Auction houses

Two shareholders seek to block Sotheby’s purchase by BidFair

Lawsuits argue that information filed to the SEC is inadequate

Phillips names Olivia Thornton head of 20th-century and contemporary art in Europe

The appointment comes after a handful of new hires across the auction house’s offices

Our 17th-century female artists faced a double injustice

New exhibition on Joan Carlile, Mary Beale and Anne Killigrew opens in London this week

Mini Impressionist and Modern sale at Sotheby's makes £99m thanks to auction debutantes

Monet's waterlilies and Modigliani's portrait of an unknown boy lead the 25-lot sale, and new record made for Austrian artist Alfred Kubin's haunting drawing

Tough going for Christie's skinny £36.4m Impressionist and Modern art sale

Early Schiele drawing is the low-key star of an unremarkable sale, topped by a flashy Picasso

Sotheby's goes private as it is sold for $3.7bn

French-Israeli media billionaire Patrick Drahi's company BidFair USA buys firm from shareholders

Pridenews

Swann Auction Galleries joins in Stonewall celebrations with its first Pride sale

Salesroom hopes that capitalising on the trend for curated auctions will help to generate a renaissance in an underserved market

More grief for Aristophil investors as French government seizes hundreds of documents

Around 18,000 people invested in the now bankrupted company's manuscripts collection, but state says many items of historical importance should never have been sold

Sotheby’s to hold the first major Aboriginal art sale in the US in November

The auction house cites increasing interest in Aboriginal art among US collectors and institutions

Lost artfeature

Lost art: the great Caravaggio whodunnit

Ahead of the painting's sale, the art historian Noah Charney asks whether the pricey work is a true lost treasure or one of scores made by Caravaggisti

Sotheby’s reports loss of $7.1m in first quarter of 2019

Lack of supply dogs London and Hong Kong and guarantees are down over 50% as former chief operating officer Adam Chinn apparently joins the Mugrabi dealing family

VR market realities tested at Frieze New York

This edition of the fair has a special section of virtual reality and augmented reality works

Auctionsfeature

Going, going, gone online: Europe's auction houses go digital

Online-only auctions may focus on the lower end of the market, but they are key to expanding clientele. We survey ten auction houses to find out their strategy

Gerhard Richter’s jet fighter painting finally takes off at Phillips after bumpy legal battle

After previous buyer defaulted on paying for the work in 2016, painting sold in London for £15.5m in a significantly smaller auction compared with 2018

Sotheby's puts female artists first in contemporary sale, but men still end up on top

Jenny Saville's Juncture sells for £5.4m and records set for Rebecca Warren and Nigerian artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, but Jean-Michel Basquiat still leads prices

Sotheby's sales up 16% in 2018 thanks to $1bn private sales boost

Auction house reports $6.4bn in total sales last year, while chief executive Tad Smith says guarantees are not "at a particularly high level"

The good, the pricey and the Surreal: Monet flops while Signac glows at Christie's sale

Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art auction makes second highest total for Christie's London at £165.4m, but much of overpriced collection goes unsold

Faking Hitler: the story behind a sinister market

Despite the failure of five of the dictator-to-be’s watercolours to sell at auction last month, a market for his works—both real and forged—remains

'Lifers no more: can auction houses keep their talent up?'

A slew of recent high-profile departures begs the question—are top auction house executives burning out?

Shifts among the major auction houses could spell serious change

Loic Gouzer to leave Christie’s as the auction house restructures in the wake of Francis Outred's departure, while Phillips upgrades its New York headquarters

We must not let the art market hoodwink us in the AI debate

The AI work that was sold at Christie's is profound in its conservatism, but others reflect how the technology can impact on art in fascinating ways

Art marketgallery

Object Lessons: London Old Master week

Tis the season for Old Masters: here are three works to seek out, from a mythological marriage portrait to Annibale Carracci's sketch on an old account book

Art marketcomment

Why the Christie's and Sotheby's duopoly is impregnable

The auction houses sell more than 80% of works priced over $1m at auction—can an underdog ever wrestle market share away from them?

Sotheby’s Germany chief Philipp von Württemberg resigns

Heinrich von Spreti will serve as interim managing director until a replacement is found

Phillips and Bonhams see strong sales on smaller lots

The auction houses' bottom lines suffered from unsold lots, continuing a trend of top-lot discernment during New York’s fall sales

Hockney sets new auction record for a living artist, but were strings pulled behind the no-reserve sale?

The Yorkshireman's 1970s Californian scene, Portrait of an Artist, sold on the nose at $80m at Christie's in New York last night

Art marketcomment

Common mistakes of rookie auction guarantors

Guarantees can be lucrative, but in the face of savvy competition, novices can get burnt when backing works as a third-party

Holy grail of folk ceramics made by 19th-century snake handler breaks auction record

The “snake jug” shattered the previous record for Anna Pottery, a niche favourite of Americana collectors