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NEWSLETTER NO. 6 2026
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Alberto Giacometti, Femme de Venise (1956); Clyfford Still, 1948-A (1948) in the Fifth Avenue apartment of collectors Stephen and Nan Swid. Design by Stephen Sills. Photo: Thibault Jeanson. |
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Art Basel and the London sales have concluded, closing out the season. Christie's Newhouse sale and Sotheby's Joe Lewis auction demonstrated that competition for trophy material remains intense, while lots outside the single-owner sales posted fairly average sell-through rates — strength at the top, thinner beneath. On the retail side, Pace's reorganization and Marc Spiegler's New York Times editorial on the state of things have been much discussed. Below is what caught our attention this past quarter. Firm news at the bottom. |
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OF INTEREST
Working the float: Sotheby's paying hammer + 7% in exchange for delaying payment. LINK Calling all insiders: Throw those bones on Kalshi. LINK State of the art: Marc Spiegler's New York Times guest essay “Art Galleries Are Not Okay.” LINK And a rebuttal from Hyperallergic. LINK The value of narrative: Valuation expert Aswath Damodaran on valuing SpaceX's IPO. LINK Forget LLMs. It's all about RAG: Technical white paper on the benefits of using retrieval-augmented generation for provenance research. LINK “AI Monet”: X thread critiquing an AI-generated “Monet” that is simply a detail of an actual Monet in The Met. The digital image of the “inferior” Monet sold for $42,500. LINK Human still in the loop: AI Cadell discovery. LINK 21st century tastemaking: Economist Tyler Cowen and Stripe founder Patrick Collison announce the first round of New Aesthetics grants. LINK Things that make you go hmmm: Danziger and the Ansel Adams Trust argue over the colorization of Moonrise, Hernandez. LINK On your mark photography archive appraisers: Getty Images sold to OpenAI. LINK Creative doomscrolling: Website that compiles images from museum websites. LINK Science is art and art is science: Terrific article on Raoul Dufy's struggle with rheumatoid arthritis and the impact of the Mayo Clinic's discovery of cortisone on his art. LINK |
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FROM OUR BLOG
Joseph Duveen, 1929. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images.
The Dealer: Joseph Duveen |
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OUR NEWS
Latin American Art: Partner Susan McDonough has been accredited by the Appraisers Association of America in the category of Latin American Art, reflecting her experience appraising works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Wifredo Lam, and other artists working across the region. READ MORE Algorithms, Automation, and Appraisal: On August 12, Susan will present “A.I. & Art Valuation: Algorithms, Automation, and Appraisal” for the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) Summer Advanced Intensive Program. LINK USPAP and Appraisal Writing: Susan is teaching the 7-Hour USPAP Update online for the Appraisers Association on August 3–4, and the Appraisal Writing Workshop. RICS: Partner Tobias Czudej has been admitted as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors through the Senior Professional Assessment, strengthening the firm's capacity to advise on cross-border estate and valuation matters. READ MORE Post-War, Contemporary & Emerging Art: Senior Appraiser Grace Harlow has been certified by the Appraisers Association of America in the category of Post-War, Contemporary and Emerging Art. Grace joined Czudej McDonough's New York team in early 2025. READ MORE |
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BOOKS
Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage. Thames & Hudson, June 2026. LINK The Morandi Museum Catalogue Raisonné. Silvana Editoriale, May 2026. LINK Winslow Homer: Painter, Etcher. Yale University Press, July 2026. LINK Working Title: Media Packaging and the Margins of Art. University of California Press, June 2026. LINK Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector. Marsilio Arte, November 2026. LINK |
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