Peter Doig, Red House (1995-1996), final price $21,127,500, via Phillips

Throwing its hat into the ring on a bustling week of sales in New York, Phillips concluded its offering in the 20th Century and Contemporary Auctions , bringing a final tally of $113.9 million for its 44-lot sale.  The Phillips event was a quick affair, running mechanically through its offerings to achieve its result, with only a small handful of works going unsold. (more…)

Roy Lichtenstein, Female Head (1977) final price: $24,501,500, via Sotheby’s

The final hammer has fallen and the doors have closed on the final major art sales of 2017, as Sotheby’s concluded its Contemporary Evening Sale tonight at its York Ave location in New York.  Capping a 74-lot offering with a steady, well-run sale, the auction house achieved a final tally of $310,229,350, bringing the week’s marathon auctions to a close

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Artist Laura Owens has penned a public statement on the current pressure her project space, 356 S. Mission, is facing from anti-gentrification activists. “Alongside the protesters’ demands to close, we have also heard the voices of artists, community groups, families, and individuals in the area who want 356 to remain open,” she writes. “In addition to urgent basic needs and facilities, people in all neighborhoods, of all ethnicities and classes, benefit from quality education and art. We do not believe that access to one should sacrifice the other in a healthy and thriving society. I have always been and remain committed to engaging in productive dialogue that results in effective actions to battle the issues facing our communities.” (more…)

Darsie Alexander has been appointed the Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator at the Jewish Museum in New York, Artforum reports. “The Jewish Museum has a remarkable collection that includes contemporary art, historical objects, material culture, and Jewish ceremonial art,” she says. “This combination allows for a lively dialogue between culturally diverse works related to Jewish identity and the groundbreaking work of artists who have shaped art history in profound ways.” (more…)

Agnes Gund’s recently announced Art for Justice organization has announced $22 million in its first round of grants to arts and criminal justice organizations to fight mass incarceration in the United States. “My hope is that the work supported by the Art for Justice Fund will help create a groundswell that drives reforms well beyond these specific programs,” she says. “The problem of mass incarceration touches every community across the country, and we need to work together to find creative solutions to build a better, safer future for all our children.” (more…)

This year’s edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30 has been released, with artists Martine Syms, Chloe Wise and Bunny Rogers featured among the list.   (more…)

The next Documenta, set for 2022, will not face any budget threats after this year’s massive deficit, its team has said in a statement. . “Documenta is a great stroke of fortune and a cultural treasure for the state of Hesse, and we must preserve it,” Boris Rhein, the state’s culture minister, said of continuing the event. (more…)

LACMA has changed its pricing structure, charging $20 for Los Angeles County Residents, and $25 for everyone else, a flat price covering special exhibitions. “I’ve never liked the extra price for special exhibitions. We put some of the biggest efforts into the ticketed exhibitions and ironically, they’re the ones that are the most inaccessible, price wise,” LACMA Director Michael Govan. (more…)

Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (circa 1500) final price: $450,312,500, via Christie’s

Capping its second major sale of the week, and likely one of the more momentous sales of work in recent history, Christie’s capped an astronomical sale this evening in New York, complementing its Contemporary offerings with the much trumpeted Leonardo Da Vinci work Salvator Mundi to reach a record sale total of $785,942,250.

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Claude Monet, Les Glaçons, Bennecourt (1893), via Sotheby’s

Following a landmark sale last evening at Christie’s, Sotheby’s took its turn this past evening in the Impressionist and Modern category, pursuing the exceptional results its rival notched over the course of the evening.  Tonight was no different, as the auction house led a wild sprint through its 67-lot sale to reach a final tally of $269,718,600. (more…)

Fernand Léger, Contraste de formes (1913), final price: $70,062,500, via Christie’s

The first of the fall’s New York auctions kicked off this evening, as Christie’s capped the first of the week’s Impressionist and Modern Evening sales, surging out of the gate with a strong series of sales that set an impressive tempo for the week, and laid down an impressive challenge to the other auction houses.  Notching a final sales total of $480,414,000, Christie’s sent a strong message of stability in a year marked by uneven, unpredictable auction sales. (more…)

A piece in New York Magazine this week sees a series of artists, curators and gallerists naming their favorite art books and most desired books for the holiday season.  Topping the list is Rob Pruitt, who shows off his copy of the Pantone Solid Color Guide. “When I was a kid, about 7 years old, my dad who was in the printing industry gave me his loop and his used Pantone book. I loved, obsessed over, and treated it as a sacred object. I continue to love the Pantone books and it’s an essential tool in my studio,” he says. (more…)

The New York Times reports on the long lines outside Christie’s this week, as visitors crowd to get one look at the Leonardo da Vinci piece set to go on sale at Christie’s this Wednesday. “Standing in front of that painting was a spiritual experience,” says visitor Nina Doede. “It was breathtaking. It brought tears to my eyes,” she added, as she left the sepulchral chamber where the painting is displayed. (more…)

Jeremy Deller is launching a new project in Newcastle this week, commemorating civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s honorary degree from Newcastle University with a project in which citizens of the Northern city recite bits of his speeches to those passing by. “Everybody else seems a bit worried. There was a lady with a pram who hustled away, frightened that I was some loony in the library,” says one participant. “But I think when they understand what it’s all about, and what it means to Newcastle, they’ll understand what a special event this is.” (more…)

Renewed research into a painting long thought to be a fake Cranach the Elder painting in the British Royal Collection has proven the work is authentic, the Guardian reports. “It is an absolute thrill,” says Nicola Christie, the head of paintings conservation at the Royal Collection Trust. “It doesn’t happen very often and it is such a pleasure to know that it has been reattributed.” (more…)

Olga Viso will leave her position as executive director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Art News reports. “We are grateful for Olga’s leadership and celebrate her significant contributions to the Walker Art Center during the past 10 years,” says Monica Nassif, the board’s president. “We wish her well for her next career opportunity.” (more…)

Mark Bradford gets a profile in The Guardian this week, as the painter wraps up his installation for the United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and prepares for an installation reflecting on the Civil War at the Hirshhorn. “I became really fascinated by the romanticism around the civil war,” he says. “I’d never really investigated it. I’m black, the civil war was a good thing, the north won – that’s all I knew. I thought it was going to be textbook, ‘OK, this was bad and let’s move on.’ But it wasn’t cut and dried.” (more…)

Laura Copelin, associate curator at Ballroom Marfa, will take over the West Texas center’s leadership as executive director. “Marfa really seems to be a beacon,” Copelin told ARTnews. “It’s been a transformative experience, being on the edge of these centers of the art world of New York and Los Angeles.”  (more…)

Gallerist Mary Boone has settled her lawsuit with actor Alec Baldwin over a Ross Bleckner painting, the New Yorker reports. The piece features an interview with Baldwin in which he outlines his doubts over a work he thought was a copy of the piece he originally wanted.  “When I called up Mary and asked, ‘Why do these paintings look so different?’ she said the owner was a heavy smoker, so Ross had taken the painting off the stretcher and cleaned and repaired it for me, as a courtesy, before delivering it,” he says. “At first, I was not prepared to tell myself it was a fake. I was inclined to believe them, partly because it was Ross, who I respect and whose work I love.” (more…)

An unidentified woman has been caught on film mailing back a series of Carolee Schneeman works stolen from an exhibition at MoMA PS1, CBS New York reports. “Maybe they were really just in love with her artwork that they wanted it for herself, and that maybe they had a change of heart and decided to mail back,” said museum patron Kelvi Diaz. (more…)

The New Museum has announced the list of exhibiting artists for next year’s New Museum Triennial, culled together under the title Songs for Sabotage.  “The exhibition amounts to a call for action, an active engagement, and an interference in political and social structures urgently requiring them,” the museum said in a statement.  (more…)

Marcel Broodthaers, Un Jardin d’Hiver (1974), via Art Observed

Few artists’ work have left such subtle, yet enduring legacy on the landscape of modern installation, institutional critique and socially-engaged work as Belgian artist and poet Marcel Broodthaers’s work has.  Branching out into uniquely self-aware, narrative spatial arrangements and installations the artist referred to as Décors, Broodthaers’s late work mined the language of the gallery and the museum to turn its perspective both outwards and inwards at the same time, often launching stark engagements with the political and social underpinnings of the art world that ultimately supported and carried his work. (more…)

Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (circa 1500), via Christie’s

As the weather grows increasingly chilly, the art world turns its blue-chip market attention towards New York City once again, where a final series of major Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary Evening Sales will open at the major auction houses, once again offering a test of the market’s current strength.  With a last flourish on a year that has packed ample surprises into its market proceedings, this final sale will feature a series of landmark works, chief among them the offering of an extremely rare Leonardo Da Vinci canvas, a work that has already created a storm of chatter among art world insiders. (more…)

Researchers at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum have discovered a dead grasshopper embedded in the paint of van Gogh’s Olive Trees. “What’s fun is we can come up with all these scenarios for how the insect landed in the paint,” says paintings conservator Mary Schafer. (more…)