Records smashed in Hong Kong Chinese Art Sales

World auction records for many Chinese artists were broken in Sotheby’s Hong Kong sales on Monday. Despite the financial downturn, there is still a massive demand for certain types of Chinese art among Chinese wealthy collectors…. Lin Fengmian’s rare oil painting Fishing Harvest – on the market for the first time – sold for HK $16.34 million – a record sale price for the artist. The sale fetched $88.6m (HK$691) overall, 11 percent higher than its pre-sale estimate.

In a separate sale, four of Lin Fengmian's portraits sold for $3.1 million – a price that was a great deal in...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment

All eyes on Maastricht

Everyone’s first question at this year’s European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht, which opened last week, was ‘How do they do the flowers?’ The broad corridor through which visitors enter the fair was lined from floor to ceiling with individual rose heads, like a Damien Hirst spot painting, each back-lit in soft pink or white. The effect was ravishingly pretty. The second question was ‘what mood are the dealers in?’ Poor news from the recent Palm Beach art fair had been followed by even worse news from Dubai’s. If Maastricht, the world’s pre-eminent non-specialist art fair, had disappointing results everyone...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment

To be or not to be?

According to the Guardian, a Cobbe portrait unveiled yesterday in London is unlikely to be of William Shakespeare, as has previously been suggested. Professor Stanley Wells, who is heading up the claim that this portrait is of Shakespeare, may have a weak body of evidence to support his claim.

The painting was discovered when its owner attended a ‘Searching for Shakespeare’ competition that was curated by Tarnya Cooper two years ago at the National Portrait Gallery. At the exhibition, the owner saw a portrait of Shakespeare known as the Janssen portrait, which he believed was a copy of his painting.

...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)

The finest of furniture

Not everything is doom and gloom in the art world at the moment. A shock sale at Christie's, Paris, has given hope to many who feared the extent to which the global art market would be tainted by the current international economic downturn.

A leather armchair, designed by the Irish artist Eileen Gray, has fetched a staggering 22 million euro at Christie's as part of the three day sale of the collection of the late Yves Saint Laurent and his partner. The chair, which is 24 inches high, has broken the world record for a piece of 20th century...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment

weekly art news round-up

My kingdom for a horse
Former Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger has been announced as the winner of the £2m public art comission to mark the building of Ebbsfleet International station in Kent, dubbed the 'Angel of the South'. Wallinger's sculpture of a giant white horse (the model is pictured above) is due to be completed and installed by 2012 and is expected to be 50 metres high. Wallinger was among a shortlist of three artists, including Richard Deacon and Daniel Buren.

Moscow off
The sixth annual Moscow World Fine Art Fair, originally scheduled to open on...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment