Artelligence for November 8, 2017

Phillips announces some of the lots in its upcoming Hong Kong Evening Sale which will be held on November 26th with estimates in the range of HKD120 million (USD15.4m). The lead lot is a Richard Prince nurse painting following the sale of another in New York with a similar estimate range. The sale also continues Phillips’s strategy of combining design lots with Contemporary art. The lead design item is a Hans Wegner Dolphin chair.

Other sale highlights include works by Cecily Brown, Adrian Ghenie, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Yayoi Kusama and Yoshitomo Nara. …

Sotheby’s Cleared to Sell Berkshire Art: With a little more than five days before the sale of two prominent Norman Rockwell works, a judge has ruled on the two suits trying to stop the auction, according to the Berkshire Eagle:

• “Judge John Agostini ruled that plaintiffs in two civil actions, and the state Attorney General’s Office itself, failed to make their cases to halt a large-scale deaccession by the museum. The judge is unsparing in his view that the Attorney General’s Office conducted an anemic review of the art sale after it was notified about it by the museum in June. […] All original plaintiffs in two lawsuits were found by Agostini to lack legal standing to challenge the art sales.” …

Art Agency, Partners Earns Out: Sotheby’s recent filing with the SEC declares that the conditions set for Art Agency, Partners to be paid an additional $35m on top of the $50m purchase price have been met. …

Sotheby’s Lead Lot in London Chinese Art Sale Makes £1.9m: A pair of Famille Rose ‘Sanduo’ cups made for the Yongzheng emperor were sold at Sotheby’s for $2.5m as part of their London Chinese art sale. The cups made up nearly a third of the £6.4m total.