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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: art market

art market stories: 46 news summaries

1 - 20 of 46 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 Color Christie's Blue 
 Over Weak Modern Sale 

Picasso, Mondrian flop at sparsely attended auction

Nov 4, 09 9:26 AM CST
(Newser) - A New York art dealer at the Christie's auction last night decreed "the recession is ending," but apparently not soon enough to move 13 of 41 modern and impressionist art works on offer, leaving the auction house millions of dollars short of pre-sale estimates. Major works by Picasso... More »

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art market • Christie's • Picasso • art auction • Degas • art dealer • Piet Mondrian • Auguste Rodin

 Madoff's Money Man Sells 
 Rothkos for $310M 

Merkin unloads art, but buyer's identity a mystery

Jul 1, 09 7:53 AM CDT
(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... More »

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art market • fraud • art • Mark Rothko • art collector • Ponzi scheme • Bernard Madoff • Ezra Merkin • Alberto Giacometti


 Modest Success 
 at Christie's 
 Cheers Art World 

Hockney breaks record as auction house sells $93.7M

May 14, 09 6:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Christie's contemporary auction in New York last night went better than expected, selling $93.7 million worth of postwar art—double the result of its rival Sotheby's the night before. The top lot was a 12-foot panorama by British painter David Hockney, which sold for $7.9 million, a record... More »

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art market • contemporary art • art • Christie's • David Hockney • auction • art auction • Jay-ZTV

 Buyers Return 
 for Healthy 
 Christie's Sale 

Auction house pulls in $103M, besting rival Sotheby's

May 7, 09 7:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - The art market performed better last night at Christie's New York sale of Impressionist and modern art, pulling in $103 million after a lackluster showing by its rival Sotheby's on Tuesday. The top lot was a 1968 portrait by Picasso, which sold for $14.6 million. As the Wall Street ... More »

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art market • Christie's • art auction • Pablo Picasso • Degas

 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

 Art Prices Tumble 35% 


Apr 7, 09 10:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Art prices went into freefall in the first quarter, as cash-strapped collectors unloaded their masterpieces, the Financial Times reports. Prices dropped 35%, after falling just 4.8% for all of 2008. Postwar and contemporary artists, favorites of the Wall Street elite, have been hit especially hard, with even the... More »

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art market • contemporary art • art • Andy Warhol • recession

 Auction Winner 
 Won't Pay for 
 Chinese Relics 

Collector says he bid $36 million on antiquities as protest

Mar 3, 09 9:32 AM CST
(Newser) - Among the most closely watched lots at last week's Paris auction of Yves Saint Laurent's art collection were two imperial Chinese bronzes that each sold for $18 million. Beijing spent months insisting that the sculptures were looted in the 19th century and should be returned to China, but failed to... More »

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China • art market • art • Christie's • looting • Yves Saint Laurent • art auction • antiquities

 Cash-Poor Collectors 
 Turn to Haute Pawnshops 

'Private art banks' exchange paintings for cash

Feb 24, 09 8:12 AM CST
(Newser) - With loans hard to come by, some rich Americans are turning to their art collections for quick cash. Rather than sell in a depressed market, collectors turn to a lightly regulated corner of the marketplace that provides capital in exchange for temporary ownership of artwork. While they may look like... More »

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art market • art • Annie Leibovitz • loan • lending practices • financial crisis • pawn shop

 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

 Economy Shadows 
 Miami Art Fair 

Collectors descend on Art Basel, but sales are slow

Dec 4, 08 1:30 PM CST
(Newser) - The art world descends on Miami this week for Art Basel Miami Beach, America's biggest art fair. But last night's VIP opening had none of the crazed buying of recent years, when collectors ran through the aisles in the first minutes like frenzied Wal-Mart shoppers. "It's obvious the economy... More »

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art market • art • Miami • Art Basel • art fair

 Major Works 
 Fail to Sell 
 at Christie's 

Dismal auction season continues as Bacon fails to find buyer

Nov 13, 08 9:16 AM CST
(Newser) - The art world bust continued last night at the Christie's contemporary auction in New York, where almost a third of the 75 works on the block went unsold. Not a single collector bid for the highlight of the sale, a self-portrait by Francis Bacon estimated to sell for around $40... More »

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art market • contemporary art • art • Christie's • Francis Bacon • Lehman Brothers • art auction • Richard Fuld

 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

 At London Fair, Art 
 Market Finally Stalls 

Frieze opens to lots of collectors, but few sales

Oct 16, 08 9:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - As the financial crisis has deepened, the art world seemed strangely impervious to global declines. But at yesterday's opening of the Frieze Art Fair in London, one of the year's biggest events, the slowdown finally caught up to the heady art market. Where once visitors ran maniacally to buy artwork... More »

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art market • London • art • financial crisis • art fair • Frieze Art Fair

 Hirst Auction Yields $199M 

Dealer-less London sale smashes records

Sep 17, 08 4:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Damien Hirst sold 223 pieces of artwork for $199 million by the end of a two-day auction yesterday, shattering the record for most revenue in an auction of a single artist’s work, Forbes reports. The previous mark was held by Pablo Picasso, with 88 sold for $20 million in... More »

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art market • art • Damien Hirst • sales • credit crisis • art auction • Pablo Picasso

 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

Cruise Ship Art Dealer Faces Class Action

Promising deals, gallery sold works at grossly inflated prices

Jul 16, 08 6:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Park West Gallery in Southfield, Mich., claims to be "the world's largest art dealer," flogging more works than the major auction houses through its sales on half a dozen cruise lines. But while the onboard auctions promise "good investments," the New York Times reports that Park... More »

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art market • fraud • art • lawsuit • cruise ships • appraisals • cruise lines

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