A rare Bernini sculpture that many historians had thought lost or destroyed has been acquired by the Getty Museum. The marble bust of Pope Paul V will “become one of a handful of the most important sculptures in the Getty’s collection, no question,” says Director Timothy Potts. (more…)
MoMA has acquired several hundred photographs by artist August Sander from his series “People of the Twentieth Century,” the New York Times reports. “His ambition is nothing less than to use photography to describe the people of the 20th century,” says Sarah Hermanson Meister, a MoMA photography curator. “He is doing this through the German people, but it’s not limited in its intention to that.” (more…)
The MAK Vienna has purchased artist Harm van den Dorpel’s Event Listeners screen-saver work with Bitcoins, making it the first museum in the world to use the digitally-centered currency. The work will be shown at this year’s inaugural Vienna Biennale, running June 11 to October 4. (more…)
After reporting yesterday that Leon Black‘s publishing house Phaidon Press was in talks to purchase online art gallery Artspace, Bloomberg has published an article confirming the deal. Although the price paid by Phaidon for Artspace remains unknown, the article reports that, when Auctionata was in talks to acquire the gallery, Artspace had been valued at just under $5 million. The article also points out that this merger will give Phaidon Press and, by extension, Leon Black access to Artspace’s extensive mailing list of 150,000 active art collectors, increasing “[Phaidon’s] access to global art collectors who are also consumers of its art and design books and multimedia products”.
An article on Bloomberg.com reports that collector and billionaire Leon Black is in talks to purchase Artspace through Phaidon Press, the publishing company he bought in 2012. Artspace has been in the news recently for its lower-than-expected sales figures, especially compared to its early success in fundraising. Previous reports indicated that the online auction site Auctionata was a prime contender to acquire Artspace but the Bloomberg article suggests that a deal between Black’s Phaidon Press and Artspace could be signed by the end of the week. (more…)
Artspace, a start-up digital marketplace for contemporary art, is currently involved in acquisition talks with Auctionata, an online auction house. Although Artspace showed early promise by raising upwards of $12 million in funds, this past year has turned out surprisingly anemic sales figures: just $577,000 in total annual sales, according to a leaked chart. In addition, since Artspace creates income from commissions, the actual annual revenue for the site would presumably be only a fraction of this six-figure sales number. (more…)
This coming November, the Dia Foundation will auction a number of its works in order to increase its resources for further acquisitions. The decision follows the Foundation’s recent purchase of the Alcamo Marble building, for its new Chelsea location. “Dia cannot be a mausoleum, (…) It needs to grow and develop” says Dia director, Philippe Vergne. Among the works to be sold are pieces by Cy Twombly, Barnett Newman, and Richard Chamberlain. (more…)
The Getty Museum, in response to critiques over its painting collection, has acquired Édouard Manet’s “Portrait of Madame Brunet.” The purchase is the first major acquisition under new president and CEO James Cuno, and was made through New York gallery Luhring Augustine. “This is a significant addition to what I would call the greater museum of Los Angeles, which is how I present any picture to the board,” said curator Scott Schaefer. (more…)
Illinois-based Blick Art Materials has bought out the New York art supply company Utrecht, adding 45 stores to its already established 39. Terms were not disclosed on the handling of Utrecht’s line of supplies, paints, and other materials. “The acquisition of Utrecht gives us a tremendous, well-established brand and greater geographic reach for our brick and mortar channel,” said Blick CEO Robert Buchsbaum. (more…)
Artspace has announced that is in the process of acquiring VIP Art, another online art sales site run by gallerists James and Jane Cohan. The move broadens Artspace’s number of collectors to well over two hundred thousand, and its list of gallery collaborators to over 200. “As we augment our gallery presence, we augment our insight into how best to serve galleries and collectors.” Says Artspace founder Christopher Vroom.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Via the Los Angeles Times
In a letter dated February 24th, Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan and his co-chairs have made a formal offer to acquire the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown Los Angeles. The proposal outlines a plan for the transition of ownership of MOCA’s two museum properties to LACMA, which would maintain their operation under the MOCA banner. (more…)
