The last-chance syndrome accounts for the otherwise inexplicable performance of some works of art observed on the auction scene from New York to Paris as the economic outlook kept darkening last fall.

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The credit crisis is a “catastrophe” for Vienna’s Albertina , which has lost more than 2 million euros ($2.7 million) in support over the past few weeks, the museum’s director Klaus Albrecht Schroeder told the Art Newspaper.

J. Ezra Merkin, a New York financier tied to Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme, is hearing from collectors interested in buying his dozen Mark Rothko paintings with a value of about $150 million, according to his art adviser. Although the...

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- ING Groep NV , the biggest Dutch financial-services company that is selling art for the first time since it started its collection in 1974, will keep buying works to maintain the quality.

He is a child of Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe who has risen to become a leading light of Britain's art establishment. But Sir Norman Rosenthal, the former exhibitions secretary of the Royal Academy, has risked alienating the Jewish community by speaking out against returning Nazi art plunder to the descendants of their owners.

The Wynwood and Design Art Districts are debuting their first exhibitions of the year during Saturday's Gallery Walk. Opening receptions are from 7 to 10 p.m.

Lampasas Art Club members met at the Lampasas Art Gallery for the December meeting, which included a luncheon and Christmas gift exchange. End-of-the-year reports were given by committee chairmen. Members continue to display paintings in several city banks and expressed their appreciation for th...

PEPPERELL -- Lawrence Library on Main Street is holding the opening of its Mauricio Puente exhibit in its Art Gallery tomorrow. The exhibit runs through Feb. 7. An opening reception will be held in the library's Art Gallery tomorrow, from noon to 2 p.