— Sotheby’s Will Auction Taubman’s $500M Collection: Sotheby’s has beat out Christie’s for the rights to auction the 500-plus piece, $500 million collection of Sotheby’s infamous former chairman A. Alfred Taubman, who passed away in April. It is reportedly the most valuable private collection ever auctioned. “It was very, very close,” said Taubman family spokesman Christopher Tennyson, regarding the venue decision. “Both houses made very strong presentations.” The collection will go up in four sales in November and January — the first on November 4, the same week as Christie’s headlining $100 million Modigliani sale. Featured works include Picasso’s “Femme Assise sur une Chaise,” 1938; de Kooning’s 1976 “Untitled XXI”; and (fittingly) Modigliani’s “Portrait de Paulette Jourdain,” 1919, all estimated at $25-35 million. [NYT, WSJ, WP, BBC, FT, Bloomberg, TAN, NYO]
— PAMM Names New Director Franklin Sirmans: Franklin Sirmans, current LACMA contemporary art curator and department head, will be the new director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). “He is clearly a rock star in the contemporary art world,” said PAMM trustee Dennis Scholl. Before joining LACMA, Sirmans curated modern and contemporary art at Houston’s Menil Collection Sirmans, and also served as an independent curator at institutions like the Brooklyn Museum and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Recently, he curated the third Prospect biennial in New Orleans (more coverage here). “It’s really fascinating how Miami has become not only an international center for commerce, but an international center for ideas,” Sirmans said. “In terms of talking about the art of our time, from the 20th and 21st centuries, PAMM is going to be the focal point for that conversation. We have the opportunity to think about certain artists — particularly from Latin America — that other places might not put a premium on.” He officially begins his tenure on October 15. [NYT, LAT]
— British Government’s Art Trove Revealed: A state-owned collection of art, property of none other than the British federal government and its various local government institutions, has been revealed to be worth $5.3 billion — even though most people don’t know what’s in the massive collection. Only 3 percent of the collection is on view at any given time, meaning that items like LS Lowry’s “Lancashire Fair: Good Friday, Daisy Nook” are rarely seen save for when loaned to museums. While the most valuable object in the collection — armor for field and tournament that was owned by Henry VIII and is worth $81.5 million — is on view at the Royal Armories, millions of pieces owned by the government are in storage or only on view in state offices. [BBC]
— Brugnara Probably Won’t Get a New Trial: Art fraudster extraordinaire Luke Brugnara, convicted of two counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of making false declarations to the court, escape, and contempt, is unlikely to get a new trial. Though his new legal team argued in a San Francisco court that the de Kooning paintings central to the trial had no value, and that a new trial should therefore be in order, the judge disagreed — even though the value of the art will affect the length of his sentence. [Courthouse News Service]
— eBay Adds Phillips to Live-Auction Platform: Following in the footsteps of Sotheby’s, Phillips auction house is joining eBay to live-stream its auctions on the Internet sales platform. The first Phillips auction to have an eBay presence will be the “New Now” sale of contemporary art on September 17. Buyers will be able to bid online, as well as on site in NYC. [AMM]
— “Notoriously Opaque” Art Market Faces Greater Scrutiny: At yesterday’s annual Art Business Conference in London, expert Michael Martin, who heads forensic and anti-money laundering services at Deloitte Luxembourg, observed that “art is one of the asset classes that obviously lends itself to money laundering.” European financial regulators are starting to clamp down on the art market to make it more transparent: it came up at the conference that the head of the Swiss Money Laundering Reporting Office called for “real regulation of the art market” in June. [Globe and Mail]
— “If dust is found in those portraits, you’re subject to pay a fine — the thicker the dust is the more you have to pay,” said Je Son-lee, a North Korean defector, offering one of many noteworthy facts about the required and omnipresent portraits of the country’s former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. [Guardian]
— More from your favorite ongoing Nazi treasure train story: today, the two men who claim to have found the legendary train went on TV to present their evidence, as Polish soldiers arrived to check out the site. [Telegraph]
— John Baldessari and Meredith Monk will be among the recipients of the 2014 National Medals of Arts (see also: Stephen King and Sally Field), to be presented at a White House ceremony September 10. Meanwhile, Philippe Parreno will be honored at the Sculpture Center’s November 4 gala. (“Can I come in a T-shirt, or do I have to get a tie?” he asked, upon learning the reception would be held at the Rainbow Room.) [LAT, ARTnews, NYT]
