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The Headlines




THE AUCTION BLOCK.   Epiris , the private equity firm that owns  Bonhams , has tapped  JPMorgan Chase & Co.   to advise on a possible sale  of the auction house,  Bloomberg  reports. How much could the London-based firm go for? Epiris, which is also located in the capital city, is said to be floating a valuation of $1 billion. Bonhams, which was founded in 1793, went on an international acquisition spree last year, snapping up  Bruun Rasmussen  in Denmark,  Bukowskis  in Sweden, and  Skinner  in Massachusetts, as  ARTnews   reported . Epiris has held the veteran auctioneer since 2018.




GAME ON!  With the  Philadelphia Eagles  set to play the  Kansas City Chiefs  in the  Super Bowl  on Sunday, the directors of their hometown art museums—the  Philadelphia Museum of Art  and the  Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art —have placed a big bet on the game. The stakes:  The loser will have to send a delegation with the loan of a “master work”  (to be named later) to the winner. In a press release about the wager, the museum directors talked a bit of (exceedingly polite) trash.  Julián Zugazagoitia , who leads the Nelson-Atkins, predicted that the Chiefs will “make short work of the Eagles,” and that his staff will make sure the visitors “taste the best of our Kansas City barbeque.” The PMA’s  Sasha Suda , for her part, said that she expects the Eagles to “soar to victory,” with her colleagues offering the Missourians some “unforgettable cheesesteaks.” Do not mess with museum directors! Good luck to all the competitors.




The Digest




A filing by  Damien Hirst ’s company  Science (UK)  reveals that in 2020 he sold more than £8 million ($9.62 million at the current exchange rate) worth of art to benefit the United Kingdom’s  National Health Service .  [The Art Newspaper]




Big-league art collectors  Craig Robins  and  Jackie Soffer  have listed their Miami Beach home for a cool $45 million. It’s a Spanish-style residence from the 1940s with 9,000 square feet and a very special feature: a futuristic-looking bathroom that was designed by the late  Zaha Hadid .  [Architectural Digest  and  The Wall Street Journal]




The  Hyde Collection —a jewel of an art museum in Glen Galls, New York—has named  John Lefner  to be its CEO. Lerner, who is currently the Hyde Collection’s chief operations and development officer, is succeeding  Norman Dascher Jr. , who will retire May 1.  [The Post-Star]




Bree Pickering  has been tapped to lead Australia’s  National Portrait Gallery . Pickering comes to the Canberra organization from the  Murray Art Museum Albury , where she became director in 2016. Earlier in her career she directed the  Vox Populi  art space in Philadelphia.  [AFR]




Art and design from the estate of  Hustler  founder and free-speech advocate  Larry Flynt  will be offered by the  Abell  auction house on Thursday. The lots include Tiffany-style lamps, hunting scenes, and a great deal more.  [Abell]




Artist  Ugo Rondinone  has put together a show at the  Museum of Art and History  in Geneva, Switzerland, that sets his work alongside more than 300 pieces from its collection. Turn-of-the-century artists  Ferdinand Hodler  and  Félix Vallotton  are focal points in the exhibition, which includes rooms hidden behind a “magic door” that opens automatically.  [Financial Times]




The Kicker




THE GOLDEN EYE.  Actor and painter  Pierce Brosnan  is the host of a delightful-sounding new series on the  History Channel  called  History’s Greatest Heists,  which will cover the notorious 1990 theft of paintings from the  Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum  in Boston. The former 007  gave an interview  to  Channel Guide  magazine about the show, and offered some candid thoughts about its subject. “We like to see people break the law, try and steal things, trying to steal money,” he said, adding later, “Some of these guys were just off-the-planet kind of crazy and also brilliant. Just brilliant. It takes balls to go out there and do what they do.” The show premieres today.  [Channel Guide]