Art Markets

Last week was ArtHK, the Hong Kong art fair that had the art world abuzz.  If you want to learn a bit about the fair, this short video by the WSJ is pretty good… Read more

CNet-founder Halsey Minor has actually scored a win in one of his many current suits.  Christie’s must pay $8.57m in damages to Minor since they failed to return paintings he had consigned to them in a prompt manner and the price of the paintings fell during that time period.

Minor’s collection of contemporary art and design was recently sold off at Phillips de Pury as a way to pay back a defaulted loan.

Read Kelly Crowe’s piece in the WSJ here for more information.

~Katharine… Read more

At a hearing last Wednesday, a New York justice said it was unlikely that dealer Lawrence Salander would be able to repay the victims of his $120m fraud.  Prosecutors are calling the case the largest art fraud case in New York history and Salander faces up to 18 years in jail.
Salander pled guilty to 29 counts of grand larceny in March and admitted to defrauding collectors by collecting funds for fabricated art-investment schemes, double-selling shares in paintings, and selling art he did not own and keeping the proceeds.
For more detail, check out my story on the case and Christie’s upcoming sale of works from the Salander-O’Reilley Galleries at The Art Newspaper.

~Katharine… Read more

Craig Robins’ suit against David Zwirner has failed. The interesting part about this case isn’t the suit that was brought against Zwirner, it was all the sordid details of blacklisting in the art world that came out because of it.  As the judge said, “This lawsuit offers an unflattering portrait of the art world—a realm of self-proclaimed royalty full of ‘blacklists’, ‘graylists’ and astonishing chicanery.”

For a good summary of the case and verdict, check out Marisa Katz and Helen Stoilas’ piece at The Art Newspaper (they scooped it).

~Katharine… Read more

Well, it’s been an exciting week in the art world.  If you haven’t yet heard, Christie’s had a record breaking sale on May 4th with Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust from the Brody collection selling for a cool $106,482,500, making it the highest price paid for any work of art at auction.  Overall, the sale was strong, with Christie’s pulling in $335,548,000.

Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale wasn’t so shabby either – with 50 of 57 lots selling, it brought the auction house $195,697,001.  The highest price of the night was $28,642,5000 for Matisse’s Bouquet de Fleurs pour le Quatorze Juillet.  While this is a lot lower than the Picasso, it’s not so bad when you figure it was the third highest priced item from both sales, following Giacommeti’s Grande tête mince, which went for $53,282,500.

Things definitely seem stronger this spring than last and everyone in … Read more

Marlborough Gallery is currently showing over 200 prints by Picasso that explore the theme of woman as muse.  “Celebrating the Muse: Women in Picasso’s Prints 1905-1968” is the first comprehensive overview of the subject, claims the gallery.  As indicated by the title, the show spans Picasso’s entire career from his first print in 1905, through his prolific late period. The gallery said Maya Widmaier Picasso, the artist’s daughter, lent some notable works to the exhibition.

Marlborough has timed the show to coincide with three exhibitions of Picasso’s work in the US: Picasso: Themes and Variations at The Museum of Modern Art, March 28-September 6, 2010: Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris, Philadelphia Museum of Art, February 24, 2010-April 25, 2010 and Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 27, 2010– August 1, 2010.  A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue, with an essay by Marilyn McCully, is also available.… Read more