Sotheby’s upcoming book auction in London on May 21, organized with charity English PEN and titled “First Editions, Second Thoughts,” features an eclectic mix of titles from top contemporary authors ranging from heavyweights Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwen, and Tom Stoppard to lighter fare from “Harry Potter” series writer J.K. Rowling and “Bridget Jones” author Helen Fielding. (more…)
A death mask cast from the face of former French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on May 7, 1821, two days after his death, will be up for auction at Bonhams’s June 19 sale of books, maps, and manuscripts in Knightsbridge, U.K., with a pre-sale estimate of £40,000-60,000. The piece, known as the “Boys cast,” is one of only two Napoleon death masks still in private hands, and was made for Reverend Richard Boys, the Senior Chaplain on the island of St Helena, where the former emperor died in exile — during his time there, he frequently played chess with the Reverend. (more…)
As you may have heard, Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the stars of this season’s contemporary art auctions, and in order to help map the late art star’s vast web of influences, references, quotations, and allusions, Christie’s has produced a nifty infographic (in full below) — and a pair of videos featuring interviews with his cohorts Al Diaz and Torrick “Toxic” Ablack. (more…)
Pablo Picasso’s portrait of his lover Dora Maar is one of two works from the private collection of the artist’s granddaughter Marina Picasso that are headed to the auction block at Sotheby’s June 6 Impressionist and modern sale in Paris, with the 1943 portrait leading the auction with its €2.5-3.5 million estimate ($3.27-4.58 million). (more…)
An 18th century porcelain sculpture of a monkey consuming snuff (see above) hit the auction block on Wednesday night in London during Sotheby’s sale of what it described as “the greatest group of 18th Century Meissen animals and birds in private hands” — those of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie, to be exact — and doubled its high estimate, selling for £800,000 ($1.24 million). (more…)
One of just 11 copies of the Bay Psalm Book that were printed by pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1640 is coming up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York on November 26 with an estimate of $30 million — the current record for auction record for a book belongs to “Birds of America” by John James Audubon, a copy of which fetched $11.5 million in 2010. The last time a Bay Psalm Book came up for auction, in 1947, it sold for $151,000, which was a record at the time, BBC News reports. (more…)
A miniature portrait of John Keats painted near the end of the poet’s 25 year life, has been rediscovered among the holdings of a recently deceased San Francisco collector, and will be brought to auction in London by Bonhams, the Telegraph reports. The tiny painting (above), which has been attributed to the circle of miniature portraitist Charles Hayter, was last seen when it was the frontispiece of a Stanford University Press Keats biography published in 1933. (more…)
The season has arrived in which the big auction houses start the slow reveal of the big-ticket items that will make up their May auctions. On Friday, Sotheby’s announced it would be offering the collection of Alexander and Elisabeth Lewyt, a Long Island couple who were known for eccentric inventions (him) and a devotion to sheltering animals (her). They were, in addition, art collectors of the highest order. (more…)
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. (more…)
On March 19 a complete set of Andy Warhol’s ten-piece “Endangered Species” print series from 1983 will hit the auction block as part of Sotheby’s London’s sale of Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints, where they’re expected to fetch between £250,000 and £300,000 ($378,000-$453,750), BBC News reports. The last time a full set of the series came up for auction — at Sotheby’s New York in November of last year — it went for $482,500. (more…)
