Trump’s Colorado Painting & Other Presidential Portrait Stories
A portrait of Donald Trump hanging at the Colorado State Capitol building has been removed after many people online decided the president’s depiction was amusing and unflattering. Apart from when they are first unveiled, presidential portraits don’t often receive much … More…
Cheeto Or Charizard?? No…It’s A Cheetozard!
In 2019, an unknown snack lover stumbled upon an unusual Flamin’ Hot Cheeto while enjoying their afternoon snack. Thinking that the little spicy puff resembled Charizard, the dragon-like Pokémon beloved by fans worldwide, they decided not to pop it into … More…
Christie’s London Modern British & Irish Evening Sale
On Wednesday, March 19th, Christie’s London hosted one of its evening sales dedicated to modern British and Irish art. These sales often do fairly well, but that is not always a foregone conclusion. This one, I believe, was a great … More…
Disgraced Art Advisor Lisa Schiff Sentenced To Prison
Lisa Schiff, the Manhattan art advisor who admitted to stealing money from her clients, has just been sentenced to time in prison. Schiff was a veteran of the art world. She worked in galleries and auction houses in both North … More…
FBI Gallery Raid Confirmed As A Stunt
Videos spread all over social media last week allegedly showing FBI agents seizing a painting right off the walls of a Manhattan gallery. However, it all turned out to be a stunt. Last week, I received messages from people asking … More…
Collector Refuses To Give Up Stolen Madonna
A Renaissance-era Madonna & Child painting stolen from an Italian museum fifty years ago has recently been rediscovered in Britain. But the owner will not let it go. Antonio Solario was a sixteenth-century northern Italian painter. While moderately successful in … More…
Supreme Court Rules On Nazi-Looted Pissarro
The Supreme Court has, in just a few sentences, ruled in favor of a Holocaust survivor’s descendants in their efforts to regain their stolen Pissarro painting. Over a year ago, I wrote about how a court in California ruled against … More…
Bonhams Skinner American Art
On Wednesday, March 12th, Bonham’s Skinner hosted one of their American art sales, primarily featuring paintings and sculptures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among the lots available were works by Thomas Hart Benton and Milton Avery. However, the auction … More…
Christie’s London Impressionist & Modern Art
I thought the Art of the Surreal sale would be the big triumph at Christie’s last week. However, it seems like they ended up with a better week than anticipated, given the success of their Impressionist and Modern Art Day … More…
Christie’s London Art Of The Surreal
Every year, around the beginning of March, Christie’s hosts an Art of the Surreal sale at its London location. For as long as I’ve been covering these auctions, they have always been some of the greatest successes Christie’s experiences for … More…
AI Art: The New NFTs?
Trends come and go in the art world, and it can be somewhat difficult to predict which ones will stay around and which will fizzle out. Because of that, I’ve found it useful to have skepticism as my first initial … More…
Rijksmuseum Unveils Rare Vanitas Still-Life
Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has recently unveiled one of its latest acquisitions: a masterpiece by one of the most important female painters of the Dutch Golden Age, Maria van Oosterwijck. On Tuesday, March 4th, the Rijksmuseum put Vanitas Still Life by Maria … More…
Stolen Brueghel Recovered
A painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, one of Poland’s most wanted stolen paintings, has been recovered in the Netherlands after nearly fifty years. Arthur Brand, a specialist in stolen art (who I have mentioned before in relation to a … More…
Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Curated
On Wednesday, February 26th, Christie’s and Sotheby’s began three straight days of twentieth-century and contemporary art. While things have been going well thus far, the Contemporary Curated sale at Sotheby’s York Avenue location in New York was the one auction … More…
Elizabeth Street Garden Clings On With A New Lawsuit
The nonprofit organization that maintains the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan has filed a lawsuit against New York City to prevent its land from being used for an apartment building. The continuing story of the Elizabeth Street Garden has been … More…
Bonhams 19th-Century & British Impressionist Art
On Wednesday, March 26th, Bonhams’ sale room at New Bond Street, London, hosted their 19th-Century and British Impressionist art sale, featuring works by Heywood Hardy, Rudolf Ernst, Sir Alfred Munnings, and Dame Laura Knight. However, the works of the orientalist … More…