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Sotheby’s

4 By Adrianne Jeffries 12/21/11 12:21pm

seasons greetings

Mr. Ruprecht?

Teamsters: Sotheby’s Is Killing Christmas

So far the art workers and their supporters have tried pranks, picket lines, an Occupy Wall Street alliance, a legal appeal to the National Labor Relations Board, and traditional negotiations, all to no avail. But perhaps a Christmas card will do the trick.

Sotheby's has yet to let its locked-out workers back in after more than four months off the job due to disagreements over their union contract. So now the workers of the Local 814, the Teamsters union that includes art handlers at Sotheby's high-end auctionhouse, have launched an email campaign comparing Sotheby's CEO William Ruprecht to Scrooge and claiming the Teamsters have no money to care for their Tiny Tims. The catalyst? The locked-out workers are on the verge of losing their health insurance. Read More

By The Editors 12/07/11 7:42am

Opening Shot

Kermit and his environmentalist, anticapitalist, socialist friends.

High Tension

What is it about the preholiday season that winds everyone tighter than the postsurgery forehead of a Real Housewife? We’re trying to stay out of the drama as all of New York lets fly a seeming year’s worth of unaired grievances this week. Read More

6 By Adrianne Jeffries 11/10/11 12:44am

Confrontations

sothebys ows

Class War? Occupy Wall Street, Unions Protest at Sotheby’s–8 Arrested [VIDEO]

You could hear them a block away; their whistles and chants preceded them. About a hundred protesters stood outside Sotheby's at the beginning of the auction house's contemporary evening sale, the last important art sale of the year. "We're fired up! Won't take it no more!" The crowd outside Sotheby's was made up of N.Y.P.D., the auction house's security, students from Hunter College, union members and Scabby, the oversize balloon rat who never seems to miss a strike, as well as a Scabby-sized balloon fat cat who squeezed a cigar in one paw and a union worker in the other. Picketers hoisted cutouts of the heads of Sotheby's COO and CEO at the ends of long poles. Read More

By Drew Grant 10/18/11 12:57pm

Occupy Wall Street

Video

Watch out, Sotheby's! OWS is coming to your house!

Occupy Wall Street Sneaks Into Sotheby’s Gala [Video]









Disclosure: We were sent this video by someone with obvious sympathies and ties to the Occupy Wall Street movement. This video has been edited.

While some of Occupy Wall Street's protests have focused on picketing outside Sotheby's and disrupting art auctions since the establishment locked out its art handlers who were part of local Teamsters Local 814, a new form of occupation involves actually going to Sotheby's parties and trying to get rich people to belittle the movement.
Read More

1 By Andrew Russeth 9/21/11 8:43am

Art

"1949-A-No. 1'' (1949) by Clyfford Still, is the highest estimated of the four paintings and may sell for fetch between $25 million and $35 million. (Photo: Sotheby's)

With Just Four Clyfford Still Paintings, Sotheby’s Could Net $70 Million in November

Prepping for its Nov. 9 contemporary art evening sale, Sotheby's has released details of the four Clyfford Still paintings that it will sell on behalf of Denver, which is home to the Still Museum, which will open in November. The works are expected to fetch between about $50 million and $70 million, well more than the $25 million that the museum has said it wants to raise for its endowment. Read More

8 By Andrew Russeth 8/30/11 5:49pm

Art

Roy Lichtenstein's "Prop for a Film"

Passed at Phillips, Roy Lichtenstein ‘Prop’ Moves to Sotheby’s

Less than 18 months after it failed to find a buyer during an evening sale at Phillips de Pury & Company in London, a gigantic, unusual Roy Lichtenstein piece will be offered by Sotheby's New York, on Sept. 22, with a far lower estimate.

When it hit the block at Phillips in June 2010, the 8-foot-long acrylic on board work, called Prop for a Film (1969), was tagged with a £500,000 to £700,000 estimate, or about $754,000 to $1.05 million at the time of the sale. This time, it's expected to sell for a comparatively modest $400,000 to $600,000. Read More

3 By Dan Duray 8/11/11 7:59pm

Art

Sotheby's To Auction Joe DiMaggio's 1936 Yankees Uniform

Sotheby’s Walks Away From Union Negotiations

Negotiations between Sotheby’s and the Teamsters Local 814, which represents the auction house’s 43 art union art handlers, fell through yesterday when representatives for Sotheby’s walked away from the bargaining table some two and a half hours after the talks began. According to Local 814 President Jason Ide, the meeting consisted of a review of Read More


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