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Friday, 17 June 2016 12:18

Turkish officials have recovered a $10 million ivory dagger that was stolen from Muammar Gaddafi's palace when the Libyan dictator was dethroned in 2011. Reports claim that the piece, which was found during a raid in Istanbul, was en route to be sold to a Saudi businessman. The dagger is decorated with sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, and is mounted on a base complete with two ivory lions. 

Friday, 17 June 2016 12:16

The Paris-based publishing house, Editions du Seuil, will release a recently discovered sketchbook of drawings by Vincent van Gogh. The tome, Vincent van Gogh, The Fog of Arles, will be available starting November 2016. The sketchbook, which was uncovered over a year ago, contains more than ten authenticated drawings. Seuil official, Bernard Comment, released a statement saying, “This sketchbook was known only to the owners, myself and the publisher.”

Thursday, 16 June 2016 12:10

Barbara Eberlein’s zeal for history, architecture, and the arts is boundless. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in Ancient History and Religion, Eberlein went on to study architecture and decorative arts at an array of distinguished institutions, including the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Winterthur Museum, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The National Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (to name a few).

Thursday, 16 June 2016 12:07

London’s National Portrait Gallery is exhibiting a selection of unseen works from Lucien Freud’s extensive archive, which was donated to the institution by the Arts Council on behalf of the British government. Lucien Freud Unseen features a newly discovered self-portrait of the late artist, sketchbooks, and childhood drawings and letters.

Thursday, 16 June 2016 12:06

The Art Loss Register, an international database aimed at deterring art theft and assisting in the recovery of stolen works, located a missing Patek Philippe watch worth $20,000 to $25,000. The white gold piece was  discovered at a sale in New York. The watch was stolen off of its owner, a Swiss art collector, in Naples in July 2014.

Thursday, 16 June 2016 12:01

Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent’s longtime life partner, is selling the remainder of his rare book collection. Bergé, who helped run Laurent’s fashion empire, sold the first part of his collection last year—the auction netted upward of $13 million. The second auction will take place November 8-9, 2016, at Sotheby’s in Paris and will includes the manuscripts of the Marquis de Sade’s last novel and Gustave Flaubert’s Over Strand and Field.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 11:21

The terms bold, playful, and exuberant don’t typically enter the mix when discussing funerary practices. But a series of urns created by Tony Moxham and Mauricio Paniagua challenges the notion that lively design is reserved solely for the living. According to Moxham, “With these objects we saw a way to create work that was both decorative and utilitarian, although the utilitarian aspect of the pieces also necessitates death having to occur.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 11:20

Economist Clare McAndrew, who, for the past eight years, has produced TEFAF’s highly anticipated annual art market report, has joined Art Basel’s team. The first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report will be published in March 2017, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong. TEFAF will continue to release an annual art market report of its own.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 11:19

Liza Minnelli is selling her sizeable Andy Warhol collection. The sale of the twenty-two paintings, which are estimated to be worth $40 million, will be conducted privately. Minnelli, who was a close friend of Warhol, recently sold her Upper East Side apartment and relocated to Los Angeles. The collection includes works depicting Minnelli and her mother, Judy Garland.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 11:18

Days before the newly expanded Tate Modern is slated to open to the public, protesters swarmed the commanding, Herzog & de Meuron-designed building. The activists are speaking out against the inclusion of works by the Minimalist artist Carl Andre in the new space, but not Ana Mendieta—a performance artist who was married to Andre in the 1980s. Mendieta died in in 1985 after falling out of the window of the couple’s thirty-fourth-floor apartment in New York. While Andre was not charged with murder, many suspect Mendieta was pushed by her husband.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 11:17

The prominent New York collector and philanthropist, Charlotte Feng Ford, has donated $2.5 million to her alma mater, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The funds will endow a curatorship for contemporary art. The position will helm acquisitions, conduct research, assist in the organization of exhibitions, and bring contemporary artists to the institution.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:56

1. Manhattan Residence by Juan Montoya Design

This magnificent Manhattan residence exemplifies Juan Montoya’s refined and utterly luxurious style. The home, which features high-gloss, wood-clad walls, marble flooring, and dramatic tray ceilings, is the perfect venue for a collection of Art Deco furniture. Elegant, modern lighting and Asian antiquities add to this handsome residence’s urbane allur

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:55

Confiscated artworks from the collection of mafioso Gioacchino Campolo are on permanent public display in Reggio Calabria, Italy. Campolo, who was accused of tampering with slot machines, is currently serving eighteen years in prison for extortion. The exhibition at the Palazzo della Cultura includes works by Salvador Dalí, Lucio Fontana, and Giorgio de Chirico.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:53

Back in February, TEFAF Maastricht announced that it would start hosting two fairs a year in New York. The inaugural iteration, which is co-organized by Artvest Partners, will take place October 21-26, 2016, at the Park Avenue Armory and will feature nine-three international dealers, including Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Lillian Nassau, Elle Shushan, Erik Thomsen Gallery, Peter Finer, and Primavera Gallery.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:51

The Smithsonian is teaming up with the Victoria & Albert Museum to open a joint exhibition space in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The building, which is being leased by the V&A, is next door to Zaha Hadid’s stunning London Aquatics Center. The London Legacy Development Corporation—the organization responsible for redeveloping the complex built for the 2012 Summer Olympics—approached the Smithsonian about opening a space in London back in 2015.

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:51

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has named Olivier Meslay as its new Director. Meslay, who is currently the Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of European and American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, will assume his new post in August. A respected scholar, Meslay has published books on such luminaries as Paul Cézanne and J.M.W. Turner.

Monday, 13 June 2016 12:15

1. The penthouse that Jimmy Choo built just dropped $7 million—Tamara Mellon, co-founder of the Jimmy Choo footwear empire, has relisted her opulent Upper East Side penthouse for a cool $27 million—$7 million less than when the residence first appeared on the market in July 2014. The five-bedroom duplex is one of four homes located in the Carhart Mansion—a magnificent Neoclassical building designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1916.

Monday, 13 June 2016 12:14

Back in April, Swiss prosecutors raided facilities at the Geneva Free Ports and seized Amedeo Modigliani’s Seated Man with a Cane. The painting, which once belonged to the Parisian art dealer Oscar Stettiner, has been at the center of a lengthy legal battle led by the original owner’s grandson, who claims that the work was stolen by Nazis. The painting’s current owner, David Nahmad, spoke out last week, stating that the $25-million work has not been proven to be Nazi loot.

Monday, 13 June 2016 12:13

The Menil Collection in Houston has received a gift of 110 drawings by such artists as Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Eva Hesse, and Robert Rauschenberg. The works will be exhibited in the forthcoming Drawing Institute—a free-standing building on the museum’s campus dedicated to modern and contemporary drawings. The sizeable donation was made by two of the Menil’s trustees—Janie C. Lee and Louisa Stude Sarofim.

Monday, 13 June 2016 12:11

Two respected antiques dealers are suspected of selling fake Louis XV chairs to the Palace of Versailles in France. Bill Pallot, a chair specialist, and Laurent Kraemer, owner of Paris’ esteemed Kraemer Gallery, were arrested and questioned by art fraud officers. Officials have been investigating the pair since 2012.

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