Fourteen Christmas trees, up to 24ft in height, arrive at Chatsworth House, near Bakewell, Derbyshire, for setting up around the stately home ahead of the Christmas season opening to the public on Saturday. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)

Art Fairs

– Paris is getting a new art fair dedicated to Latin American art called Mira, which will bring around 20 galleries to the Maison de l’Amérique Latine next September, a month ahead of Paris+ by Art Basel. (The Art Newspaper) 

Auction Houses

– Sotheby’s has appointed Kristina O’Neill as its new head of Sotheby’s Media. (Press Release)

– Christie’s has seen a $2.2 billion drop in sales in 2023, though a significant factor in the discrepency year-on-year is down to the 2022 sale of the collection of Paul Allen, which helped the house to take in $1.5 billion in one evening alone. (Artnet News)

– Bonhams has reported a $1.14 billion turnover for 2023, the best-ever result in the company’s 230-year history. Including sales of fine art and collectibles as well as luxury and collectors’ cars, the figure is 14 percentincrease in growth on 2022’s $1 billion. (Press release)

Galleries

– Brigitte Mulholland, senior director at Anton Kern gallery in New York, will open a new venture under her own name in Paris next spring. (Wet Paint)

– John Utterson has moved from London’s Pilar Corrias to assume the role of director at CLEARING in New York. (Wet Paint)

– Soft Opening and Kristina Kite will co-represent Dean Sameshima. (Press release)

Institutions & Biennials

– The British Museum laid out its plans for how to safeguard its collection, which includes details of a $63.2 million deal with oil and gas company BP. (Artnet News)

– The Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to repatriate 14 artifacts to Cambodia and two to Thailand as part of the ongoing federal investigation into the late dealer Douglas Latchford. (Artnet News)

Tech & Legal News

– One of eight suspects in a major fraud involving indigenous art in Canada was sentenced to five years in jail by a Northern Ontario court. Gary Lamont was involved in producing and selling fake works purported to be by indigenous artist Norval Morriseau from 2002 to 2015. (Artnet News)

– The Austrian Supreme Court has settled an inheritance case over the estate of Franz West—which is worth more than $50 million—concluding that  all of his art should be donated to the Franz West Private Foundation. (The Art Newspaper)

 

Paint Drippings is excerpted from The Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access—subscribe now to receive this in your inbox every Friday.