The Old Masters Take Center Stage At Sotheby’s
On Wednesday the 30th, Sotheby’s held a day and evening sale offering a selection of Old Master paintings, drawings, and sculptures. In an interesting PR twist, Sotheby’s brought in former pop-star and contemporary art collector Victoria Beckham, who is said … More…
Bargain-Basement Bacon
One and J Gallery (South Korea) is alleging that Christie’s has done, what can best be described as, a “bargain-basement sale” of a Francis Bacon. According to the court documents, One and J consigned an unnamed Francis Bacon painting to … More…
Bataclan Banksy Bagged
A mural, attributed to Banksy, was stolen in a swift overnight heist from the exterior of the Bataclan theater in Paris. According to reports, the work, which was painted on an outside door in 2018, depicts a veiled figure. The … More…
How To Safely Navigate The Art Market: The Catalogue Raisonné
Since I touched on expertise last month, I thought it would be appropriate to follow-up with an article about Catalogue Raisonnés (C.R.). I have used this term many times in my career, and occasionally someone stops me to ask — … More…
Getty Museum Acquires an Important 19th-Century Painting by Giovanni Segantini
The J. Paul Getty Museum announced this week that they have acquired a major work by the 19th-century Italian artist Giovanni Segantini. The painting was originally commissioned by Toby Rosenthal on behalf of Jacob Stern (1851-1927) – the San Francisco … More…
‘Wow Factor’ Lures Immediate Buyer Of 19th Century French Painting That’s Been Unseen For 118 Years
Daniel Ridgway Knight’s painting On the Terrace, Rolleboise recently surfaced, after about 118 years in hiding, and quickly found a new home. Over the past 12 to 18 months, we have seen more and more interest in great academic works … More…
20th Century Painting Ruled 2018 Art Market, More ‘Rare, Superb Quality Works’ Could Emerge in 2019
Below is a link to Natasha Gural’s summary, on Forbes.com, of the top works sold at public auction during 2018. Will we see more impressive results in 2019? The auction room machines need to be fed, so if they continue … More…
Hey Dutch Restitution Committee – Are You Serious?
Anne Webber, from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, and Wesley Fisher, of the Jewish Claims Conference, are calling out the Dutch Restitution Committee (DRC) for establishing a “hierarchy” for dealing with art that was looted by the Nazis. … More…
Sotheby’s London – Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist
On the afternoon of December 13th, Sotheby’s offered up a sale of 19th & 20th-century British art — guys and gals, come on … it is time to scale back. I understand that the auction rooms want to grab as … More…
How To Safely Navigate The Art Market – Expertise
The word ‘expert’ is used (and at times abused) by many people in the art world – “Is he an expert?”, “Who is the expert?”, “Did you show it to the expert?”, “I am an expert!” The real question is … More…
Christie’s, London – Small Works Steal The Show
On December 11th, Christie’s presented their offering of British and European Art in London… it’s become the norm for these low-mid level sales to yield high BI-rates along with many works selling for under the estimate… this time around was … More…
Sotheby’s: Art of Travel and Exploration – A Really Hard Lesson
The market’s flood continued with Sotheby’s, London, presenting two sales on the 13th of December. First up was a small one they call Art of Travel and Exploration. Why they needed to break these out into a standalone sale is … More…
Sometimes They Go Too Quickly
Here is a nice story, in Forbes, about an important painting by Adrien Moreau (1843 – 1906) that our gallery recently sold. We know that “La Réception au Château” was originally sold by Boussod, Valadon & Cie in 1888, and … More…
19th Century European – Thank Goodness for Caspar!
On December 12th, Sotheby’s (London) offered a group of 19th Century European Paintings and the results, in keeping with the works being offered, were less than stellar. I will start by saying that they did have a few interesting works, … More…
Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist – Christie’s London
On the afternoon of December 11th, Christie’s presented their Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art sale. That covers a long span of time considering the earliest work dated from the 1820s and there was at least one artist in the … More…
Comments on the Art Market – Volume 217
Happy New Year! We just released Volume 217 of our Comments on the Art Market (the beginning of our 19th year). Included are links to a couple of articles the gallery was featured in, a schedule of upcoming fairs (with … More…