Pay Up Or No Art
It seems as thought Mana Contemporary is preventing the Mugrabi family from removing any of their art from a storage facility in New Jersey. According to Mana, Mugrabi owes them more than $500,000 in storage fees. Mugrabi claims that Mana … More…
More Berkshire Heat — Rockwells Sue!
It was inevitable … a lawsuit was file against the Berkshire Museum to halt the sale of 40 important paintings from its collection. Norman Rockwell’s three sons (Thomas , Jarvis , and Peter), along with other plaintiffs, hope to obtain … More…
Turning Up The Heat On The Berkshire
As the sales gets closer and closer, the Berkshire Museum is feeling even more heat. Now, the Rockwell family is exploring options to try and stop the sale claiming that Norman Rockwell donated Shuffleton’s Barbershop and Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel … More…
The da Vinci Nail Biter
Questions about authenticity still surround Salvator Mundi … a supposed long lost painting by the great Leonardo da Vinci. The painting sold, not too long ago, for over $120M and now it will be up to some very rich people … More…
Are You Smartified?
Here is an interesting new app (the basic version is free) that will help you identify and learn more about a work of art – Smartify. According to their site, all you need to do is take a picture of … More…
Legalities & Ethics
The Berkshire Museum’s decision to sell some of its most valuable assets (40 works of art) is still a hot topic. Since the sales are scheduled to be held in November, there isn’t much time for the Attorney General to … More…
Rolling the Dice … The da Vinci Gamble!
Next month the Rybolovlev saga will continue … now he is going to sell his Leonardo da Vinci … a painting be bought just a few years ago for $127.5M. This time around, the auction room has pegged the price at … More…
Bacon Burns While Basquiat Sizzles
Christie’s had high hopes for their Francis Bacon Study of Red Pope (1962), expecting it to make at least £60M/$78M. Well, nobody wanted to take the plunge and create a new record price for a single piece by the artist — … More…
Filler Does Not Help
This past week the auction action started … and it was less than stellar. Sotheby’s was first with their Contemporary sale and as we have seen with other periods of art, the salerooms are having a difficult time getting really … More…
Berkshire Museum – WHY?
Here is a GREAT article by Felix Salmon in The New Yorker about the Berkshire Museum’s decision to sell 40 of its most prized works. If you have been following this story, you will enjoy reading the article. What is … More…
Why Would You Steal This?
Word has it that a thief walked into an auction house in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, and walked out with a tiny (5 x 4 inch) Renoir. “Portrait d’une jeune fille blonde” was scheduled to be sold this past weekend with an … More…
Mess With The Rhino You Might Get The Horn
Syosset resident Fengyi Zhou, an Asian art dealer, recently pleaded guilty to buying, and then trying to sell, black rhinoceros horns. Along with the horns, Zhou was given an “Endangered Species Bill of Sale,” from which Zhou was made aware that … More…
Comments on the Art Market – Volume 202
We just released Volume 202 of our Comments on the Art Market. In this issue we cover the Winnetka Show, ARC Select 2017 (opening October 28th and featuring the works of Emanuele Dascanio, Daniel Gerhartz, Vanessa Lemen, Sergio Lopez, Tim … More…
The Art World’s Dirty Side
This is a story we have all heard before, but it is important to keep it in mind when traveling through the art world … be careful. Even the biggest of galleries, Knoedler being the main one, can be fooled … More…
It Is Real!
A head study of the Duke of Buckingham, thought to be a copy of a lost Rubens painting, has now been authenticated as an original! The painting is in the collection of the Glasgow Museum and has been on display … More…
What If?
I do love these “what if” stories that compare the art market and stock market. Here are some of my – what ifs? What if I bought an Andy Warhol in the early 60s for $1,000? What if I bought … More…