Scots Fish & Chip Art

A Scots artist has sold a humble fish supper for £3,500. Graham McKean's painting of Scotland's favourite dish went for about 1,000 times the normal chip-shop price. The renowned 43-year-old artist, who recently sold paintings of "neds" in hooded tops was delighted. The canvas of the "Scottish still life" was snapped up by a mystery Scots entrepreneur, who intends to add it to his collection. McKean commented: "I bought the fish supper from my local chippy, but I added in the newspaper as you don't get many fish suppers wrapped in newspaper these days. By the time I had finished, the fish and chips were a bit too cold to eat, unfortunately."

Multi-Million Collection Stolen

Millions of pounds worth of art has been stolen from the £20 million mansion in Wiltshire of reclusive property tycoon Harry Hyams - one of Britain’s wealthiest men. Mr Hyams was not home at the time. The burglary was a well-planned operation by professional art thieves.
Irish Art

$300 Million Klimt's Rejected

The Austrian government broke off negotiations to buy five paintings by Gustav Klimt, stating that they could not afford the $300 million price tag. The cabinet agreed to restore the paintings, currently housed in Vienna, to the rightful heirs. A court ruled last month that the works, seized in 1938 by the Nazis, should be returned to Maria Altmann of California, a descendant of the Jewish Bloch-Bauer family. "The decision against buying the paintings, which count among the most significant Austrian artworks, is an immense loss for Austria as a cultural center," said the national gallery's director.
Irish Art

Louvre Art "Hired" to USA

A ground-breaking cultural art exchange, intended to sweeten relations between France and the US, has provoked claims that the Louvre is "hiring out" some of its greatest art masterpieces. The Paris museum will be paid €13m (£9m) over three years to send 185 art works, including paintings by Raphael, Rembrandt and Poussin, to the High museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The unprecedented deal - loaning great works of art for a fee - has been portrayed in the US as a step towards healing the rift in Franco-American relations caused by the Iraq war in 2003.
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Irish Art

Foreign Artists And UK Visits

New work permit regulations being considered by the Home Office may jeopardise foreign artists' ability to work in Britain, according to arts organisations. The government is proposing changing the system whereby arts companies can enter Britain on a joint visa. This could force every member of a visiting group to apply individually for work permits - and be charged more to do so. There are very limited funds in the UK to bring in international artists. So anything that adds to the time and the money will obviously make a difficult thing even harder. The National Campaign for the Arts has submitted its concerns to the Home Office and is in talks with officials.
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Irish Art

Hustling An Art Deal

Received wisdom has it that saleroom profits come from commissions charged to sellers and buyers. But those commissions are being eroded, as salerooms offer sellers extra incentives to place business with them. Owners of particularly valuable property can negotiate a 0 per cent selling commission. Now, it seems, they are being offered a share in the buyers' commission, too. News that Christie's is to sell Van Gogh's late portrait, L'Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux, in New York this May for an estimated $40-$60 million comes with informed whispers that the seller will gain between 7 and 9 per cent of the normal 10 per cent charged to the buyer as part of the deal.
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Irish Art

More Hitler Art For Auction

Twenty-one watercolours and sketches by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler are to be auctioned in Britain after 70 years in a suitcase in a Belgian attic. The collection was apparently produced between 1916 and 1918 when the young Hitler was a corporal during the Great War. The works are to be auctioned at Jefferys in Lostwithiel, southwest England, and are expected to fetch up to £100 000 (€146 200, $177 300). They carry the hallmarks of Hitler's previously seen art work and some carry a distinctive signature. The smallest paintings, postcard size, are expected to fetch around £2000 each while the larger ones, eight inches by 10 inches (20 centimetres by 25 centimetres), could fetch £4000 each.
Irish Art

Art By Pollock - Suspect Named

The owner of a Jackson Pollock painting stolen from Scranton's Everhart Museum two months ago said he has forwarded the name of his No 1 suspect to the FBI, and that the person has a connection to the museum. The Pollock's owner is an artist formerly from northeastern Pennsylvania, whose paintings are featured in museums and private collections around the country. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he does not want to draw attention to himself, or to his own art collection. The thief or thieves who broke into the Everhart on Nov. 18 swiped two artworks: an oil by Pollock that could be worth millions of dollars and a less valuable silkscreen by Andy Warhol.