Art Sale

Forging an Art Market in China

“Forging an Art Market in China”

by David Barboza, Graham Bowley and Amanda Cox via “The New York Times”

“When the hammer came down at an evening auction during China Guardian’s spring sale in May 2011, “Eagle Standing on a Pine Tree,” a 1946 ink painting by Qi Baishi, one of China’s 20th-century masters, had drawn a startling price: $65.4 million. No Chinese painting had ever fetched so much at auction, and, by the end of the year, the sale appeared to have global implications, helping China surpass the United States as the world’s biggest art and auction market.

But two years after the auction, . . . “

“Banksy Mural Fetches $209K at California Auction”

“Banksy Mural Fetches $209K at California Auction”

via “Associated Press“

” A mural stenciled on the side of a Hollywood gas station five years ago by the British street artist Banksy has fetched more than $200,000 at a Beverly Hills auction.

The 9-by-8 foot “Flower Girl” artwork sold for $209,000 on Thursday at an auction that featured nearly 100 works by more than 30 artists, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1aFPMXw). The winning bid came from . . . .”

Western Masterpieces Offered up to Chinese Buyers

“Western Masterpieces Offered up to Chinese Buyers”

By Sébastien Blanc via “SCMP”

“Beijing (AFP) – A $50 million Rembrandt portrait takes pride of place in a Beijing hotel room, with Picassos and Renoirs dotting the walls as major Western auction houses look to tempt China’s super-rich with Europe’s finest art.

The exhibition, running until Sunday, ranks among the more distinguished displays of Western art seen in the Chinese capital, but is actually a private sale . . . “

Christie’s Shanghai: The Making of an Auction

“Video: Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud”