A Connecticut superior court judge has ruled that newsprint magnate Peter Brant is the rightful owner of Andy Warhol’s Red Elvis, 1962, a nearly 6-foot-tall silkscreen on canvas depicting Elvis Presley’s face repeated 36 times. Kerstin Lindholm, a Greenwich, Conn., resident and art collector, filed the civil lawsuit three years ago, claiming that Brant had improperly acquired the painting in 2000. Lindholm is presently appealing the decision. Read More
In their competition for clients, the top auction houses resort to wining, dining, hand-holding, house calls, appraisals, loans, guarantees, single-work catalogues, and providing employment for consignors’ children. Read More
Although Christie’s and Sotheby’s dominate the international auction market, smaller auction houses around the world also vie aggressively to win property for their sales, going after primarily lower-end and middle-market material that sells for under $1 million, and often for considerably less. Read More
On July 6 Ely Sakhai, owner of the Exclusive Art gallery, New York, was sentenced by a Manhattan federal judge to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to restitute $12.5 million to unsuspecting buyers caught in his scheme. Sakhai and his office manager Houshi Sandjaby, who was sentenced to three years’ probation, pleaded guilty last December to mail and wire-fraud charges for their involvement in the far-reaching art forgery scheme that spanned nearly two decades (see ANL, 3/30/04). Sakhai also was ordered to forfeit 11 paintings believed to be authentic versions of works he had forged. Read More
Specialists on Jackson Pollock are divided over the authenticity of 32 newly discovered works said to be by the artist. Read More
The Pollock-Krasner Foun-dation, which disbanded its authentication board a decade ago, is looking into the authorship of 32 recently discovered artworks purported to be the creations of Jackson Pollock. Read More
Martin Summers, former managing director of London’s Lefevre Gallery, has opened a new gallery in London’s Chelsea, where he is currently showing works from the collection of Peter Cochrane, the London art dealer who died last year. Read More
He made banality blue chip, pornography avant-garde, and tchotchkes into trophy art. How Jeff Koons, with the support of a small circle of dealers and collectors, masterminded his fame and fortune. Read More
Creating a balance between modern art and contemporary art was just one of the challenges confronting MoMA’s staff, which used the museum’s latest expansion as the occasion for soul-searching about what the museum has been, what it is, and what it wants to be. Read More
Tracking the highest prices paid for contemporary artworks. Read More
Auctioneers at evening sales create a sense of drama in performances that can range from buoyant to burlesque. Read More
The most active, committed—and obsessed. Read More
