Erasmus portrait purported to be by Holbein the Younger, via The Art News
Experts speculate that new portrait of Erasmus is by Holbein the Younger [ArtInfo]
Art auction houses have always been touted as the most transparent transactions in the system, but they are far more complex and secretive, and in recent years, much more is at stake [Financial Times]
Review of critic Michael Fried’s latest book: Why Photography Matters… [Artforum]
Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ portrait of Barack Obama, via AP
Smithsonian acquires Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ portrait of Obama [ArtInfo]
White Cube’s Jay Jopling’s rise to power and the current pressure from a failing market, gossip tabloids [The Times UK]
Brad Pitt portrait in daguerreotype by Chuck Close, via W Magazine
Chuck Close’s daguerreotype portrait of Brad Pitt is W Magazine’s new cover [W Magazine]
The Vatican aims to exhibit art in a ‘national pavilion’ during the Venice Biennale as a counbterpoint to “blasphemous” modern art [Times UK]
Black on Maroon (1959) by Mark Rothko, part of the Seagram mural series, via Tate Modern; studies for the Seagram series are owned by Ezra Merkin, who lost billions to Bernie Madoff ‘s investment scheme.
Assailed Madoff victim has 12 Rothkos; collectors salivate [Bloomberg]
The Art Newspaper explores the changing emerging art markets of China, and Russia here, and India here [Art Newspaper]
