Auction houses

Can you teach an Old Master fair new tricks?

While auction houses are more aggressive and newer works dominate the global market, Tefaf’s exhibitors remain resolute

Leading French auctioneer François Tajan dies, aged 57

The deputy chairman of the Paris-based auction house Artcurial was suffering from food poisoning

Sotheby’s relocates April Hong Kong auctions to New York due to coronavirus

The firm is also rolling its London June sales into one week for the first time in more than a decade

Art marketanalysis

'You have the right to culture with a capital C': Africa's growing collecting class shifts focus to home

From Marrakech to Cape Town, the continent's growing fairs and auctions scene is catering to a burgeoning domestic buying base

Bonhams chief executive Matthew Girling to leave auction house

Former jewellery specialist, who joined the firm in 1988, will be replaced by Bruno Vinciguerra, who will also continue in his role as executive chairman

Sotheby's new owner Patrick Drahi comes to auction house's first sale in post-Brexit Britain

“No fireworks” at last night's Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art auction that featured three restituted works

Christie's cancels Dubai sale of Middle Eastern art

March auction will return to the Emirate in spring 2021, but is cancelled this year due to new strategy and constrained supply of works

2020 vision: the big year of change for auction houses?

Supported by transformational new technology, the sector is ditching its traditional business model in favour of the luxury goods market

Sotheby's wins case over 'modern forgery' Frans Hals

A London-based investment company must repay more than $5.3m to the auction house, which refunded an American client for work

Sotheby'sanalysis

Sotheby’s at the crossroads: new owner, new chief executive, new era

Will new management be able to grow the newly privatised auction house on a tight budget?

Marina Abramovic’s The Life to become first mixed reality work ever auctioned

Christie’s will sell the piece with a £600,000 price tag next October to coincide with artist’s Royal Academy retrospective

Sotheby's ceases publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange as its $3.7bn sale to Patrick Drahi closes

Chief financial officer Michael Goss is replaced by Jean-Luc Berrebi per the terms of the merger, which sees shareholders compensated $57 per share

Sotheby’s shareholders approve $3.7bn sale to telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi

With 91% of shareholders in favour, the publicly traded auction house will officially go private after three decades on the New York Stock Exchange

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