Law & Politics Saudi Arabia Has Joined a Lawsuit Against Disgraced Dealer Inigo Philbrick, Claiming He Sold Them a Kusama Installation He Didn’t Own Who really owns the multimillion-dollar Yayoi Kusama 'Mirror Room'? By Eileen Kinsella, May 21, 2020
Law & Politics The Founders of Hobby Lobby Are Suing Christie’s for Selling Them an Ancient Artifact That Pretty Much Everyone Now Agrees Was Stolen The dispute centers on the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, which was taken from Iraq sometime in the 2000s. By Eileen Kinsella, May 20, 2020
Galleries Just How Bad Has the Financial Fallout Been for US Galleries? A New Survey Crunches the Numbers—and They’re Bleak Full-time unemployment hasn't dipped too dramatically, but galleries are bracing for dramatic losses this quarter. By Eileen Kinsella, May 19, 2020
Art World The Art World Works From Home: Morgan Library Director Colin Bailey Is Watching ‘Frasier’ Reruns and Researching JP Morgan’s Collecting Habits Dinner and drinks in Manhattan is at the top of Bailey's post-lockdown list. By Eileen Kinsella, May 19, 2020
Art Fairs Untitled Is Bringing the First-Ever Art Fair to Take Place in Virtual Reality to Your Screen This Summer The fair sped up the development of the technology amid the current shutdown By Eileen Kinsella, May 18, 2020
Auctions Sotheby’s Online Contemporary Sale Fetches $13.7 Million—More Than Doubling the Previous Record for a Virtual Art Sale, Set Three Weeks Ago But the statistics don't account for the high number of withdrawn works. By Eileen Kinsella, May 15, 2020
Auctions Christie’s Will Replace Its Marquee June Sales in New York With a Streaming ‘Relay’ Auction to Unfold Across Four Cities Worldwide The sale kicks off at 8 p.m. local time in Hong Kong on July 10. By Eileen Kinsella, May 14, 2020
Law & Politics Creditors Are Chasing Bankrupt Auction House Paddle8’s Former CEO for Allegedly Mishandling Funds to the Tune of $1 Million Those who lost money say Valentine Uhovski is to blame. By Eileen Kinsella, May 12, 2020
Auctions Allan Schwartzman, a Respected Market Guru, Is Leaving the Sotheby’s Auction House Amid a Continuing Staff Shakeup He will continue to work with the house as a consultant. By Eileen Kinsella, May 12, 2020
Law & Politics It’s Not Just Businesses That Can Get Cash From the Government’s Coveted New ‘PPP’ Loans—It Turns Out Artists Can Too. Here’s How Artists who use payroll are eligible for the new emergency loans. By Eileen Kinsella, May 11, 2020
Art Fairs Taipei Dangdai’s New Online Platform Aims to Keep International Dealers Connected to the Asian Art Market as the Region Slowly Reopens Dozens of dealers who showed at the most recent Taipei Dangdai art fair in January are taking part in the initiative. By Eileen Kinsella, May 8, 2020
Galleries As Switzerland Slowly Reopens, Dealer Eva Presenhuber Is Forging Ahead With Plans to Open a New Zurich Gallery Next Month "There was no going back," Presenhuber says of the complicated timing. By Eileen Kinsella, May 7, 2020
Art Fairs Here Are the 6 Most Expensive Works at the Frieze Art Fair’s First Virtual Edition (and 5 Great Affordable Ones, Too) The online version of Frieze New York allows users to sort by price. So we did. By Eileen Kinsella, May 7, 2020
Art Fairs Frieze New York’s Online Edition Launches With Seven-Figure Sales to VIPs as Art Dealers Hustle to Get a Handle on Virtual Fairs Mega-dealers report robust sales at the first virtual edition of Frieze New York, while smaller galleries saw a slower pace. By Eileen Kinsella, May 6, 2020
Auctions Sotheby’s Is Reopening Salesrooms—and Aggressively Cutting Costs—in a Race to Repay Almost $120 Million in Debt This Year A newly released report set off alarm bells about the company's debt load. By Eileen Kinsella, May 5, 2020