A ring crafted by Picasso to smooth over a lover’s spat is expected to fetch up to £500,000 at auction.
Containing a miniature cubist portrait of photographer, painter and poet, Dora Maar, the ring was presented to her by Picasso after they quarreled. His lover and muse, Maar had persuaded Picasso to exchange one of his artworks for a ruby ring. After Picasso grew irritated with her over the deal Maar tossed the cabochon gem into the Seine. Continue reading
Graffiti artist Banksy has revoked his “UK Election Souvenir Special” print offer after it prompted a police investigation and triggered a public warning against electoral fraud.
In an update to our recent coverage of the “complimentary gift”, which the street artist offered to mail to voters in six Bristol constituencies if they voted against the Conservative party in the UK general election, a “Product Recall” message has appeared on the Banksy website. The message states that the artist has “been warned by the Electoral Commission that the free print offer will invalidate the election result”. Continue reading
Street artist and provocateur Banksy has landed in hot water over his latest project, which has been timed to coincide with the UK general election.
Posting on his website, the artist is offering to send a “complimentary gift” in the form of an “exclusive new Banksy print” to voters in six Bristol constituencies who send in a photograph of their ballot papers from the 8 June election showing they voted against the Conservative candidate. Continue reading
Footwear company Adidas is alleged to have tread all over Art Basel’s good name by creating an unauthorised Art Basel-themed sneaker according to a lawsuit filed by the international art fair on May 30 in Florida.
MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd, which owns the modern and contemporary art fair has accused Adidas of breaching copyright by producing a line of sneakers emblazoned with an “Art Basel” label without its permission. It is suing the footwear brand for injunctive relief and damages for copyright infringement, false association, deceptive and unfair trade practice, unjust enrichment and dilution of its trademark. MCH also wants all remaining Art Basel sneakers to be destroyed. Continue reading
Two hundred feet below the streets of Rome, a team of archaeologists has discovered 1,600 year old frescoes using laser beam technology.
The brightly coloured paintings, which date to around 360 AD were uncovered on the ceilings of two ancient Christian tombs in the labyrinthine Catacombs of St Domitilla. Hidden for centuries under layers of algae, smoke residue and calcium they were brought to the surface using 2mm laser beams. Continue reading
“Art galleries, auction houses, academic institutions and collectors must be vigilant about recognizing and identifying signs of theft and trafficking”, New York lawyer, Cyrus R. Vance, said following the repatriation of several stolen artefacts from the United States to Italy last Thursday (25 May).
Looted from archaeological sites in Italy in the 1990s, the objects were smuggled overseas to the US. Six of the seven items were seized from a Manhattan gallery in April this year while the seventh object was located in another gallery in Midtown Manhattan. They include a Greek bronze from the 3rd or 4th century BC, an oil flask from 340 BC and a wine jug from 650 BC. Continue reading
Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner are no strangers to media attention. Now the daughter and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump have made headlines after omitting details of their valuable art holdings from required financial disclosures.
As Assistant and Senior Adviser to the President, Kushner is obliged to disclose his assets and business interests. One might have expected the list to include the enormous collection of contemporary art, which Kushner and Trump have acquired since their marriage in 2009. With pieces from Dan Colen, Alex Da Corte and David Ostrowski, the couple’s collection is thought to be worth millions. However, it was noticeably absent from Kushner’s disclosure report revised this year. Continue reading
Damien Hirst’s severed cows in formaldehyde won it in 1995 and Tracey Emin’s unmade bed made the shortlist in 1999.
Now it has been announced that the winner of the controversial Turner Prize for contemporary visual art in 2019 will be revealed at Turner Contemporary in Margate. Continue reading
It was the biggest art heist recorded in United States history.
In the early hours of 18 March 1990 two men dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Overpowering a night security guard, the thieves stole 13 works of art right off the Museum’s walls. Continue reading
A painting by late US artist Jean-Michel Basquiat has smashed several art market records after it sold for US$110.5 million (£85.4 million) at auction at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday night (18 May).
The untitled work from 1982, which depicts a face in the shape of a skull rendered in oil stick, acrylic and face paint is the most expensive work by any US artist to have sold at auction. It also marks a new record for a work by Basquiat, is the highest price ever paid for an artwork by an African-American artist and is the sixth most expensive work ever sold at auction. Continue reading
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