Auction houses

Allan Schwartzman leaves Sotheby's following restructuring under new ownership

The co-founder of Art Agency, Partners will transition to a consultant role as Nina del Rio takes the helm of the auction house's advisory services

Art marketcomment

Auctions are like dating: you can do it online, but sparks only fly in the flesh

The coronavirus lockdown is boosting lower level virtual sales, but only a major live auction will kick-start the top end of the art market and revalidate prices

Christie's and China Guardian Auctions team up for sales and exhibitions series in Shanghai

Collaboration, dubbed 2020+, will take place in late September: Christie's says it is not a reaction to easing of coronavirus lockdown in Chinese city

Sotheby’s prepares to reopen galleries in New York and London

Chief executive Charles Stewart lays plans for the auction house’s flagship sales to be held in New York next month

Auctions: what will change, post-Covid-19?

In the era of social distancing, auctioneers may have to conduct sales to an empty room

Sotheby's launches Gallery Network online sales platform

Featuring galleries like Petzel, Lehmann Maupin and Jack Shainman, the buy-now marketplace transacts sales through the auction house at publicly listed prices

Christie's settles $16.7m in tax claims with New York District Attorney

Manhattan prosecutors say the auction house failed to collect sales tax on $189m in private sales over five years

Podcastspodcast

Can the art market weather the coronavirus storm?

Plus, Sean Scully talks about his favourite "lonely work", The Moroccans by Matisse in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Produced in association with Christie's

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speakers Anna Brady and Margaret Carrigan. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Sotheby's postpones New York May 'gigaweek' sales due to coronavirus

Move is in line with Christie's and Phillips which postponed their sales to late June, but Sotheby's is yet to announce when its auctions will actually happen

Christie's and Phillips move May 'giga-week' New York sales to end of June due to coronavirus

Expanded 20th-century art week in US will swallow up London auctions; Sotheby's has yet to make a decision about its New York spring sales

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