News
Rag & Boon: Christie's Auctions Basquiat Sweatshirt
This sweatshirt, listed today in a Christie's online auction, was allegedly hand-painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat between 1979 and 1980.
Christie's
News
Portugal Tries and Fails to Sell Art to Help Pay Debts
Can and should a government sell art to help pay off its debts? That's been the question driving ongoing discussions about Detroit, but it's also being raised across the Atlantic, where 85 works by Joan Miró were withdrawn from a Christie's auction this week.
News
Christie's Detroit Institute of Arts Appraisal Released
The indefatigable Detroit Free Press once again has the scoop on the latest developments at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and this time it's the release of Christie's appraisal of the museum's collection.
News
Francis Bacon Triptych Breaks World Auction Record at $142.4M
Tonight, Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" (1969) broke the world auction record and realized $142,405,000 at Christie's Tuesday night Post-War and Contemporary auction at Manhattan's Rockefeller Center.
Art
Want Francis Bacon's Paintbrushes and a Taxidermied Ostrich? This Is Your Moment
Have you ever wanted to own Francis Bacon's old brushes, on which scabs of paint gnarl the worn handles, leftover residue of works of warped forms? Well, good news: there's a Christie's auction for you, and you can even pick up a dancing robot and taxidermy ostrich while you're at it.
News
Should We Be Worried? Christie's Called Detroit Museum About Its $2bn Collection
News has emerged that representatives of Christie's auction house called the Detroit Institute of Arts last month, asking for an inventory of artworks and "if appraisers could visit to assess the collection," the New York Times reports.
News
Historic Night at Christie's as 12 Post-War Artists Set Records, Biggest Sale in History
Tonight, auction world records have been set for 12 artists at Christie's contemporary evening sale in New York, including records for Basquiat, Pollock, de Kooning, Noland, Guston, and Lichtenstein.
Opinion
Folk Art Museum to Sell Off Works at Sotheby’s for Chairman’s Debts
The Tod Williams and Billie Tsien-designed building isn’t all that the American Folk Art Museum is losing as it retreats from its large home in midtown and cedes it to the Museum of Modern Art. It also has to give up over 200 works that were promised to it by collector and museum chairman Ralph Esme
Art
Bidding on Oblivion
On Election Day, The New York Times featured an above-the-fold story in its Arts section about the fate of fake art as the country was deciding the fate of a fake politician. The article was illustrated by a tiny, smudged color reproduction of, as the caption states, a “disputed Jackson Pollock that
News
Will the Warhol Foundation's $100 Million Art Sale Turn Into a Damien Hirst-Style Market Stunt?
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts must be pretty frustrated. First, they shuttered their authentication board after getting sued by too many collectors, and now they're planning to sell off all of their holdings of Warhol's work to focus entirely on making art-related grants. Collectors
Art
A Guide to New York's Auction Houses
There is possibly no better place to witness the titans of the art market — the auction houses — duke it out than in New York. But ever wonder what they're all about? Here's a straightforward guide.
News
As Chinese Artist Unseats Picasso, New Collectors Rise in China
Proof of the Chinese art market blowing up can no longer be denied. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that two Chinese artists Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) and Qi Baishi (1864-1957) reign supreme in the art market, replacing Picasso as the top earner for 2011. Artprice has ranked Picasso as the highest g