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Sotheby’s Closed for Week Furlough

Visitors to Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters this week will find three sheets of paper taped to the front doors explaining why the doorman is missing, the lobby is devoid of bodies and the escalator isn’t running:

“Building will be closed to the public from 6/29/09-7/6/09.”

The operator answering Sotheby’s main phone line explained, “The whole building is closed and all the business offices are closed for the week.” Emails  and phone calls to the press office weren’t returned.

Sotheby’s had previously announced plans for a week-long furlough as part of a cost-cutting regime and it appears to be underway.

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American Painting Sales Slump

William James Glackens, Wickford Harbor, Rhode Island.

William James Glackens, Wickford Harbor, RI.

The May American painting auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s revealed that market to be about six months behind the contemporary downturn–and results weren’t pretty. Read my take from The Art Newspaper:

Prices for 18th- to mid-20th-century…

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Dealer Uses Email Campaign to Sell Discount Blakelock

Blakelock for sale.

Blakelock for sale.

Louis M. Salerno, owner of the Upper East side Questroyal Fine Art, LLC is taking a new tack in art selling with an unusual “Dear Collector” email he circulated this week offering Ralph Albert Blacklock’s caramel-hued “Indian Encampment at Twilight,” which he describes as “fabulous” and “with all of the most desirable elements, including figures, teepees, and a moody palette.” Salerno discloses he received the painting “in trade,” for another artwork. The asking price is $75,000.

Salerno reveals that the painting is “strikingly similar” to a Blacklock in his own collection which he acquired for $125,000 two years ago.

“The price…

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Print Dealer Arader Sells $3.25 mil at Sotheby’s in Botanicals and Birds

Rare print and map dealer W. Graham Arader III failed to circumvent the recession on June 19 at Sotheby’s in New York.

His single-owner sale, including  Audubon bird prints and antique maps, fetched $3.25 million, with forty-four percent of 204 lots…

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