New York Times: "Erdogan Signs Decree Allowing Hagia Sophia to Be Used as a Mosque Again" - Jul 10, 2020
The presidential decree came minutes after a Turkish court announced that it had revoked Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, which for the last 80 years made it a monument of relative harmony and a symbol of the secularism that was part of the foundation of the modern Turkish state.
Art Newspaper: "Sotheby's to auction £4m restituted Bellotto painting that Jewish retail magnate was forced to sell to Hitler" - Jul 8, 2020
A painting considered one of Bernado Bellotto’s major masterpieces is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s after it was restituted to the heirs of Max Emden, a Jewish retail magnate who lost much of his wealth as a result of Nazi persecution and sold the work under duress to Adolf Hitler.
Artnet: "Phillips scored $41 million in a white-glove contemporary evening sale as the auction house got hip to new online landscape" - Jul 2, 2020
Days after the surprisingly lucrative Sotheby’s auction Monday, Phillips held a hybrid online and in-person affair in which each of the lots found a buyer—known as a “white glove” sale—en route to a haul of $34.7 million at the hammer, or $41.1 million with premium.
Art Market Monitor: "Sotheby’s contemporary day sale nets $51.5 m., lead by Ryman and Asawa, young names see high results" - Jul 1, 2020
Following Sotheby’s staggering $362.3 million evening sale, the market test continued into Tuesday's contemporary day sale. 212 lots by postwar and contemporary brand names like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Ryman and Ruth Asawa came to auction, realising a total sale price of $51.5 million and seeing an 83% sell-through rate overall.
Art Newspaper: "Undeterred by looming National Security Law, Hong Kong's newest art fair draws nearly 3,000 visitors" - Jul 1, 2020
Undeterred by the looming National Security Law, which as of last Monday installed mainland-type prohibitions on political dissent, 12 galleries with spaces in Hong Kong organised solo booths in the Duplex Studio in the Police Headquarters Block at Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts.
Art Newspaper: "German government seeks to buy Hamburger Bahnhof museum from investor" - Jul 1, 2020
The German government is in negotiations to buy the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin after the museum’s owner, an Austrian property investor, said it will end the lease on the extension to the museum and demolish it to make way for new office buildings.
New York Times "Art Auction or Game Show? Sotheby’s Tries Something New" - Jun 30, 2020
With a “multicamera global livestream” in place of its usual New York sale, the auction house tried breathing life back into a pandemic-numbed market.
New York Times: "Francis Bacon triptych sells for $84.6 million" - Jun 29, 2020
Sotheby’s tests a new hybrid auction market with a work by the British painter — and socially-distanced bid-takers in three cities.
Bloomberg: "Murdochs May Be Potential Investors in Art Basel Owner" - Jun 27, 2020
Rupert Murdoch, the entertainment and media mogul, is interested in providing capital to MCH Group AG, the company that organizes Switzerland’s Art Basel shows, Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft reported on Saturday.
Art Newspaper: "Christie's merges Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art departments into one as it restructures and cuts costs" - Jun 26, 2020
Christie’s is restructuring its operations, combining its Impressionist and Modern and Post-war and contemporary art departments into one 20th and 21st Centuries department. The new team will be led by Alex Rotter, as chairman based in the US, and Giovanna Bertazzoni, as vice-chairman in Europe.
Art News: "David Zwirner, Marilyn Minter, and More Art World Heavyweights Commit to Sustainable Future for New York Galleries" - Jun 26, 2020
A letter advocating for a climate-conscious future in the arts is gaining traction among some of the biggest names in the art world. Conceived for Earth Day on April 22 and updated in June, the missive was penned by a collective of anonymous gallery workers urging New York City’s galleries to take a stand on the climate emergency.