Russian War Prisoner by Egon Schiele The Art Institute of Chicago is putting up a fight regarding an Egon Schiele drawing that the Nazis possibly looted. The museum has been one of the targets of the Manhattan DA’s office for some time now. The Art Institute, along with several other museums, has a drawing by the Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele, which the Manhattan DA’s office says was illegally taken by the Nazis from the collection of Austrian Jewish actor Fritz Grünbaum. The other museums have complied with the requests, while the Art Institute remains steadfast. When the DA’s ..read more

Portrait of Fräulein Lieser by Gustav Klimt On Wednesday, there was some auction news out of Austria. The country’s second-largest auction house, im Kinsky, had the art world’s eyes fixed upon it as it hosted a small sale that included several works by the Viennese fin de siècle painter Gustav Klimt. Of the nineteen works in the sale, everyone was mainly focused on the very last one: Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, one of the last great Klimt portraits left in private hands. As I wrote back in January, Portrait of Fräulein Lieser was considered lost for over a century b ..read more

Peter Max (photo courtesy of John Mathew Smith) Last week, a Connecticut court sentenced a man to prison for selling fake paintings being passed off as originals by the American pop artist Peter Max. 29-year-old Nicholas Hatch of Wilton, Connecticut, was arrested in May 2023 for selling one hundred forty-five fake Peter Max paintings. He pled guilty to mail fraud charges and was sentenced to repay the $248,600 to forty-three of his buyers. Hatch created a company in Norwalk called Hatch Estate Services, which would provide fake paintings to buyers through sites like estatesales.org. In Decem ..read more

White Horse by Thomas Hart Benton On Thursday, April 18, Christie’s New York hosted its modern American art sale, the first major auction dedicated to American art since January. The sale primarily featured paintings and sculptures by twentieth-century American artists like Milton Avery and Andrew Wyeth. Thomas Hart Benton, the most-represented artist at the sale, claimed the top spot with his 1955 oil painting White Horse. Originally from Missouri, Benton was captivated by the American West and made many Western landscapes in the 1940s. White Horse, a scene from rural Utah, is par ..read more

The Roaring Lion (detail) by Yousuf Karsh A preliminary study of Winston Churchill’s least favorite painting will go to auction at Sotheby’s later this year. When we think of famous portraits of Winston Churchill, the first one that comes to mind is the 1941 photograph by Yousuf Karsh, often called The Roaring Lion. It shows the prime minister as both dignified but also hardened, which is very appropriate for a world leader in the midst of a world war. The story goes that Churchill’s expression is because Karsh snatched the cigar out of his mouth after refusing to put it down. Modern au ..read more

The recent auction hosted by Boston-based RR Auction, titled Steve Jobs and the Apple Computer Revolution, showcased the enduring allure and value associated with items linked to Apple’s iconic co-founder, Steve Jobs, and the groundbreaking company he helped build. Despite recent antitrust scrutiny, Apple’s reputation remains intact among its dedicated followers. Steve Jobs 1983 business card Courtesy: RR Auction Some of the auction’s standout offerings were six lots featuring Jobs’s signature, with two commanding six-figure sums. Notably, a 1983 business card soared past its estimated value ..read more

Impression, soleil levant by Claude Monet When the painter Gustave Caillebotte died in 1894, he bequeathed his entire art collection to the French state. In his will, Caillebotte expressed his wish that the seventy-three paintings be displayed at the Musée du Luxembourg before being transferred across the Seine to the Louvre. This provoked a furious outburst from the Académie des Beaux-Arts, with the academic master painter Jean-Léon Gérôme leading the charge against this collection of Impressionist works from being accepted by the state. When he heard that Monet and Pissarro paintings could ..read more

Action Comic #1 Courtesy: Heritage Auctions In the realm of comic book collecting, the rivalry among superheroes extends beyond the pages of their adventures to the auction houses where their iconic issues command staggering prices. The dynamic between Superman and Spider-Man, two titans of the genre, has witnessed shifts in the hierarchy of comic book values over the years. Action Comics #1, a monumental milestone marking Superman’s historic debut, has long held a position of unparalleled significance in the world of comic book collecting. Its role as the cornerstone of the superhero genre ..read more

Matisse et Terrus by André Derain On Tuesday, April 9th, Christie’s Paris hosted the first Impressionist sale that will be all the buzz the rest of the week. They started with their “oeuvres choisies,” or select works, a collection of twenty-three paintings and sculptures from prominent nineteenth and twentieth-century European modernists like Sisley, Matisse, and Chagall. Unfortunately, no one could watch the sale online thanks to a technical malfunction with Christie’s Live, which the support staff seemed unable to fix for the entire forty-five-minute duration of the auction. I could recor ..read more

The Brooklyn Museum recently succeeded in deaccessioning several rooms of antique furniture and decorative art, a process often regarded with skepticism within the museum community. Typically, there are strict guidelines governing deaccessioning, including the requirement that any funds generated must be earmarked to acquire new works. Moreover, curators must provide: A comprehensive list of reasons justifying the removal of the items. Citing factors such as poor condition. Inability to adequately care for the pieces. Misalignment with the museum’s mission or goals. Even when executed accord ..read more