Germany’s Cultural Minister is pushing to pass a new law that will strictly limit the international sale of works deemed of particularly high cultural value, as well as potential fakes and illegally sold antiques, particularly works valued over €150,000 ($164,000) and/or older than 50 years.  The proposal has seen staunch opposition from a number of artists, including Gerhard Richter.  “No one has the right to tell me what I do with my images,” the artist said this week. (more…)

The Art Newspaper notes the increasingly complex internal workings of the guarantor system at Christie’s this week, including a growing number of behind the scenes deals and third-party guarantees or investors that help push works to ever higher prices.  “It is becoming more complex and confusing, and that’s not what you want to have in an art market where prices are at this level,” says economist Olav Velthuis. “With the market expanding and prices rising so high, you want more transparency—but this is resulting in the opposite.” (more…)

Yves Klein, Peinture de feu couleur sans titre (FC 27) (1962), via Christie’s

Following strong but subdued outings last week during the London summer sales, attention turns to the Contemporary market in the UK, as a trio of sales this week will usher in the summer months.  The sales start tomorrow, spanning three nights in the British capital, and drawing the first half of the year’s major sales to a close.

Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (1962), via Sotheby’s (more…)

Claude Monet, Iris Mauves (1914-1917), via Christie’s

The London summer auctions are underway, after Christie’s opening sale this evening at its King Street location, a steady if somewhat relaxed sale that seemed a markedly subdued affair compared to the fireworks the auction house saw last month in New York.  Capping the 52-lot sale with a final tally of £71,461,000, the evening was still a strong entry in the auction house’s recent outings.  Despite lackluster bidding, the sale achieved a remarkably strong sell-through rate, with only 8 works going unsold.  The auction house seemed content to let a number of works go just below estimate, continuing a commitment to a sales-first strategy outgoing president Steven Murphy had outlined late last year. (more…)

Paul Cézanne’s Vue sur L’Estaque et le Château d’If has been placed under export bar in the United Kingdom this week in an attempt to keep the work in the nation.  “I hope that the temporary export bar I have put in place will result in a UK buyer coming forward and that the painting will soon be back on the walls of one of our great public collections,” says minister of culture Ed Vaizey. (more…)

The once rigid boundaries between commercial galleries and museum exhibitors are quickly diminishing today, The New York Times notes, as top galleries turn towards high profile museum curators to create historically and culturally resonant shows.  “I think galleries do it for prestige,” says John Elderfield, a former MoMA curator who has done independent work for Gagosian.  “It burnishes their image.  Of course, when one gallery does it, another one wants to do it.” (more…)

As London auction houses prepare for this week’s Impressionist and Modern sales, Bloomberg recaps the battles between giants Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and the aggressive stance on auction guarantees that have helped to define the massive prices achieved in recent sales.  “Our profit margin is good,” says Christie’s recently appointed CEO Patricia Barbizet. “Guarantees are risk management and offer an assurance to the seller.” (more…)

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematism, 18th Construction (1915), via Sotheby’s

Following the big ticket sales in Art Basel this past week, the art market’s focus will shift to London this week, where a pair of major Impressionist and Modern Evening sales will launch the last two weeks of market activity before the summer months and their lull of activity.  Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s will face off again following last month’s monumental sales results in New York, with a number of extremely impressive works offered, often with equally impressive price tags. (more…)

In the Courtyard of Messe Basel

As the opening previews draw to a close in Basel today, the 46th edition of Switzerland’s massive art fair and exhibition is well underway, capping two initial days of strong sales and attendance during the VIP Previews that have set a brisk tone for the week’s proceedings. (more…)

Bloomberg looks at the popularity of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms among collectors, and its prominence in a number of major museum collections, including the recently opened Garage Center in Moscow.  “Russians loved Kusama,” says collector Inga Rubenstein. “The work is easy to understand because it’s so beautiful.” (more…)

Outside Art Basel, via Art Basel

The doors are set to open at Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland this week, for the 46th edition of the Art Basel art fair, the massive fair exhibition that has come to define the early summer months in Europe.  Bringing the massively international scope of the world’s elite galleries, this year’s Art Basel promises another strong outing.  (more…)

Following the example of collectors seeking tax breaks for their donation of art works to museums, artists themselves are seeking more equitable tax treatment for donating works.  While collectors currently can claim fair market value for the works they donate, artists themselves can only write off the cost of materials.  “It seems to me there is a discrepancy in treatment there”, says Philippe Vergne, director of MOCA. “What’s extraordinary is that artists keep giving.”  (more…)

Paul Gauguin’s Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When will you Marry?) seems to have had its massive $300 million price tag confirmed by the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, which has currently taken the work on loan for a new exhibition.  “Nafea Faa Ipoipo was recently purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority from the Swiss collection of Rudolf Staechelin for more than $300m,” reads text released by the museum, further supporting its new place as the world’s most expensive piece of art. (more…)

Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Arkansas is soon to announce a major series of acquisitions filling major holes in its collection of American art, the New York Times reports.  Pieces recently acquired include Jasper Johns’s Flag, which was purchased last fall for $36 million, the record-setting Georgia O’Keefe work Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, as well as four works by Louise Bourgeois, estimated at a combined $35 million to $40 million.  “Bourgeois is really important to 20th century art and yet she has not received the entire due that she deserves,” says Margaret C. Conrads, museum director of curatorial affairs. (more…)

Bloomberg profiles a pair of former Sotheby’s employees, Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat, who are launching a start-up “offering uniquely privileged access to every aspect of the art world.”  The company, called The Cultivist, already boasts Marina Abramovic and Rashid Johnson as founding members, and includes an impressive list of museum memberships and VIP access to major art events as part of its annual $2,500 fee.  Offering counterpoint, the publication notes the dissonance between providing “access” and catering to collectors, a distinction that overshadows much of the “privilege” the art world is so often critiqued for. (more…)

Established artists and classic masterworks are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs of eager art flippers, Bloomberg reports, pointing in particular to a Francis Picabia that saw a massive 220% gain in price in less than six months.  “Because art is seen as an asset class, the more rapid turnover is considered encouraging. There’s a whole new generation of collectors who are playing the art market,” says Frances Beatty, VP at Richard L. Feigen & Co. (more…)

Marina Picasso is interviewed in The Guardian this week, as she prepares to sell off an extensive collection of her grandfather’s ceramics and paintings, a gesture she feels will help to heal a painful childhood. “Being Picasso’s granddaughter was very hard. I don’t snub the inheritance, not at all, I just want a lighter way to live and to be able to devote myself to my humanitarian work,” she says. “There is absolutely no hatred, no bitterness, no vengeance on my part.”  (more…)

The New York Times looks at the recent trend towards smaller and boutique art fairs, where collectors can experience specially selected works and a more nuanced buying experience. The article focuses particularly on London’s Art15 fair, where a focus on international buyers and new investors has defined it as a leader in the growing market. “We deliberately made it smaller,” says Art15 Director Kate Bryan. “We wanted to create a concentrated, boutique-style event. The demographic of London is changing all the time, and we wanted to respond to that.”  (more…)

CNBC is reporting that the mystery buyer of the record-setting Picasso canvas this month is still at large, refuting the New York Post’s reporting that former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani had purchased the work for a record-setting $179 million. (more…)

Coloring Book, a monumental new sculpture by Jeff Koons, has sold for €12 million euros at a Cannes charity auction that ultimately brought in more than €33 million to fund AIDS research through amFAR.    (more…)

The Telegraph looks at the record-breaking sales last week at Christie’s in the context of the auction house’s penchant for pre-sale guarantees, noting that over $250 million of the Looking Forward to the Past sale’s monumental $706 million final tally was guaranteed.  They are effectively buying market share,” says one unnamed art advisor. (more…)

Josh Reames at Johannes Vogt, all photos via Art Observed

NADA New York returned to the edge of the Lower East Side, drawing a diverse, hip crowd to the Basketball City complex. Free in price, NADA once again brought high-quality exhibitors and young artists, combining art from regional and international galleries alongside NYC Downtown heavy hitters.  This year’s preview event was an engaging alternative to the bright lights and high prices of Frieze. Embodying the social, communal nature of the city’s young arts scene, NADA’s Preview day was filled with with conversation, friendly jokes and familial reunions.  Maintaining the lightness of art openings opposed to the serious air of sales oriented art fairs, the galleries, their friends and artists will spend this weekend sipping drinks out of plastic cups while a roster of interdisciplinary performances, conversations and events take place. (more…)

Galeria Franco Noero, via Art Observed

The doors are open on Frieze New York, marking the early days of the summer art season with a major art event up the East River on Randall’s Island.  Returning for its fourth year, the fair has come into its own as a dedicated staple in the New York Art Calendar, and its presentation this year seems to echo it, with a stripped back tent design that seemed to stretch out much longer than in previous years, but distilled the experience down to only three rows of booths, with the occasional inlet allowing for an enjoyable wander through the space.  The VIP opening launched Wednesday morning for a quiet preview where a number of major collectors and celebrities strolled the aisles, among them Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Meyers, Uma Thurman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Gere and François Pinault. (more…)

A piece in the Financial Times notes that the value of the global art market topped €51 billion last year, an astounding figure that comes as Christie’s topped a $1 billion in sales this week alone.  Featuring in-depth analysis, the article notes the U.S. and China as the top shareholders in market value, and as well as the interesting detail that most dealer inventory rarely moves in under 6 months, despite that current clamor for works on the market.    (more…)