Good Morning!
- A restitution battle over a Franz Marc painting in the collection of the Folkwang Museum in Germany heats up.
- As of last Friday, Sotheby’s has raised its buyers’ fees worldwide.
- British artist and Turner Prize winner Tai Shani has withdrawn a Phaidon monograph following sexual assault allegations against owner Leon Black revealed in the latest Epstein files.
The Headlines
FEE HIKE. Sotheby’s has raised its buyer’s premiums worldwide, with the move coming into effect last Friday on February 13, The Art Newspaper wrote. These non-negotiable fees, added on top of a lot’s hammer price, are a key revenue source for auction houses, which have felt the pinch from a three-year art market downturn. Under the new structure, lots sold in New York for up to $2 million now carry a 28 percent premium, up from 27 percent. The mid-tier fee remains 22 percent but now applies to lots between $2 million and $8 million (previously $1 million–$8 million). Premiums for works above $8 million stay at 15 percent. Sotheby’s declined to comment. The move follows similar adjustments at Christie’s and Phillips , where lower-priced works have stayed in demand. Sotheby’s also recently raised $900 million through art-backed loans, including collectible cars and blue-chip art, via securitisation, giving it upfront capital to bolster its business. The fee changes mean more buyers will pay higher rates on lower-value lots, reflecting both market trends and the houses’ drive to strengthen revenue streams.
GAPS IN THE RECORD. A long-running battle over Franz Marc‘s Horse in Landscape (1910), in the collection of Germany’s Folkwang Museum in Essen, is testing the limits of restitution, the New York Times reported Tuesday. In 1933, the work was owned by Jewish banker Hugo Simon , who fled Berlin that year and shipped the painting to family in France. In 1953, the museum acquired the painting from a German dealer. Despite extensive research, the museum has not been able to establish what happened to the painting, now valued at $36 million, in the intervening years. Simon’s heirs argue that given the historical context and lack of documentation, it is likely the work was stolen. But the museum has refused to concede without proof. A new German arbitration tribunal, and the heirs’ threatened legal action in France, will aim to finally determine the fate of the painting.
The Digest
The Victoria & Albert Museum has added a reconstruction of YouTube’s original watch page to its collection, giving visitors a rare chance to “step back in time” to the early days of online video. [The Independent]
The Science Museum in London will celebrate 60 years of Star Trek this spring and summer with screenings and a range of related “Trekkie” activities. [SciFi Now]
LA artists are spearheading an “irresistible resistance” against ICE, using pop up performances for small businesses and nocturnal protests against immigration raids to make creativity part of the activist toolkit [Financial Times]
British artist and Turner Prize winner Tai Shani announced she has pulled a forthcoming monograph with Phaidon, the fine art publisher owned by Leon Black, following graphic sexual assault allegations against the billionaire revealed in the latest Epstein files. [Hyperallergic]
Marilyn Minter, celebrated for her feminist work that fuses painting and photography, has been awarded this year’s International Artist Award by the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She will be honored at the Ranch Gala during the center’s annual Ranch Week in July. [ARTnews]
The Kicker
COURAGE UNDER CANVAS. Artist Marah Khaled al-Za’anin, 18, has transformed her tent in Gaza City into a mini gallery, covering the walls and ceiling with her drawings and paintings to transport visitors beyond the harsh reality around them. Displaced from Beit Hanoun, she now lives in a UNRWAshelter at Al-Rimal school and uses art to process her own experiences as well as those of her community, My Modern Met writes. Her stark, monochrome works capture hunger, loss, and resilience, portraying the daily struggles of life in Gaza. “My brush and my paintings are about the children of Gaza,” she said, “who lived through hunger, fear, deprivation, loss, exhaustion, and the world’s indifference.” Anyone nearby is welcome to step inside her tent and see her work, and you can also support her online via Instagram. She’s one of many Palestinian artists using initiatives like the recent Gaza Biennale, a roving art project with editions in New York, Berlin, and elsewhere, to turn adversity into creativity and hope.
