Displaying items by tag: dealers

By the time Art Basel Hong Kong opened to VIPs on May 14, Edouard Malingue had already sold out his entire inventory of paintings. He spent the rest of the fair fending off disappointed would-be buyers.

“Some of my clients got really upset with my staff and I had to intervene,” said Hong-Kong-based Malingue, after all seven works by Chinese painter Yuan Yuan were sold in advance of the fair. “I explained that we’ve been selling to new collectors and the artist isn’t a factory.”

It's almost time for the May installment of the Brimfield Outdoor Antiques Shows, a thrice annual event that draws antique lovers from near and far to the tiny town of Brimfield for six days at a time.

The May show - known as the largest antique show of the three - opens Tuesday, May 13 and runs through Sunday, May 18.

What is usually farmland transforms into a giant outdoor antique sale, featuring thousands of dealers on 23 fields selling almost everything imaginable - giant Ronald McDonald heads, garden items, 1950s dishes, postcards from various eras, music equipment, furniture, vintage jewelry and clothing and more.

Major auction houses are voicing opposition to a new bill called the American Royalties Too Act, which would grant visual artists (or their estates) a portion of the profits when their work is resold at public auction. The bill was introduced last month in the House by Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, and in the Senate by Democrats Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

In December 2013, the United States Copyright Office re-examined its policy concerning visual artists and resale royalties. Last time the issue was explored, which was in 1992, the Office decided that artists should not receive a share of the profits when their works are resold. However, after more than a decade, the Copyright Office reversed its decision and stated that resale royalties should be awarded to visual artists, including painters, illustrators, sculptors, and photographers.

Lawyers for Sotheby’s visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill this month, asking Congress to shoot down the bill. They are joined in the fight by Christie’s, who have hired David Israelite, a royalty battle veteran and the CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association. The auction houses consider the bill an added cost that will increase the price of doing business, which could lead to more sellers making deals through private transactions rather than public auctions. They are also arguing that the royalties would solely benefit the most successful artists and estates as they are the ones whose work is most often sold in the secondary market. Galleries and dealers are not included in the proposed bill.

Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will decide whether to schedule hearings on the bill.

According to a report released on December 13 by the United States Copyright Office, in the past two decades, over 70 countries have changed their policies concerning resale royalties to better serve visual artists.  

Liz Lees and Meg Wendy, both well-known producers of art and antiques shows, have formed a partnership to co-produce the New York Ceramics Fair, which is in its 15^th year. Lees, who formed Caskey-Lees with her husband, Bill Caskey, in 1985, said, “I am very pleased that Meg and I have joined forces. Her depth of experience in the world of art fair production, particularly in New York, is unparalleled and will prove invaluable to insuring the growth of the New York Ceramics Fair.”

The New York Ceramics Fair will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Bohemian National Hall in New York from January 22 through January 26, 2014. The show will feature more than 25 leading ceramics dealers from the U.S., Europe and England including Leo Kaplan Ltd. (New York), Sylvia Powell Decorative Arts (Great Britain), Philip Suval Inc. (Virginia) and Lynda Willauer Antiques (Massachusetts).

The opening night preview on January 21, 2014 will mark the start of the highly anticipated event known as Americana Week in New York.

The online retailer Amazon launched “Amazon Art,” a website that will be used to market works from galleries across the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Canada. The site currently features over 40,000 works from more than 150 galleries and dealers. Offerings range from modest $44 canvases to Norman Rockwell’s Willie Gillis: Package from Home, which carries a price tag of $4.85 million.

Amazon Art’s slogan, “from gallery walls to your walls,” communicates the site’s mission – to make collecting easy and accessible to all. Consumers can search the site by medium, subject, style, size, frame and color. The majority of the galleries involved with Amazon Art are not high end and most of the artworks offered range in price from $100 to $5,000.

Peter Faricy, vice president for the Amazon Marketplace, which is overseeing the art site’s launch, said, “Amazon Art gives galleries a way to bring their passion and expertise about the artists they represent to our millions of customers.”

The Dallas-based auction company, Heritage, will host a number of sales featuring objects from Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s (1841-1919) personal archive starting on September 19, 2013 in New York. Items include the artist’s eyeglasses, funeral receipts, clothing, paperwork, photos, medals, statues and books signed by fellow artists. The sale will also include letters and writings by Renoir that detail his travels, inspirations for paintings and relationships with models and dealers.

During the 1970s, Renoir’s heirs moved from France to Canada and then to Texas, taking the artist’s belongings with them. The trove, which will be broken into 150 lots, has been stored in various spots across North America until now. Scholars are hoping that an institutional buyer will step up and make a bulk purchase as the collection holds significant historic value.

The collection was put up for auction once before in 2005 but it failed to sell. Following the sale, anonymous buyers from Arizona purchased the lot. They are now consigning the works to Heritage.

The Swiss government has launched a website that will help claimants, museums, and researchers track Nazi-looted artworks that have made their way to Switzerland. Switzerland became a hub for Nazi plundered artworks following World War II. The country was a popular place for Jewish art dealers who were fleeing the Nazis and many Swiss museums, collectors and dealers acquired works stolen from the Jews by the Nazis.

The new site will provide visitors with guidance on provenance research, links to relevant databases and archives, and details on Swiss museums’ own analyses of their collections. Switzerland is one of 44 countries that sanctioned the Washington Principles on returning Nazi-looted art in public collections in 1998. Under the policy, governments agreed to find “just and fair” solutions for the victims of Nazi plundering and their heirs as well as to allocate resources to identifying looted art. In spite of Switzerland’s cooperation, it is still believed that there is a fair amount of Nazi-looted artworks in Swiss collections. Provenance research has only been conducted among a select few of the government museums, private collections, and foundations that have artworks from this tragic period.

Switzerland’s newly launched website for tracking Nazi-looted artworks is www.bak.admin.ch/rk.

A group of leading artists, artist estates, collectors, and dealer has donated 25 works of art to benefit the Whitney Museum of American Art’s new Renzo Piano-designed building in downtown Manhattan. The works, which are said to be worth upward of $8 million, will be put up for auction at Sotheby’s New York from May 14-15, 2013.

All of the artists involved in the multifaceted gift have strong ties to the Whitney and are represented in the museum’s stellar permanent collection. The most valuable work that will be up for auction in May is Jasper Johns’ (b. 1930) oil on canvas painting Untitled (2012), which is estimated to sell for $1.5 million to $2 million. Johns has had five solo shows at the Whitney and has participated in over 37 group exhibitions; the donation came directly from the artist. Other highlights from the sale include a Jeff Koons (b. 1955) silkscreen on stainless steel, a Cy Twombly (1928-2011) work on paper, a recent nude by John Currin (b. 1962), and other works by John Baldessari (b. 1931), Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and Ed Ruscha (b. 1937).    

All of the profits from the sale will directly benefit the Whitney’s new building, which is expected to open in the High Line District in 2015.

U.S. Antique Shows announced that they will be adding another event to their roster this spring. The L.A. Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, which will take place March 22-24, 2013, will bring together over 100 preeminent antique jewelry dealers from across the country.

The show, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Century City, will offer patrons a variety of rare and unique jewelry and watches by notable brands such as Cartier, Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Van Cleef & Arpels. Cameos, rings, decorative necklaces, brooches, gemstones, and pendants spanning from the Renaissance to the Art Deco era will also be featured. Highlights from the upcoming show include a 12-carat internally flawless fancy yellow ring from Raymond Lee Jewelers, rare Art Deco diamond bracelets and jewelry from Jerome Heidenreich Inc., and an Art Deco platinum and diamond Tiffany & Co. pendant from J.S. Fearnley.

Dan Darby, group fair director, said, “We are thrilled to be able to bring together dealers and antique jewelry enthusiasts in the market that boasts the largest jewelry district in the country…We look forward to introducing local antique collectors to some of the most unique pieces ever offered on the West Coast.”

2nd Annual Naples Art, Antique & Fine Jewelry Show
February 8–11, 2013; Preview: February 7, 2013
Naples Exhibition Center, 100 Goodlette Road
South Naples, Florida 34102

10th Anniversary Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show
February 16–19, 2013; Preview: February 15, 2013
Palm Beach Country Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

After its successful debut in 2012, The Palm Beach Show Group (PBSG) is proud to announce that the Naples Art, Antique & Jewelry Show will be held this year from February 8th to the 11th. More than 75 high-caliber dealers will be exhibiting. As an indicator of how strong the inaugural show was, the majority of the 2012 participating dealers signed up again for 2013.

Scott Diament, President and CEO of the PBSG remarked, “The second annual Naples Show will again provide exhibitors with the unique opportunity to not only meet sophisticated and educated clientele from Florida’s Paradise Coast, but also from the Midwest region, an area from which many attendees travel during this peak season.” Show visitors will gain access to major works of art, antique and estate jewelry, furniture, porcelain, Asian antiquities, American and European silver, glass, textiles, sculpture, contemporary art and many more of the world’s most beautiful collections.

The show's location is ideal for collectors and decorators alike, located just steps from Fifth Avenue, Naples’ world-renowned shopping, dining and entertainment district, and its cultural attractions including museums, theaters, and art galleries.

On President’s Day Weekend, following just four days after the Naples Show, the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show is celebrating its 10th anniversary. With the addition of so many top painting dealers this year, it has become the preeminent show for American and European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the art and antiques industry, this is an annual must-attend event and a hallmark in Palm Beach. Many exhibitors, including Peter Finer (the world’s leading specialist in antique arms and armour and new to the show this year) also exhibit at other top-notch shows such as TEFAF Maastricht, The Winter Antiques Show, Masterpiece London and The American Art Fair.

The Palm Beach Show was so successful last year that over 50 dealers were waitlisted for this year's show since the demand to exhibit exceeded capacity, an exceedingly rare situation in this volatile economic climate.

“Our Naples Show is the perfect complement to our Palm Beach Show,” adds Diament. “We are now providing our exhibitors with tremendous back-to-back exposure to the most affluent collectors from the Northeast, who choose to winter in Southeast Florida, and the most affluent collectors from the Midwest, who choose to spend their winters on the West Coast of Florida. Thousands of patrons—from private collectors to museums curators to investors—are anticipated to attend.