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 decrease in the price of artwork is making people cautious about selling their art because they want to take more time to see where prices are going in the future. It is difficult for auction houses to obtain artwork for this reason. Sotheby's auction last year made 72 million pounds. This year, the auction is being held on the fifth of February. The presale low estimate of 16.55 million pounds is less than a quarter of what was made last year at this auction. Selling percentages and prices have been decreasing since the last quarter of 2008 due to the current economic crisis. It looks like things are looking downhill for art dealers at the moment. Join discussion...

Sotheby's is a well known and one of the world's largest auctioneers. One of the main things it auctions is artwork, such as Monet and Hirst. Sadly, due to the failing economy in the US the sale of art has also gone down. Sotheby's has suffered a $15 million loss. It has now announced it will decrease the use of auction garuntees (in which they garuntee sellers that the piece will be sold at at least a certain price). This action house, though it's earning have fallen short of the expected, still gains money and is looking forward to autions in New York. Join discussion...

A New York contemporary art auction, hosted by Sotheby's Auctioneers, raked in $315,907,000 on the evening of November 14. The auctioneer, Tobias Meyer, managed to sell 65 of the 71 pieces up for auction. The two pieces that sold for the highest were of Francis Bacon. Join discussion...

This article was written in the AFP newspaper on November 27, 2007. A pair of Russian art auctions held in London was worth over 80 million dollars in selling and buying art in the Sotheby’s auction house, breaking the records. Fourteen records were set for works of art by Russian artists sold at auction. Their first two auctions sold 80.1 million dollars worth of art, including an “avant garde” piece by Natalia Goncharova called “Bluebells,” the most valuable work sold. This sale was part of a week-long set including Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonham’s and McDouhall’s of Russian art. The highlight of these auctions is a Faberge egg, predicted to be sold for 9million pounds. This piece went on sale yesterday, Wednesday 28, 2007. Faberge is a Russian jeweler with extravagant craftsmanship who has made 50 eggs for the Russian royal family. He has only made 12 other eggs of the same standards for private clients. This piece is one of them, containing a diamond encrusted cockerel “which pops out every hour to flap its wings and nod its head while opening and shutting its beak and crowing.” This was a break through for the Russian art market, bringing it “of age” and it is now recognized on the international art market, while still even evolving. Join discussion...

The Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich who passed away had amassed quite a collection of highly prized works. This article discusses the controversy that arose when Russian steel tycoon, Alisher Usmanov, bought the whole collection days before it was scheduled to be auctioned off at Sotheby.The original value of the collection was estimated at about $40 million. The Controversy stemmed from the fact that Usmanov purchased the collection so close to the date of the auction. Other collectors had already chosen pieces they planned to bid on and had travelled from around the world to London in order to be present at the auction. With so many individuals already putting in such effort to participate in the auction, the article aruges, it was controversial whether or not Usmanov was justified in purchasing the entire collection, even if it was for much more than the speculated value. I agree with the article in that I dont think Usmanov should have been permitted to purchase the entire collection, even if his reasoning was to return the collection to its hometown and store it in the Konstantin Palace. I think that it was too close to the date of the auction for it to be fair to the other collectors who had had their eyes set on certain pieces of the collection. If Usmanov had purchased the collection maybe months before the auction it would have been more acceptable because there would have been enough time to politely call off the auction. However, in reality, that's not how things went down. People wasted time, energy, and money in order to attend this auction only to find out that the whole collection had already been purchased only days before. Join discussion...