Even if reports of the death of the blockbuster exhibition are somewhat exaggerated, it’s true that galleries are having to change the way they stage big shows, says Ivan Lindsay OVER THE SUMMER, the National Gallery and Royal Academy in London announced their autumn exhibitions, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan
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  When Spear’s hosted a debate on what makes a masterpiece, none of the participants could agree. Ivan Lindsay was there — but now he has the floor to himself AT THE MASTERPIECE Fair in London, Spear’s organised a breakfast panel to discuss ‘What is a Masterpiece?’ The discussion, at Le Caprice in the Masterpiece
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Trouble ahead in the Art market and general stock market   The Canary in the Mineshaft Where the art market leads, the stock market often follows. If what’s been going on at Sotheby’s lately is any kind of indicator, there are hard times to come, says Ivan Lindsay FOLLOWING THE RECENT two-week marathon of art
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  The recent round of London art auctions confirmed the strengthening art market and were notable for the reappearance of the Russians who have been absent for the last two years. Sotheby’s and Christie’s brought in a combined US$495m for their evening and day sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art with Sotheby’s adding an
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Picasso – Nude, Green leaves and Bust Although the world economy is stubbornly deflating, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics having just calculated September’s inflation figure at 1.14% and 2009’s average at -0.34%, many believe that the vast creation of dollars through quantitative easing has to bring inflation in the not-so-distant future. So investors
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82 • Autumn 2010 WHEN THE GOING GETS TOFF Ivan Lindsay on the current crop of aristocrats who are having to sell the family treasures in order to hang on to their stately piles A series of sales of artworks over the last twelve months has drawn attention to the dire straits in which many
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The art market has emerged from the recession faster than anyone expected with a dizzying series of record prices. The market barely had time to digest the US$104m paid for Giacometti’s L’homme qui marche in February before a buyer paid US$106.5m for Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust in early May. These prices have pulled
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The Getty’s beautiful garden vista overlooking the Pacific will have some competition, after the museum’s acquisition of this sweeping view of Rome by J.M.W Turner, for £29 million GBP The biggest news coming out of London earlier this month was, without a doubt, the new record at auction for J.M.W. Turner. His “Modern Rome–Campo Vaccino”
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The results of the recent June sales in London are showing that the Russian art market is making a tentative recovery after a dire 2008 and worse 2009. Average prices had increased from US$139,425 to $181,122 between 2006 and 2007 before falling back to $109,945 in 2009. The number of lots sold for more than
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Drawing Conclusions………By Ivan Lindsay The recent record price of £29.2m for a Raphael drawing confirms demand for important Old Master drawings. On Tuesday 8th December at Christie’s London a Raphael drawing entitled Head of a Muse was sold for £29.2m, doubling its estimate of £12m–16m and setting a world record price for a work on
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