Wednesday, 1st October 2008
4:48pm
Last week Peter-Ashley Russell was sentenced to three years in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London for faking and forging antique silver. It was, according to the Goldsmiths’ Company, which oversees Britain’s hallmarking system, the biggest case of its kind since the 1890s. Mr Ashley-Russell’s offences included converting spoons into (more valuable) forks and creating false hallmarks using imitation punches. The Goldsmiths’ Company observed that the fakes were of high quality: the punches were well made, producing hallmarks that would have easily fooled most people, and his fake flatware had remarkably convincing false patination and engraving.
Are forgers getting...
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Tuesday, 30th September 2008
12:23pm
Two unconnected events in the art world last week set me thinking about the relationship between art and politics. The first was the opening of the V&A’s latest exhibition, ‘Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70’, which was followed by Bloomberg's report that almost 50 per cent of the Gagosian gallery’s global sales are buyers from Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union.
According to the Bloomberg report, the Gagosian gallery had almost no Russian buyers four years ago but with Russia now the world’s second largest oil exporter, the country's number of billionaires has jumped from 36 in...
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Friday, 26th September 2008
4:04pm
Picasso auction:
One of Pablo Picasso’s most important paintings, Arelquin (pictured), will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s, New York, in November. The painting, which was last seen in public 45 years ago, is expected to fetch over $30 million (£16.3m). Painted in 1909, it was bought by the Surrealist artist Enrico Donati during the 1940s. Arelquin will be exhibited in Sotheby’s, London, 3-7 October and Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 29 October-3 November.
Guggenheim announce new director:
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced this week that Richard Armstrong will become its next director. Richard Armstrong, who has...
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Friday, 19th September 2008
6:20pm
Hirst Triumphs
The Sotheby’s two-day auction of work by Damien Hirst fetched £111.4 million. The single-artist sale, entitled ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’, had been forecast to reach around £65 million. The centrepiece of the show, Golden Calf, sold for £10.3million. After weeks of speculation, the results have silenced claims that the sale would mark the end of the current art boom. Damien Hirst, who didn’t attend the auction, said, ‘I think the art market is bigger than anyone knows, I love art and this proves I’m not alone and the future looks great for everyone.’ The sale is...
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Thursday, 18th September 2008
4:52pm
In a week dominated by news of financial meltdown, the art world proved its increasing strength and vigour with two headline-grabbing events: Damien Hirst’s record-breaking Sotheby’s sale, which raked in a total of £111m, and the opening in Moscow of the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture (GCCC). Admittedly, how much either had to do with art, as opposed to celebrity culture, is up for debate.
Hype surrounding the GCCC was focused on its founder, Daria Zhukova, perhaps better known as the girlfriend of Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. Clearly not content with a clichéd WAG lifestyle, the glamorous 27 year-old...
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The Lower East Side, once home to immigrants and aspiring artists, is no receiving the uptown treatment.
The National Trust's plans to acquire Seaton Delaval Hall are a tribute to a genius who has inspired writers and artists for centuries.
The Fitzwilliam Museum is celebrating the centenary of the directorship of Sydney Carlyle Cockerell with an exhibition that makes clear that he was in many ways the first modern museum director.
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