September 2010

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British artists lobby government to help save Titian paintings
Tracey Emin delivered a petition to No. 10 Dowing Street this week as part of the campaign to save Titian's Diana and Actaeon for the nation. Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst and David Hockney were among the artists who signed the petition. The deadline for the fundraising campaign is 31 December by which time the National Galleries in London and Edinburgh need confirm their ability to raise £50 million in order to secure the painting from the Duke of Sutherland who has offered the work to the nation, and its pendant Diana and Callisto, for significantly less than their market value and is payable in instalments.

Gloomy results at de Pury
The Phillips de Pury & Company sale on 13 November raised $9.6 million, less than half of its low estimate of $23 million. Five works were withdrawn from the 51-lot sale, including works by John Currin, Richard Prince and Anselm Kiefer, and 40% of the works failed to sell. Michael McGinnis, director of contemporary art worldwide for Phillips is reported as saying, ‘It has been a phenomenally tough season. Obviously we’ve seen a modification in the art market.’

V&A announces opening
The director of the V&A museum, Mark Jones, has announced the opening of the museum’s £30 million Medieval and Renaissance galleries in November 2009. The 10 galleries of the new wing will display treasures of the V&A’s collection, including galleries devoted to the 15th-century sculptor Donatello and the Renaissance master Giambologna. The opening forms part of a nine-year programme of redevelopment, costing £120 million.

New York contemporary art sales
Sotheby’s New York evening sale of contemporary art saw 43 of the 63 lots sold. The sale fetched just $125 million against the presale low-end estimate of just over £200 million. Elsewhere in New York at Christie’s evening sale of contemporary art (which totalled $113.6 million) a 1964 self-portrait of Francis Bacon estimated at $40 million failed to attract a single bid.

Lehman brothers to sell art collection
Bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is planning to sell at least $8 million worth of its art collection. The company filed court papers this week seeking authority to pay fees to art handlers who provided warehousing and framing services prior to the bankruptcy. Lehman said it needed to pay the fees so it could access the artwork and show it to potential buyers. Some of the collection is located in the company's offices, the court documents showed. Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15 in the largest US bankruptcy filing in history.

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