On May 27th and 28th, Sotheby is selling Latin American art. Many works are being represented- from the colonial period to the modern sculptures, paintings etc. The auction is expected to bring in around 10 million dollars. One of the most expensive pieces is Chiki by Leonora Carrington, who moved to Mexico and was heavily influenced by their artwork. Other artists featured are Wifredo Lam, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero, and Armando Reveron. Join discussion...

The National Academy, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has sold two Hudson River School paintings for financial reasons. The two paintings sold were Frederic Edwin Church’s “Scene on the Magdalene” from 1854 and Sanford Robinson Gifford’s “Mount Mansfield, Vermont” from 1859. The Association of Art Museum Directors harshly criticized this transaction, as the sale was not for the purpose of purchasing more art. Instead, the profit will go to general operating funds. The association claims that selling art for operating costs risks turning the National Academy into an organization based on profit instead of art. However Carmine Branagan, the academy’s interim director, insists that if the paintings had not been sold, "the academy would close". The sale was approved by the Academy's members, and the money will hopefully repair debts and provide better conservation of other works. The National Academy hopes that the sale will provide a better future for their exhibitions and mission. Join discussion...

After a rapid growth in the last decade, the art market has started seeing a significant decline. The most recent sign of the troubles in the market was the auction in London which finished only with £51m, much lower than even the low expected estimate. Signs like these seem to signal a significant change or as some call it a correction to the art market. Despite what some people might think, this is not a surprise. This adjustment to the prices was obvious even on November 2007, when the Art Market Confidence Indicator fell 40%. And the first indicator of the upcoming financial difficulties was when impressionist and modern sale in New York only made $270m which was much lower than the expected $355m. It is interesting how the art market thought it was some how immune to the economical hardship the world is experiencing, but it finally got caught. The only reason it was affected a little later, because the western buyers were replaced by Indian and Chinese buyers for awhile, and the market simply ignored it. Join discussion...

On November 29 Christie’s, located in London, beat the record for the highest grossing Russian art auction. It raised 39.1 million pounds or about 81 million dollars beating the previous record, 31 million pounds, held by Sotheby’s art auction. Seven of the four hundred and thirteen lots at the auction were sold for more than a million pounds. The enamel Faberge Egg, made of gold and enamel, sold for 8.98 million pounds including commission. The piece "Portrait of Alexander Tikhonov" by Yuri Annenkov sold for 2.26 million pounds. Other pieces sold include “The Romantic Pursuit” by Somov, “Lilacs in a Vase” by Natalia Gorchakov , and Boris Grigoriev's “The Harlot of Marseille.” According to Sergei Tabalov the price of Russian art has increased 750 percent in the last ten years. Join discussion...