contemporary art news stories on Newser

Modern Art Auction Shatters Records

Kevin Spak — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:46:27 CDT

The modern art market is boiling hot right now. For evidence, take a gander at the results from last night's Christie's auction, which saw a Mark Rothko painting sell for nearly $87 million, shattering the gallery's $35 million to $40 million estimate. The sale is a record not just for...

Lichtenstein Painting Fetches $43M

John Johnson — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:12:10 CST

If you've got millions to spare, may as well put it on the wall rather than in the markets: A 1961 Roy Lichtenstein painting ( I Can See the Whole Room! ... and There's Nobody in It! ) sold for $43.2 million at Christie's, reports Bloomberg . It's a record price...

Jeff Koons Says He Owns Balloon Dogs

Kevin Spak — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:39:35 CST

Jeff Koons, the pop artist famous for making shiny, 10-foot-tall statues in the shape of balloon-animal dogs, is now taking legal action against a company that makes book-ends in a similar shape, and a gallery gift shop that sells them. Which is pretty ironic, the New York Times points out,...

Modest Success at Christie's Cheers Art World

Jason Farago — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:32:41 CDT

Christie's contemporary auction in New York last night went better than expected, selling $93.7 million worth of postwar art—double the result of its rival Sotheby's the night before. The top lot was a 12-foot panorama by British painter David Hockney, which sold for $7.9 million, a record...

Art Prices Tumble 35%

Kevin Spak — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:22:31 CDT

Art prices went into freefall in the first quarter, as cash-strapped collectors unloaded their masterpieces, the Financial Times reports. Prices dropped 35%, after falling just 4.8% for all of 2008. Postwar and contemporary artists, favorites of the Wall Street elite, have been hit especially hard, with even the best...

Troubled LA Museum Wins $30M Bailout

Jason Farago — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:27:28 CST

LA's troubled Museum of Contemporary Art is moving toward a bailout deal with Eli Broad, reports the Los Angeles Times . The billionaire real estate investor and art collector offered MoCA a $30 million donation contingent on improved performance, which board members favored over a merger with the Los Angeles County...

Auction Houses Counting on Russians

Wesley Oliver — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:28:00 CST

With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of...

Huge LeWitt Exhibition Is Beautiful Lunacy

Jason Farago — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:16:01 CST

Sol LeWitt died last year, but his artwork is still being created—executed by handlers according to written instructions. This weekend marked the opening of a massive exhibition of LeWitt’s wall drawings at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, an exhibition Sebastian Smee, in the Boston Globe , calls “as wonderful...

Major Works Fail to Sell at Christie's

Jason Farago — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:16:25 CST

The art world bust continued last night at the Christie's contemporary auction in New York, where almost a third of the 75 works on the block went unsold. Not a single collector bid for the highlight of the sale, a self-portrait by Francis Bacon estimated to sell for around $40...