Stealing The Family Jewels
I find it truly amazing that someone, or a group of someones, can steal close to $4M worth of jewelry from an art and antiques fair. You would think there were enough people walking the show to have seen something … More…
Raising The Dead, and More…
There has been a number of surprising art world stories over the past two weeks. Nathan Scheer, in his article for The Artoholic, gives a teenager’s point of view on some of them … including Dali’s exhumation, Banksy and Hobby Lobby. … More…
Art Theft – Down Under
According to New Zealand police, Colin John McCahon’s “Comet (F13)” was stolen from its owner’s home while they were in the process of moving. Sure, moving wasn’t stressful enough! Colin John McCahon (1919-1987) is considered one of the country’s most … More…
How Stupid Can People Be?
These stories always amaze me and this one is even more shocking since they were warned, back in 2010, by an attorney that “the acquisition of cultural property likely from Iraq, including cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals, carries a … More…
Where’s My $10 Million?
Like they always say … believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see (or in this case, read). This is especially true when it comes to private deals in the art world. Back in 2015 the … More…
How Georgia O’Keeffe left her cheating husband for a mountain
A new exhibition of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe at the Tate Modern, London, will shine a light on an odd, obsessive artist. An article by Alastair Sooke, in The Telegraph, gives a very brief but interesting history of her life. … More…
Art Gallery Closures Grow for Small and Midsize Dealers
This is really sad… I fear we are going to see more of this as “large galleries with multiple locations grab wider audiences, dominate art fairs and focus on trophy works.” The people most affected are the younger/emerging artists and those … More…
Fewer and Smaller: A New Normal for London’s Summer Auctions?
Scott Reyburn reports on the recent, and upcoming, sales in London. It appears that at least one of the big boys is beginning to understand that too much work is not a good thing … Christie’s cuts its London auctions, … More…
Are You a Top-Down or Bottom-Up Viewer?
A recent study has shown that children and adults look at art in very different ways. Adults use top-down processing — driven by voluntary factors that are internal to the observer – such as prior knowledge of the work. On the … More…
Jackson Pollock sale postponed
News of this find traveled the globe pretty quickly and after seeing images of the work (which were not very impressive) I was surprised by the estimated value of more than $5 million … but what do I know … More…
“Art Dealer” arrested in New Orleans is indicted in Manhattan
They always say that leopards never change their spots (not even if those spots were created by Damien Hirst) … so why did they ever release this guy? The other day we posted a story about Vince Lopreto being extradited to … More…
AVAILABLE: Antoine Blanchard’s “Boulevard de la Madeleine in Winter”
Source: Boulevard de la Madeleine in Winter – here is a recent addition to our available paintings by the 20th century French artist Antoine Blanchard (1910-1988). Boulevard de la Madeleine in Winter is a classic example from the early part … More…
DOJ wants a Picasso given to Leonardo DiCaprio
Last Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to recover about $540 million in assets allegedly stolen from Malaysian fund 1MDB, established by PM Najib. Among the assets they are looking to get is a Picasso that Jho Low, … More…
Art collector Agnes Gund uses $100M to start social justice fund
People are always moaning about how much people spend on art and what ‘good’ they could have done with that money. I have always believed that some of those lucky sellers will use the money to help others … … More…
Well-known art scammer Vincent Lopreto jailed in New Orleans on New York warrant
Vincent Lopreto, an admitted art scammer, who along with his partner Ronald Bell (a California dealer) pleaded guilty in 2014 to selling six figures’ worth of fake paintings by the famed British artist Damien Hirst, was arrested and jailed … More…
Comments on the Art Market – Volume 199
Source: Newsletter Archives – we are pleased to present Volume 199 of our Comments on the Art Market. In this issue we cover: Tales from the Dark Side, Really (some old sneakers…), Stocks and the all important Art Market … dissecting … More…