A self-portrait by Frida Kahlo, titled Diego y yo (Diego and I) is set to appear in auction in November at Sotheby’s and, if its estimate of over $30 million is met, will become the most valuable Latin American artwork ever publicly sold. Not only that, it could possibly become the highest price ever for a female artist, if it sells in excess of the current record of $44.4 million – the amount paid for Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1(1932) in 2014.
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An exceptionally rare first edition of Mary Shelley’s (1797-1851) ‘Frankenstein’ has sold for a monstrous $1.17 million (£850,000) at Christie’s, New York. The three-volume set is now the most expensive printed work by a woman ever sold at auction.
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Last week the long-anticipated fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute kicked off with a collaboration featuring French street artist JR. The performance and installation were debuted on co-chair Timothée Chalamet’s Instagram account, before hordes of in vogue celebrities descended on the yellow carpet.
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Wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in 25,000 square metres of material has begun, fulfilling a 60-year dream of late artists ‘Christo’. The iconic duo, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935-2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935-2009), passed away before their major installation was unfurled in the heart of Paris.
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For the first time in more than 60 years, Stonehenge will undergo significant restoration to cracks and holes in the stones, in which a penny was hidden in the 1950’s. The prehistoric monument in Wiltshire is one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, having been added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.
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A New York Federal Judge has decided that a marble figure which is owned by hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt and which has spent decades on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will not be returned to Turkey. The Turkish government sued for the return of the figure in 2017 however, according to Judge Alison J. Nathan, there is “insufficient evidence” to support Turkey’s claim that it should be returned.
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‘Big John’, the largest triceratops skeleton ever discovered, is coming to auction at Paris auction house Binoche et Giquello next month. The 66-million-year-old fossil is estimated to sell for a staggering €1.2 million to €1.5 million (£1 million to £1.5 million).
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The Bank of England, which has its own museum, will no longer display eight oil paintings and two busts connected to the slave trade. Earlier this year, the bank set up a working group to critically review the 40,000 artworks in its collection.
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In 2018 Banksy left the art world reeling after shredding a spray paint and acrylic on canvas version of Girl with Balloon (2006) just moments after it sold for a record price for the artist – £1.04 million (with fees). The partially shredded work is returning to auction this October.
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Art Basel’s global director, Marc Spiegler, has written a letter to exhibitors addressing their concern about the fair’s new rules due to Covid-19 restrictions. His reassurances follow calls to cancel the already-postponed fair in Basel, Switzerland.
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