auction news | The New York Independent, New York City, NY

John Lennon’s Doodles, Cartoons, Poems Heading for Auction in NYC

Keith GirardMay 11, 2014

John Lennon best known as a world-class musician with The Beatles. was also a world-class doodler and writer. Now some of his non-musical works, including nonsense poems, doodles and comic drawings, are heading for auction in New York City. Lennon produced the material during the 1960s at the height of the band’s fame, when “Beatlemania” was sweeping the world. Publisher Tom Maschler saw Lennon’s drawings and writings in 1962 and convinced him to write and illustrate a book....

ArtAUCTIONS

Picasso Painting of Mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter Sells for $45M

Keith GirardFebruary 6, 2013

Pablo Picasso rivaled other modern-era painters with the sale of a 1932 painting of his “golden muse” for a stunning $45 million at Sotheby’s in London. The buyer was anonymous. The impressionist and modern art sale also included Monet, Edgar Degas and others. ...

ArtAUCTIONS

Buyer of $120M Edvard Munch Scream Pastel Revealed

Keith GirardJuly 12, 2012

New York billionaire Leon Black spent $120 million in 12 minutes of furious bidding to become the proud owner of one of four copies of Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream.” TheImproper reported in February that Sotheby’s auction house in New York would sell the painting to the highest bidder in May. It was considered the ultimate prize for collectors of pre-expressionist 19th Century art, or any art for that matter....

ArtAUCTIONS

Rothko, Munch Sales Records Suggest Red Hot Art Market

Keith GirardMay 10, 2012

The art market shows no signs of cooling off after record sale prices in the past week for works like Andy Warhol’s “Double Elvis,” Roy Lichtenstein’s “Sleeping Girl,” and Mark Rothko’s “Orange, Red, Yellow.”...

ArtAUCTIONS

Fine Wines, 1820 Cognac, Up for Auction at Skinner in Boston

Keith GirardApril 19, 2012

A bottle of 1820 A. De Luze et Fils grand fine champagne cognac is one of the highlights of a fine wine auction in Boston next month. Also featured will be wines from Bordeaux, Napa, Burgundy and the Champagne region of France. The two-part live and online auction, May 4 through May 13, will feature more than 950 lots....

ArtAUCTIONS

Warhol’s Double Elvis (1963) Expected to Fetch $50 Million

Keith GirardMarch 18, 2012

Elvis Presley has been worth more dead than he ever was in his lifetime, but the late pop artist Andy Warhol could send the King of Rock through the stratosphere. A Warhol painting of Elvis is expected to fetch an astronomical sum at auction. Presley is garbed in cowboy duds, with a six-gun drawn. Sotheby's described him as "a Hollywood icon of the '60s rather than the rebellious singer who shook the world of music."...

ArtAUCTIONS

Bronte Booklet Falls to French Museum in ‘Heated’ Bidding

Keith GirardDecember 15, 2011

Charlotte Bronte, a 19th century English novelist and poet, apparently means more to France than Great Britain. A French museum aced out the Bronte museum in England for a rare manuscript written by the author....

ArtBOOKS

Contemporary Art Market Soars as Rich Seek Hard Assets

Keith GirardDecember 3, 2011

Are the art markets telling us something about the global economy we don't know? Like the old Watergate adage, if your really want to find out what's going on, follow the money. In this case, it's pouring into contemporary art....

ArtAUCTIONS