LONDON (Reuters) – Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky’s expressionist masterpiece “Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909″ was the highlight and leading indicator for a flat Christie’s London Impressionist and modern art sale on Tuesday.

The painting fell short of its top estimate and a record for the artist at auction when it sold for just more than $21 million, the world’s largest auctioneers said on Tuesday.

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) – The ex-wife of a Nigerian oil
tycoon won a landmark divorce settlement battle in the UK’s
Supreme Court on Wednesday in a closely watched case that had
raised concerns about the accessibility of corporate assets in
wealthy divorces.

Family law practitioners and wealth managers were watching
to see how the court could issue a fair judgment without
piercing the legal “corporate veil” which treats companies and
their shareholders as separate entities.

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) – Auctioneers are pinning their
hopes on “uber-collectors” to help London summer art sales top
last year’s $1 billion total when the series kicks off later
this month.

Estimates from Christie’s, Sotheby’s and smaller
rivals such as Phillips and Bonhams for sales over the next few
weeks in the British capital show that the paintings, sculptures
and furniture under the hammer are on course to defy a sluggish
global economy again this year.

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) – The American novelist A.M. Homes
beat double Man Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel to the 2013
Women’s Prize for Fiction on Wednesday with a tale of murder,
sibling rivalry, adultery and absolution.

Homes’s “May We Be Forgiven”, which follows a violent change
in the lives of a historian and his high-flying younger brother,
secured the 30,000 pound ($45,900) award for Homes despite
bookmakers heavily favouring a triple sweep for Mantel’s
bestselling “Bring Up the Bodies”, already winner of the Booker
and Costa awards.

LONDON, May 31 (Reuters) – A rare glimpse into the mind of
one of the 20th century’s greatest writers will go up for sale
in July when a manuscript for Samuel Beckett’s first novel hits
the auction block.

Six exercise books filled with the Irish-born Nobel
laureate’s handwritten notes for “Murphy” alongside drawings and
doodles will be the highlight of Sotheby’s English Literature
and History Sale on July 10.

LONDON (Reuters) – Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky’s expressionist masterpiece “Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909″ will take centerstage at the London Impressionist and Modern art sale held by Christie’s next month, the auction house said on Thursday.

The early 20th century artist’s vibrantly colored painting of a knight on horseback is expected to fetch as much as 16 million pounds ($24.19 million) less than a year after a similar painting set a $23 million record for Kandinsky’s work.

LONDON (Reuters) – American short story writer Lydia Davis won the fifth Man Booker International Prize for fiction on Wednesday for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published.

Davis – who has only written one novel – beat out a shortlist of 10 contenders for the 60,000 pound ($90,800) prize that included two authors banned in their home countries, the youngest ever nominee and one shortlisted for the second time.

LONDON (Reuters) – American short story writer Lydia Davis won the fifth Man Booker International Prize for fiction on Wednesday for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published.

Davis – who has only written one novel – beat out a shortlist of 10 contenders for the 60,000 pound ($90,800) prize that included two authors banned in their home countries, the youngest ever nominee and one shortlisted for the second time.

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – Some spectators at London’s
Chelsea Flower Show wouldn’t be caught dead with one in the boot
of their Bentley, but garden gnomes have turned up at the show’s
100th edition this year, for charity.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which runs Chelsea in
the grounds of the Christopher Wren-built Royal Hospital
Chelsea, has lifted a ban on the ceramic figures with floppy
hats and beards in order to raise funds for an RHS charity that
supports the use of gardens in schools.

LONDON (Reuters) – An invitation from the White House robbed Emeli Sande on Thursday of the chance to celebrate the latest mark of her success in an unstoppable rise to the front ranks of British female singers.

The Scottish singer-songwriter’s “Next To Me” single won both the best song and most performed work categories at Britain’s 58th Ivor Novello awards for songwriting, putting her on a par with some of Britain’s biggest music names.