The sense of alarm surrounding the Detroit Institute of Arts is taking its toll on the museum, the New York Times reports.  Concerned about the future of the museum’s collection, some wealthy patrons are less likely to donate works to the institution, and museum staff are dealing with consistently low morale.  “We can take the threat. It’s the uncertainty we can’t stand. It’s the uncertainty that is clouding everything we do.”  Says Director Graham W.J. Beal. (more…)

Hedge Fund Billionaire Daniel Loeb has gone on the offensive towards Sotheby’s Auction House today, calling for the resignation of company chairman, CEO and president William Ruprecht for his alleged lack of leadership and excessive pay.  Loeb recently became a leading stock holder in the auction house with his activist investment firm Third Point, and many forecast that he will use his position to force major changes in Sotheby’s operating model.   “Our research suggests Sotheby’s crisis of leadership has created dysfunctional divisions and a fractured culture. There is a demoralizing recognition among employees that Sotheby’s is not at the cutting edge,” Loeb writes in an open letter. (more…)

As Christie’s concludes its first auction in mainland China, The Economist has released an article forecasting a rocky road ahead for foreign auction houses entering China’s already competitive market.  With 70 auction houses already operating inside the country, high taxes and rampant concerns over counterfeiting and rigged auctions, the way will not be easy for major international companies looking to cash in on China’s growing market. (more…)

Christie’s November 12th auction in New York will feature a classic Gerhard Richter, on sale from the collection of musician Eric Clapton.  Abstraktes Bild (809-1), which was painted in 1994, is estimated to sell between $20 and $25 million.  “Richter is certainly the greatest abstract painter working today, Abstraktes Bild (809-1) is remarkable for the illusion of space that develops, ironically, out of his incidental process: an accumulation of spontaneous, reactive gestures of adding, moving, and subtracting paint,” says Christie’s Post-War Chairman Brett Gorvy. (more…)

Christie’s completed its first auction mainland China yesterday, selling a variety of artworks, jewelry and collectibles for a total sale of $25 million.  One highlight was a painting by Pablo Picasso, which achieved a final price of over $1.5 million.  “I’m very happy with the results, with the right place, with the right people, with the right moment,” said Christie’s executive Steven Murphy.  (more…)

Phillips has announced plans for a first-ever digital art auction, held this October 10th in New York, featuring a number of online works including one website, a YouTube video and a number of digital files able to be exhibited on a number of different devices.  Featuring work by artists Brenna Murphy, Addie Wagenknecht and Clement Valla, the auction is curated by Lindsay Howard of Bushwick’s 319 Scholes gallery. (more…)

Sotheby’s auction house has appointed Patrick S. McClymont, a former partner and managing director at Goldman and Sachs, as its new Chief Financial Officer, beginning October 7th.  McClymont replaces current CFO William S. Sheridan at the post, who has served the company for 17 years.  “I have had the privilege of working with a highly skilled, highly professional finance, investor relations and information technology team at Sotheby’s that I invested in and helped build, and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for all that we accomplished. It has been a true pleasure to be part of Sotheby’s and now I look forward to spending more time with my family and focusing on charitable work,” Sheridan remarked. (more…)

The Financial Times has published an interview with Zeng Fanzhi, the Chinese painter who currently sits as one of the most expensive contemporary Asian artists.  Documenting his unique style, the interview goes on to detail Fanzhi’s early struggles as an artist in China, and his early life in Wuhan, a city known for its prominent role in The Cultural Revolution.  “At the time everyone wore the same clothes but my mother liked beautiful things and she sometimes wore a bit of colour – some pink flowers on her clothes,” Zeng says. “For that she was persecuted for her ‘petit bourgeois sentimentalism’ – that experience affected my whole family deeply.” (more…)

In a recent segment, BloombergTV reviews the current state of Sotheby’s, examining the auction house’s current issues with activist investors Daniel Loeb and others, who have together taken a 15% stake in the company.  Emphasizing Sotheby’s position in the market, and its sole rival, Christie’s, the segment goes on to detail the house’s “untapped pockets of value.”  “It’s widely expected that they (investors) will focus on the brand, the real estate story, the balance sheet.  What’s not clear is whether they will agree.”  Says Bloomberg’s Su Keenan. (more…)

Rumored since earlier this summer, Sotheby’s Uptown New York headquarters is now officially on the real estate market, following the recent share acquisition by activist investors.  The auction house has already entertained several bids for the space, but has not disclosed an asking price.  “It’s premature to speculate, as the process is still continuing.”  Said spokesman Andrew Gully. (more…)

The contentious sale of a Thomas Cole painting by the William Seward House Historical Museum has caught the attention of the State Attorney General’s office, which issued a statement questioning the sale, and maintaining the museum’s obligations to maintain the work.  In response, the museum has announced intentions for “a plan to safeguard the painting and protect the long term financial viability and well-being of the Museum.” (more…)

A recent statement by Sotheby’s Auction House head Bill Ruprecht has analysts forecasting a potential attempt at a share buy back, following the purchase of sizable share percentages by a number of activist investors. “Sotheby’s is committed to healthy two-way communication with our shareholders as we pursue our common goal of a strong, growing, competitive Sotheby’s open to new opportunities.” Ruprecht said.

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A selection of more than 150 works from the collection of Geneva dealer Jan Krugier will be on sale this November at Christies in New York. The auction will include works by Picasso, Kandinsky and Giaccometti. “Because of his connection with the Picasso family, no one could compete with him in terms of the volume and breadth of works in different media he was able to sell.” Says dealer Richard Nagy.
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The Wall Street Journal reports on the current state of Sotheby’s auction house going into the fall art season, detailing the company’s increasing stock price despite sales that have been less than exemplary.  With a series of high-profile investors now on board, including the recent addition of Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, Sotheby’s has a number of options standing before it to increase its value for shareholders. (more…)

Art collector and Newspaper Magnate Peter Brant is selling Jeff Koons‘ Balloon Dog (Orange) from his collection to auction this November at Christie’s in New York.  The sale will go to benefit his Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, CT, and is estimated at $35 to $55 million, a noteworthy figure that places the low estimate well-over Koons’ current auction record of $33.6 million. (more…)

In an effort to win more consignments, Sotheby’s has filed a statement saying that it has entered into auction guarantees totaling over $166 million, including $23.5 million by undisclosed third-party guarantors.  With fall sales in London, New York and Hong Kong, the auction house has increased its borrowing capacity to provide even more in guarantees to interested sellers.  “We did this to enhance our flexibility as we negotiate deal opportunities and hopefully provide us with an opportunity to improve margins and profitability by taking prudent balance sheet risk,” Sotheby’s head William Ruprecht said. (more…)

A never-before-auctioned painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti will appear on the auction block this December at Sotheby’s in London.  A Christmas Carol was purchased in 1917 by Soap powder billionaire William Hesketh Lever.  Lever kept the work for his entire life, and are being offered for sale by his son, alongside works by William Holman Hunt and James Tissot.  “I have been here nearly 27 years, and I really think these are the best Victorian pictures we’ve had in that time. To see one Victorian painting of such quality would be remarkable, to get three in together is extraordinary.”  Grant Ford, a 19th-century expert at the auctioneers, said. (more…)

Following the news that a painting sold as a Caravaggio copy may have in fact created by the artist, Sotheby’s is facing a lawsuit from the past owner.  William Glossop Thwaytes is suing the auction house, maintaining that he believed the work authentic, while auction experts sold it as a copy, reportedly lowering the price considerably.  The work was ultimately purchased by the late scholar and collector Denis Mahon, who immediately declared the piece an original valued at £10 million, after a sale price of £42,000.  “Caravaggio is a particularly difficult artist,” Charles Beddington, a former head of Christie’s International Old Masters division. “The quality of his execution is variable, and so he’s easy to copy.” (more…)

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia has announced its intent to sell East Wind Over Weehawken, a 1934 canvas by Edward Hopper, to raise funds for the purchase of new, contemporary works for its museum.  The sale, set for Christie’s December auction, is estimated to earn between $22 and $28 million, marks a return to the museum’s tradition of buying contemporary art.  Harry Philbrick, the museum’s director, remarks:  “We had a very strong tradition of doing that until the 1950s when we pulled back.  In recent years, we have been trying to be more active.” (more…)

Activist Hedge-Fund Investor Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC has acquired a 5.7% stake in Sotheby’s Auction House, a $156.7 million holding that hints to a potentially intervention on the part of Third Point.   “They [Sotheby’s] haven’t radically rejigged their business in the past 10 years,” says former Christie’s COO Michael Plummer, now a principal of Artvest. “It would appear that these hedge funds have an idea that Sotheby’s could be doing its business differently.”

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A work by artist Jan Schoonhoven, stolen from the Bommel van Dam Museum in Venlo several months ago, has turned up at Sotheby’s, stopping the sale after a Dutch fence confessed to police that he had tried to sell the work.  The 1969 work had already achieved a sale price of €214,000, sold under a different name and turned 90 degrees in the catalog.  The auction house acknowledged that it had already been investigating the work after buyers became suspicious. (more…)

In an unprecedented move, the final tally of Christie’s Detroit Institute of Arts appraisal later this fall will offer a rare look into the true market value of a major museum’s art collection.  Expected to reach into the billions, the valuation of the museum’s collection will add a new sense of urgency to the current budgetary crisis in Detroit, and its effects on DIA.  “This is like the weighing of souls,” says Maxwell Anderson, director of the Dallas Museum of Art. “This is biblical stuff, not the approximations that insurance companies look for. It’s extremely problematic for all museums, because it alters the public’s perception of artworks from being ciphers of public heritage of transcendent value, to objects for sale to pay other people’s debts.” (more…)

Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are planning exhibitions of smaller works by Andy Warhol in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively.  The exhibitions, which are set to open next month, will include a number of the artist’s lower-priced works, intended to encourage private sales.  “In our first online Warhol sale in February, 8 percent of bidders were Chinese, a higher percentage than we have previously seen,” says Amelia Manderscheid, associate specialist on e-commerce for Christie’s. (more…)

The value of art exports exported from the United Kingdom has reached the highest level since the 2008 financial crash, the BBC reports.  In a report by Sweet and Maxwell, exports were charted at £2 billion in 2012, an impressive number that defied a new law entitling artists and their heirs 4% of the resale price on any work.  “Art experts and dealers were concerned that London’s position in the art world could suffer compared to New York or Hong Kong, which haven’t introduced any such levy on the resale of modern and contemporary art,” said editor Massimo Sterpi of Sweet & Maxwell. (more…)