The family of late Paris gallery owner Paul Rosenberg has demanded that the Henie Onstand Arts Center in Oslo return a number of paintings seized from him during the German occupation of Paris during World War II .  While the family has provided documents claiming a number of works, including Matisse’s Woman in Blue in Front of Fireplace, the Norwegian museum claims it had no indication that the work was plundered when it was purchased 60 years ago, and that the painting is now the property of the museum under Norwegian law. “We need to investigate this matter properly,” Says museum director Tone Hansen. “It is too early to draw any conclusions. We are in dialogue with the family and will continue to be so. This case has other aspects than pure legal aspects that have to be taken into consideration.” (more…)

After breaking auction records for the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat twice last year, Christie’s will look to set the bar even higher for the Brooklyn-born artist’s work.  Basquiat’s Dustheads will be offered at the auction house’s May 15th Contemporary Sale in New York, with an asking price of $25 to $35 million.  The artist’s current record is $26.4 million, and a buyer has reportedly already agreed to pay $25 million.  “Collectors used to be snobbish about Basquiat since he started out painting on the streets,” Says Christie’s specialist Loic Gouzer. “But now his myth just seems to be getting fresher and more relevant with younger collectors.” (more…)

British artist Damien Hirst has announced that he will release a complete catalog documenting over 1,400 “spot paintings” that the artist has done over the past 27 years.  The artist’s highly controversial series, consisting of rows of multi-colored dots and usually painted by his assistants, has occasionally irked collectors and followers, despite claims that “every single spot painting contains my eye, my hand and my heart”.  He says. (more…)

Members of the now-defunct hip-hop group Das Racist will perform at The Whitney Museum on Sunday, in conjunction with member Himanshu Suri’s Greedhead Music record label.  The event, part of the programming for The Whitney’s current Blues for Smoke exhibition, will feature several musical performances, as well as several installations by Suri, including “hippie culture and spiritual tourism, the films and life of Guru Dutt, the skin lightening cosmetic industry in India, Air India, the Indian diaspora and immigration, South Asian visibility in Western pop culture, international working class labor politics, and much more.” (more…)

Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager and prodigious Art Collector Steven A. Cohen has issued a statement clarifying the details behind the purchase of Picasso’s Le Rêve from casino owner Steve Wynn.  Despite reports of the sale coming to light only recently, the deal was reportedly made last October, at the purchase price of $150 Million, when dealer William Acquavella contacted Cohen about the work’s availibility.  “We were at the gallery the next morning,” Says Sandy Heller, Cohen’s art advisor. “In three minutes we had a deal.”   (more…)

Virginia Overton, Untitled (Juniperus virginiana) (2013), via Mitchell-Innes & Nash

Mitchell-Innes & Nash is currently hosting an exhibition of new works by Virginia Overton, the Tennessee-born, Brooklyn-based artist whose sculptural installations play at conceptions of personal identity, spatial interaction and artistic process. (more…)

Sotheby’s and The Whitney have announced a major auction of works to benefit the construction of the museum’s new downtown location in Chelsea.  Featuring works by Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder, the New York auction, held on May 14th and 15th, will attempt to augment the $562.4 already raised by the museum with an expected $8 million in proceeds.  “The Whitney has been there for these artists, especially early on in their careers before people really knew them,” said Whitney Director Adam D. Weinberg. “I think for many of them, they feel that this is a way to give back.” (more…)

Beginning in June, artist Donald Judd’s Spring Street home and studio, which he purchased in 1968 and renovated himself, will reopen as a museum, offering visitors a look inside at the artist’s personal collection of works and living space.  The building stands as the only intact, single-use cast-iron building left in the neighborhood, and was renovated under the supervision of The Judd Foundation.  “This has all been toward the goal of having people experience this place as if none of these things we had to do were ever done. And from the beginning it’s been a battle between preserving the art and preserving the building.”  Said Judd’s daughter, Rainer. (more…)

The British Government has placed a temporary export ban on a 16th century drawing by Raphael, in hopes that a British buyer will come forth to keep the work in the country.  Head of a Young Apostle (1519-1521) was sold at auction in December for £29 million, setting the auction record for a work on paper at three times its estimate.  “I hope that placing a temporary export bar on the Raphael will allow time for a UK buyer to come forward and secure this magnificent example of Raphael’s work for the nation.”  Says British Arts Minister Ed Vaizey. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has announced a major survey of the contemporary practice of sound art, the first of its kind for the museum.  Running from August 10th to November 3rd, Soundings: A Contemporary Score will examine intersections of space, sound, and theory.  “Sound has come into the limelight. It’s getting recognized as a frontier. There are more tools that are easier and less expensive to use these days,” says associate curator Barbara London. “And because of these tools there is more artistic freedom.” (more…)

Illinois-based Blick Art Materials has bought out the New York art supply company Utrecht, adding 45 stores to its already established 39.  Terms were not disclosed on the handling of Utrecht’s line of supplies, paints, and other materials.  “The acquisition of Utrecht gives us a tremendous, well-established brand and greater geographic reach for our brick and mortar channel,” said Blick CEO Robert Buchsbaum.   (more…)

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #138 (1984), via Skarstedt Gallery

Skarstedt Gallery is currently presenting the retrospective 1980’s Revisited, revisiting the works, theories and artists that helped to define the dynamic decade in contemporary art.  Fetauring works by Carroll Dunham, Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, David Salle and Cindy Sherman, the show highlights the varied and often conflicting artistic styles of the time, particularly in the newly developing approaches of Appropriation, Neo-Expressionism, and Graffiti.  The 1980’s were a controversial decade for the art world, a period of active boundary breaking by artists looking to challenge contemporary society.

Jeff Koons, One Ball Total Equilibrium (1985), via Skarstedt Gallery

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Despite the increasing number of wealthy tech entrepreneurs in the gallery-rich New York neighborhood of Chelsea, The New York Times points out a considerable disconnect between this group and the art market in general that has resulted in a failure to bolster sales.  While a range of issues stand in the way, many gallery owners remain hopeful for cracking this emerging pool of wealth.  “It’s hard to get those guys’ attention,” says art advisor Thea Westreich. “I think they will eventually collect, and collect very heavily and be a part of the community. But I think that’s going to be a hard wall to go through, at least in the short run.” (more…)

With its 10-year, $500 million renovation now drawn to a close, Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is set to reopen on April 13th.  The new design, which undid years of renovations to restore the original design and layout by Pierre Cuypers, was well over both budget and timeframe, but has already received praise for its new design and attention to historical detail. “This was built as a national museum, not just an art museum, and we want the public to get a sense of history, seeing the paintings, furniture and applied arts that were all conceived around the same time.” Said Director of Collections, Taco Dibbits. (more…)

Madonna has announced plans to auction off a painting from her personal collection, Fernand Léger’s Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge, and to donate the resulting proceeds education projects for young girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The piece will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on May 7th, and is estimated to sell for $5-7 million. “I have a great passion for art and a great passion for education,’’ Madonna said in a statement. “I cannot accept a world where women or girls are wounded, shot or killed for either going to school or teaching in girls’ schools.’’ (more…)

Artist David Hockney’s first multi-channel video work, The Jugglers, June 24th 2012 (2012) will have its American debut next month at The Whitney Museum. Depicting a set of jugglers moving against a blue and white backdrop, the video employs 18 separate channels of video, using intense lighting to alter perceptions of depth and space.  “In this new video installation David Hockney surprises us once again, exploring how multiple perspectives can transform our experience of the moving image. Hockney mines the histories of cinema and painting through the lens of technology, to create a new way of seeing.” said curator Chrissie Ilessaid. (more…)

Domplatz, Mailand, the 1968 photo-realist painting by Gerhard Richter, will be the preeminent highlight of Sotheby’s spring Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York, carrying an estimated price of $30-40 million.  The sale comes months after the artist’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) set a new record for his work at auction, and has a history of impressive sales at auction, setting a previous sales high for Richter 15 years ago.  Says Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, Tobias Meyer: “The work represents the pinnacle of Richter’s technical achievement and its scale, power and visual impact rivals his celebrated abstract works. This is the work the market has been waiting for and its sale is certain to be an historic event.”  (more…)

French President François Hollande has announced Jean-Luc Martinez as the new director-president of the Louvre.  Martinez, who previously served as head of the Greco-Roman antiquities department, will take over in the wake of a 7.5% cutback in the national cultural budget, and will also be responsible for finalizing loans for the construction of the Louvre’s new location in Abu Dhabi. (more…)

Peter Fischli and David Weiss (Installation View), via Sprüth Magers

On view at Sprüth Magers Berlin is a solo exhibition of work by the collaboration between artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss (often shortened to “Fischli/Weiss”), which explores themes of transition, globalization and ephemerality through a selection of plastic sculptures and photographic installations. (more…)

British artist Graham Ovenden has been convicted of sexual abuse charges, stemming from accusations by former models for the artist over a number of years in London and Cornwall.  While Ovenden, who has had exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has flatly denied the charges, the Truro Crown Court has convicted him of six counts of sexual indecency with a child, and one of indecent assault.  When asked why they had not come forth earlier, one complainant’s mother replied: “I thought if I went to police, she wouldn’t be believed; if I went and confronted Graham myself, he would have flatly denied it. I thought there was nothing to be achieved but a lot of stress for my child.” (more…)

Gallerist Jérôme de Noirmont, who abruptly shuttered his Paris Gallery on March 23rd, has sat down with ArtInfo to talk about the gallery’s closing, the state of the global art market, and his plans for the future.  “It’s kind of like we’re going from ready-to-wear to haute couture. We’re getting our freedom back. I believe in art, in creativity, and what it can do for society.”
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Artspace has announced that is in the process of acquiring VIP Art, another online art sales site run by gallerists James and Jane Cohan.  The move broadens Artspace’s number of collectors to well over two hundred thousand, and its list of gallery collaborators to over 200.  “As we augment our gallery presence, we augment our insight into how best to serve galleries and collectors.”  Says Artspace founder Christopher Vroom.
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The High Line in New York unveiled a new project for its ongoing public works series yesterday, welcoming photographer and filmmaker Ryan McGinley to exhibit his piece Blue Falling (2007) on the billboard at 18th Street and 10th Avenue.  This will be the ninth installation of work at the site, and follows works by John Baldessari, David Shrigley, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, among others.  The work will be on view until April 30th. (more…)

A major dispute between board members of the Hilma af Klint Foundation is casting a pall on the first major retrospective of the artist in her home country of Sweden.  The dispute arises over several board members’ desires to  sell of works to fund a museum to “anthroposophy,” a school of thought originated by Rudolf Steiner. Ulf  Wagner, one of the accused board members has responded, saying “Legally we would not be allowed to sell her works,” before continuing that this would only apply to major works.  (more…)