Word: auctioner
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Germany and Austria, mindful of their post-war obligations to Jewish families, have traditionally supported efforts to restore paintings allegedly looted by the Nazis to their original and rightful owners. But the stratospheric prices fetched by some of those paintings in recent weeks - and the resultant fees collected by auction houses and the lawyers representing the owners - have given both countries second thoughts...
...which point it fetched the highest price ever for a Kirchner. The family did not sell because of pressure from the Nazis, he said. The new round of restitution claims, he argues, is being driven not by the heirs of Jewish victims but by lawyers and auction houses in search of the fees generated by such sales...
...Contemporary Chinese art is currently one of the hottest genres anywhere. In the past 18 months Sotheby's has created a stand-alone modern-Chinese-art division, and Christie's showcases the art alongside such modern masters as Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning. And at a Christie's auction last week in New York City, pieces by Chinese painters Li Songsong and Yan Lei set record prices, while Zhang Xiaogang's A Big Family Series No. 16 went for $1.36 million, surpassing its highest estimate. The Warhol Mao, of course, dwarfed all those sales, going for $17.4 million, suggesting...
...purchase of a large painting by Zhang Xiaogang at an Oct. 15 London auction by British collector Charles Saatchi suggests there's every reason to believe that the tide of interest from overseas will continue to rise. Saatchi paid about $1.5 million for one of the artist's Bloodline series. Still, New York City--based collector Larry Warsh believes he got a good deal. "Saatchi is coming in late, but he's important because people follow him," says Warsh, publisher of the magazine Museums and an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary Chinese art. "It will soon prove to be a bargain...
Remember in the early '80s when BONO suffered from a severe mullet? A stylist improved his look for the Joshua Tree tour in 1987 but made off with his Stetson. U2 learned the ex-staffer had his hat and other garb when she tried to auction them at Christie's in 2002. The band won a protracted lawsuit last week after Bono testified that the stylist's apartment might be an "Aladdin's cave" of stolen U2 memorabilia. Guess that means the band still hasn't found what it's looking...