Vanity License Plate Sets Record
Did you hear about the guy who just spent Dh55 million ($15 million to you and me) on a license plate in Dubai? I mean, talk about a vanity license plate! The license plate was offered during a charity auction … More…
The Laziest Fakes: Goya & Velázquez Forgeries Seized In Spain
In Spain, the Historic Heritage division of Valencia’s regional police seized five paintings said to be forgeries being passed off as originals by the Spanish masters Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Goya. The suspects involved attempted to sell the works … More…
The Orlando Basquiats: A Year In The Making
Last year, the FBI raided the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), confiscating 25 alleged forgeries of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Since then, the OMA’s board of trustees has fired its chairwoman Cynthia Brumback and the museum director Aaron de Groft, … More…
The FBI’s New Art App
In popular culture, many in the United States and beyond think of federal law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as shadowy organizations watching everything we do. In the eyes of many, they often catch criminals before … More…
Roy Lichtenstein: Pioneer Or Plagiarist?
Roy Lichtenstein became one of the most prominent names in American pop art in the 1960s, entering the broader cultural consciousness through his paintings resembling comic strips from pulp magazines and noir serials. Today works like Whaam! and Masterpiece are some of the most … More…
Christie’s Paris Chagall Et La Musique
On Tuesday, April 11th, Christie’s Paris held an online sale entitled Chagall et la Musique, or Chagall and Music. The works came directly from Marc Chagall’s estate, all of which feature musical instruments or were inspired by pieces of music. … More…
Stolen Antiquities Seized From The Met
Over the past month, my news feed has been bombarded with stories coming out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Specifically, these stories are mainly about how investigators have found more and more antiquities in their collections … More…
Possible Vermeer In Philadelphia?
Since 1933, a copy of a painting by Johannes Vermeer known as Lady with a Guitar has sat in storage at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, never having been put on display. For nearly a century, experts believed the work … More…
Reynolds Rescued
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how one of the most famous works by the British portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds was in danger of leaving Britain after the government’s export bar expired. The National Portrait Gallery in London failed to raise … More…
Bonhams London 19th Century Sale
On Wednesday, March 29th, Bonhams New Bond Street location in London hosted its 19th Century and British Impressionist art sale, featuring seventy-three works by both British and Continental European painters (w/p = with buyer’s premium). What ended up being the … More…
Unknown Pollock Rediscovered In Bulgaria
Greece’s anti-organized crime task force found a lost painting possibly by the great American abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock during a raid on suspected art traffickers in Bulgaria. Last week, Bulgarian National Radio reported that Europol organized a joint operation … More…
Lego Lilies: Ai Weiwei’s Newest Work In London
The Design Museum, located less than ten minutes from Kensington Palace in London, has been an exhibition space for graphic arts, architecture, fashion, and much more since the late 1980s. But it’s receiving attention right now because of a new … More…
20 West 55th Street: Hopefully, Our Last Buildout Update!
It was a stressful week for our new space. On Wednesday, we discovered that 55th Street was closed due to a high-ranking foreign official staying at the Peninsula Hotel – concrete barriers were up, while Police Officers, Secret Service, and … More…
Family Feud Over Rockwell Drawings
A family is currently dividing itself into factions because of the disputed ownership of some drawings. But they’re not just any drawings… So You Want To See the President! is a series of illustrations created by the American artist Norman Rockwell … More…
Coin Dealer Arrested
I rarely choose to update one of my stories, but one I wrote about a few years ago now belongs in our Dark Side section. In December 2020, I wrote about a rare ancient gold coin, the Eid Mar, that … More…
Sotheby’s Paris Impressionniste & Moderne
On Wednesday April 19th, Sotheby’s Paris hosted a short impressionist and modern art evening sale. The auction consisted of twenty-one lots that took about an hour to get through, mainly made up of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century paintings and … More…