YSL Auction Controversy

Yves Saint Laurent's love affair with art AFP — In 1965 Yves Saint Laurent stunned the fashion world with his Mondrian collection. Only a designer of his genius and artistic sensitivity could have seen the potential for flattering a woman's shape in the grids of black lines framing bright primary colours which are the Dutch abstract painter's hallmark. The Mondrian shifts were just the first manifestation of Saint Laurent's lifelong love affair with art, reflected in the collection amassed with his partner and right-hand man Pierre Berge, which is being dispersed by auction at the Grand Palais next week. click to read complete article

Paris court rejects China's Saint Laurent art claim Reuters — A Paris court rejected a bid to block the sale of two bronze sculptures claimed by China that are to be auctioned with the art collection of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, a court official said on Monday. APACE, an association representing Chinese cultural and heritage interests, filed an appeal to have the sale blocked but the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris rejected it, an official at the Paris court told Reuters. click to read complete article

Art World's Stimulus Package: Matisse, Mondrian, Not Picasso Wall Street Journal — Amid a grim economic environment, the art market let out a sigh of relief Monday as Christie's in Paris successfully auctioned $264 million of Impressionist and modern artworks collected by the late designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. The evening sale in Paris surpassed its presale high estimate of $232 million, a reassuring result indicating that the world's billionaires are willing to compete for blue-chip artworks that they consider a bargain. Nobody wanted the collection's priciest painting, a moody Cubist Picasso estimated to sell for at least $32 million. But records were broken for seven other artists, including Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp and Constantin Brancusi. click to read complete article