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Major Works Fail to Sell at Christie's

Dismal auction season continues as Bacon fails to find buyer

(Newser) - The art world bust continued last night at the Christie's contemporary auction in New York, where almost a third of the 75 works on the block went unsold. Not a single collector bid for the highlight of the sale, a self-portrait by Francis Bacon estimated to sell for around $40...

Contemporary Art Goes Bust at Dismal Auction

Lot after lot goes unsold at New York auction

(Newser) - Collectors from Steve Martin to Valentino packed the Sotheby's saleroom in New York last night, but its contemporary art auction barely pulled in $125 million—far below the low estimate of $202 million. For those who could afford it, works were going at bargain-basement prices. "It was a half-price...

Recession, Losing Bush as Muse Will Hurt US Artists

Economic woes will put creativity in the red

(Newser) - The end of the Bush era could mean tough times for the arts, the Morgan Falconer writes in the Times of London. Not only will artists, filmmakers, and writers lose the muse who has inspired critical works, but the economic crisis will drain financial support. John McCain already implied he...

Art Market Stalls at Grim Fall Sale

Malevich sets record, but Sotheby's has a slow night in New York

(Newser) - In New York last night Sotheby's held a lackluster auction that portended a grim year ahead for the once buoyant art market. Of 70 lots at the sale of impressionist and modern art, fully 25 found no buyers. There was one bit of good news for the market: a...

Big Easy Enlists Artists
 Big Easy Enlists Artists 
Oct 29, 2008 10:56 AM CDT

Big Easy Enlists Artists

Big Easy will host America's largest exhibition of contemporary art

(Newser) - A new biennial meant to restore New Orleans' cultural life—and expand it—opens this weekend in the city, the New York Times reports. With 81 artists participating in Prospect.1 and 50,000 out-of-town visitors expected, the exhibition could be a pick-me-up for a city still trying to come...

Sotheby's Pulls $30M Picasso on Market Jitters

Top lot in Nov. auction withdrawn as seller panics

(Newser) - A painting from Picasso's Cubist period that was one of the highlights of the fall auction season has been pulled "for private reasons," Sotheby's New York office said yesterday. The withdrawal of Arlequin, a 1909 work which was estimated at more than $30 million, had been rumored for...

Madonna Gets a 10-Year Facelift
Madonna Gets a 10-Year Facelift
Oct 26, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Madonna Gets a 10-Year Facelift

Italian lab restores Raphael's landmark painting with cutting edge techniques

(Newser) - After a 10-year facelift, an Italian Renaissance landmark is finally ready for its unveiling. Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch underwent extensive renovations that included CAT scans and X-rays, Reuters reports. A Florentine lab removed coverings by early restorers who saved the work, which was smashed in a house collapse...

Painting Price Spells Gloom for Economy

Portrait of Bacon auctions for only $9.4M at Christie's

(Newser) - A Lucian Freud painting expected to sell for more than $12 million at Christie’s today went for only $9.4 million, a sign that even super-rich buyers of contemporary art are cutting back in the financial crisis, the Daily Telegraph reports. The art world anxiously awaited the sale of...

At London Fair, Art Market Finally Stalls

Frieze opens to lots of collectors, but few sales

(Newser) - As the financial crisis has deepened, the art world seemed strangely impervious to global declines. But at yesterday's opening of the Frieze Art Fair in London, one of the year's biggest events, the slowdown finally caught up to the heady art market. Where once visitors ran maniacally to buy artwork...

Jackie's Charm Sparked US Visit by Mona Lisa

First lady persuaded French to loan painting, boost our culture

(Newser) - Jackie Kennedy executed a diplomatic coup in 1962, when she convinced the smitten French culture minister to send the Mona Lisa on a perilous journey. The painting's visit to the US—"then regarded as a country with hardly any culture at all," in the words of one historian—...

Artist to Smoke Kurt Cobain's Ashes

Nirvana frontman's supposed remains, stolen from wife, will star in Berlin exhibition

(Newser) - An Australian performance artist who claims to have obtained late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s ashes will smoke them at a Berlin exhibition, NME reports. Artist Natascha Stellmach says the lighting up will symbolize Cobain’s ultimate freedom from the media. As to how she came by the remains, which...

Chicago Bar Hangs Nude Palin Portrait

Painting of armed Alaska gov. baring all a Windy City hit

(Newser) - Perhaps the most revealing depiction of Sarah Palin is the one hanging at a Chicago tavern: A naked, smiling, high-heeled Palin holds a shotgun in front of an Alaskan landscape in a portrait displayed at the North Side bar, the Tribune reports. The owner's husband, who is crushing on Alaska's...

Lehman CEO's Art Collection Goes Up for Sale

Richard Fuld's wife puts $20M in prized drawings on the block

(Newser) - A $20-million collection of abstract expressionist drawings belonging to Lehman boss Richard Fuld and his wife is to be sold by Christie's, Bloomberg reports. Fuld's net worth has taken a whack with the collapse of Lehman stock; the sale, which includes 3 de Koonings, was anounced 4 days after the...

Guggenheim Taps Curator as New Chief

Pittsburgh's Armstrong heralds new direction for museum

(Newser) - The Guggenheim Foundation has chosen Richard Armstrong, the head of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, as the museum's new director. He succeeds Thomas Krens, who established the Guggenheim as a global brand with branches in Europe and more planned in Asia and the Middle East. But Krens' commercialism and expansionist...

Iconic Munch Could Fetch $35M
 Iconic Munch Could Fetch $35M 
Sep 23, 2008 6:19 AM CDT

Iconic Munch Could Fetch $35M

Vampire , in private hands, comes up for auction

(Newser) - A masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch that has spent 70 years in private hands will be sold on the open market, reveals the Independent, where it's expected to fetch $35 million. Vampire, painted in 1894, is the last privately owned work from a 20-canvas series that also includes The ...

Hirst Auction Yields $199M
 Hirst Auction Yields $199M 
Sep 17, 2008 4:50 PM CDT

Hirst Auction Yields $199M

Dealer-less London sale smashes records

(Newser) - Damien Hirst sold 223 pieces of artwork for $199 million by the end of a two-day auction yesterday, shattering the record for most revenue in an auction of a single artist’s work, Forbes reports. The previous mark was held by Pablo Picasso, with 88 sold for $20 million in...

As Stocks Slide, Hirst Auction Breaks Records

Unprecedented one-man auction exceeds high estimate

(Newser) - Damien Hirst won the biggest gamble of his career at Sotheby's last night—as lot after lot of the artist's work beat high estimates, totaling $127.2 million in sales. While the markets tumbled in New York, bidders in the London saleroom bought up dozens of brand-new Hirsts, from taxidermied...

Vatican Gets Back in the Art Biz

Project aims to revive church's role as a sponsor of the arts

(Newser) - The Vatican was the world's biggest buyer of modern art in the days when modern art meant Michelangelo, but its influence on art has ebbed in recent centuries. The church now plans to put itself back in the forefront of the art world, Newsweek reports. A commission of critics and...

Met Surprises With Choice of New Director

Tapestries curator takes over America's top museum job

(Newser) - The Metropolitan Museum in New York has chosen Thomas P. Campbell, its curator of European tapestries, as its new director, reports the New York Times. Campbell succeeds Philippe de Montebello, who transformed the Met during his 31 years at the helm. The selection of Campbell, an insider who did not...

Hirst Heads to $120M Payday
 Hirst Heads to $120M Payday 
Sep 5, 2008 1:58 PM CDT

Hirst Heads to $120M Payday

Art's bad boy prepares to move in a new direction

(Newser) - Damien Hirst is preparing for the biggest sale of his life—and for one of the richest artists alive, that’s saying something. Sotheby’s is about to auction 223 pieces straight out of his studio, for an anticipated take of $120 million. It marks an unprecedented end run around...

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