In Brief
Study Suggests Blue and Red Artworks Dominate Auction Sales
Dutch researchers concluded that blue and red paintings spark nearly 20% higher bids at auctions in the US, China, and the Netherlands.
Auctions
Opinion
Will Blockchain Create a More Transparent Art Market or Merely Entice More Investors?
This week, Christie's announced that it would pilot blockchain technology to record its fall auction season, but will the digital ledger system solve the market's transparency problems?
Opinion
Christie’s Top Lots Flop at Auction, Raising Speculation About Market Bubble
This years’s total sales were nearly half those of last year, which some critics say is a symptom of a bloated market with overly ambitious estimates. Even a Van Gogh painting went unsold this year.
News
Christie’s Expects $51M for One of China’s ‘Da Vinci’ Scrolls, But Provenance Questions Remain
Centuries before Wester Europe coined the term, "renaissance man," artist Su Shi moonlighted as a pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman for the Song Dynasty.
News
Two Dalí Paintings, Bought by a Countess in the 1930s, Finally Head to Auction
Dalí's Freudian delusions of love might make you feel better if you're having a lackluster Valentine's Day.
Art
Skull Cup Associated with Lord Byron Heads to Auction
A cup made from a human skull has an inscription that attributes it to Lord Byron, who was known to drink wine from such a vessel.
Art
A Rare Deposition from the Salem Witch Trials Goes to Auction
Christie's is auctioning a rare 1692 deposition from the Salem witch trials that helped sentence an elderly widow to death.
Art
A 19th-Century Illustrated Guide to Bizarre British Games, Including Hot Cockles and Hoodman’s Blind
In 1801, British writer and engraver Joseph Strutt published a compendium of bizarre medieval pastimes.
Art
A 1792 Mexican Novel Shows Early Day of the Dead Iconography
Engravings by Francisco Agüera Bustamante in The Astounding Life of Death show the bony figure in a variety of roles, from a baby to a king.
Art
From a Table of Phalluses to a Ménage à Trois Watercolor, Erotic Art Heads to Auction
Sotheby's first-ever auction of erotic artworks, timed to Valentine's Day, features a delightful range of objects, including a rare homoerotic painting from 18th-century Turkey.
Art
19th-Century Stereoviews of Hell
In these stereoviews populated by skeletons, hell is host to boating races, parties, and even a lavish boudoir for one "Madame Satan."
News
The Raw Expression of a Rare, Emaciated Buddha
A number of rare sculptures illustrate how starved Buddha would have been after fasting for seven weeks. One of them is being seen publicly for the first time this week ahead of auction.