Antiques Trade Gazette: "Overall total at Christie’s Classic Week falls as sales pushed back until the autumn" - Jun 25, 2020
The postponement of three top-end paintings and objects sales meant that the overall total generated by Christie’s latest ‘Classic Week’ in New York was well down on previous years.
Financial Times: "Auction houses tear up the rule book" - Jun 23, 2020
Stewart says the crisis has swept away the last redoubts of online scepticism among in-house specialists who feared resistance from longstanding clients. Since the beginning of the year, Sotheby’s has conducted more than 80 internet sales, twice as many as in the same period in 2019 and with three times as many lots. These sales raised $139m in the year to June 2, versus around $23m over the same period in 2019. Christie’s has 83 scheduled for the year and more in the pipeline.
Art Newspaper: "October Frieze fairs in London will be smaller, reconfigured and may be combined—if they can go ahead, organisers say" - Jun 19, 2020
Grappling with ongoing uncertainty surrounding large-scale events in the UK, Frieze has sent a letter to its exhibitors saying that, if it can go ahead with its Frieze London and Frieze Masters fairs in early October, they will have to be smaller, with fewer visitors and may be combined into one tent for the first time. The organisers have asked galleries to confirm whether they would like to exhibit at the two fairs by next Friday 26 June, but stresses that it will refund 100% of stand rental fees to every gallery that commits, if it is forced to cancel.
Tehran Times: "Gold-illuminated Divan of Hafez sells for 375,000 GBP at Sotheby’s" - Jun 19, 2020
Hafez’s seminal work went under the hammer at Sotheby’s, bringing an end to the dramatic story of the text’s theft and rediscovery. The stolen manuscript was dramatically discovered earlier this year by a Dutch art sleuth.
Artnet: "A bricks-and-clicks approach is the way forward’: Berlin dealers report lively in-person sales at the Art Basel booths they built in their galleries" - Jun 18, 2020
While dealers around the world were wringing their hands last Wednesday, wondering if Art Basel’s Online Viewing Room would deliver with all its tweaks and toggles since its first tech-addled edition for Hong Kong in March, art dealers in Berlin were hosting analogue versions of their Basel booths at their physical galleries. The event, Basel by Berlin, was planned in less than two weeks after a few dealers test-ran the idea this past spring in Berlin, where many lockdown restrictions have been lifted. “It brings back a little of the Eros we are missing,” says Daniel Wichelshaus from Société. The 32 participants even hosted an “exhibitor dinner” last Thursday as an homage to the festivities they’d normally be enjoying any other year.
Art News: "Christie’s unveils $30 M. Barnett Newman to lead global ‘ONE’ Auction in New York" - Jun 18, 2020
Phillips announced today that a prized Jean-Michel Basquiat work estimated at $10 million will highlight its upcoming 20th century and contemporary art evening sale in New York. Meanwhile, Onement V, a Barnett Newman zip painting from 1948 (estimated at $30 million to $40 million) will lead Christie’s ONE: A Global Sale of the 20th Century, a virtual “relay-style” auction that will take place across four cities and three time zones on July 10.
New York Times: "This year, a London art fair will happen everywhere" - Jun 18, 2020
Accustomed as we have become to receiving news of events cancelled or pushed back, many will be relieved to see a familiar fixture remain on the calendar with the launch of Masterpiece Online (22–28 June). Taking in its stride an unexpected start to its second decade, the fair – now in its 11th edition – sees 138 exhibitors adapt to exhibiting online, each offering a digital presentation of works featured both on the fair’s newly redesigned website and an online viewing room hosted by Artsy.
Art News: "Dealers report robust sales for top-dollar works at virtual Art Basel fair as art world migrates online" - Jun 17, 2020
Following the virtual iterations staged with Art Basel Hong Kong and Frieze New York, the art market has largely acclimated to the swift move online, especially when it comes to offering high-value works to remote buyers. During the first day, dealers reported numerous big sales at the virtual Art Basel fair, which runs through June 26, indicating that galleries’ investments in building out their online offerings have paid off.
Artforum: "UK’s Art Fund to award $2.5 million in Coronavirus relief for cultural institutions" - Jun 16, 2020
The Art Fund is unlocking more than £2m in rapid-response funding to support UK museums and galleries preparing to reopen amid the Covid-19 pandemic, after months of lost visitor income.