christies arnold joan saltzman fernand leger picasso matisse 1234756050

Christie’s will sell over 70 works from the collection of Arnold and Joan Saltzman during its fall marquee sales in November, with a group estimate exceeding $70 million. The modern art collection includes pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Edvard Munch, František Kupka, Robert Delaunay, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore. The top lot is Léger’s 1914 painting *Composition (Nature Morte)*, estimated around $20 million, from his celebrated 'Contraste de formes' series. Other highlights include Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture *Reclining Woman: Elbow* (1981), estimated at $9–12 million, and Henri Matisse’s *Femme au chapeau fleuri* (1923), estimated around $10 million. The collection, built over 60 years, will be featured in Christie’s 20th century evening sale on November 17 and day sales on November 18.

leonard lauder cubist obituary 2657181

Leonard A. Lauder, the billionaire art collector, philanthropist, and cosmetics magnate, has died at age 92. Lauder helped grow his mother Estée Lauder's namesake business into a global cosmetics empire, serving as president, CEO, and chairman. He was also one of the most significant art philanthropists of his era, donating a Cubist art collection valued at over $1 billion—including 78 works by Picasso, Braque, Léger, and Gris—to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014, later expanded with additional works and funding for the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art. He also made the largest gift in Whitney Museum history in 2008, worth $131 million, and amassed a collection of 130,000 historic postcards promised to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

larry gagosian bookhampton summer reading

Larry Gagosian, the world-renowned art dealer, has purchased BookHampton, an independent bookstore in East Hampton, after its original owner put it up for sale last fall. In an interview for CULTURED's new column "Required Reading," Gagosian discusses his reading habits, his plans to maintain the store as a community hub while expanding its art and design offerings, and shares his personal summer reading list, which includes biographies of Douglas Cooper and Albert Barnes.

Comment | Perhaps artists do have only ‘ten good years’—but they can happen at any time in their career

The article reflects on the idea that artists may have only 'ten good years' of peak creativity, prompted by a visit to the exhibition "Anselm Kiefer: Early Works" at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The author contrasts the young Kiefer's deft, emotionally intimate works from 1969–1982 with his later, more grandiose output, arguing that Kiefer's early period surpasses anything he has achieved since. The piece also revisits critic Douglas Cooper's harsh dismissal of late Picasso and former Tate director Alan Bowness's theory of artistic prime.

The Burlington Magazine - No. 1477 Vol. CLXVIII - April 2026

The Burlington Magazine - n°1477 vol CLXVIII - April 2026

The April 2026 issue of The Burlington Magazine presents a wealth of new scholarship, highlighted by significant discoveries regarding the 'Rainbow' portrait of Queen Elizabeth I and a previously unpublished portrait of Sarah Churchill by Godfrey Kneller. The edition spans centuries of art history, featuring research on 18th-century color theorist Mary Gartside, the pottery windows of William Bell Scott, and newly identified drawings by Marcellus Laroon the Younger.