ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Art Collectors Turn Eyes Towards Cuba

NY Times / December 30th, 2014

After President Obama's decision to loosen up restrictions on Cuba in mid-December, the idea that the island nation's art scene might heat up caught fire...

Prices for Charles Rennie Mackintosh Work Soar Following Glasgow School of Art Fire

Scotland Now / December 29th, 2014

The value of work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh is set to soar in price after the fire at the Glasgow School of Art, according to auction experts. Sellers were “amazed” at the rocketing value of...

ARTFIXdaily's Top 10 News Stories of 2014

ArtfixDaily / December 28th, 2014

This year had plenty of staggering auction sales, blockbuster exhibitions, and art scandals. But some of the most popular stories on ARTFIXdaily were not the big headlines.

Happy Holidays from ARTFIXdaily!

ArtfixDaily / December 22nd, 2014

Dear Readers, ARTFIXdaily's e-newsletter service will be suspended from Dec. 24 to Dec. 26...

Painting the Divine: Images of Mary in the New World

Amazon / December 22nd, 2014

A rich tradition of painting in the New World revolved around depicting the Virgin Mary in various phases of her life, utilizing styles unique to the Southwest and other locales in the Americas.

Two Guys Get Headlines for Recreating Art Masterpieces on Instagram

Washington Post blog / December 21st, 2014

Two employees at Squarespace, the website template company, have generated buzz with their "flawless" art re-creations on Instagram. The pair enacts famous paintings ...

Ford House Secretly Sells Cezanne Painting for $100 Million

Detroit Free Press / December 21st, 2014

An oil painting by Paul Cézanne was sold privately in 2013 for $100 million by the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, a nonprofit cultural institution, in Grosse Ponite Shores, Michigan. The sale to a private buyer was kept quiet so as to not influenec negotiations in keeping the Detroi ...

French Publicist Sues Jeff Koons for Copyright Infringement

RFI / December 18th, 2014

Paris-based publicist Franck Davidovici is accusing American contemporary artist Jeff Koons of unlawfully copying...

Nine Artworks from LA's Biggest Art Heist Recovered

LA Times / December 18th, 2014

One of the largest art heists in LA history was recently cracked by police and the FBI after nine artworks were recovered in an undercover sting, reports the LA Times. The paintings, by the likes of Diego Rivera and Marc Chagall, were stolen from a home in Encino, CA., in 2008. The case went ...

Vincent van Gogh in his Own Words

Independent / December 18th, 2014

Vincent van Gogh's 819 letters (658 to brother Theo) make up not only a creative autobiography without parallel in visual art but what the editors of a new selection call "a highlight of world literature,"...

Artists' Resale Royalties Battle Reappears in Court

LA Times / December 17th, 2014

The California law that allowed artists to receive 5% from the resale of their work was struck down ...

Saatchi Battles His Former Gallery Director in Court

Telegraph / December 16th, 2014

Charles Saatchi is embroiled in a bitter legal battle with his former gallery director accusing her of trading on his name.

Navajos Spend $1 Million to Get Back Tribal Artifacts in Paris

AP / December 16th, 2014

The largest Native American tribe in the American Southwest won its bid Monday to buy back seven sacred masks at a contested auction...

Shake-ups at Sotheby's, Christie's Fuel Speculation

LA Times / December 15th, 2014

Profit margins in modern and contemporary art sales, and a race for business opportunities in China and on the Web, may be the key factors ...

Missing Baroque Masterpiece Surfaces in London

Artlyst / December 15th, 2014

A long lost painting by the Spanish Baroque artist Sebastián de Llanos Valdés, which was missing for over 70 years, has been discovered in the UK, after an unidentified individual tried to consign 'Penitent Maria Magdalena' to Christie's, according to a DPA report. However, the Staatliche ...

Winston Churchill's Belongings, Paintings Under the Hammer

Guardian / December 15th, 2014

An auction of Winston Churchill's personal possessions is set for Dec. 17 at Sotheby's in London. A preview is underway of the items left by his last surviving child, Lady Mary Soames, who died last June, aged 91. A gallery of Churchill's own paintings, regarded as the most important group ever ...

Italian Pensioner Gets to Keep Gauguin, Bonnard Works

http://www.leaderpost.com/entertainment/Painting+bought+pensioner+worth/10465667/story.html / December 15th, 2014

An Italian pensioner who unknowingly bought a stolen Gauguin for about $35 has been allowed to keep it after it was valued at $50 million.

Cincinnati Museum CEO Retires as $208 Million Renovation Begins

Cincinnati Museum Center / December 14th, 2014

Cincinnati Museum Center's long-time leader, Doug McDonald, is stepping down – just as the museum undertakes a $208 million renovation...

Putin Presents Hermitage Museum with £9m Fabergé Egg

ArtfixDaily / December 11th, 2014

A 250th anniversary celebration for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, has generated fanfare and controversy. President Vladimir Putin was on hand for the museum’s jubilee reception December 7 when he presented the museum with a duo of dazzling gifts: a 19th-century clock made ...

Vegetation in London's 'Virgin of the Rocks' Are Wrong for da Vinci, Claim Scholars

Guardian / December 10th, 2014

Scientists and art historians are trying to work out to what extent Leonardo had a hand in both versions of Virgin of the Rocks – the one in the Louvre, in Paris, and the replica in the National Gallery in London. Doubts have long been cast over whether the Renaissance master made the ...