Sotheby’s mid-season ‘Contemporary Curated’ live sale, which was held in New York on 26 February, yielded $19.88 million (including fees) – a considerable amount, although less than the equivalent sale last year which brought in $25.7 million.
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TEFAF Maastricht opened to VIP early viewers last Thursday and, despite concerns over the market, exhibitors have reported that sales are going well. The annual fair runs for ten days and traditionally has focused on Old Master paintings and antique works of art, although in recent years it has broadened its remit to include modern and contemporary art.
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A painting by Banksy previously owned by Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus has been sold at Sotheby’s for £4.3 million. The painting, titled Crude Oil (Vettriano), is a reimagining of Scottish artist Jack Vettriano’s most famous work, The Singing Butler (1992). The sale comes just days after Vettriano’s death at the age of 73.
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The British Museum has announced that architect Lina Ghotmeh will lead the renovation of the Western Range galleries, a huge area of 15,650 square metres that amounts to one third of the museum’s overall gallery space. Initial designs for the space will now be developed, with the aim of being ready by mid-2026.
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Archaeologists have unearthed the first royal burial chamber since King Tutankhamun’s (c. 1341- c.1323 BCE) was found over a century ago. The long-lost tomb, located near the Valley of the Kings in West Luxor, belonged to King Thutmose II who reigned from about 1493 to 1479 BCE.
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Over 3,000 artists have signed an open letter to Christie’s New York urging them to cancel an upcoming auction of art created using artificial intelligence. The sale, which is titled ‘Augmented Intelligence’ – a term used to describe the subset of AI machine learning which is used to enhance human intelligence rather than replace it – is due to open for bidding on 20th February. The sale features the work of “early AI pioneers of the 1960s”, including Harold Cohen, as well as contemporary artists like Refik Anadol. Works range in value from $10,000 to $250,000 and the auction house expects to bring in more than $600,000.
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Justin Sun, the crypto-tycoon who bought Maurizio Cattalan’s infamous banana artwork last year, is suing the billionaire film producer David Geffen over a $78 million (£62 million) Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) sculpture. Sun claims the piece was stolen from him by a rogue assistant and sold to Geffen without his knowledge.
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The British Council currently have a huge £197 million debt to the government and are considering selling off some of their art collection to deal with the serious financial crisis they are facing. The British Council own almost 9,000 works of art by 20th and 21st century British artists, including David Hockney, Lucian Freud, and Tracey Emin. They have no fixed gallery space, with around a fifth of their art collection on display in British and international museums and galleries.
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Experimental scientific analysis has potentially discovered a long-lost painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). It was bought for $50 (£40) at a Minnesota garage sale, but if officially reattributed to the popular post-Impressionist artist, it could be worth upwards of $15 million (£12 million).
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An oil on copper miniature newly attributed to one of the most significant women artists of the Renaissance, Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) will be going on display at its former home, Strawberry Hill House, where it is now on long-term loan. It will have its own exhibition, A Serendipitous Return: Lavinia Fontana’s Lost Miniature, which will be open until 23 April 2025.
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