ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Man Gets Prison Time for Punching Monet Painting

Daily Mail / December 9th, 2014

A man who punched a hole through an £8million Claude Monet painting has been jailed for six years and banned from all galleries - despite claiming he collapsed onto it due to a heart condition. Andrew Shannon, 49, strolled calmly into the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin before attacking ...

Art Dealer Helly Nahmad Gets Out of Prison Early

NY Observer / December 9th, 2014

It was the talk of the Art Basel Miami Beach Show, where Helly Nahmad's father helmed the art dealing family's booth, showcasing a $35 million Alexander Calder mobile. The younger Nahmad, 36, has been released from federal prison five months into the one-year-and-one-day sentence he received for ...

British Museum Angers Greece with Elgin Marble Loan to Hermitage

CNN / December 7th, 2014

Amid sanctions imposed by NATO nations on Russia over actions in Crimea and Ukraine, Great Britain has loaned "a marble ambassador of a European ideal" with a cultural message for Moscow.

Museum Seeks Art Covering Destroyed Ferguson Storefronts

St. Louis Today / December 7th, 2014

When riots ensued over the Nov. 24 grand jury annoncement that there would be no indictment of the officer who killed Michael Brown, many storefronts and businesses in Ferguson, Missouri, and on South Grand Boulevard in St. Louis were damaged.  Up went plywood to cover shattered windows. And ...

Court Dismisses Billionaire Perelman's Lawsuit vs. Larry Gagosian

Reuters / December 6th, 2014

The billionaire Ronald Perelman's lawsuit accusing New York City art gallery owner Larry Gagosian of defrauding him into overpaying for a Cy Twombly painting has been thrown out by a unanimous state appeals court. Despite being a "sophisticated" plaintiff, Perelman "conducted no due diligence" ...

J.M.W. Turner Painting Fetches Record $47.4 Million

ArtfixDaily / December 4th, 2014

One of the last great Turner masterpieces remaining in private hands set a world auction record for the artist, selling for £30.3 million/ $47.4 million (est. £15-20m /$24.1-32.1m ) at Sotheby's London on Wednesday night. Turner now ranks as the most expensive of any pre-20th ...

Insurer Refuses to Pay for Lost Degas Sculpture

NY Daily News / December 3rd, 2014

Lloyd's of London says it won't pay for a $3 million Degas ballerina sculpture that went missing after delivery to a California collector, reports the NYDaily News. “The claim of the loss of Degas bronze results from theft or dishonesty by a person to whom the insured property was entrusted,” ...

2014 Miami Art Week Guide

Hyperallergic / December 2nd, 2014

With $3 billion worth of art offered at Art Basel Miami Beach alone, and dozens of other fairs, exhibitions, parties, and pop-ups going on...

Christie's Chief Executive Murphy to Depart

FT / December 2nd, 2014

Christie's chief executive Steven Murphy will leave the auction house by the end of the year, the London-based company announced on Tuesday.

UK Project Puts Every Publicly-Owned Painting Online

Telegraph / December 2nd, 2014

When Fred Hohler got peeved 14 years ago that a catalog did not exist of the paintings in Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, the seed for an unprecedented cultural heritage project was planted.

3 Holiday Gift Ideas for Art Lovers on #GivingTuesday

ArtfixDaily / December 2nd, 2014

Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the new international day of giving dubbed #GivingTuesday. On Dec. 2, holiday shoppers around the world will focus on making gifts to support charities and non-profits. Here's ARTFIXdaily's GivingTuesday gift guide...

Art Historian Spots Lost Masterpiece While Watching 'Stuart Little'

NY Post / November 30th, 2014

An important painting deemed missing since the 1920s was rediscovered by an art historian while watching the 1999 film "Stuart Little."

'Chicken Cup' Buyer Sends Tibetan Thangka to Auction Record

Bloomberg / November 27th, 2014

Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian dropped HK$348 million ($45 million) on a 15th-century Tibetan tapestry at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong on Wed. The price surpassed the HK$214 million he paid last spring for a Chengua-era ceramic cup -- a piece called the Chicken Cup in reference to its ...

Swiss Museum Accepts Gurlitt Art Trove

WSJ / November 24th, 2014

Kunstmuseum Bern announced Monday at a news conference with the German and Bavarian governments that it would accept the bequest of 1,300 artworks from Cornelius Gurlitt...

Sotheby's CEO Ruprecht to Step Down

ArtfixDaily / November 23rd, 2014

William Ruprecht, chairman and chief executive of Sotheby's, will leave the company by "mutual agreement."

Bunny Mellon's Blue Diamond Fetches Record Price

ArtfixDaily / November 23rd, 2014

A Fancy Vivid Blue pear-shaped diamond from the estate of Rachel “Bunny” Mellon brought...

Paul Chan Named Winner of 2014 Hugo Boss Prize

ArtfixDaily / November 20th, 2014

At the Guggenheim on Thursday night, Paul Chan (b. 1973, Hong Kong) was named the winner of the Hugo Boss Prize.

Whistler's Mother to Make Visit to U.S.

ArtfixDaily / November 20th, 2014

One of the most iconic images of American art is coming to the U.S. for the first time. James Abbott McNeill Whistler's...

Georgia O'Keeffe Shatters Record Auction Price for Women Artists

ArtfixDaily / November 20th, 2014

Georgia O’Keeffe’s "Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1" (1932) fetched $44.4 million, catapulting far above the previous record for the most expensive art work by a woman artist...

Smithsonian Unveils $2 Billion Renovation Plan

ArtfixDaily / November 19th, 2014

A master plan to renovate and improve the South Mall campus of the Smithsonian Institution was revealed with an estimate of $2 billion.