Blackstone Group LP vice chairman James Tomilson Hill has been acknowledged as a billionaire this week by Forbes Magazine, after his stake in Blackstone rose to $585 million yesterday, complementing the avid art collector’s broad selection of works by artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol.  “I don’t like to talk about the financial aspect of art,” he said in a recent interview. “Collecting art is a highly personal endeavor.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the collection of Leslie Wexner, who has shifted from being a major collector of a number of blue-chip 20th Century artists to exclusively focusing on the work of Pablo Picasso.  “My feeling was, and still is, that when you look at Picasso, you realize that he was the true founder of modern and contemporary art,” Wexner says. (more…)

The Silicon Valley Contemporary Art Fair opens this week, marking the first major art fair in the region, and the first concerted effort by the broader art market to cater to the new wealthy class of the U.S. tech sector.  The fair features over 1,000 on sale from over 300 artist, valued at over $100 million, and will feature a program of tech and performance centered works from artists like Marina Abramovic. (more…)

Los Angeles Collectors Jane and Marc Nathanson have announced that they will auction three works from their collection at Sotheby’s May 14th auction in New York, among them Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #20, estimated between $9 million and $12 million. “We’re trying to fine-tune our collection as we’re getting older,” Mr. Nathanson said, continuing on to say that the works for sale  “don’t really fit in” with their interests in pop art. (more…)

Collector and dealer Asher Edelman has filed a lawsuit claiming he has been victimized in a fraudulent deal for the sale of more than 100 works claimed to be by Picasso, Matisse, and more.  The lawsuit states that Swiss company Artmentum convinced Edelman’s company that a Japanese museum was seeking to sell $400 million in art, a statement that Edelman claims was wholly false.  “Each defendant, acting individually and in concert with each other, participated in an elaborate, fraudulent scheme in the guise of an international art transaction designed to deprive ArtAssure of hundreds of millions of dollars,” the lawsuit says. (more…)

An article in the New York Times documents painter Martin Wong’s early contributions to the patronization and encouragement of New York Graffiti art, financially backing struggling artists and buying some of their works for his own personal collection.  The story comes as the Museum of the City of New York prepares to open a show on the artist’s early collection of street art pieces.  “He always thought those first pieces, in a fundamental way, were the legs of a major art movement,” artist Lee Quiñones said. (more…)

Hong Kong’s M+ Museum has received a major gift of 37 contemporary Chinese works from the collection of Guan Yi, one of the nation’s most significant collectors.  The donation includes a number of important works, most notably the entire checklist from the 2003 Venice Biennale Exhibition Canton Express.  “Guan Yi’s generous donation is a marker of the trust and respect that M+, Hong Kong’s future museum for visual culture, already holds within the international artistic community, and signals building global anticipation for the first museum of its kind in Asia – already housing one of the most important collections of Hong Kong and Chinese contemporary art worldwide,” says Michael Lynch, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority’s Chief Executive Officer.  (more…)

Leon Black, the head of Apollo Global Management LLC, has been named in the top 10 of Art & Auction magazine’s list of the 10 most powerful art world participants for the first time this year.  Black, who purchased Edvard Munch’s The Scream for a record setting $120 million in 2010, joined a list headed by Jeff Koons, whose balloon dog auction this month places him as the highest-selling living artist.  Other inclusions include dealers Larry Gagosian and David Zwirner. (more…)

Los Angeles collector and patron Eli Broad is at the top of a new list detailing the top art collectors around the world, titled Larry’s List.  Contrasting with the annually published ARTnews assessment, Larry’s List ranks collectors based on Internet presence, institutional engagement, art fair participation, communications platforms, and the physical visibility and scale of their collection.  A full 60-page report will be published later this year. (more…)

With the Eli Broad Museum set to open across the street from MOCA sometime next fall, the high-profile collector and patron has announced his intentions to withdraw his annual contribution of $3 million to MOCA, effectively stepping back from his longtime role as the museum’s leading supporter.  Even so, Broad has expressed excitement about the potentials for his museum and its effects on MOCA, noting that it will increase the draw of art lovers to the area.  “They’re excited about it. They know that we’re going to be a great attraction, we’re going to spend time and energy and marketing getting attendance, and they’re going to be the beneficiary of all that,” he said. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has announced a new show, opening this December, focusing on the life and patronage of collector Ileana Sonnabend, a Romanian emigré who at one time was married to Leo Castelli, and presided over the New York art world, eventually developing a collection valued at well over $900 million, and championing artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Mario Merz.  “For us, the emphasis will clearly be on the history she made.” Says Chief Curator Ann Temkin. (more…)

Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art has appointed three new members to its board of trustees: former KB Homes CEO Bruce Karatz, investor Stanley Gold and collector Orna Amir Wolens.  The announcement comes after MOCA made the decision to remain an independent institution and forego a merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  “MOCA is a dynamic part of the cultural identity of Los Angeles,” Said Bruce Karatz. “I am delighted to be part of the board that will help ensure MOCA continues its tradition of impressive, groundbreaking exhibitions.” (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…)

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…)

The passing of Merton J. Simpson, a notable artist and prominent dealer of African art, has set his inheritance into a state of uncertainty, with familial infighting leaving his estate without the money to bury his body, and the future of his impressive collection of works up in the air.  “I knew that when he passed, it was going to get really ugly,” said Luna Devin Crystal, a friend and employee of Mr. Simpson’s. (more…)

Pablo Picasso, Le Rêve (1932)

Hedge fund manager and notable collector Steven A. Cohen, who has just settled two insider-trading lawsuits with the government, has just purchased Picasso’s Le Rêve for $155 Million.  The exchange, between Cohen and Las Vegas Hotel Mogul Steve Wynn, is estimated to be the largest price ever paid for a work of art by an American collector. The sale of Le Rêve, Picasso’s 1932 portrait of a sleeping woman, had previously been discussed between Wynn and Cohen, particularly in 2006, when the sale was canceled after Wynn accidentally thrust his elbow through the piece, causing a 6-inch tear.  “Steve has wanted that painting for a long time. The timing of the sale is just a coincidence.”  Said an unnamed source.

Steven A Cohen, via Patrick McMullan

(more…)

An 18th century Chinese vase made for the Qianlong emperor has been sold for less than half of its last auction price.  The vase had sold for a record $83 million at auction two years ago, but was put back on the market after its buyer, collector Wang Yaohui, failed to pay.  The vase was recently resold for an undisclosed price said to be between  $32 million and $40 million.  “It’s the right price,’’ Dealer Roger Keverne says. “That was the figure at which most people were interested when the vase was originally offered. It’s settled to its true value.’’ (more…)