AnalysisArt market
'Christmas dinner without the turkey': little festive cheer at Sotheby's Old Masters sale
December auction generates less than half the total of last year's sale, with several lots failing to sell
AnalysisArt market
Tiepolo and Giovanni di Paolo spark excitement in underpowered Christie’s Old Master sale
Auction raised more than last year but supply still limited as Brexit-dominated general election looms
NewsArt market
Rare Tahitian painting by Gauguin sells for €9.5m at Artcurial in Paris
Te Bourao II, which went to an international collector, was on loan to the Met in New York for ten years
NewsArt market
Portrait commissioned by Charles Dickens, unseen for a century, goes on sale at Sotheby's London
The artist William Powell Frith 'almost collapsed' at the honour of being commissioned by the famous writer to paint his heroine Kate Nickleby
NewsArt market
Rediscovered Rubens to star in Sotheby's Old Masters sale in New York
Painting depicting the Holy Family in an evening landscape has been owned by a Manhattan family for more than 60 years
NewsArt market
At $6.8m, Picasso hits the high mark at Toronto sale
Portrait of Dora Maar eclipses other auction offerings at Heffel
AnalysisArt market
Randomness rules New York's $42m American art sales
Small works won out at Sotheby's and Christie's as top lots went for their low estimates or were withdrawn
AnalysisAuctions
New York's autumn sales were subdued but not necessarily septic
Overall sales were down by around 30% but beyond the disappointing headline figures, women and minority artists shone
NewsBanksy
Banksy’s The Drinker withdrawn from Sotheby’s sale after rival artist claims ownership
Sculpture—estimated at £1m—was removed from the street by Andy Link in 2004 but later “liberated” from his East End garden
NewsBanksy
Artist who ‘kidnapped’ Banksy's The Drinker claims ownership ahead of Sotheby's sale
Andy Link says sculpture for which he demanded £5,000 in ransom was later stolen from him. Banksy’s former dealer says otherwise
BlogIn the frame
Philip Roth’s ephemera—including his Richard Nixon plate—goes under the hammer
NewsArt market
'Olyvia's soirées': adviser launches private selling events in format devised by Adam Chinn
Olyvia Kwok launches series of invitation only events in London and New York offering financing against big-ticket works for collectors looking to circumvent auctions
NewsAuctions
Female painters steal the limelight at Phillips contemporary evening sale in London
Market is not “as effervescent as it was”, but £36m total is the auction house’s highest in June for over a decade despite disappointing results for Modern works
NewsAuctions
Flipping the Bacon: Sotheby's £69m post-war and contemporary sale lacks fizz
A £16m Francis Bacon self-portrait and a record for a little-known German artist enliven an otherwise dry sale in London as totals fall 40% on last year
NewsAuctions
Fresh talent breathes life into slim £45m postwar and contemporary evening sale at Christie’s London
Records set for Tschabalala Self and Kara Walker as a new wave of works by contemporary artists come to auction
NewsVincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s gun, 'most famous weapon in art history', sells for €162,500
The discovery of the revolver suggests it was suicide, not murder
NewsPride
Swann Auction Galleries joins in Stonewall celebrations with its first Pride sale
Salesroom hopes that capitalising on the trend for curated auctions will help to generate a renaissance in an underserved market
NewsCollectors
Sikh Empire collector hopes to open dedicated museum
The London-based collector Davinder Toor holds one of the most significant collections of Sikh works in the US and the UK
NewsArt Basel 2019
Auction prices: the elephant in the room at Art Basel
The first rule of art fairs is don't talk about auctions—but sometimes they can benefit artists and their dealers
AnalysisEthics
The only way is ethics: the art world's 'networks of undue influence'
Ethics specialist Piergiorgio Pepe claims the power in the art industry is still held in the hands of a few
NewsBarnes Foundation
'Selling everything but the wallpaper'—auction reopens old wounds over Barnes legacy
Barnes Foundation’s sale of founder’s items follows nominal payment for lease of valuable land
NewsArt market
More grief for Aristophil investors as French government seizes hundreds of documents
Around 18,000 people invested in the now bankrupted company's manuscripts collection, but state says many items of historical importance should never have been sold
NewsAboriginal art
Sotheby’s to hold the first major Aboriginal art sale in the US in November
The auction house cites increasing interest in Aboriginal art among US collectors and institutions
AnalysisAuctions
Edward Hopper's over-priced ode to Shakespeare goes unsold as market for American art proves capricious
Christie's American art sales this week realise a new record for Hartley but Sotheby's struggles to get the pricing right on Hopper's Shakespeare scene
Podcast
Should museums sell works of art? Plus, activism at the Whitney Biennial
After the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's sale of its Rothko, we discuss the principles that guide deaccessioning in the US and speak to activists about the Whitney vice-chairman's problematic link to a weapons manufacturer
NewsArt market
San Francisco museum's Rothko sells for $50m as Sotheby’s closes bumper week of New York auctions
Dana Schutz’s record broken twice in one night at Phillips then Sotheby's, while the bidder behind the $91m Koons Rabbit buys Lee Krasner painting for $10m
NewsArt market
Rabbit hops to a record $91m at Christie's as Jeff Koons once again becomes the world's most expensive living artist
Post-war and contemporary sale in New York also produced a big sale for Robert Rauschenberg and new records for Louise Bourgeois and Jonas Wood
NewsArt market
Monet's glowing haystacks set alight Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art sale with a new £97m record
Market is alive and kicking at the top for prime Impressionist works, though Bouguereau's uncomfortably placed, 19th century Bacchanalian scene failed to sell
NewsArt market
Big but bland Impressionists lead Christie's sale, with new records for a peachy Cezanne and feline-filled Bonnard
Fresh material from big collections led the $399m New York auction, while mid-tier Monets primed the market for his $55m haystacks work at Sotheby's tonight
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Virtually unseen Van Gogh painting comes up for sale in New York next week
Christie’s values the Japanese-influenced picture of the asylum garden at $25m
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
London's National Gallery defends inclusion of Salvator Mundi in Leonardo show after criticism in new book
The curator’s attribution to the Renaissance master helped Christie’s achieve a world record price for the painting
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s settles claim against London dealer Mark Weiss in Frans Hals case
Settlement came day before trial was due to start, but its suit against financier will continue
NewsBlockchain
Blockchain-based art registry Artory acquires Auction Club database
The acquisition will make public 4,000 international auction house sale records
FeatureAuctions
Going, going, gone online: Europe's auction houses go digital
Online-only auctions may tend to focus on the lower end of the market, but they are key to expanding clientele. We survey ten auction houses to find out their strategy
AnalysisAuctions
Hockney double portrait sells for £37.7m, accounting for half of Christie’s contemporary sale in London
Overall results are down 42.7% on last year, but European buying remains strong despite Brexit
NewsDeaccessioning
UK local authority's plan to dispose of 90% of works in its collection rings alarm bells
Art Fund raises concerns about consignment of 152 works to auction by Hertfordshire County Council
NewsArt market
Keep the Monet flowing: trim but efficient Sotheby's sale starts London's pre-Brexit Impressionist and Modern art week
£63m auction total is half that of last year, but bidding from Asia and Russia helps make new record for Oskar Schlemmer and a Venetian view by Monet
NewsObject lessons
Object lessons: from Egon Schiele's nod to Gustav Klimt to black magic by René Magritte
Our highlights from upcoming fairs and auctions
News
SFMoMA to sell a Rothko estimated at $35m to $50m
Proceeds would go toward acquisitions that “address art historical gaps’’
NewsFakes & copies
Nuremberg prosecutor seizes 63 Hitler works from auction house on forgery suspicions
Twenty-six of the seized works were to be auctioned at Auktionshaus Weidler tomorrow
NewsAuctions
The Fine Art Society closes Mayfair gallery after 142 years with 'emotional' sale at Sotheby’s
Sculpture of Peter Pan and painting by Gluck were among the stars of five-hour long auction
NewsObject lessons
Object lessons: from a heart-shaped meteorite to a censored image of Joséphine Baker
Our highlights of works being sold over the next fortnight
NewsArt market
Drawings prove the main draw for collectors at New York’s Master Week sales
Sotheby’s sees strong sales for works on paper by Rubens and Carracci while interest in masterworks by female artists slowly rises
NewsFakes & copies
Hitler watercolours seized as suspected fakes
Three landscapes signed A. Hitler were offered for sale at Berlin’s Auktionshaus Kloss
NewsAuctions
Dutch Royal family’s decision to auction $2.5m Rubens drawing at Sotheby's sparks criticism
Calls are growing to give Dutch museums first refusal but Dutch prime minister says it is a ‘private matter’
NewsArt market
Life lessons: what the art market learned from 2018
Georgina Adam speaks with three leading art world figures on the key events of last year and what 2019 may hold
NewsArt market
A monumental work by Marie Antoinette’s portraitist will headline Sotheby’s Female Triumphant sale
Major works by 14 women artists are expected to dominate Sotheby’s Masters Week offerings and bring more 'diverse' collectors
AnalysisThe Year In Review
2018 in the market: the price is right for pale males
David Hockney was latest white male artist to set a record this year
AnalysisThe Year In Review
Market stunts predict the future… and evoke the past
The Leonardo and Banksy auction spectacles suggested a future in which marketing triumphs. But was it ever thus?
AnalysisThe Year In Review
From counting muddles to collective cuddles: the art world's highs and lows of 2018
The people, places and things that had a year to remember—or to forget
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh's portrait of a prostitute coming up for sale
Christie’s, more discreetly, entitles it “Portrait de femme”
NewsArt market
Glenn Gould’s Bach hits the auction block
The late pianist’s 1981 annotated score of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is the first of his manuscripts to come to market
NewsAuctions
How a Roman sarcophagus—going on sale this week—was emptied for a pug
Skeleton of young man was evicted to make way for the body of the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos's pet dog
NewsArt market
Record set in Canada for Nobel Prize-winning doctor and artist Frederick Banting
A painting of the University of Toronto lab where he co-discovered insulin goes for ten times its high estimate in Toronto
AnalysisAuctions
The highs and lows of New York ‘gigaweek’
Hockney made the headlines, but other artists made waves—or flopped—at November’s auctions
CommentArt market
Why the Christie's and Sotheby's duopoly is impregnable
The auction houses sell more than 80% of works priced over $1m at auction—can an underdog ever wrestle market share away from them?
NewsArt market
Auction house pulls seven objects from American Indian sale amid protests
Native American official calls planned auction of the items “unconscionable”
NewsBen Uri Gallery
Ben Uri museum advisory board resigns en masse over Sotheby’s sale of works from the collection
Nicholas Serota and Norman Rosenthal say that selling off the works is a “grave mistake”
NewsAuctions
Phillips and Bonhams see strong sales on smaller lots
The auction houses' bottom lines suffered from unsold lots in their contemporary sales, continuing a trend of top-lot discernment during New York’s fall sales
CommentArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
'Fingers crossed for China’s art market'
The latest Art Basel and UBS report makes for uncomfortable reading
Melanie Gerlis