art auction

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'Unseen' Picasso Fetches $13M

Tete de Femme (Jacqueline sells for double pre-sale estimates

(Newser) - A Picasso painting not seen in public for over 40 years went under the hammer at Christie's of London yesterday, fetching a cool $13 million. The painting, Tete de Femme (Jacqueline) was painted in 1963 and depicts the artist's second wife. The painting brought double its expected pre-sale value, Reuters...

Color Christie's Blue Over Weak Modern Sale

Picasso, Mondrian flop at sparsely attended auction

(Newser) - A New York art dealer at the Christie's auction last night decreed "the recession is ending," but apparently not soon enough to move 13 of 41 modern and impressionist art works on offer, leaving the auction house millions of dollars short of pre-sale estimates. Major works by Picasso...

Teacher Fired for Butt Art Paints Colbert for Charity

Stan Murmur's auctioning portrait to benefit Va. public schools

(Newser) - A Virginia teacher fired after a YouTube clip surfaced of him using his posterior to paint is turning the other cheek—and auctioning off a portrait of comedian Stephen Colbert to benefit public schools. Stan Murmur uses what WTVR-TV calls “the anthropometric monotype method of painting. That means he...

London Art Market Feels a Chill

Lack of once-plentiful foreign cash hurts auctioneers

(Newser) - London became the hottest art market in the world last year, eclipsing New York, but the recession is putting the squeeze on auction houses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last year’s influx of foreign money has dried up, and sellers are keeping a firm hold on their  most desirable...

Madonna-Guy Nude Painting Sells, Finally

Exact price is unknown

(Newser) - After failing to sell at auction last month, a painting of Madonna in the buff with ex Guy Ritchie has found a buyer, the BBC reports. An anonymous collector paid more than the $24,000 reserve price demanded by a Scottish house. “We were very confident we would find...

Modest Success at Christie's Cheers Art World

Hockney breaks record as auction house sells $93.7M

(Newser) - Christie's contemporary auction in New York last night went better than expected, selling $93.7 million worth of postwar art—double the result of its rival Sotheby's the night before. The top lot was a 12-foot panorama by British painter David Hockney, which sold for $7.9 million, a record...

Buyers Return for Healthy Christie's Sale

Auction house pulls in $103M, besting rival Sotheby's

(Newser) - The art market performed better last night at Christie's New York sale of Impressionist and modern art, pulling in $103 million after a lackluster showing by its rival Sotheby's on Tuesday. The top lot was a 1968 portrait by Picasso, which sold for $14.6 million. As the Wall Street ...

Sotheby's Sale Busts, Picasso Goes Unsold

$61.3M result fails to reach low estimate

(Newser) - The art market failed to recover from its recent slump last night, as Sotheby's held a disappointing New York sale that saw works by Picasso and Giacometti go unsold. The small auction of 36 lots brought in just $61.3 million—well below the low estimate of $81.5 million....

Strapped Art Market Preps for Auctions

Expectations low as auction houses try variety of tactics

(Newser) - After a 7-year boom, art auction houses are struggling as collectors hit hard by the recession close their wallets. Sotheby’s predicts it will pull in $179 million to $256 million at spring sales, compared to $742 million a year ago. As the spring events approach, auctioneers are employing an...

More Hitler Paintings Go Up for Sale

British auction house has 13 thought to be painted by him

(Newser) - A British auction house will sell 13 paintings next month attributed to a minor Austrian-born amateur artist: Adolf Hitler. The works, which include a supposed self-portrait signed "AH," were found by a soldier in 1945, Reuters reports, though lingering doubts remain about authenticity. Two years ago, 21 Hitler...

Auction Winner Won't Pay for Chinese Relics

Collector says he bid $36 million on antiquities as protest

(Newser) - Among the most closely watched lots at last week's Paris auction of Yves Saint Laurent's art collection were two imperial Chinese bronzes that each sold for $18 million. Beijing spent months insisting that the sculptures were looted in the 19th century and should be returned to China, but failed to...

Christie's $264M Auction Stuns Art Market

(Newser) - Celebrity power revived the art market in Paris for at least one night, the Wall Street Journal reports. Despite the economy, a giddy atmosphere prevailed at Christie's as bidders battled over blue-chip works from Yves Saint Laurent's personal collection, dishing out $32 million more than expected. Only a moody, Cubist...

Tough-as-Nails Pooty-Poot Is Also an Artiste

Russian PM's painting fetches $1.15M at charity auction

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin has a murky past with the KGB, a black belt in judo, and the public image of a tough guy, so when the Russian PM tried his hand at fine art, patrons sat up. Putin painted a scene of snowfall seen through a window for a charity auction...

Christie's Cuts Jobs as Art Sales Slump

250-year-old auction house downsizes to stay afloat

(Newser) - Following months of bad results in America and Europe, Christie's is reorganizing to cut costs, including "significant staff reductions," the auction house said yesterday. While at the start of 2008 the art world seemed immune to the economic downturn, the decade-long boom in art prices busted this fall....

'Risqué' Attic Painting Sells for $4.1M

Hidden away because it showed a breast

(Newser) - A provocative 18th Century painting, hidden in the attic of a French chateau for decades because it featured a woman with a breast exposed, has fetched $4.1 million from an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction in London, reports the Daily Telegraph. The price was three times its estimated...

Auction Houses Counting on Russians

Buyers prop up industry staggering from economic crunch

(Newser) - With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of...

Hirst: Art Is Overpriced
 Hirst: Art Is Overpriced 
Nov 17, 2008 10:39 AM CST

Hirst: Art Is Overpriced

Multimillionaire artist says economic woes will likely bring (his) prices down

(Newser) - With the economic slowdown finally slamming into the art market, one of the world’s priciest living artists says art has become too costly anyway, the Independent reports. British multimillionaire Damien Hirst failed to sell a painting valued at some $3 million last week; in retrospect, he said, it “...

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...

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...

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