Westerners and Easterners Alike Flock to Art Basel In Hong Kong

Art Basel in Hong Kong, formerly known as Art HK, is the place to go for East-meets-West-style work like Wu Di's Plaything (2013). The painting shows a monkey-headed human figure in Western Renaissance garb on the end of a leash held by a human-headed monkey, all against a background of old master-style gold leaf.

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Christie's Sells Nearly Half a Billion Dollars of Contemporary Art

Christie's contemporary art sale last night achieved the highest total in auction history at $495 million. Records were set for Pollock, Lichtenstein, Basquiat, Manzoni, Tuymans, Cornell, Hofmann, Guston, Noland, Mehretu, Serra and Ruth Asawa in a two-hour sale in a buzzing, packed room in which 94 percent of artworks offered found buyers among an exceptionally active field of telephone and in-room bidders. Read More

Newman, Richter and Klein Make Records at Sotheby's

Works by Barnett Newman, Gerhard Richter and Yves Klein led a $294-million contemporary art sale at Sotheby's New York last night, each setting an auction record. At $37.1 million, the Richter set an auction record for any living artist. After fevered bidding on some early lots, including works by Cy Twombly, John Currin and George Condo that benefited the Whitney Museum, however, the room cooled off. Read More

Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's Aim to Save the Planet

Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's New York raised $38.8 million at an auction last night to benefit the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which intends to raise ecological awareness and preserve the environment. The sale had been estimated to net upwards of $15 million. Every work on offer found a buyer among bidders from 32 countries.
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