Cornering the Picasso Market: Reports of a single buyer accumulating a dozen works by Picasso, including the top lots in several of the sales this week in London provoked one Bloomberg editor to ask on Twitter who might be cornering the Picasso market. (As if!) The question does highlight the mystery behind Gurr Johns owner Harry Smith’s behavior this week. Not the mystery of whomever his client might be. That’s a separate question. But Smith told The Art Newspaper that “confidentiality and discretion are paramount” in his business. With that kind of statement, one has to immediately assume Smith was being intentionally indiscreet by allowing himself to be seen bidding for so many works in the same sales. Working from a telephone, even while seated inside the room as he did with Sotheby’s top Picasso which he won for £49m, would have prevented his buying from becoming the talk of the week’s sales. …

PInault in the Snow: London hunkered down under the impact of winter storm Emma today. Christie’s owner François Pinault took advantage of the solitude of his own galleries to commune with David Rockefeller’s treasures. What captured his attention? A pair of ceramic parrots.