Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Happy Thursday! Here’s a round-up of who’s moving and shaking in the art trade this week.
- Thaddaeus Ropac to Open New York Project Space: The gallery also hired Emilio Steinberger as a senior director in the US. Steinberger was previously a senior partner at Lévy Gorvy Dayan.
- Hauser & Wirth Takes On Conny Maier: The German-born, Portugal-based artist joins the gallery in collaboration with Société in Berlin.
- Zippora Elders Tahalele Appointed Director of Nederlands Fotomuseum: The curator will lead the museum’s strategic and artistic direction starting April 13. She will join a dual-board leadership structure alongside a yet-to-be-appointed business director.
- Tulsa Artist Fellowship Announces 2026–28 Cohort: Ten artists and arts workers across disciplines will each receive over $230,000 in funding, housing, and resources to live and work in Tulsa as part of the program’s three-year residency.
- ADAA Appoints Four New Board Members: Elizabeth Feld, Bridget Moore, Yancey Richardson, and Melissa Timarchi join the board of the organization, which represents over 200 art galleries.
Big Number: $19.6 M.
That was the total with fees for Sotheby’s second-ever sale in Saudi Arabia. Held on Saturday, “Origins II” featured 61 lots, with a healthy mix of artists from the Kingdom, from the region, and from the West. The cumulative total was comfortably above the $11.7 million–$16.6 million presale estimate. The top result went to Pablo Picasso’s Paysage (1965), which sold for $1.6 million, well under its $2 million–$3 million estimate. The other works in the sale fared better, with Safeya Binzagr’s Coffee Shop in Madina Road selling for $2.1 million, more than ten times its $200,000 high estimate, and setting a new record for a Saudi artist