Jurassic Art

Artdaily.org reports that Christie's is to sell works from the collection of Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park. The collection includes a Flag from Jasper Johns and an impressive oil painting by Picasso.

Giacometti breaks record

One of Alberto Giacometti’s best-loved bronzes, "Walking Man I", broke the world record price for a work of art at auction, selling to an unidentified telephone bidder for $92.5 million, or $104.3 million with fees at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday night. The previous record was $104.1 million, paid for Picasso’s 1905 "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)" at Sotheby’s in New York in 2004.

Read more at nytimes.com and in your favorite newspaper.

Old Master steps out

The New York Times reports on a Rembrandt portrait coming up for sale in December. It has an interesting "provenance", including a couple of years at Columbia University.

Caveat venditor

The Economist reports on the Yves Saint Laurent sale.

Sneak preview

The New York Times has a nice preview of the upcoming fall auctions in New York.

ARTIST: Kasimir Malevich
TITLE: “Suprematist Composition” (1916)
AUCTION HOUSE: Sotheby’s
ESTIMATED PRICE: $60 million
Sotheby's officials predict that this painting will fetch $60 million. Determined to offset some of the risk, Sotheby's has lined up a buyer who has contractually agreed to purchase the painting for an undisclosed sum. If someone else is willing to pay more, the original bidder will get a share of what is called the upside: the difference between what he was willing to pay and the higher price.

I would rather buy the Philip Guston though.

Tintin in America

AFP reports: "Captain Haddock would have choked on his whisky: original artwork for a Tintin comic book fetched a record 764,200 euros (1.2 million dollars) at a Paris auction Saturday, organiser Artcurial said.

The 1932 oil painting, executed for the iconic cover of "Tintin in America" smashed the previous world record for an original comic book work. That was set in March 2007 when a drawing by artist Enki Bilal called Bleu Sang (Blue Blood) fetched 177,000 euros.

Judged a "museum piece" in Artcurial's auction catalogue, the painting by Tintin's Belgian creator Herge finally sold for 764,200 euros, including expenses. Total earnings for Saturday's one-off sale of 650 comic originals -- each of which had a starting price of 280,000 euros -- came to roughly 3.4 million euros, the gallery and auction house said."

Good logic

'Salathé & White' is an interesting project of the artists Marcel Salathé and Anthony White. Some information from their website:

- The project:
"To sum up the project in one sentence: we auction our collaborative paintings and guarantee to buy them back at a specific price, indicated on the painting, upon safe return during a specific month, also indicated on the painting. Put differently: each painting is a bond or more precisely a zero coupon bond."

- Why?
"Here is the reasoning behind the first Salathé & White painting:
1. Everything is valued by the price someone is willing to pay. Art is no exception.
2. The longevity of a piece of art depends on its value, not its beauty. That's because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, while money is not.
3. The price someone is willing to pay is generally influenced by the price paid before.
4. Hence, the first price paid is crucial.
5. Ergo: the longevity of an artwork is crucially depending on the first price paid.

If you agree with this logic, that's because it is good logic.

If you disagree with this logic, that's because it is art."

Their second painting (see picture) was just auctioned on eBay and sold for no more than 960 dollars. A bargain.

Weak dollar, record sales...

...at Sotheby's in London.

“The global hunger for great works of art is here to stay,” said auctioneer Tobias Meyer after the evening’s heady sale. “It’s become a 20th century masterpiece market.”

Art market watchers

Reports on last week's Impressionist and Modern Art sales:
- The International Herald Tribune
- The Economist
- Artnet.com

From the press

Artinfo - A Matisse goes for $33 million (click here).
The Economist - The modern art of finance (click here).
NY Times - Telltale art: fall auctions (click here).