US billionaire Michael Steinhardt has surrendered his collection of antiquities worth US$70 million (£53 million), after a lengthy investigation found they had been looted or illegally smuggled into the country.
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Category: Art News
Jeff Koons sued for copying another artist’s sculpture
Renowned American pop artist Jeff Koons faces an infringement lawsuit for allegedly copying a sculptural stage setting of a serpent wrapped around a rock designed by another artist, which Koons used for his series “Made in Heaven”.
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Cheers! Turner Prize 2021 awarded to Irish pub installation
This year an Irish pub installation has been crowned winner of the coveted Turner Prize. By translating their activism into artwork, Belfast-based activist group Array Collective won the £25,000 prize.
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NFT standard awarded top spot in ArtReview’s Power 100
ERC-721, the specification for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has nabbed the number one spot of ArtReview’s Power 100, a list of the contemporary art world’s most influential figures. This is the first time a non-human entity has topped the ranking, representing a bold frontier for the market.
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Constable painting up for auction with an estimate of £3-5million after being sold as a copy for £40,000 last year
An oil painting by the English Romantic landscape painter John Constable (1776-1837) sold in an auction in Cincinnati, Ohio, last year as a copy, making £40,000 against a pre-sale estimate of only $1,000-2,000. It has now been authenticated as being a genuine Constable. It will be sold in Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings December sale with an impressive estimate of £3-5 million.
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Dürer drawing purchased for $30 could be worth $50 million
A totally unknown drawing by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) has resurfaced and could be worth around $50 million. The drawing, The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a Grassy Bench (c. 1503) was purchased by the current owner for a mere $30 at an estate sale in Concord, Massachusetts in 2016, who considered the drawing to be “a wonderfully rendered piece of old art”. It then came to the attention of Agnews Gallery, who are selling the drawing on behalf of the owner, who wishes to remain anonymous.
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Most Significant Roman mosaic in Britain found in farmer’s field
Whilst rambling across his family farm during last year’s lockdown, Jim Irvine noticed something unusual on the ground. It looked like pottery, but none like he had ever seen before. Irvine quickly grabbed a shovel after looking at the satellite imagery and, to his amazement, there was a spectacular Roman mosaic and villa complex concealed beneath their field in Rutland.
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Lost for 70 years, the famed Hamilton Aphrodite reappears at Sotheby’s
Unseen since it was last sold in 1949, the famous Hamilton Aphrodite is to be offered in a dedicated sale at Sotheby’s in London. The larger than life-size Roman statue is now estimated to fetch between £2 million and £3 million.
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Frida Kahlo self-portrait smashes auction record set by adulterous husband Diego Rivera
Frida Kahlo’s (1907-1954) intimate oil painting has sold for a staggering $34.9 million (£25.9 million) at Sotheby’s New York, setting a new auction record for the most expensive artwork by a Latin American artist. It is significant as one of her final self-portraits, which candidly reveals the artist’s distress over her husband Diego Rivera’s (1886-1957) public affair with friend and famed actress Maria Félix (1914-2002).
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Small Scottish museum receives major Museums Association award
Rising from the ashes of a devastating fire, The Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay has defiantly won a prestigious national museum award. “We’ve had brilliant support from partners to make this happen, so a big thank you to all and a big well done to everyone within the Crannog community,” reflected managing director Mike Benson.
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