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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Sotheby's

Sotheby's stories: 40 news summaries

1 - 20 of 40 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Letters Reveal 
 Byron's Feud 
 With 'Turdsworth' 

Unpublished correspondence up for sale

Sep 28, 09 8:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - A collection of letters written by Lord Byron to a clergyman, some of them unpublished, sheds new light on the Romantic poet—who discloses his sexual escapades with servants and angry opinions of fellow writers. Several letters refer to a serving girl whom he took as his mistress; he dumped... More »

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Sotheby's • literature • letters • poetry • English literature • correspondence

 London Art Market 
 Feels a Chill 

Lack of once-plentiful foreign cash hurts auctioneers

Jun 26, 09 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - London became the hottest art market in the world last year, eclipsing New York, but the recession is putting the squeeze on auction houses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last year’s influx of foreign money has dried up, and sellers are keeping a firm hold on their  most desirable... More »

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London • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction

 Blue Diamond Sells 
 for Record $8.4M 

Industry hopes sale will stimulate trade slump

May 12, 09 4:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - As the diamond market tumbles, at least it seems a blue one is forever, reports GlobalPost. A 7.03-carat rock unearthed in South Africa last year sold for more than $8.4 million at a Geneva auction today—setting a world record in price per karat for a gem of... More »

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Sotheby's • auction • diamond • gems • Jay-ZTV • blue diamond

 Sotheby's Sale 
 Busts, Picasso 
 Goes Unsold 

$61.3M result fails to reach low estimate

May 6, 09 6:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The art market failed to recover from its recent slump last night, as Sotheby's held a disappointing New York sale that saw works by Picasso and Giacometti go unsold. The small auction of 36 lots brought in just $61.3 million—well below the low estimate of $81.5 million.... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • modern art • art auction • Pablo Picasso • Alberto Giacometti

 Strapped 
 Art Market 
 Preps for 
 Auctions 

Expectations low as auction houses try variety of tactics

May 1, 09 10:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - After a 7-year boom, art auction houses are struggling as collectors hit hard by the recession close their wallets. Sotheby’s predicts it will pull in $179 million to $256 million at spring sales, compared to $742 million a year ago. As the spring events approach, auctioneers are employing an... More »

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art market • art • Andy Warhol • Sotheby's • Christie's • Damien Hirst • Francis Bacon • Mark Rothko • art auction • Jeff Koons • Pablo Picasso • financial crisis • Alberto Giacometti • Robert Gober • Tamara de Lempicka • Jean-Michel Basquiat • Tom Wesselman

 Christie's Cuts Jobs 
  as Art Sales Slump 

250-year-old auction house downsizes to stay afloat

Jan 13, 09 7:10 AM CST
(Newser) - Following months of bad results in America and Europe, Christie's is reorganizing to cut costs, including "significant staff reductions," the auction house said yesterday. While at the start of 2008 the art world seemed immune to the economic downturn, the decade-long boom in art prices busted this fall.... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction • downsizing • recession depression

OPINION

 Hirst Is Art World's Lehman 

September mega-sale coincided with investment bank's collapse

Dec 22, 08 12:21 PM CST
(Newser) - With the collapse of Lehman Brothers having opened an “anxious new era” in financial circles and among consumers at large, the auction that brought artist Damien Hirst $166 million on Sept. 15—the very day Lehman went bust—clearly marks the division, Martin Gayford writes for Bloomberg. By year’... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Damien Hirst • crash • Lehman Brothers • financial crisis

 Auction Houses 
 Counting on 
 Russians 

Buyers prop up industry staggering from economic crunch

Nov 30, 08 1:28 PM CST
(Newser) - With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of... More »

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Russia • contemporary art • Moscow • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • modern art • Bonhams Auctions • art auction

 Contemporary 
 Art Goes Bust 
 at Dismal Auction 

Lot after lot goes unsold at New York auction

Nov 12, 08 7:58 AM CST
(Newser) - Collectors from Steve Martin to Valentino packed the Sotheby's saleroom in New York last night, but its contemporary art auction barely pulled in $125 million—far below the low estimate of $202 million. For those who could afford it, works were going at bargain-basement prices. "It was a half-price... More »

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art market • contemporary art • art • Sotheby's • art auction

 Art Market Stalls 
 at Grim Fall Sale 

Malevich sets record, but Sotheby's has a slow night in New York

Nov 4, 08 7:00 AM CST
(Newser) - In New York last night Sotheby's held a lackluster auction that portended a grim year ahead for the once buoyant art market. Of 70 lots at the sale of impressionist and modern art, fully 25 found no buyers. There was one bit of good news for the market: a... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • auction • Degas • financial crisis

 Sotheby's Pulls 
 $30M Picasso 
 on Market Jitters 

Top lot in Nov. auction withdrawn as seller panics

Oct 28, 08 8:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - A painting from Picasso's Cubist period that was one of the highlights of the fall auction season has been pulled "for private reasons," Sotheby's New York office said yesterday. The withdrawal of Arlequin, a 1909 work which was estimated at more than $30 million, had been rumored for... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • auction • art auction • Pablo Picasso

Painting Price Spells Gloom
for Economy

Portrait of Bacon auctions for only
$9.4M at Christie's

Oct 19, 08 7:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Lucian Freud painting expected to sell for more than $12 million at Christie’s today went for only $9.4 million, a sign that even super-rich buyers of contemporary art are cutting back in the financial crisis, the Daily Telegraph reports. The art world anxiously awaited the sale of... More »

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art • Sotheby's • Christie's • Francis Bacon • art auction • Lucian Freud • financial crisis

 As Stocks Slide, Hirst 
 Auction Breaks Records 

Unprecedented one-man auction exceeds high estimate

Sep 16, 08 8:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Damien Hirst won the biggest gamble of his career at Sotheby's last night—as lot after lot of the artist's work beat high estimates, totaling $127.2 million in sales. While the markets tumbled in New York, bidders in the London saleroom bought up dozens of brand-new Hirsts, from taxidermied... More »

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art market • London • art • Sotheby's • Damien Hirst • art auction

 Masters Shore Up
 Shaky Art Market 

Auctions break records, but living artists' work suffers

Jul 3, 08 9:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - The art market has again defied the economic downturn, with Christie's and Sotheby's bringing in more than $1 billion combined during the past two weeks' London sales—a 19% rise from last year. But those numbers disguise the erratic nature of the market, writes the Wall Street Journal. While new... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction

 Hirst Goes Straight to Auction 

Artist eschews galleries and sells new work at Sotheby's

Jun 19, 08 10:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - In recent years, art collectors and auction houses have been reaping the profits of soaring contemporary art prices, while living artists watched with chagrin. Now Damien Hirst has stepped into the fray, bypassing the gallery system and bringing his latest works straight to auction. "It’s a very democratic... More »

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art • Sotheby's • Damien Hirst • art auction • gallery

Bacon Breaks Record
as Art Market Sizzles

Artist's 1976 masterpiece sells for $86M at red-hot Sotheby's sale

May 15, 08 3:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A 1976 triptych painting by Francis Bacon became the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold when it went for $86.2 million at auction last night, Reuters reports. Seventeen other artists also set records at the sale, boosting Sotheby's to the best night in its 300-year history and... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Francis Bacon • painting • art auction • Robert Rauschenberg

 Art Auction Houses
 Predict 25% Bump 

Sotheby's and Christie's prepare for booming auction season—they hope

May 5, 08 9:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The New York art auction season begins today, and Sotheby’s and Christie’s say they believe the art market’s 5-year boom will continue, forecasting $1.8 billion in sales, reports the Financial Times. The prediction of a 25% boost over last year flies in the face of... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction • impressionist art

analysis

Spring Art Auctions Surrounded by Crash Talk

Writers keep predicting implosion, but it might never come

Apr 29, 08 10:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - It's auction season again in the art world, and Sotheby's and Christie's have put record estimates on dozens of paintings. Despite warnings in the media of an imminent crash, prices of fine art seem to be impervious to the global economic downturn. It's enough to make one writer at Slate ... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction

 Lincoln Letter 
 Sells for $3.4M 

Letter contains Lincoln's reply to kids' plea to free slave children

Apr 4, 08 10:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - An 1864 letter from Abraham Lincoln to Massachusetts schoolchildren fetched a record $3.4 million at auction yesterday, a record for an American manuscript, CNN reports. In the letter, Lincoln responded to a petition from 195 youngsters asking him to "free all the little slave children of this country"... More »

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Sotheby's • auction • letters • Abraham Lincoln • Civil War • slavery

Sonic Youth's Album Art for Sale

Painting that graced classic Daydream Nation cover goes up for auction

Feb 21, 08 11:25 AM CST
(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... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • painting • rock and roll • art collector • Sonic Youth • art auction • Gerhard Richter

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