Damien Hirst’s earliest painting goes on sale

Damien Hirst’s most recent work, a bejewelled skull called For The Love Of God, sold last year for £50m. So how much will his acrylic painting of a dying crow fetch at auction? The little-known work is possibly the oldest surviving piece by Hirst. He produced it when he was 18. Its owner – a … Read more

Animal artwork a source of zoo revenue

Brittany wields her paintbrush with confidence, slapping it roughly against the canvas to produce streaks of green or smears of orange. With apparent pride, she steps back, inspects her work — and extends her trunk to receive a freshly loaded paintbrush. Brittany, an African elephant, is doing her small part to pay her way at … Read more

Warhol Overtakes Picasso as Hottest Traded Artist in 2007, Artprice Says

April 1 (Bloomberg) — Andy Warhol has overtaken Picasso as the world’s most actively traded artist, said the French-based art-market database, Artprice, in its annual report on trends. Warhol led the 2007 table of the world’s 500 most auctioned artists with $422.3 million in sales, more than doubling the year-earlier $199.6 million, Artprice said…. Read … Read more

£5m surprise as lost Jean-Antoine Watteau masterpiece reappears

An 18th-century masterpiece long presumed to have been destroyed has been found languishing in the corner of an English country house. The whereabouts of La Surprise, by the French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau, has been a mystery for almost 200 years. Its existence was … Read full story by Dalya Alberge in the Times Online

Best of Brit Art up for auction

Early prints by some of the best-known proponents of Brit Art are to be sold at Christie’s in London on April 3 when the influential Paragon Press, founded in 1986 by Charles Booth-Clibborn, hopes to raise more than £500,000 to enable it to move to larger premises. The 120 prints will include works by Anish … Read more