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

The Impressionist and Modern sale has concluded at Sotheby’s tonight, with 51-lot sale that failed to live up to the auction house’s pre-sale proclamations of a record breaking sale.  The auction brought a final total of £178,590,000, falling just shy of the £186.44 million record for London auctions it was expected to beat. (more…)

Richard Prince has published a reflection on the state of the art auction market his website this month, noting the dissonance between his work and the astronomical sums paid on the secondary market for them, as well as his own feeling of disconnection from the works as they sell.  “The auctions might think they have something to do with what I make, but they don’t,” he says. “What they have is what they’ve always had… themselves.” (more…)

The international art market had a near-record year last year, with just under $66 billion in sales worldwide, Bloomberg reports, an 8% increase from last year.  This includes an 11% increase in contemporary art, bolstered by monumental sales for works by Warhol, Koons and Bacon at the end of last year. (more…)