AO Art Observed™

Pablo Picasso’s Tete de Femme via Bloomberg

Last night, Sotheby’s Modern and Impressionist auction brought in $230 million selling roughly 88% of lots offered. Christie’s Modern and Impressionist auction, which took place this past Monday, did not fair as well.

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Damien Hirst “All You Need is Love” via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s Lowers Estimate for (RED) Auction by 28% [Bloomberg]
Damage to Antiquities Caused by Tax Scheme Accounts for Art Raids [New York Times]
Ryan McGinley to Shoot Ads for Converse by John Varvatos [GQ Magazine]
Picasso Exceeds Auction Estimate at Christie’s London [Bloomberg]
Met Hires Headhunter to Find New Director [Wall Street Journal]
Guy Cogeval Appointed Director of Musée d’Orsay [Art Info]
Saatchi buys Contemporary Heinrich Himler portrait [UK News]
Richard Prince and Terry Richardson create artwork for controversial James Frey novel [New York Post]
Gerhard Richter at Serpentine Gallery in September [Guardian UK]

Former Dia Building via The Observer

Former Chelsea Dia Art Foundation building slated for apartment rentals and gallery space [The Observer]
How to preserve Paul McCarthy’s chocolate Santa [C-Monster]
Hudson Morgan covers Gagosian’s gallery festivities in Rome [Men's Vogue]
Parisian home of Pierre-Auguste Renoir is for sale [The Wall Street Journal]
The Times UK arts critic interviews Zhang Xiaogang [Times UK Online]
Guardian Unlimited UK interviews Peter Doig [Guardian Unlimited]
Suspect reports Saudi collector possibly behind Sao Paulo Picasso Theft [Art Forum]

Pablo Picasso via Wikipedia

Barcelona’s Museu Picasso is showing Picasso and his Collection through late March. The collection includes works from other artists, which Picasso traded or bought during his lifetime. Miró and Chardin are just two of the artists present in the collection.

Picasso’s Collection [Financial Times]
Exhibits [Museu Picasso]

Sao Paulo police guard the recovered paintings photo courtesy of the Guardian Unlimited

Two suspects were arrested in Sao Paulo for the theft of two uninsured paintings, a Picasso and a Portinari, with an estimated combined worth of $55 million. The works were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (arguably the most important art museum in Latin America) on January 5th and were found unharmed in a home located in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. The MASP has been closed since the works were stolen.

Stolen Picasso Found in Sao Paulo [BBC]
Stolen Picasso recovered undamaged in Brazil [Guardian Unlimited]
Stolen artwork is found; 2 arrested [Detroit Free Press]
Picasso stolen from museum is recovered [Times Online UK]

Courtesy BBC

Picasso Brazilian Burglary Update [BBC]
AP on strong state of Art Market [AP]
Sotheby’s Sales Continue to Rise, up to $5.3B [Bloomberg]
Damien Hirst Goes Solar, spends $3m for his studio in Gloucestershire [EnvironmentalGraffiti]
Did Hirst truly sell his skull? [FirstPost]

China’s Contemporary Art Museum via Art Newspaper

China’s first contemporary art museum backed by Belgian, Guy Ullens - [Art Newspaper]
Best Upcoming Art Shows of 2008 - [Times Online UK]
Mamontova Gallery in Russin debuts - [Bloomberg]
Jeff Wall Show opens simultaneously in White Cube London, Guggenheim in Berlin - [Financial Times]
UBS to display corporate Stash in Tokyo in ‘08 - [Bloomberg]
Picasso Stolen from Sao Paulo Art Museum - [ArtDaily]