Iran sets sights on cultural projection through vibrant contemporary art
Iran has set sights on reaching out to the international community through a major cultural initiative that draws on the remarkable rise of its modern and contemporary art globally, both in its aesthetic appreciation and the marketplace. Although ostensibly an independent private sector initiative, the Contemporary and Modern Art (CAMA) project’s ambitious cultural outreach has the hallmarks of a finely nuanced diplomatic...
African art collecting picks up
More African individuals and businesses are spending on or investing in art than a few years earlier, with the focus on contemporary art produced by artists on the African continent or in locations elsewhere , anecdotal evidence and art market trends suggest. There’s also an emerging trend toward restitution of historical cultural materials now outside Africa. At Bonhams’ sale 21 May 2014, entitled Africa Now and billed...
Qianlong flask set to return home after record sale
A rare Chinese vase is set to return to China after it was sold to a Hong Kong buyer for GBP 1,482,500. The so-called dragon moon flask, said to have been made for the Qianlong emperor and hidden for a century, was sold at Bonhams auction house in London 7 November 2013 for GBP 1,482,500, one of the highest prices achieved for any object in this year’s Asian Art Week auction sales. It was bought by a Hong Kong buyer and so it is...
Tretchikoff’s Chinese Girl auction sets record
Chinese Girl, the most iconic work of Vladimir Tretchikoff, a Russian émigré who settled in South Africa, set new records as it sold 20 Mar 2013 during the South African sale at Bonhams, London. Following worldwide interest in the sale the painting which had been estimated to sell for GBP 300,000 to GBP 500,000, made GBP 982,050 (South African rands 13.8 million). The whole sale of some 150 pictures made GBP 4.5 million. The buyer of...