- Before filing for divorce from his socialite wife, Swiss businessman Maurice Amon has his art consultants come to their Fifth Avenue pad and lift works from their collection — including a Basquiat and Warhol — off the walls. Soon-to-be ex-wife Tracey Hejailan-Amon is stunned, and accuses her husband of stealing and trying to sell the works at auction without acknowledging their 50/50 interest. His people says the works are actually owned by his “corporation”. And, of course, there’s no pre-nup. [New York Post]
- Related: Ulay is suing Marina. He says she violated their contract, undercutting his 20% cut on profits made from their joint saleable work. She vehemently denies the claim. This is worth reading only for the totally apt headline: “Ulay v Marina: how art’s power couple went to war.” [Guardian]
- The Sotheby’s contemporary sale did well last night totalling $294.9 million, over a low estimate of $254 million. Cy Twombly went for a record high of 70 million. (I don’t get the prices for his work.) Josh Baer thinks the auction did well because there were better, fresher works available. We also learned that Leonardo DiCaprio showed up and maybe the Nahmad family bought him a five million dollar birthday present. (Who cares.) [Artnews]
- Ever since Shanghai collector Liu Yiqian snapped up that Modigliani nude at the Christie’s auction for $170 million, the art world has been a-twitter about this former taxi driver-turned billionaire who dared to — gasp! — sip from a $36 million Ming dynasty “chicken cup”. As expected, we get a sense of his tastes via his recent auction purchases: Chinese scrolls, Ming dynasty silk tapestries — you know, the usual 1% accoutrements. [The Art Newspaper]
- Paris Photo, Europe’s leading fair for photography, kicks off today. Returning to the Grand Palais, the fair is undergoing a couple changes: two new directors (Florence Bourgeois as director, Christoph Wiesner as artistic director) and a new section spotlighting serial works. [The Art Newspaper]
- “I am one of about six African American full professors of Art History in the US. All but one of this number are male.” The #BlackOnCampus hashtag is bringing revelations such as this, from UCLA Steven Nelson, to the fore. Good to know the dialogue around inclusion is now going beyond students to campus administrations. [@TylerGreenDC]
- You know, it’s really hard doing the Miami Beach fairs when you have to spend so much time indoors with the booths. Well guess what? The organizers totally feel you on those struggles, which is why they’re bringing public art to Collins Park for an outdoor show. Of course, the usual big names are attached (Olaf Breuning, Sterling Ruby, Robert Wilson, Katharina Grosse). [The Observer]
- Four raccoons were responsible for an early-morning break-in at a Newport, OR gallery. [KOIN 6]
- Some cheeseball animated GIFs inspired by Magritte. [Hyperallergic]
- Mesmerizing: watch this flash flood in Southern Utah. [Youtube via metafilter]
Thursday Links: Squabbles of the Rich and Famous
by Paddy Johnson and Rea McNamara on November 12, 2015 Massive Links
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