art collector

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Cops: Woman Scammed Own Mom in $140M Psychic Ruse

Sabine Boghici, 48, and accomplices are accused of conning her 82-year-old mother for years

(Newser) - A Brazilian woman was arrested this week and accused of recruiting a group of fake psychics to scam her own 82-year-old mother out of about $140 million in cash, artwork, and jewelry, reports the Washington Post . The alleged scheme began in January 2020, when Genevieve Boghici, the wealthy widow of...

Video Clip Sells for $660K a Second

Sales of 'non-fungible tokens' are exploding

(Newser) - The blockchain technology behind Bitcoin and other digital currencies is shaking up the art world as well as financial markets. Sales of "non-fungible tokens"—artworks or other pieces of digital property authenticated as unique originals via blockchain—are exploding, with a 10-second artwork by artist Beeple recently selling...

Meet the Man Who Sold His Back as a Piece of Art
A Most Macabre Art Form
on This Man's Back
LONGFORM
Feb 3, 2017 4:48 PM CST

A Most Macabre Art Form on This Man's Back

Not the tattoo itself—what's going to happen to his back when he dies

(Newser) - It was a plan two years in the making, and it took 40 hours to execute, but Tim Steiner has finally fulfilled his dream: to become a walking, talking piece of art. Harry Low reveals Steiner's story for the BBC , which started when Steiner, a 40-year-old Swiss man who...

Charge $170M Painting on AmEx, Fly Free Forever

Chinese billionaire collecting serious bonus points

(Newser) - Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian, who doesn't exactly struggle to afford a plane ticket, can now likely fly free, in first class, with his whole family, anywhere in the world, for the rest of his life. All because he bought a painting. Liu was the winning bidder for Amedeo Modigliani'...

Art World About to Be Swimming in Warhols

Warhol foundation to auction off 20K works

(Newser) - We've got bad news for art collectors who've invested heavily in screen prints of soup cans: Their value might be about to plummet, because Andy Warhol's estate is selling out. The Andy Warhol Foundation is dumping its entire collection—more than 20,000 works—in a move...

Writer Finds Hitler's Art in Monastery

Jiri Kuchar: seven paintings in Czech Republic worth nearly $3M

(Newser) - A Czech publisher and writer has uncovered a chunk of Adolf Hitler's art collection in a Czech monastery north of Prague, AFP reports. Jiri Kuchar announced his seven-painting find yesterday, valuing it at roughly $2.7 million. "They're part of Hitler's collection of about 45 paintings,...

Warhol Collection Stolen From LA Home

$1 million reward offered after fortune in original Warhol art vanishes

(Newser) - A multi-million dollar collection of portraits by Andy Warhol has been stolen from a prominent collector's home, the Los Angeles Times reports. Former investment banker Richard Weisman's housekeeper discovered that The Athletes series of 11 portraits—worth as much as a million a pop—had vanished when she entered the...

Collectors Give 50 Artworks Each to 50 States

(Newser) - Herb and Dorothy Vogel had just modest incomes—he was a postal clerk, she a librarian—but over four decades they acquired more than 3,600 drawings, paintings, and collages from America's leading artists. They collected so much that they had to stuff works under their bed. But now the...

Madoff's Money Man Sells Rothkos for $310M

Merkin unloads art, but buyer's identity a mystery

(Newser) - Ezra Merkin, the financier who pumped billions of his clients' money into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, is selling more than 10 paintings by Mark Rothko and two sculptures by Alberto Giacometti for $310 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. Some of the proceeds may go to his defrauded investors, who...

Lehman CEO's Art Collection Goes Up for Sale

Richard Fuld's wife puts $20M in prized drawings on the block

(Newser) - A $20-million collection of abstract expressionist drawings belonging to Lehman boss Richard Fuld and his wife is to be sold by Christie's, Bloomberg reports. Fuld's net worth has taken a whack with the collapse of Lehman stock; the sale, which includes 3 de Koonings, was anounced 4 days after the...

Hearst Group to Auction Night at Xanadu

Organizers hope to raise $100K to restore Hearst art collection

(Newser) - Wanna-be Citizen Kanes have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a night at Hearst Castle—if they can pony up enough cash. A single night for two at William Randolph Heart's ultra-luxe California digs is going up for auction this month on eBay to raise funds to restore the legendary publisher's...

Beetle Bailey Finds New Barracks
Beetle Bailey
Finds New
Barracks
Jul 16, 2008 1:14 PM CDT

Beetle Bailey Finds New Barracks

Creator Mort Walker's Cartoon Museum is Ohio-bound

(Newser) - One of the world's biggest collections of cartoon art has found a new home at Ohio State University, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker amassed more than 200,000 pieces of cartoon art during his 7 decades in the business but had to move his...

Carla Nude Pic Fetches $91K at Christie's

1993 portrait of Sarko's wife goes for 20 times expected price

(Newser) - Sarkozy isn't the only one who gets to see his wife in the buff: a collector paid $91,000 for a photograph of a naked Carla Bruni at Christie's today. The auction house expected Michel Comte's 1993 portrait of the French first lady to sell for no more than $4,...

Not a Great Time to Be an Artist

Top financier predicts sharp downturn in market

(Newser) - The exploding art market may be about to deflate: New York’s flurry of contemporary art fairs last week had surprisingly good sales in light of the economic times, reports Portfolio, but the president of one of the nation’s most active lenders against art predicts a sharp downturn from...

Sonic Youth's Album Art for Sale
Sonic Youth's Album Art for Sale
Feb 21, 2008 11:25 AM CST

Sonic Youth's Album Art for Sale

Painting that graced classic Daydream Nation cover goes up for auction

(Newser) - Music fans for whom Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation is an all-time classic will get a chance next week to bid on the painting that served as album-cover art, the Independent reports. Kerze (Candle), a 1983 work by German Gerhard Richter, is one in a series of still lifes based on...

Uncertain Art World Awaits Fall Sales
Uncertain Art World Awaits Fall Sales
Aug 29, 2007 10:47 AM CDT

Uncertain Art World Awaits Fall Sales

Credit crisis has auctioneers, galleries bracing for bear market

(Newser) - As the art world returns from its summer hiatus, dealers, auctioneers, and collectors are on edge about a possible downturn in the market, the Times reports. Fallout from the global credit crunch has led to speculation that astronomical prices for art, particularly in the contemporary sector, may be heading for...

Ridiculed Edsel Gains Traction
Ridiculed Edsel Gains Traction
Aug 25, 2007 12:16 PM CDT

Ridiculed Edsel Gains Traction

Ford's failure finds fans among auto collectors

(Newser) - The Ford Edsel, a symbol of commercial failure since its release 50 years ago, is finding a niche among admiring collectors, the LA Times reports. With only an estimated 5 or 6,000 left on the market since the line was discontinued in 1960, many are fetching high prices at...

Communist Art Is Capitalist Hit
Communist Art Is Capitalist Hit  
Apr 23, 2007 12:50 PM CDT

Communist Art Is Capitalist Hit

Russian collectors get nostalgic for commie propaganda art, bucolic peasant scenes

(Newser) - Nostalgia for the good old days of the USSR is in—at least for Russian art collectors. These days, communist-inspired paintings of peasant scenes and heroic workers have acquired a uniquely capitalist hipness. "The art was propaganda of happiness," says Yuri Tyukhtin, a banker who runs an art...

Can Chinese Art Stay Hot?
Can Chinese Art Stay Hot?
Apr 20, 2007 12:35 PM CDT

Can Chinese Art Stay Hot?

It's all the rage in Europe, but will Chinese-themed art lose its market power?

(Newser) - After a year of high excitement and higher prices, Chinese artists are hot at influential European fairs. But the bubble may have grown too fast, and Portfolio's Alexandra Wolfe reports on speculation that it's about to burst. One curator says Chinese art is "a consumer category, not a collector...

Art Market Fuels Boom in Private Museums

Contemporary collectors keep architects busy designing special exhibition spaces

(Newser) - Contemporary art collectors, no longer content to hang the Julian Schnabel over the sofa, are commissioning celebrity architects to design special exhibition spaces, complete with soaring ceilings, professional lighting, and temperature controls. With the art market booming, so is the market for private museums, worrying some observers that important works...

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