Bloomberg is reporting that Wang Zhongjun, the Chinese movie executive of Huayi Brothers Media Corp. is the buyer of Picasso’s Femme au Chignon dans un Fauteuili, which sold for $29.9 million at Sotheby’s this week.  The purchase is somewhat ironic, given that the sellers were members of Hollywood’s film production dynasty, the Goldwyn family.  “I first fell in love with the painting and then I fell in love with its story,” Wang said after the sale. “I can see not only Pablo Picasso’s genius, but also Samuel Goldwyn Sr.’s creative vision.” (more…)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the California Resale Royalties Act is unconstitutional, but has allowed the law to remain on the books if the objectionable portion of the law is removed, keeping the resale royalty provided the sales take place within California.  Some speculate as to wether this may prevent major auctions from happening in the State.   (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1905), via Art Observed

The first night of the bustling spring auction week is underway, as Sotheby’s concluded a somewhat unsteady sale last night of Impressionist and Modernist masterpieces that achieved a final of $368,344,000, well over the auction house estimate of $270,000,000.  The final tally saw 14 of the 64 lots go unsold over the course of the evening, which will be the last major Impressionist and Modern sale of the first half of the year on U.S. soil. (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1905), via Sotheby’s

As the art world prepares to jet en masse to Italy this week for the opening of the Biennale Previews, the auction houses are also preparing for their biggest stage of the spring season, with two weeks of major evening sales in both the Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary categories set to take place in New York. (more…)

A pair of Francis Bacon self-portraits that have been considered missing since they were painted in the mid-1970’s have been found, and are going on sale at Sotheby’s this July in London, estimated at £15 million each.  “Marlborough Fine Art kept a photographic archive and so both of these paintings appeared in a book on Bacon’s self-portraits but, apart from being reproduced in books, they’ve not been seen,” says Sotheby’s Oliver Barker. “We knew of the existence of the paintings but simply had no idea where they could be.” (more…)

Online arts auction platform Auctionata has laid off more than half of its employees yesterday, Art Info reports, part of a strategy by the company to focus on cost-efficiency.  Since launching less than three years ago, the company has raised nearly $100 million in capital, including recent funding of almost $50 million. (more…)

The New York Times reports on the move of Christie’s Impressionist and Evening Auction for Modern Art to the second week of May, a move that crowds the market with 5 major sales in the same week.  “Fatigue may have set in by then, but it is very hard to predict,” says gallerist and former Sotheby’s exec David Nash. (more…)

Continuing a week of announcements regarding next month’s auctions, Christie’s has revealed that it has acquired the Sonnabend Collection for its May sales in New York, valued at $50 million.  The Collection has never before been offered on the secondary market.  “Many of Sonnabend’s exhibitions helped determine the course of art history in the late 20th Century,” says Laura Paulson, Christie’s chairman for post-war and contemporary art. “She discovered and promoted some of the most significant artists of her time.” (more…)

A pair of bills introduced in Congress this week will look to improve artist rights and benefits regarding their works, The Art Newspaper reports.  One bill will look to push for an artist’s resale royalty in the US, bringing the country up to par with current measures being undertaken in Europe, while the second offers a tax deduction of fair market value for artists donating works to museums. Both bills have been proposed before, but have yet to be passed. (more…)

Early estimates claim that the Giacometti sculpture Looking Forward to the Past may smash its just recently set record of over $100 million next month at Christie’s Modern Sale in New York, with speculation that the work may achieve a final price of at least $130 million.  “It’s Giacometti saying: ‘Move forward! The war is behind us,’” Jussi Pylkkanen says of the work. “It’s the sculpture that symbolizes the future.” (more…)

Sotheby’s will bolster its May 12th Contemporary Evening Auction in New York next month with a brilliant, 1954 Mark Rothko, the New York Times reports.  Untitled (Yellow and Blue), which formerly sat in the collections of both Bunny Mellon and François Pinault, is estimated to achieve between $40 and $60 million. (more…)

Next month, Christie’s will lead its May 13th contemporary auction with one of Lucian Freud’s iconic portraits of former postal worker Sue Tilley, which will carry an estimate of $30 million to $50 million.  “This will be a good test of where his market is going,” says dealer James Holland-Hibbert. “It will be interesting to see if this style of painting appeals to the buyers who support these sales. Is Freud still a big enough brand?” (more…)

Roy Lichtenstein’s The Ring (Engagement) will be one of the top prizes at Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale this May in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports, with initial estimates placing the work’s sale price at about $50 million.  That figure nearly matches Lichtenstein’s $56.1 million record set in 2013.  “I think it’s so sexy how he takes this quiet moment of a proposal and turns it into an exciting crash,” says Chicago plastics magnate Stefan Edlis, the work’s current owner. “Clearly, the woman accepted.” (more…)

Following up on the claims for serious market contention made by new chief Edward Dolman, Phillips has landed a major private collection for sale in the coming months, valued at nearly $35 million.  The works, which include a Brice Marden estimated at $8 million to $12 million, and a Ed Ruscha valued at $2 to $3 million, will be sold at the auction house’s Contemporary Evening sale in May, with some others being reserved for a special photography sale.  “They were interested in art of their time,” says advisor Allan Schwartzman, who helped build the collection. “There is a lot of abstract work and work where the imaging is involved with the natural world.” (more…)

The art collection of late film executive Samuel Goldwyn will go to auction at Sotheby’s in the next few months, spread across nine sales in New York (including May’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale) and estimated at a total value of $25 million to $30 million.  “To me, these film pioneers and these artists had the same spirit and energy,” says Sotheby’s Simon Shaw. “The art had to be bold, I suppose, to hold its own in that house.” (more…)

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sales in New York this May will be lead by a series of works from the art collection of the late John Whitehead, former chairman of Goldman Sachs.  Whitehead built a museum-quality collection over the course of his career, and will offer works from Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Amedeo Modigliani and Pierre Bonnard, among others, anticipated to bring over $40 million.  “I remained enough of a financier that I took an interest in the prices, and I tried to predict what price an individual piece would go for at auction,” he wrote in his biography. (more…)

Ebay has launched a new section of its website this week, making good on its long-hinted-at art sales collaboration between the auction giant and Sotheby’s.  The site will stream all sales from the auction house save its major biannual sales.  Early highlights include an offering modern and contemporary photographs by Man Ray, Paul Strand and László Moholy-Nagy on April 1st. (more…)

Mark McGuire, head of Marcato Capital, was on CNBC this week, d for the disclosure of court documents from the case between Third Point and Sotheby’s last year.  “We want to make sure that the decisions that are being made at Sotheby’s are decisions that are in the best interest of the company and the shareholders, and not being driven by other motivations that should not be factors in board level decisions,” he says.  “The litigation uncovered a significant amount of correspondence and deliberation on behalf of the board, so it’s a unique opportunity to get a real window into the logic and motivations of the board members. (more…)

A Mark Rothko painting from 1958 will lead Christie’s Contemporary and Post-War Auction in New York this coming May, the New York Times reports.  Estimated at $30 to $50 million, competition is expected to be fierce, and initial indications hint that the work may near the artist’s $87 Million record.  “There’s a perception that these kinds of paintings come and they come regularly, but in reality they’re becoming more and more rare,” says Christie’s Contemporary and Post-War Chairman Brett Gorvy. “The year 1958 was probably Rothko’s all-time high as a recognized artist.”  (more…)

The Wall Street Journal notes a growing trend towards participation in art funds, where a group of investors pool money to buy art, and split the profits from the work’s sale years later.  This method of investing dates back to 1904, when Paris-based financier André Level pooled a group of investors to buy a selection of classic works by Picasso, Matisse and others, selling them several years later at a major mark-up. (more…)

The New York Times profiles Edward Dolman, current head of Phillips, and his mission to turn the smaller auction house into a perennial competitor with Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the field of Contemporary Art.  “The trouble is the old business model services all collecting categories, and that puts stress on the cost base of these companies,” Dolman says.  “Christie’s and Sotheby’s are almost like institutions that are struggling to provide a broad range of services across tastes, age groups and art forms. This is difficult to sustain.” (more…)

Sotheby’s Investor Mark McGuire, who holds 9.5% of the company, has reportedly demanded that the auction house issue a $500 million stock buyback, appoint a new CFO, and further, accuses them of willful neglect and misguided policies.  McGuire’s letter to the company comes after Sotheby’s placed its new capital plan on hold until a new CEO was found, and places him in opposition to new investor Dan Loeb. (more…)

Mark Bradford, Biting the Book (2013), via Phillips

Following a pair of major auctions the previous evenings, the Phillips Contemporary and Evening Sale in London has concluded the first Contemporary market week of the year, capping a 30-lot sale at the auction house’s new 30 Berkeley Square to the final result of £17.7 million, with only five of the works going unsold.

(more…)

Francis Bacon, Study for a Head (1955), via Christie’s

Another night of sales has come and gone in London, following the conclusion of Christie’s Contemporary Evening Sale, a somewhat textbook outing that saw the auction house forego a reliance on high-achieving works in favor of a series of strong selling works to reach a final tally of £117,142,500.   (more…)