Links from here and there

In France, art as "a political public relations exercise for the prime minister"?

At Christie's, world records were established for 12 artists. At Sotheby's, bidders dropped sums that baffled some of today's savvy professionals.

Many collectors from mainland China came to last month's sale of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby’s, but most of the bidders in the room were New York dealers.

Via Tyler: Museum label writers don't really know what they're talking about. They're just blowing art-theory smoke.