks World Record for Art at Auction
ArtfixDaily / May 11th, 2015
Pablo Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)" set a world record for most expensive artwork ever sold at auction on Monday night. It was part of Christie's "Looking Forward to the Past" sale of masterpieces which also featured Alberto Giacometti's life-size sculpture "Pointing Man." "Women of ...
Chris Burden, Pioneering Performance Artist, Remembered
wsj / May 10th, 2015
Known as a pioneer in performance art, and later sculpture, Chris Burden died in Los Angeles on Sunday at age 69. In the 1970s, Burden shocked with his groundbreaking performance pieces that had him shot in the arm, crucified, eletrocuted, and secured in a locker for five days. Later, Burden ...
A Mosque, the NSA and Small Batch Tequila Feature in Venice Biennale Art
Guardian / May 7th, 2015
Some talked-about installations among the 89 pavilions at the 2015 Venice Biennale (May 9-Nov. 22) include: A 10th-century church converted into a mosque by Christoph Büchel for Iceland's pavilion has caused Italian police to deem the installation a security risk. The artist collaborated ...