Tracey Emin and her sparrow, now returned via BBC

For second time in 3 months, Tracey Emin’s 4-inch Liverpool sparrow is stolen then returned [BBC]
Photo profile of collector / Art in America and Interview-owner Peter Brant [TMagazine-New York Times]
Art Basel commits Miami Beach for 3 years [ArtForum]
Midtown gallery sued after improperly safeguarded Dali’s are stolen [New York Post]
Oliafur Eliasson interviewed [GuardianUK]
New art fair Art Berlin Contemporary opens with 70 artists and 40 Berlin galleries [ArtReview]

partying at the Art Basel via the New York Times

The 39th Annual Art Basel, visited by 60,000 guests over the course of the fair, proved to be a very successful showcase of the world’s most famous artists. Basel, on the Rhine where Switzerland meets France and Germany, created a perfect setting for wealthy collectors, art enthusiasts, and 300 international exhibitors to network and indulge among the most stylish and cultured of the art world.

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Brad Pitt Buys Table at Art Basel; Mittal, Abramovich Browse [Bloomberg]
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The 39th Edition of Art Basel Closes With Outstanding Results [artdaily]
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Ellsworth Kelly, Basking in Basel [New York Times]
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Pre-Partying With the Jet Set of the Art World [New York Times]
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Russians Help Art Basel Shake Economic Woe, Falling U.S. Demand [Bloomberg]
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The Art Fair Explosion and Its Fallout [WSJ]
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In Basel, Contemporary Art Enjoys a Bounty of Friends [NYTimes]
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Picture perfect [Financial times]
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Art Basel, Switzerland, Is On, Right Now [Art Observed]

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Visitors Outside Art Basel in Switzerland via myswitzerland.com

Freud Painting Sells for $12 Million [Bloomberg]
New Freud Paintings Enter the Market [Times Online, UK]
Roman à Clef [artforum]

The painting, titled Girl in Attic Doorway and dating from the mid 1990s, was reserved during much of the fair’s preview yesterday. The work sold today via Freud’s international agent, Acquavella Galleries, for $12 million to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. This sale follows Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s record-breaking purchase of Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for $33.6 million at Christie’s last month, making the British painter “the world’s most expensive living artist.”

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A view of Art Basel via the NY Times

The largest international contemporary art fair opened June 4^th (through June 8^th) in Basel, Switzerland. The show, run by Annette Schonholzer and Marc Speigler, has occurred every spring since its inception in 1970. An estimated 60,000 people are expected to show up at the four-day fair. This number includes artists (2,000), collectors, galleries (300), as well as art enthusiasts, representing thirty different countries viewing art in the mediums of painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance and video art.

Art Basel Takes Off [NY Sun]
Art Basel, world’s largest art fair, opens in Switzerland [Sun sentinel]
Art Basel Awaits Sales [NY Sun]
At Art Basel, Old Names and Few Showstoppers [NY Times]
Art Basel heats up [the Moment]
Art Basel:El Dorado of the international art world set to open in Switzerland [art daily]
Abramovich Prowls art basel;$8 Million Murakami “Budha” sells [Bloomberg]

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Leonard Lauder via The New York Times

Lauder Steps Down as Whitney Chair [NY Times, Art Forum]
“The primary market has only one event, and that is Art Basel” [Bloomberg]
A look at the work of the Guggenheim’s Chief Conservator [NySun]
An Interview with Nan Goldin in her Paris home [The GuardianUK]

Damien Hirst and the skull via the age

Hirst’s $100M diamond skull cancelled at Hermitage[Financial Times]
New Museum: “freeze-dried packet of desiccated minimalism” [Arts Journal]
Rome mayor to tear down museum designed by Richard Meier? [NY Times]
Artistic Director of Art Basel steps down [Bloomberg]
Public art illuminates Fifth Avenue [NY Sun]

Maison Tropical via The New York Times

Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale to Art Basel Miami [The Art Newspaper]
Met buys Delacroix in honor of retiring director Montebello [New York Times]
LACMA spends $12 million on more land [Los Angeles Times via ArtForum]
81 artists are selected for international Biennial in New Orleans [ArtForum]
Capital’s influence on Chinese contemporary art [GuardianUK via c-monster]
Rome’s growing contemporary art scene [New York Times]