Fine Art

More records fall in record NY art sales

Art Deco bronze and ivory dancers inspired by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and other exotic themes have been racing up the price scale in recent months. The reason is rouble power.

Change in the collecting geography at New York’s Imp & Mod spring sales

There’s been plenty of speculation about who might have paid £1.7m plus 17.5 per cent premium for the two recently-rediscovered Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) panels of Dominican saints at Duke’s of Dorchester on April 19.

For the second time in the space of a week a UK provincial auctioneer was celebrating a million-pound sale of works by one of the world’s most famous artists.

after months of pre-sale coverage in the media, the two recently rediscovered panels of Dominican saints from Fra Angelico’s celebrated 1438-40 high altarpiece for the Church of San Marco in Florence finally came under the hammer at Duke’s of Dorchester last Thursday, when they fetched £1.7m.

Only five Mayfair dealers will participate in this year’s London Sculpture Week (June 14-22), the smallest number since the initiative was launched in 2004.

The subject matter of this mid-14th century gold ground may be unfamiliar to many, but that is no surprise – the treatment is thought to be unique in early Italian painting.

Museums should learn lessons of the 20th century

There was high excitement at The Auction Centre, Leyburn on March 30 when Sean Keating’s Ulysses off Connemara shot to a remarkable £400,000 (plus 15/10 per cent premium), a record for the artist and a house record for Tennants.

Photo-london, the four-year-old specialist photograph fair that takes place annually in May, has a new owner, a new venue and a new slant.

Anonymous artist’s contempt for art market does nothing to dampen demand

THE imminent smoking ban and the government’s attempts to tackle binge drinking wouldn’t have gone down too well with the Reffley Brethren.

Share of places has risen to a quarter as prices have soared, say Artprice

A spectacular sleeper was awoken in Sweden on December 5 when an oil sketch catalogued as in the manner of Peter Paul Rubens sold to a British buyer at SEK16.6m (£1,298,000) amidst speculation it was by the artist himself.

Among the highlights of Sotheby’s New York’s $96.9m Important Old Master Paintings sale on January 25 was Portrait of Captain Robert Shore Milnes painted in 1771-72 by Joseph Wright of Derby.

As recent London sales have demonstrated, demand for top-class Italian maiolica is on something of a roll. There is an international roster of collectors who are attracted to this colourful ceramic version of Italian Old Master painting.

THE end of 2006 sees the $160m Australian art and antiques auction market in a state of flux again. Chris Deutscher, one of the two main partners in the Menzies group, has announced his departure from the company. He intends to set up a rival firm by the new year.

The highlight of this year’s Old Master picture series in London was a pair of Roman vedute by Bernardo Bellotto (Venice 1721-1780 Warsaw).

Contemporary art plans for Shanghai and Dubai