1. Andy Warhol’s portrait of Michael Jackson, originally worth little under $300,000 has now been sold by Vered Gallery, East Hampton for $1 million.
2. Moscow might see a new and extensive contemporary art museum in the near future. Russia’s culture minister alluded to plans of expanding the National Center for Contemporary Art with a $94 million state-sponsored budget.
3. Erring on the side of caution, Christie’s International is said to have decided against its original intention to act as a lending and investment firm. The auction house’s failed approach at expansion illuminates the breadth of the decline in the art market.
4. Unbeknown to collectors and art viewers alike, the National Geographic Society has been maintaining a mass underground archive of remarkable photographs, rich in content as well as quantity. After years of being overlooked, National Geographic is now willing to throw its holdings on the auction table for the bid of private and institutional collectors.
5. One auction house takes drastic action in attempt to deal with financial woes: the staff of the Toronto Auction House takes the hit.
