Category Archives: art

Floyd Norris, meet Nouriel Roubini. Both of you are worried about consumer credit in non-housing parts of the economy: Nouriel is concerned about auto loans, while Floyd is looking at art loans, and specifically the $835 million that Sotheby’s lent … Continue reading →

Illinois artist Conrad Bakker, whose art has a habit of raising uncomfortable questions about price and value in the art world, popped round this afternoon on a visit to New York. Conrad makes all his own work – he doesn’t … Continue reading →

The most expensive sculpture sold by a living at auction was Jeff Koons’s Hanging Heart, which sold for $23.6 million last year. It was also the most expensive artwork sold by a living artist at auction. The most expensive sculpture … Continue reading →

I popped over to Rockefeller Center this morning to check out the new Electric Fountain by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Rock Center has a long history of fabulous public-art installations: Jonathan Borofsky, Louise Bourgeois, Nam June Paik, and Takashi … Continue reading →

Jay McInerney goes to Art Basel Miami Beach: At the Margulies Collection, a mind-boggling private trove of Modern and contemporary art housed in a humongous warehouse, I overhear this: EUROPEAN ACCENT: That’s a portrait of Komar and Melamid. TEXAS ACCENT: … Continue reading →

First the NYT, now Bloomberg – what is going on with art auction reporting? Bloomberg’s headline on the (RED) auction today is just plain wrong: "Hirst Cabinet Fetches $6.2 Million for Bono AIDS Sale". The story quotes lots of information … Continue reading →

At the (RED) auction last night, eight works by Damien Hirst were sold – if you include the one he gave to Banksy to deface. Between them, they sold for $20,955,000 – call it half of the $42,584,300 that the … Continue reading →

The doyenne of art-auction reporters is Carol Vogel of the NYT: she sets the benchmark. And, it seems, the benchmark has changed, which makes for some weird comparisons as the changeover occurs. Here she is today, with a piece headlined … Continue reading →

The price of Old Masters has been lagging that of contemporary art, despite the fact that the supply of Old Masters is shrinking, while the supply of contemporary art is increasing. Jeff Segal of Breaking Views concludes that "the Old … Continue reading →

During the housing boom, the only thing rising faster than house prices was the number of realtors. Yes, a handful of superstar agents became fabulously wealthy and successful. But the median realtor was in many ways worse off than before … Continue reading →

From the WSJ’s On the Block blog: At the UBS tent party on the beach behind the Delano Hotel, the fire marshal had be called in by 9 p.m. to control the wealthy crowds supping on shrimp, lobster and caviar. … Continue reading →

The New Yorker’s Mary Norris went to Padua for an auction run by Coys of Kensington, auctioneers of vintage motorcars. She accompanied Giuseppe Favia, who was selling a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190 D with literally sainted provenance. The auction itself, however, … Continue reading →

This morning I spoke to Amy Cappellazzo, co-head of the postwar and contemporary art department at Christie’s, to ask her about Richard Prince’s Nurse paintings. How come one sold in London in October for $2.1 million, and then one sold … Continue reading →

Alexandra Peers at the fall auctions in New York: All told, the auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury totaled $1.7 billion, compared to $1.4 billion six months ago at a similar round of spring sales.

With the sale last night of his "Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)" for $23.6 million, Jeff Koons is now the priciest living artist at auction. Now it’s entirely possible that someone will decide to go the auction-house route rather than the private-dealer … Continue reading →

October 16, London: At Christie’s, the heat was still on for the fashionable Canadian conceptual artist Richard Prince, whose painting Wayward Nurse, bought originally in 2005 from his New York gallery for $75,000, sold for £1 million ($2.1 million). November … Continue reading →

Last night I went to a truly magnificent show at Carnegie Hall: Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. My front-row seats were $44 each. This evening, Sir Simon returns, conducting the … Continue reading →

In the wake of my entry yesterday about auction houses’ estimates and reserves, Rik Pike of Christie’s has been very helpful in clearing a few things up for me. For one thing, there’s no doubt that estimates refer to the … Continue reading →

Never mind that Murakami boutique at the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. You only have nine more days to buy a REPL1CA [W4TCH] from the Untitled Project Store, which goes dark on November 18. Regularly priced at $850, it … Continue reading →

There’s something I’ve always wondered about auction-house estimates: are they estimating the hammer price, or are they estimating the final sale price, including commission? The auction house press releases, and newspaper reports in the wake of the auction, always talk … Continue reading →

Callen Bair wants to know what can be done to reduce the crowds at art museums. Callen, meet Robert Reich: At a time when the number of needy continues to rise, when government doesn’t have the money to do what’s … Continue reading →