The Jan Cowles lawsuit against Larry Gagosian, over the dealer’s business practices while consigning a Roy Lichtenstein painting for the longtime collector, has officially been settled. Kelly Crow reported the news on Twitter last week, but ARTINFO could not confirm it until today. David Baum, who represented Cowles in the case, sent us this comment via email this morning:
Art market news and commentary by the staff of Art+Auction
MARKET WATCH: Art market news and commentary by the staff of Art+Auction
Jan Cowles and Larry Gagosian Settle Lawsuit, Tom Dean Gets to Keep His Lichtenstein
March 13, 2013, 11:34 am
Sale of the Week, March 17-23: A Trove of Asian Art Takes Over New York
March 13, 2013, 10:40 am
Asia Week is quickly approaching, and in addition to the many shows covering the Upper East Side gallery spaces, the auction houses have the usual slew of sales planned. The state of the market is in flux — last year in March, traditional Chinese art soared in value and traditional Indian and Himalayan art proved popular, while fewer buyers came out for Japanese, Korean, or contemporary Indian art — so it will be interesting to see if tastes have changed in the last year (as they often do). Continue Reading
Munich Houses Plan City’s Inaugural Auction Week Between the Venice Biennial and Art Basel
March 12, 2013, 10:24 am
Is Munich the next Zurich? Between the official launch of Elmgreen & Dragset’s “A Space Called Public” and this week’s announcement of the first ever auction week in Germany, the Bavarian capital is looking to shed its lederhosen and welcome the art world as it shuttles between the Venice Biennale and Art Basel. A cooperation between three former rivals — Karl & Faber,Ketterer Kunst, and Neumeister — the Munich Auction Week will host each house’s modern and contemporary art spring sales from June 6-8, with previews beginning on the first. Continue Reading
Mid-Season Contemporary Sales in New York Set Records (Again) During Armory Week
March 11, 2013, 1:57 pm
It’s fairly safe to say that both auction houses had a good week last week. Christie’s pulled in $12.3 million in its First Open contemporary, while Sotheby’s sold $27.3 million in two sales — $12.9 million in its contemporary sale and a further $14.4 million in a single owner sale of contemporary works. All three sales significantly exceeded pre-sale estimates, and both houses set records for mid-season contemporary weeks. Continue Reading
Announcing: The Unofficial Armory Show Meetup, Thursday at 2pm
March 6, 2013, 12:26 pm
I’ll be at the Armory Show all day on Thursday (and part of Friday!). That long at an art fair can make one sink onto a couch head-in-hands, so I’ve decided to invite ARTINFO readers to join me for an informal meetup midday. I’ll be hanging around the “Psychology of Consumerism” panel discussion at 1pm on Thursday — hoping Felix Salmon makes things as interesting as he did last year — and would love to meet up with artists, dealers, collectors, or just art world hangers-on to discuss art, consumerism, art fairs, and the art market immediately following. Continue Reading
Sale of the Week, March 10-16: Gilt and Glamour at ‘The Opulent Eye’
March 6, 2013, 7:00 am
An Encyclopedia of Silicon Valley Art Collectors
March 4, 2013, 12:13 pm
Now that many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have spent a decade or so getting used to having so much cash laying around, they are starting to spend it in predictable ways, like buying art. The Wall Street Journal has 2000 words this morning on what the world’s wealthiest techies are buying. But it’s Armory week and no one has time for 2000 words, so here’s the tl;dr version:
How Much Will the Sequester Really Affect the NEA’s Budget?
February 28, 2013, 7:08 pm
After writing about possible sequester implications to the NEA budget earlier in the week based on OMB estimates, I inquired the endowment about more specifics. I got a response today, and posted in full below. The short answer is that its budget will be slashed by 5 percent, but it’s possible that everything will change again after March 27:
Sotheby’s Announces 2012 Earnings and an Increase in Buyer’s Premium
February 28, 2013, 5:47 pm
Sotheby’s released its earnings report for the fourth quarter (and full year) of 2012 today, which are down slightly from the record 2011 numbers. Meanwhile, the auction house also announced it will increase its buyer’s premium, as rival Christie’s did last week. Here are the highlights from the press release:
Size Matters in the Art Market, but Probably Only If You’re the Small One
February 27, 2013, 4:55 pm
Last night, many students in FIT’s art market program and a few cynical members of the art press gathered in the school’s amphitheater for “Size Matters,” a panel discussion on the importance of scale and spectacle in today’s art market (the livetweets from the event have been Storified here). Continue Reading
