Christie’s 252

Art stories to feed the mind and soul



‘Haven’t you created enough scandal?’ — letters that chart Enrico Caruso’s riotous love life



Top art-world documentaries — if you can’t get out, here are the best films you can stream now


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From Moscow to Cape Town to Cairo: more art events we hope to see around the world in 2021



From the archive: Wolfgang Joop on why buying at auction is ‘intimate, almost sexual’



Riley, Hepworth, Nicholson, Spencer… the passions of post-war specialist André Zlattinger



The fabulous beasts and ancient motifs that make David Webb’s jewels a must for movie stars


More stories

Editor’s picks





Viewed individually, each of these earrings by jeweller Michele della Valle — in white gold set with circular-cut rubies — takes the form of an organic, floral curve. Placed side by side, they make the perfect love token, just in time for Valentine’s Day

Estimate: €1,000-1,500
until 3 February, Online






In the work of Zhao Shao’ang, birds often take centre stage; but the crane flying off to the left in Lion Rock, 1949, has more of a supporting role. The rest of the image, a study of Hong Kong’s mountainous landscape, is a masterpiece of atmospheric perspective

Estimate: HK$20,000-30,000
until 5 February, Online






As a committed Communist, the Italian sculptor Leoncillo created many heroic images of workers in the post-war years. The glazed terracotta trio in Typists, 1949-50, are accorded the dignity of monumental sculptures, with the figure in the middle resembling a Madonna

Estimate: €40,000-60,000
until 10 February, Online






Jean Cortot combined text with paint in most of his work, often using verses from poets he admired, including Paul Valéry and T.S. Eliot. Babylone, 1995, takes a poem by Philippe Delaveau and enhances the words with rainbow-like tiers of colour in gouache

Estimate: €1,200-1,800
until 11 February, Online










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Enrico Caruso, New York, circa 1915. Photo: Bain News Service, the Library of Congress // Tracey Rose, Lucie’s Fur Version 1:1:1 — The Messenger, 2003. Lambda photograph, 80 x 60 cm. Courtesy the artist and Dan Gunn, London / Sophia-Al Maria, Mirror Cookie, 2018. Age of You, MOCA Toronto / Doug Aitken, NEW ERA, 2018, installation view, 303 Gallery, New York, 2018, courtesy of the artist; 303 Gallery, New York, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles © the artist. Photograph: John Berens // Wolfgang Joop photographed by Inge Prader © Wolfgang Joop // André Zlattinger. Photograph by Dan Wilton. Artworks: Julian Cooper, Light patch, 2000 courtesy the artist and Art Space Gallery, London. John Duncan Fergusson, Nude, circa 1914-1916. Copyright Perth & Kinross Council / Ben Nicholson, O.M. (1894-1982), 1939 (composition), 1939. Estimate: £250,000-350,000. Offered in the Modern British Art Evening Sale on 1 March at Christie’s in London. Artwork: © Angela Verren Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS 2021 / Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), Three Round Forms, 1971. Estimate: £200,000-300,000. Offered in the Modern British Art Evening Sale on 1 March at Christie’s in London. Artwork: © Bowness