The week in art news: hackers demand $20M ransom for Christie’s data, Sotheby’s global chairman jumps ship, George Rouy joins Hauser & Wirth and more…

$20M ransom for Christie’s data: RansomHub, a malware and extortion group, claimed responsibility for the “technical incident” that resulted in Christie’s website and app being taken offline for 10 days during the spring auctions. According to the group, around 2GB of customer data, representing 500,000 individuals was stolen and is being ransomed back to Christie’s. If the ransom isn’t paid by Monday 3rd June, the data will be released, opening up the victims to fraudsters, scammers and rivals. RansomHub is a relatively new player on the hacking scene; the group first appeared in February and already have a number of high-profile attacks to their name. In a statement Edward Lewine, vice president of communications at Christie’s said, “the group behind the incident took some limited amount of personal data relating to some of our clients,” and that, “there is no evidence that any financial or transactional records were compromised.”

Damien Hirst dating drama: more works backdated. An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that around 1,000 paintings from Hirst’s series The Currency were actually made between 2018-19 while being labelled 2016. The paintings were sold in 2021 and available either as physical products or NFTs. As Hirst’s lawyers previously pointed out, there are no laws covering the dating of artworks, and artists are often inconsistent in dating their works… but come on.

Marc Camille Chaimowicz dies, aged 78. Chaimowicz was born in 1946 in Paris and moved with his family to London when he was eight years old, and remained in the city for the rest of his life. Chaimowicz had a wide ranging practice that included painting, sculpture, performance, photography, fashion and design. He was represented in the UK by Cabinet Gallery, who announced his death on Thursday 23rd May.

Brooke Lampley leaves Sotheby’s for Gagosian. Lampley has an impressive CV: she was previously the global chairman and head of global fine art at the auction house and was directly responsible for bringing in some of the most valuable collections. Before Sotheby’s, she headed Christie’s Impressionist and modern team. She’ll join Larry and the go-gang as a senior director. Lampley gave a statement saying, “after 20 years of auctions, I am excited to experience another side of the art world, and to learn from the very best.”

George Rouy joins Hauser & Wirth. The 29-year-old Kent-based painter is now the youngest artist in the mega gallery’s lineup. His representation by Hauser & Wirth comes shortly after Rouy’s work was featured in their Somerset group show, ‘Present Tense’. Rouy will continue to be represented by Hannah Barry Gallery, who first exhibited his work in 2017. Rouy’s first exhibition with Hauser & Wirth will take place this October.

A second unflattering royal portrait has hit the timelines: the painting of Catherine, Princess of Wales, FKA Kate Middleton, features on the cover of July’s issue of Tatler magazine. The work, by British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor, is intended to show the “strength and dignity” of the princess in her recent cancer diagnosis. Critics disagreed. Alastair Sooke, art critic at the Telegraph, described the work as “intolerably bad,” while Kate Mansey, royal editor of the Times, wrote on X, “I’m not quite sure what to say about this one, except, hmm…” We agree.

Bringing home the Bacon: Spanish Police recover Francis Bacon’s stolen portrait of José Capelo. The painting, which shows the young Spanish banker who “infatuated” Bacon in his late years, was stolen in 2015 from Capelo’s Madrid home along with four other works. The five works were valued at $27M, while the portrait alone is estimated to be worth $5.4M. Three works were recovered in 2017, this work, Study for Portrait of José Capelo (1989) was recovered last Thursday from a property in Madrid.

Lost Caravaggio arrives at the Prado. The painting of Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate, created in the 1600s around the end of the artist’s life, was misattributed for nearly two centuries. It was rediscovered in 2021, when it was listed for sale at just €1,500. Experts suspected it was mislabeled, and soon authenticated the work as a genuine Caravaggio. The painting was restored and was reportedly sold to a private buyer for €36M. It will now go on display at the Prado, Madrid, until October.

Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car revealed. The project commissions contemporary artists to decorate the latest BMW models. Mehretu is the 20th artist to take part since the project began in 1975. Previous artists include Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Mehretu’s design for the 2024 M Hybrid V8 draws on her painting Everywhen (2021-23). The car will race at Le Mans this June. It’s the first time BMW has entered the 24 hour endurance race since its historic 1999 win.

Court records reveal businessman Ronald Perelman sold nearly $1B worth of art to repay debts. Perelman used to be a big spender at Gagosian before the Covid pandemic wiped the value of his share holdings. Between 2020 and 2022, Perelman sold 71 artworks worth $963M through private sales and auctions at Sotheby’s. This included works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Cy Twombly, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso and more.

David Hockney catalogue raisonné announced. The academic catalogue will cover every single work created by the artist, around 35,000 in total. The project will be overseen by Hockney, his assistants and trustees of the David Hockney Foundation. Researchers, academics and writers will also contribute to the catalogue. The first volume will cover paintings and is expected to be digitally published in 2026. However, it might take up to 20 years to finish the entire catalogue.

Ai Weiwei announces first US retrospective in ten years. ‘Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei’ will open at the Seattle Art Museum in March 2025. Museum curator Foong Ping said that the exhibition will focus on Ai’s art of the 1980s and ‘90s as well as his later political activism. Ai’s last US retrospective was held in 2012 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC.

Artists come together for Studio Voltaire’s big 3-0: artists including Cecily Brown, Nairy Baghramian, Andrew Cranston, Sanya Kantarovsky, France-Lise McGurn, Jake Grewal and Cathy Wilkes have all donated major works to be sold at auction in aid of Studio Voltaire. Over the past three decades, the not-for-profit London studio has provided affordable working spaces for artists in the city.