Auction houses

Sotheby’s UK profits dropped by almost a quarter last year amid 'Brexit red tape'

An auction house spokesperson says Companies House figures do not represent full scope of business

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'Exploring Art: From the Renaissance to Contemporary' launches this autumn at Christie’s

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Lempertz to sell Max Pechstein self-portrait following settlement with Jewish doctor's heirs

The painting was pulled from a sale in June following reports it was sold under duress in 1936 by Walter Blank, who died in Spain while fleeing Nazi Germany

Ancient Mesoamerican artefact with ties to ritual ball game returned to Mexico

An auction house in Austria intended to sell the artefact before officials stepped in, according to the Mexican government

Auctionsanalysis

Christie's Modern and contemporary evening sale in London plummets 66% from last year's equivalent auction

Few big-ticket consignments and New York's turbo-charged May sales marred tonight's performance

Major Robert Colescott painting coming to auction during Armory Week in New York

"1919" is among Colescott’s most important works, according to Bonhams, and figured prominently in a recent touring retrospective

Louvre interrupts sale of €2.6m record-breaking terracotta sculpture

Under patrimony laws the museum cannot intervene during the auction but can buy up works at the final price

Alexandre Crochet. With additional reporting by Gareth Harris

Wool you look at that: rare set of François-Xavier Lalanne sheep net $1.3m at Bonhams New York

Buyers flocked to Lalanne’s famous sheep and helped ramp prices up past the auction house's estimates

Basel auction house prepares for first sale after being acquired by Artcurial

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer will offer a selection of works from the estate of Florence and Antoine Poncet

Resale rules have become the art world norm: what are they and are they enforceable?

Art sales contracts now often include terms stating when and how you can—or rather, how you cannot—sell a work on

'The prestigious places are the worst': low pay still dogs the art industry, despite optimistic salary survey

The art market salary report offers insights into salaried employment but the impact of low wages—and having children—in a time of rapid inflation are missing

French actor Alain Delon’s art collection heads to auction

"The Leopard" star’s collection could bring in as much as €5m at Bonhams in Paris

Art marketanalysis

Wealthy American art collectors capitalise on tax-efficient gift scheme

Donor Advised Funds allow individuals to claim tax relief while they are still alive through making gifts of art and other assets—without obligation to pay out money to charity straight away

Sotheby's veteran Kevin Ching joins Christie's as chairman of Asia

Ching will be based in Hong Kong and starts the new role on Wednesday

Louise Bourgeois's record-breaking $32.8m Spider crawls to top of Sotheby's contemporary art sale

A double-header night of The Now and contemporary art auctions set ten new artist records, boosting confidence after a lacklustre Christie's sale of the Gerald Fineberg collection

Phillips scores $69.5m in New York evening sale, led by Banksy’s take on Basquiat

A painting by Noah Davis reached more than nine times its low estimate after a 12-minute bidding war

Art marketanalysis

Christie’s pulls off a safe 21st-century evening sale in New York, powered largely by a $58m Basquiat

While a handful of lots—including new records for Diane Arbus and Simone Leigh—created a buzz in saleroom, bids felt reined in amid economic uncertainty

Battle of the Basquiats: Christie’s and Sotheby’s both have big, eight-figure paintings lined up for marquee spring sales

'El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)' and 'Now’s the Time' are estimated to sell for $45m at Christie’s and $30m at Sotheby’s, respectively

Artcurial expands into Switzerland with a stake in auction house Beurret Bailly Widmer

The Swiss company will now be called Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer, with the three Swiss founders remaining as partners

Art marketcomment

'Don't fear recession—it could create the art market’s next revolution'

While auction houses and dealers are increasingly worried of a downturn, a look back to the 1970s and 1980s suggests that their anxieties might be unfounded

Art marketcomment

Backroom deals for wet paintings: why contemporary art is driving private sales for auction houses

Shortening art market cycles and the politics around "flipping" artworks are leading collectors to conduct business away from public scrutiny

Bonhams closes gender pay gap by 39%, but Sotheby’s and Christie’s lag behind

UK’s public institutions continue to provide a greater degree of equity—though this is not even across all pay brackets

Art marketanalysis

Global art market 'beginning to cool’, according to latest Art Basel/UBS report

Total sales grew just 3% in 2022, while China's zero-Covid policies saw UK overtake it as second-biggest market

After fallout, Sotheby’s seeks to fix ‘glitch’ in its NFT sale by including more women

Auction house faced online backlash over male-dominated digital art sale

Renoir portrait once owned by art dealer Ambroise Vollard could fetch €650,000 at Paris auction

Painting was sold by Vollard in 1930 and has never been publicly exhibited before

Phillips unveils new Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, promising investment in local scene after 'difficult' few years

The opening of the 52,000 sq ft Kowloon space kicked off the city's first international art week since Covid restrictions lifted

Works worth more than $20m accounted for nearly half of auction sales in 2022, according to new Sotheby's report

Report also highlights how Asian, Millennial and Gen X buyers are changing the demographic of the market