Every Friday, Artnet PRO members get exclusive access to the Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. (If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe here). |
Every Friday, Artnet PRO members get exclusive access to the Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. (If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe here). |
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Margaret Carrigan News Editor, Europe |
| Annie Armstrong Art Market Reporter
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This week in the Back Room: Frieze L.A. sales aid fire relief, Dmitry Rybolovlev is spotted in Riyadh, Len Riggio’s $30 million Magritte, and much more—all in a 7-minute read (1,950 words). |
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Margaret Carrigan
News Editor, Europe |
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Annie Armstrong Art Market Reporter |
| This week in the Back Room: Frieze L.A. sales aid fire relief, Dmitry Rybolovlev is spotted in Riyadh, Len Riggio’s $30 million Magritte, and much more—all in a 7-minute read (1,950 words). |
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Top of the Market L.A.’s Art World Rallies |
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Top of the Market L.A.’s Art World Rallies |
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Maggie Ellis, City Detox (2024). Photo: Daniel Greer. Courtesy of Charles Moffett. |
Maggie Ellis, City Detox (2024). Photo: Daniel Greer. Courtesy of Charles Moffett. |
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Angelenos have issued a clarion call to support their city in the wake of January’s devastating wildfires, which killed 29 and burned parts of the city to the ground. The art world has responded.
Frieze made the decision to go ahead with its Los Angeles edition (open through Sunday) before the fires were fully contained. The move raised some eyebrows at the time (and some quietly speculated that a cancellation wouldn’t look great while its parent company, Endeavor, seeks a buyer for the fair). But satellite events like Felix Art Fair and scrappy newcomer Santa Monica Post Office had already confirmed their plans. Local galleries said that business was needed to help artists and art workers who lost their homes and studios rebuild and encouraged out-of-towners to come.
Come they did. “I am incredibly inspired by all the people that are here,” London-based dealer Timothy Taylor told Artnet’s Eileen Kinsella during the VIP day yesterday. “I mean, I’m slightly surprised at how many people I know who traveled to L.A. for the fair.” Taylor reported a nearly sold-out booth, with most works acquired by U.S. collectors, including paintings by Antonia Showering ($63,000) and Hayal Pozanti ($75,000 each).
On Wednesday, over at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, New York gallery Charles Moffett sold six new paintings by Brooklyn artist Maggie Ellis, as well as works by L.A. artists Bari Ziperstein and Hopie Hill, for between $5,000 and $18,000 during Felix’s VIP day. Moffet said the week has felt “motivating.”
Seeing L.A. artists’ “collective resiliency and their advocacy of one another, and to be able to support their persistent drive to create powerful and important work has been immensely gratifying,” he said.
At Frieze, at the Santa Monica Airport, many galleries have pivoted their fair presentations to foreground L.A artists. That includes Perrotin, which is showing works by locals Claire Tabouret, Emma Webster, and Alex Gardner, among others; a portion of all sales made at the fair will go to fire relief funds. Anat Ebgi is presenting a new work about the fires by Alec Egan, priced at $50,000. The artist lost his studio—and all of the works he had been prepping for an upcoming solo show—in the Palisades blaze.
“It’s a lot to come back from,” Egan told Artnet’s Sarah Cascone earlier this week. “How I’ve been coping with it has been by working.”
Ebgi was a vocal proponent of maintaining business as usual in L.A., to keep the natural disaster from turning into an economic disaster, echoing the “Stay in L.A.” movement from film and T.V. workers to keep productions rolling in the city. She is also hosting a benefit show at her Wilshire Boulevard gallery, through March 22, that features works by 15 L.A. artists; 10 percent of the show’s proceeds will go to the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Elsewhere in the city, Blum rescheduled the opening of its Yoshitomo Nara show, originally slated for January, to this week, with a portion of proceeds going toward relief funds. The Japanese artist also recently released a line of merch to raise funds for fire victims. Pace cancelled several of its events and parties, choosing to redirect the cash to various relief efforts. And Artsy is hosting five benefit auctions to support those affected by the wildfires. Artsy x Art Relief LA: Benefit Auction 2025 features over 40 donated works from top artists, such as Gilbert and George and Jo Messer. Bidding is open until March 6; 100 percent of the hammer price will be donated.
Not everyone supported the decision to proceed with events in the city, and this Frieze Week could become a focal point for discussions on the art industry’s environmental responsibility. Spring Break Art Show, the fair known for unconventional venues and experimental emerging art, canceled its L.A. edition. Its co-founders, Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori, said that “the proximity to this ecological tragedy is just too close to ensure success for our exhibitors or a meaningful contribution to the climate or cultural problem at hand.” Meanwhile, the L.A. gallery Various Small Fires opted to pull out of Frieze this year, as well as all other art fairs in 2025, due to climate-change concerns.
—Margaret Carrigan |
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Angelenos have issued a clarion call to support their city in the wake of January’s devastating wildfires, which killed 29 and burned parts of the city to the ground. The art world has responded.
Frieze made the decision to go ahead with its Los Angeles edition (open through Sunday) before the fires were fully contained. The move raised some eyebrows at the time (and some quietly speculated that a cancellation wouldn’t look great while its parent company, Endeavor, seeks a buyer for the fair). But satellite events like Felix Art Fair and scrappy newcomer Santa Monica Post Office had already confirmed their plans. Local galleries said that business was needed to help artists and art workers who lost their homes and studios rebuild and encouraged out-of-towners to come.
Come they did. “I am incredibly inspired by all the people that are here,” London-based dealer Timothy Taylor told Artnet’s Eileen Kinsella during the VIP day yesterday. “I mean, I’m slightly surprised at how many people I know who traveled to L.A. for the fair.” Taylor reported a nearly sold-out booth, with most works acquired by U.S. collectors, including paintings by Antonia Showering ($63,000) and Hayal Pozanti ($75,000 each).
On Wednesday, over at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, New York gallery Charles Moffett sold six new paintings by Brooklyn artist Maggie Ellis, as well as works by L.A. artists Bari Ziperstein and Hopie Hill, for between $5,000 and $18,000 during Felix’s VIP day. Moffet said the week has felt “motivating.”
Seeing L.A. artists’ “collective resiliency and their advocacy of one another, and to be able to support their persistent drive to create powerful and important work has been immensely gratifying,” he said.
At Frieze, at the Santa Monica Airport, many galleries have pivoted their fair presentations to foreground L.A artists. That includes Perrotin, which is showing works by locals Claire Tabouret, Emma Webster, and Alex Gardner, among others; a portion of all sales made at the fair will go to fire relief funds. Anat Ebgi is presenting a new work about the fires by Alec Egan, priced at $50,000. The artist lost his studio—and all of the works he had been prepping for an upcoming solo show—in the Palisades blaze.
“It’s a lot to come back from,” Egan told Artnet’s Sarah Cascone earlier this week. “How I’ve been coping with it has been by working.”
Ebgi was a vocal proponent of maintaining business as usual in L.A., to keep the natural disaster from turning into an economic disaster, echoing the “Stay in L.A.” movement from film and T.V. workers to keep productions rolling in the city. She is also hosting a benefit show at her Wilshire Boulevard gallery, through March 22, that features works by 15 L.A. artists; 10 percent of the show’s proceeds will go to the L.A. Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Elsewhere in the city, Blum rescheduled the opening of its Yoshitomo Nara show, originally slated for January, to this week, with a portion of proceeds going toward relief funds. The Japanese artist also recently released a line of merch to raise funds for fire victims. Pace cancelled several of its events and parties, choosing to redirect the cash to various relief efforts. And Artsy is hosting five benefit auctions to support those affected by the wildfires. Artsy x Art Relief LA: Benefit Auction 2025 features over 40 donated works from top artists, such as Gilbert and George and Jo Messer. Bidding is open until March 6; 100 percent of the hammer price will be donated.
Not everyone supported the decision to proceed with events in the city, and this Frieze Week could become a focal point for discussions on the art industry’s environmental responsibility. Spring Break Art Show, the fair known for unconventional venues and experimental emerging art, canceled its L.A. edition. Its co-founders, Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori, said that “the proximity to this ecological tragedy is just too close to ensure success for our exhibitors or a meaningful contribution to the climate or cultural problem at hand.” Meanwhile, the L.A. gallery Various Small Fires opted to pull out of Frieze this year, as well as all other art fairs in 2025, due to climate-change concerns.
—Margaret Carrigan |
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Paint Drippings
Last week, Wet Paint took us on a Valentine’s Day cruise with Romero Britto and, this week, it is reporting on all of the action in Los Angeles, during Frieze. Here’s what else has made a mark around the industry since last Friday… Art Fairs and Events – Frieze New York returns to the Shed from May 7 to 11, with 65 exhibitors, including newcomers Champ Lacombe of Paris, King’s Leap of New York, and Voloshyn Gallery of Kyiv. (Press release)
– Site Santa Fe’s 12th International will open on June 27 and span the organization's galleries, as well as venues around the city, including warehouses, toy shops, and haunted hotels. Cecilia Alemani, the director of High Line Art, is curating. Participating artists include major contemporary names like Mire Lee, Louise Lawler, Wael Shawky, Emmi Whitehorse, and Candice Lin alongside “figures of interest” such as author D.H. Lawrence and Navajo Codetalker Chester Nez. (Press release)
Auction Houses
– Christie’s won the year’s first big collection: some 40 works from the (far larger) holdings of the late Barnes and Noble founder Len Riggio. The consignment is said to include major examples by Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Kerry James Marshall. (Artnet News)
– Christie’s will auction Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Man with Glasses III (1963) on March 5 as a highlight of its 20th/21st Century London evening sale. Estimated at £6 million to £9 million ($7.5 million to $11.3 million), the painting, from a major British collection, is making its auction debut. Meanwhile, René Magritte’s La reconnaissance infinie (1933) will headline its Art of the Surreal sale that same evening, also estimated to fetch £6 million to £9 million. (Press releases)
– Banksy’s 2005 Crude Oil (Vettriano) painting from Blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus’s collection will headline Sotheby’s London auction on March 4, estimated at £3 million to £5 million ($3.8 million to $6.3 million). Other highlights include Yoshitomo Nara’s Cosmic Eyes from 2005 (£6 million to £8 million) and a portrait of Françoise Gilot by Picasso (£4 million to £6 million) that will make its auction debut. (Artnet News)
Galleries
– Tache, a new contemporary gallery dedicated to emerging artists, will open on March 7 in London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood. (Press release)
– Jessica Silverman now represents Rebecca Ness. (Press release)
Museums and Institutions
– English national museums, including the British Museum, National Gallery, and the V&A will get a 5 percent funding boost as part of a £270 million ($342 million) package announced Thursday by the U.K. government. A new £85 million ($108 million) Creative Foundations Fund will support urgent capital works for cultural institutions, while local museums, some of which have suggested they are on the brink of closure, will have a dedicated £20 million ($25.3 million) fund. (BBC)
– M+ in Hong Kong and the Museum of Modern Art in New York signed a memorandum of understanding that covers curatorial research, conservation, artwork loans, sustainability, professional development, and exhibition exchange. (Press release)
– The Aspen Art Museum announced AIR, a 10-year initiative focused on artists as leaders. Launching this July with $20 million in funding, AIR will culminate in an international festival held annually in Aspen each summer. The inaugural event, running from July 26 to August 1, includes artists Glenn Ligon, Maya Lin, and Paul Chan. (Press release)
Tech and Legal News
– The Art Legacy Institute, a U.S. education and research nonprofit, announced a partnership with Alitheon, an optical A.I. company, to combat art fraud and misattribution. (Press release)
– A French prosecutor has sought suspended prison sentences of up to 15 months and fines up to €150,000 ($156,000) for companies and executives linked to the lead poisoning of restoration workers at the Château de Versailles. (The Art Newspaper)
– The Netherlands is returning 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, marking one of the largest repatriations of the looted artifacts to date. The bronzes, plundered by British forces in 1897 and later acquired by Dutch institutions, will be transferred following an agreement signed by Dutch and Nigerian officials, as momentum for restitution efforts grows in many countries. (Artnet News)
People
– Russian billionaire and high-profile art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev has been identified as one of Vladimir Putin's Ukraine negotiating team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, perhaps tapped for the role thanks to his real estate deals with U.S. president Donald Trump. Rybolovlev bought a Palm Beach property from Trump for $95 million in 2008, significantly above the market rate. (The Telegraph)
– Damien Hirst has partnered with the streetwear brand Supreme on apparel, skate decks, and accessories splashed with his signature animal works for the label’s Spring 2025 collection. (Artnet News) |
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Paint Drippings
Last week, Wet Paint took us on a Valentine’s Day cruise with Romero Britto and, this week, it is reporting on all of the action in Los Angeles, during Frieze. Here’s what else has made a mark around the industry since last Friday…
Art Fairs and Events
– Frieze New York returns to the Shed from May 7 to 11, with 65 exhibitors, including newcomers Champ Lacombe of Paris, King’s Leap of New York, and Voloshyn Gallery of Kyiv. (Press release)
– Site Santa Fe’s 12th International will open on June 27 and span the organization's galleries, as well as venues around the city, including warehouses, toy shops, and haunted hotels. Cecilia Alemani, the director of High Line Art, is curating. Participating artists include major contemporary names like Mire Lee, Louise Lawler, Wael Shawky, Emmi Whitehorse, and Candice Lin alongside “figures of interest” such as author D.H. Lawrence and Navajo Codetalker Chester Nez. (Press release)
Auction Houses
– Christie’s won the year’s first big collection: some 40 works from the (far larger) holdings of the late Barnes and Noble founder Len Riggio. The consignment is said to include major examples by Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Kerry James Marshall. (Artnet News)
– Christie’s will auction Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Man with Glasses III (1963) on March 5 as a highlight of its 20th/21st Century London evening sale. Estimated at £6 million to £9 million ($7.5 million to $11.3 million), the painting, from a major British collection, is making its auction debut. Meanwhile, René Magritte’s La reconnaissance infinie (1933) will headline its Art of the Surreal sale that same evening, also estimated to fetch £6 million to £9 million. (Press releases)
– Banksy’s 2005 Crude Oil (Vettriano) painting from Blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus’s collection will headline Sotheby’s London auction on March 4, estimated at £3 million to £5 million ($3.8 million to $6.3 million). Other highlights include Yoshitomo Nara’s Cosmic Eyes from 2005 (£6 million to £8 million) and a portrait of Françoise Gilot by Picasso (£4 million to £6 million) that will make its auction debut. (Artnet News)
Galleries
– Tache, a new contemporary gallery dedicated to emerging artists, will open on March 7 in London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood. (Press release)
– Jessica Silverman now represents Rebecca Ness. (Press release)
Museums and Institutions
– English national museums, including the British Museum, National Gallery, and the V&A will get a 5 percent funding boost as part of a £270 million ($342 million) package announced Thursday by the U.K. government. A new £85 million ($108 million) Creative Foundations Fund will support urgent capital works for cultural institutions, while local museums, some of which have suggested they are on the brink of closure, will have a dedicated £20 million ($25.3 million) fund. (BBC)
– M+ in Hong Kong and the Museum of Modern Art in New York signed a memorandum of understanding that covers curatorial research, conservation, artwork loans, sustainability, professional development, and exhibition exchange. (Press release)
– The Aspen Art Museum announced AIR, a 10-year initiative focused on artists as leaders. Launching this July with $20 million in funding, AIR will culminate in an international festival held annually in Aspen each summer. The inaugural event, running from July 26 to August 1, includes artists Glenn Ligon, Maya Lin, and Paul Chan. (Press release)
Tech and Legal News
– The Art Legacy Institute, a U.S. education and research nonprofit, announced a partnership with Alitheon, an optical A.I. company, to combat art fraud and misattribution. (Press release)
– A French prosecutor has sought suspended prison sentences of up to 15 months and fines up to €150,000 ($156,000) for companies and executives linked to the lead poisoning of restoration workers at the Château de Versailles. (The Art Newspaper)
– The Netherlands is returning 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, marking one of the largest repatriations of the looted artifacts to date. The bronzes, plundered by British forces in 1897 and later acquired by Dutch institutions, will be transferred following an agreement signed by Dutch and Nigerian officials, as momentum for restitution efforts grows in many countries. (Artnet News)
People
– Russian billionaire and high-profile art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev has been identified as one of Vladimir Putin's Ukraine negotiating team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, perhaps tapped for the role thanks to his real estate deals with U.S. president Donald Trump. Rybolovlev bought a Palm Beach property from Trump for $95 million in 2008, significantly above the market rate. (The Telegraph)
– Damien Hirst has partnered with the streetwear brand Supreme on apparel, skate decks, and accessories splashed with his signature animal works for the label’s Spring 2025 collection. (Artnet News)
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“I was miserable in that helicopter. I was miserable in Loewe in my fancy outfit.”
—Disgraced art advisor Lisa Schiff, speaking out ahead of her sentencing date in March, where she could face up to 20 years in prison for fraud. Schiff pleaded guilty to $6.5 million in wire fraud last year; a U.S. district attorney accused her of using her clients’ money to “fund a lavish lifestyle.” (New York Times)
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“I was miserable in that helicopter. I was miserable in Loewe in my fancy outfit.”
—Disgraced art advisor Lisa Schiff, speaking out ahead of her sentencing date in March, where she could face up to 20 years in prison. Schiff pleaded guilty to $6.5 million in wire fraud last year; a U.S. district attorney accused her of using her clients’ money to “fund a lavish lifestyle.” (New York Times)
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Work of the Week René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières | René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (1949). Courtesy of Christie’s. |
Seller: Len and Louise Riggio |
Estimate: In excess of $30 million
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Selling at: Christie’s New York |
Another painting from René Magritte’s most commercially successful series will test the market just six months after a larger version of L’empire des lumières fetched $121.2 million at Christie’s, an auction record for the Belgian Surrealist—or any Surrealist work, for that matter. The latest canvas to surface was consigned by Louise Riggio, the widow of Len Riggio, the founder of Barnes and Noble and longtime chairman of the Dia Art Foundation, who died last year, aged 83. Riggio bought the 19-by-23-inch painting for $34.9 million in November 2023. At the time, it was estimated at $25 million to $35 million, and he won it for the $30 million hammer price. Magritte explored the L’empire des lumières, or Empire of Light, theme across 27 works—17 oil paintings and 10 gouaches—created between the 1940s and 1960s.
The artist climbed to the very top of the art market pyramid last year with $312 million in annual auction sales, dethroning Pablo Picasso, whose sales declined to $221.6 million. In addition to the record-setting Magritte painting sold in November, Christie’s also set a record for Magritte’s work on paper with the sale of a 1956 Empire of Light gouache that fetched $18.8 million on a $6 million-to-$8 million estimate.
The Riggio Magritte will go on a world tour, traveling to London, Hong Kong, Paris, Dubai, and Los Angeles.
—Katya Kazakina |
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Work of the Week René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières |
René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (1949). Courtesy of Christie’s. |
Seller: Len and Louise Riggio |
Estimate: In excess of $30 million |
Selling at: Christie’s New York |
Another painting from René Magritte’s most commercially successful series will test the market just six months after a larger version of L’empire des lumières fetched $121.2 million at Christie’s, an auction record for the Belgian Surrealist—or any Surrealist work, for that matter. The latest canvas to surface was consigned by Louise Riggio, the widow of Len Riggio, the founder of Barnes and Noble and longtime chairman of the Dia Art Foundation, who died last year, aged 83. Riggio bought the 19-by-23-inch painting for $34.9 million in November 2023. At the time, it was estimated at $25 million to $35 million, and he won it for the $30 million hammer price. Magritte explored the L’empire des lumières, or Empire of Light, theme across 27 works—17 oil paintings and 10 gouaches—created between the 1940s and 1960s.
The artist climbed to the very top of the art market pyramid last year with $312 million in annual auction sales, dethroning Pablo Picasso, whose sales declined to $221.6 million. In addition to the record-setting Magritte painting sold in November, Christie’s also set a record for Magritte’s work on paper with the sale of a 1956 Empire of Light gouache that fetched $18.8 million on a $6 million-to-$8 million estimate.
The Riggio Magritte will go on a world tour, traveling to London, Hong Kong, Paris, Dubai, and Los Angeles.
—Katya Kazakina |
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Thank you for joining us for The Back Room. See you next week. Any tips, questions, or feedback? Send me an email at mcarrigan@artnet.com. |
Header image caption: Frieze L.A. 2025. Photo: Eileen Kinsella. |
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Thank you for joining us for The Back Room. See you next week. Any tips, questions, or feedback? Send me an email at mcarrigan@artnet.com. |
Header image caption: Frieze L.A. 2025. Photo: Eileen Kinsella. |
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This email was sent to info@fitzandco.art by Artnet Worldwide Corporation.
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