Overdose deaths higher among Black Americans than White Americans in 2020

Drug overdose deaths among Black Americans surpassed those of White Americans in 2020 for the first time in more than 20 years, according to a new study. 

Photo by stevepb/Pixabay

March 2 (UPI) -- Deaths after drug overdoses were 16% higher among Black Americans than in White Americans in 2020, the first time this has been the case since 1999, an analysis published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open found.

Overdose death rates among Black Americans increased to 37 per 100,000 people in the general population in 2020, up from 25 per 100,000 people in 2019, the data showed.

In 2020, the overdose death rate among White Americans was 32 per 100,000 people in the general population, the researchers said.

American Indian or Alaska Native individuals experienced the highest rate of overdose death in 2020, at 41 per 100,000 people in the general population, according to the researchers.

RELATED Report: 1.2M more opioid overdose deaths expected in North America by 2029

Drug overdose rates among Hispanic or Latin Americans people were the lowest among the groups assessed, at 17 per 100,000 people in the general population, they said.

"Overdose deaths must be treated as an urgent racial justice issue," study co-author Joseph Friedman told UPI in an email.

"Long-standing inequalities in access to harm reduction, treatment for substance use disorders and access to housing and social services must be addressed," said Friedman, a social sciences researcher at the University of California-Los Angeles.

RELATED CDC: Fentanyl-related overdose deaths rose nationally during pandemic

More than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These numbers are expected to increase in the coming years, driven at least in part by the availability of drugs such as fentanyl, which carry a high overdose risk, research suggests.

"One thing we know is key is that illicit drug supply has increasingly become more toxic," Friedman said.

RELATED  More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in one year in U.S., report says

"People think they are buying heroin or pills like Oxycontin, but are actually receiving illicit synthetic opioids, whose strength can fluctuate wildly," he said.

For this study, Friedman and his colleagues compared overdose deaths by race and ethnicity in the United States as reported to the CDC between 1999 and 2020.

Much of the change in the racial and ethnic make-up of overdose deaths nationally has occurred over the past decade, the researchers said.

In 2010, for example, the overdose death rate for White Americans was 16 per 100,000 people in the general population, or about twice that of Black Americans, the data showed.

From 2019 to 2020, the overdose death rate for Black Americans increased by nearly 50%, while it rose by 40% for Hispanic or Latin Americans and by 30% for American Indian or Alaska Natives, the researchers said.

It increased by 26% among White Americans over the same period, they said.

"Percent increases in 2020 were higher than during any prior year for all race and ethnic groups assessed," Friedman said.

"This is a problem across the board, although it has disproportionately affected minority communities," he said.

Amid rising military suicide rate, lawmakers question DoD over prevention

By Catherine Buchaniec, Medill News Service

A woman and child walk between some of the American flags placed on the National Mall by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America that represent veterans and service members who died by suicide in a recent year. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON. March 3 (UPI) -- The chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee grilled Pentagon officials Wednesday about the rising suicide rate among members of the military, saying the Defense Department is not "providing the right resources at the right time or at the right place," while experts said the assessment process is flawed.

The suicide rate for active-duty service members rose to 28.7 deaths per 100,000 individuals in 2020 compared to 26.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2019, according to the Department of Defense's Annual Suicide Report.

In 2020 alone, 580 members died by suicide. Pentagon officials said they do not have suicide rates for 2021 yet.

The Department of Defense has introduced various suicide prevention initiatives over the past decade. But during Wednesday's hearing, veterans' advocates said the programs aren't making a meaningful difference in preventing deaths.

RELATED Military, veterans need better mental health services, experts tell Congress

When asked by lawmakers to explain the increased numbers, officials from the department pointed to the complicated nature of suicide and the many contributing factors that lead to death by suicide in service members and the general population.

Some lawmakers, including subcommittee Chair Jackie Speier, D-Calif., pushed back against the limited response.

"It's different in the military," Speier said. "You have control over your service members. You can query them. You can have them seek services."

Speier said that she has spoken with family members of Army soldiers who have died by suicide in Alaska, where the rate is extremely high. "In every instance, the message was clear - we are not doing enough."

"We're not providing the right resources at the right time or at the right place so that soldiers and their families can overcome the burdens that are pushing them over the edge."

Veterans' health advocates agreed, highlighting the lack of meaningful resources, especially when it comes to assessing those at risk.

RELATED Military suicides increase amid COVID-19 pandemic, Pentagon says

Craig Bryan, director of the suicide prevention program at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said part of the problem is concern that admitting to suicidal thoughts could hurt service members' careers.

For example, if people with top-secret clearances decide to seek help from a mental health professional, they typically must report their decision to their command, risking loss of the clearance or other negative career impacts, Bryan said.

"The irony in many ways is that we're encouraging people to get help, but we have policies in place that actually directly impede our ability to do that," Bryan said.

Beth Zimmer Carter, a volunteer with Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors, agreed.

While the military does conduct mental health screenings, Zimmer Carter said that answering questionnaires honestly can compromise a person's deployment, saying "it doesn't seem to be very meaningful assessment."

Zimmer Carter's son, Special Forces Army Ranger Christopher Carter, died by suicide at age 22 in 2015.

Bryan's research funded by the Department of the Defense shows similar conclusions, he said.

When conducting a study aimed at improving screening, Bryan said that he and other researchers found that expanded questioning about suicidal ideation did not meaningfully improve detection rates because the first onset of suicidal ideation occurs on the same day that the suicide is attempted.

"They're having this incredibly fast transition from a low-risk to high-risk state," Bryan said.

To screen effectively, service members would have to be asked multiple times a day if they are considering suicide to meaningfully improve detection, which is not feasible, he said.

Instead, Bryan said that military health professionals should be more strategic about what it means to screen and "move away from this obsession with suicidal ideation as the only or the most effective way to do screening."

Speier said that Congress should address ways to reduce military suicide rates when writing the National Defense Authorization Act for next year.

FROM HEROES TO ZEROES
Wages for healthcare workers lag behind all other sectors

By HealthDay News

Overall, wages increased 6.7% in 2020 and 6.9% in 2021, compared to 5% and 1.5%, respectively, for healthcare workers.

Doctor using a computer. File photo by www.BillionPhotos.com/Shutterstock

Though they're on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. healthcare workers' paychecks don't always adequately reward those efforts.

Wages for healthcare workers actually rose less than the average across all U.S. employment sectors during the first and second years of the pandemic, according to a new study that also reported a nationwide decline in the number of healthcare workers.

The research was done by investigators from Indiana University, the University of Michigan and the nonprofit Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif.

"While federal programs provided financial assistance to hospitals and institutions, it is important to focus on the effect of the pandemic on healthcare employment levels and wages, especially if we want to prevent such shortages in the future," said study co-author Christopher Whaley, a policy researcher at Rand. He spoke in an Indiana University news release.

RELATED Many dental hygienists who left work during pandemic haven't returned

For the study, the researchers analyzed federal data covering 95% of all U.S. jobs during 2020 and the first six months of 2021. Overall, wages increased 6.7% in 2020 and 6.9% in 2021, compared to 5% and 1.5%, respectively, for healthcare workers.

Meanwhile, the number of healthcare-related jobs fell from 22.2 million in 2019 to 21.1 million in mid-2020, a 5.2% drop. The largest decreases were in dental offices (10%) and skilled nursing facilities (8.4%).

While employment levels in most healthcare sectors rebounded to pre-COVID levels last year, employment at skilled nursing facilities was 13.6% lower in 2021 than in 2019.

RELATED Hospitals recruiting international nurses to fill pandemic shortages

The findings -- recently published in JAMA Health Forum -- are important for planning for and responding to ongoing and future public health crises, the researchers said.

They said though employment declines in the healthcare sector have received extensive media coverage, nationwide employment and wage evidence had been scarce.

"These findings provide a data-driven picture of employment levels by various healthcare settings and can help guide decision-making not only around the current healthcare shortage but also during a future crisis," said study co-author Kosali Simon, a professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University Bloomington.

RELATED Nurses in crisis over COVID-19 dig in for better work conditions

More information

For more about the COVID pandemic's impact on healthcare workers, visit the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

THIRD WORLD USA
COVID-19 pandemic hurts struggling child care sector, legislators are told

By Courtney Degen, Medill News Service

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated long-standing problems within the child care sector, especially the high cost that makes it inaccessible for some parents, experts told lawmakers Wednesday. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture


WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated long-standing problems within the child care sector, especially the high cost that makes it inaccessible for some parents, and the government must provide permanent support to both families and providers to resolve them, lawmakers and experts said Wednesday.

Speaking before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., emphasized that federal pandemic relief packages, like the American Rescue Plan, are only a temporary solution.

"Although pandemic-related relief programs have helped families and providers cope with the immediate effects of the coronavirus, sustained federal investment is still needed to aid recovery and address problems that existed before the pandemic," said Clyburn, who chairs the subcommittee.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly upended child care arrangements for families across the country. In June 2020, two out of three working parents had changed their child care arrangements since March, and 60% said they expected a change within the following year, according to a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

RELATED Number of U.S. children in poverty rises by 3.7M after Child Tax Credit ends

The American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law in March 2021, dedicates $39 billion to child care funding, including $24 billion for child care stabilization grants and $15 billion in discretionary funds. However, experts say that the child care industry's pre-pandemic challenges remain.

"The cost of child care, particularly high-quality child care, prior to the pandemic, made working too expensive for some parents, and yet the child care market is still far from recovering to these inadequate levels of access and affordability," Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, told the subcommittee.

The average price of child care in 2020 was $10,174 per year, a 5% increase from 2019, according to a recent report from Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit organization advocating for more accessible child care.

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Joe Biden addressed the rising cost of child care.

"My plan would cut the cost of child care in half for most families and help parents, including millions of women, who left the workforce during the pandemic because they couldn't afford child care, to be able to get back to work," Biden said.

Several experts pointed to the challenges that child care workers face, specifically their low wages. In 40 states, median child care worker wages fall below the living wage for a single adult in that state, according to a 2020 report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California-Berkeley.

RELATED White House urges millions of families to file taxes to get child tax credit payments

"Our economy relies on workers who are parents, and so many parents cannot work without reliable child care, and child care cannot work effectively until its own workforce is secure," said Lea J.E. Austin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.

Gina Forbes, an early childhood educator and parent from Brunswick, Maine, described her experience working as the director of a preschool at which keeping tuition costs low meant keeping wages low, as well.

"This lack of fair pay, inability to offer health and other benefits, and the high demands of the job is a recipe for teacher burnout, stress and sometimes turnover," Forbes said.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., criticized House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, the top Republican on the subcommittee, for focusing on what he called political motivations for lifting mask mandates across the country.

Other Republican committee members brought up similar concerns rather than discussing child care.

Experts: Russian move to hold up OneWeb launch may affect entire space industry

By Paul Brinkmann

A Soyuz MS-18 rocket launches NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei with Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy in April from Kazakhstan. 

File Photo by Bill Ingalls | License Photo


March 2 (UPI) -- Russia's invasion of Ukraine hit the space industry harder Wednesday after Russian space agency Roscosmos said it would hold up a satellite launch for a British company -- which experts say may completely shift the industry away from Russia.

OneWeb, a communications satellite company partly owned by the British government, intended to launch 36 satellites Friday on a Russian Soyuz rocket. But Roscosmos issued a statement Tuesday saying the launch was in doubt.

"Roscosmos demands guarantees OneWeb satellites not to be used [sic] for military purposes," the agency posted on Twitter. "Because of Britain's hostile stance against Russia, another condition for the March 5 launch is that the British government withdraws from OneWeb."

OneWeb currently has over 400 satellites in orbit.

The British government issued a statement Tuesday saying it may no longer make sense to launch on any Russian rockets, according to the BBC.

But there will be no negotiation regarding the launch, Kwasi Kwarteng, Britain's Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said on Twitter Tuesday.

"The UK Government is not selling its share. We are in touch with other shareholders to discuss next steps..." he tweeted.

Стартовики на Байконуре решили, что без флагов некоторых стран наша ракета будет краше выглядеть. pic.twitter.com/jG1ohimNuX— РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) March 2, 2022

The moves by Roscosmos, as it becomes increasingly isolated, could cripple the space agency even more, Todd Harrison, a director with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview.

"Russia's space industry was already in a tailspin with the loss of business from the U.S.," Harrison said. "The response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine will exacerbate problems within Russia's space sector and could ultimately cause it to implode."

"We haven't seen this kind of rapid reshuffling of the space industry since the end of the Cold War, if ever," he added.

Space companies like OneWeb now clearly see the "risk of doing business with a nation like Russia ... or nations with potentially aggressive aspirations, like China," Harrison said.

"The big winners out of this will be low-cost launch providers outside of Russia -- with SpaceX being at the front of the pack," he said.

The dissolution of space ties between Russia and the West is shocking for its pace, but not unthinkable after the U.S. response to Russia's so-called "annexation" of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014, space analyst Chris Quilty said in an email.

"OneWeb will have to decide how to launch the remaining 220 satellites of its first-generation constellation. This is a difficult time to find new launch arrangements as five of the world's seven heavy-lift vehicles are retiring and being replaced by new upgraded vehicles over the next two years," Quilty, owner of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Quilty Analytics, said.

He said Soyuz is the most-flown space rocket in human history, so moving on without it will "certainly cause some discomfort."

He said Europe already plans to develop new Ariane rockets and the Vega C rocket.

"Outside of Europe, other countries that had payloads slated to launch through Russia will likely decide between SpaceX, Arianespace, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a range of emerging launch vehicles," Quilty said.

Dmitry Rogozin, director general at Roscosmos, tweeted a video clip of workers at the Russian spaceport in Kazakhstan as they removed Japanese, British and U.S. flags from the rocket for Friday's launch.

"The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful," Rogozin said in the post, according to a translation.

NASA relies on Russia to provide vital services to the International Space Station, including thrust needed to keep the station in the proper orbit.

So far, NASA has said it doesn't believe the conflict in Ukraine will impact the space station, but other experts have said the crisis is the worst in the history of the ISS partnership of nations.

Russian attacks close Kyiv Zoo; some animals evacuated to Poland
By Doug Cunningham

March 2 (UPI) -- The main zoo in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has closed due to the invasion by Russian military forces, but zookeepers say they are still taking care of the animals there.

The Kyiv Zoo said on Facebook that it closed last week after Russian troops crossed the borders into Ukraine.

The zoo is one of the largest in the area of the former Soviet Union and is the only large zoo in the Kyiv area. It employs hundreds of workers and cares for thousands of animals.

"The war is causing terrible stress for the animals, so some of them have been moved to indoor enclosures and underground galleries," Kyiv Zoo CEO Kyrylo Trantin said in a Facebook post. "Veterinarians monitor their emotional state and, if necessary, provide a sedative."

"The care of the animals does not stop -- the zoo staff is on places 24 hours a day," the zoo added in an update earlier this week. "Animals are frightened by the loud sounds of explosions, but our veterinarians are constantly monitoring their condition."

Newsweek reported that some animals from a different zoo, the Save Wild animal sanctuary near Kyiv, have been evacuated and are headed for a sanctuary in Poland. The sanctuary, Zoo Poznan, said on its Facebook page that the animals were passing through Ukraine and "crossing roads to pass areas of intensive bombing and firing."

The Kyiv Zoo also noted that two baby goats were born this week during the Russian military attempt to advance on Kyiv.

The zoo posted a video of the newborn goats on its Facebook page and said the animals were born Sunday after a very tense night that included loud explosions until the morning.

"Nature cannot be stopped -- today two little goats were born in Kyiv Zoo," the zoo said in a Facebook post.

Extremists harass minority refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine, witnesses report

KIARA ALFONSECA and MARCUS MOORE
Wed, March 2, 2022

As Ukrainians flee across Europe amid the onslaught of attacks from Russia in Ukraine, non-white refugees have faced discrimination from extremist groups patrolling the border, reporters and residents in the area told ABC News.

On March 1, dozens of self-identified right-wing nationalists marauded through the city center of Przemysl, Poland, and harassed refugees who looked to be people of color, the witnesses said. Many non-white refugees have arrived in the city while they evacuate Ukraine.

As this humanitarian crisis goes on, many fear extremism will continue to cause trouble for refugees of color trying to escape the war.

PHOTO: Refugees wait at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, March 1, 2022, after fleeing from Ukraine. (Markus Schreiber/AP)

More than 836,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since Russian forces invaded the eastern European country on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

At least 453,000 of those refugees have escaped to Poland as of March 2, UNHCR said.

Near the Przemysl train station on Tuesday, where thousands of refugees are passing through, anyone who looked to be African or Arab were being targeted by the extremists in the attack, witnesses reported.

MORE: How to help Ukraine amid Russian attacks

Julian Würzer, a reporter for the German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost who is stationed in Poland, told ABC News that extremists aggressively shouted at refugees to get out of the country and allegedly assaulted them.

Online videos seen by ABC News show police in riot gear diffusing the incident, which Würzer said went on for about 20 minutes before police arrived.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Local authorities did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment on the incidents.

PHOTO: Ukrainian refugees arrive at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, March 2, 2022. (Miguel A. Lopes/EPA via Shutterstock)

These extremists are a minority in the country, however. There has been an overwhelming effort by local citizens to help those fleeing across the Polish-Ukrainian border. ABC News reporters on the ground say that volunteers across the region have been offering to house, feed, and clothe the many refugees.

MORE: Ukrainian refugee crisis rises to nearly 800,000

At the border, witnesses tell ABC News that extremists have reportedly been accepting Ukrainians but vowing to “defend” Poland against an influx of non-Christians. These extremists are believed by some to be backed by Russia.

Poland's government has aligned itself in recent years with right-wing ideals and has been criticized for anti-refugee sentiment. Last year, Poland refused to let thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the country after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko forcibly drove them out of his country.

PHOTO: A temporary camp set up for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland, is shown on March 2, 2022. (Lassi Lapintie/Shutterstock)

Commissioner Filippo Grandi of the UNCHR has confirmed that there have been instances of discrimination in the admission of certain refugees from Ukraine. Some third-country nationals have reported being stuck or being rejected from passage in their attempts to flee, he said.

Grandi said that state policies are not causing instances of discrimination, and that "there should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans."

"Everybody is fleeing from the same risks," Grandi said at a March 1 press conference. "We will continue to intervene, as we have done several times to try to ensure that everybody is received in the same manner."

ABC News' Tomek Rolski and Christopher Donato contributed to this report.

VIDEO
Extremists harass minority refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine, witnesses report originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Army of cyber hackers rise up to back Ukraine


Part of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is being waged online 

(AFP/ISSOUF SANOGO)

Wed, March 2, 2022

An army of volunteer hackers is rising up in cyberspace to defend Ukraine, though internet specialists are calling on geeks and other "hacktivists" to stay out of a potentially very dangerous computer war.

According to Livia Tibirna, an analyst at cyber security firm Sekoia, nearly 260,000 people have joined the "IT Army" of volunteer hackers, which was set up at the initiative of Ukraine's digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

The group, which can be accessed via the encrypted messaging service Telegram, has a list of potential targets in Russia, companies and institutions, for the hackers to target.

It's difficult to judge the effect the cyber-army is having.

The actions reported so far seem to be limited to "denial of service" (DOS) attacks, where multiple requests are sent to a website in a coordinated manner to saturate it and bring it down. Defacement actions, in which the targeted site displays a hacked page, have also been briefly observed on Russian sites.

The "cyber-army" could also ask hackers to try to identify vulnerabilities of certain Russian sites, and send that info to more seasoned specialists capable of carrying out more sophisticated intrusive actions, such as data theft or destruction, explains Clement Domingo, co-founder of the "Hackers Without Borders" group.

But he and other specialists consulted by AFP warned the hackers against participating in the activities of the "IT Army", or other cyber mavericks like Anonymous.

- 'Too much risk' -

"I strongly advise against joining these actions," says Damien Bancal, who is well-versed in the opaque world of cybercrime. "There are plenty of other ways to help Ukrainians who are suffering", if only by relaying the testimonies that are flourishing on social networks, he adds.

For SwitHak, a cybersecurity researcher, the maverick hackers are taking "too much risk".

"There are legal risks, for example," he said, Attempting to attack a website or penetrate a server or network is "computer crime".

For Domingo there is also a real risk of "hack back," a destructive counterattack by Russian operatives,

He is particularly appalled to see that a number of candidate hackers have obviously not taken the trouble to create a special Telegram account to participate in the IT Army, at the risk of being identified by the Russian side.

In cyberspace, and in particular on forums and other discussion groups on Telegram or Discord, "you don't know who's who", insists Felix Aime, another researcher at Sekoia.

Inexperienced hackers can find themselves caught up with infiltrators from the opposite camp, and end up working for the very opponent they wanted to fight, he warns.

Between the experienced hackers, who carry out ransomware attacks, the fight is on.

The Conti ransomware group, which declared its support for Russia, saw one of its pro-Ukrainian members publish more than a year's worth of its internal communications in retaliation, offering a treasure trove of information to the world's cyber security researchers, police and spy specialists.

The forums where cybercriminals meet "try to stay away from any debate" on the Russian-Ukrainian war to avoid attracting the attention of state services, says Sekoia analyst Tibirna.

lby/elc/dch/pvh/cdw

Dozens detained at anti-war rallies in Russia

Police officers detain a woman during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Saint Petersburg. (Photo: AFP/Olga Maltseva)

03 Mar 2022

MOSCOW: Dozens of anti-war demonstrators were detained in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Wednesday (Mar 2) after jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on Russians to protest President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Police in Putin's hometown of Saint Petersburg violently dispersed protesters and detained around 100 people, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

In Moscow, law enforcement closed off Red Square near the Kremlin and detained at least seven people who gathered while loudspeakers warned people from convening.

The demonstrations Wednesday came hours after Navalny called for daily rallies against the military assault, saying Russia should not be a "nation of frightened cowards" and calling Putin "an insane little tsar".

In Moscow, one woman in a red coat shouted "No war!" before being hauled off by police to a van, according to an AFP journalist.

"It pains me to see what is happening and to do nothing," a man in his fifties told AFP, before being arrested with his son, 17.

"I couldn't stay at home. This war has to be stopped," student Anton Kislov, 21, told AFP in Saint Petersburg.

Independent monitoring group OVD-Info said that more than 7,000 people in total in Russia had been detained at demonstrations over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine that began last Thursday.

Navalny, 45, led the biggest protests in Russia against Putin in recent years and was targeted in a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin in 2020.

He is now serving a prison sentence on old fraud charges outside Moscow.
Source: AFP/ec

Magritte Sets Record With $79.7 Million Sale at Sotheby’s

“L’empire des lumières” (1961), one of a series by the Surrealist, was auctioned during a bustling London art week.

Workers holding René Magritte’s “L’empire des lumières” outside the London location of Sotheby’s, whose building was decorated to resemble the painting.

Credit...C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Tristan Fewings/Getty Images


By Scott Reyburn
March 2, 2022


One of René Magritte’s famed “Empire of Light” canvases sold Wednesday for 59.4 million pounds with fees, or about $79.7 million, almost three times the auction high price at auction for a work by the Belgian Surrealist artist. Certain to raise at least $60 million, courtesy of a guaranteed minimum price financed by Sotheby’s, the 1961 painting was sought by three bidders, all represented by Sotheby’s specialists on telephones in London.

The painting, “L’empire des lumières,” which juxtaposes a nocturnal lamplit street with a serene daylit sky, is one of the most celebrated and enigmatic images in 20th-century art. Magritte painted no fewer than 17 canvases of the day-and-night subject starting in 1948.

Sotheby’s variant, one of the latest and largest, had been made for Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet, the daughter of Magritte’s friend, patron and chess opponent Pierre Crowet. It had remained in the same family collection ever since.

“Over the years, there have been numerous versions that have been sold, and they have performed extremely well,” said Melanie Clore, a co-founder of the London-based art adviser company Clore Wyndham.

She said that in terms of composition, scale and condition, this 1961 work was “one of the most desirable Magritte paintings to come to auction.”

In 2011, when Clore was working as a specialist in Impressionist and modern art at Sotheby’s, her department auctioned a 1953 version for $3.8 million, although at the time that was not among the highest prices achieved for the artist.

“L’empire des lumieres” (1961) by René Magritte.Credit...C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; via Sotheby's

The Magritte was the obvious standout lot of London’s marquee spring series of auctions this week that were devoted to big-ticket Impressionist, modern and contemporary art. But top-end sales like these at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips’s European headquarters aren’t what they once were.

With Britain’s economy diminished by Brexit and China a more powerful force in the global art market, London was the third-biggest-selling auction center in 2021, behind New York and Hong Kong, according to Pi-eX, a London-based company that analyzes international auction sales.

The hybrid live-online “evening” sales in London are now held in the afternoon, to straddle the world’s time zones, and Impressionist and contemporary artworks are no longer auctioned on separate days. Bonnard is jumbled together with Basquiat and Banksy.

“It’s a new world,” said the Paris-based dealer Christian Ogier, who regularly attends these London auctions. “Mixing the modern and the contemporary is understandable. Why not? I don’t stop at any category.”

But London, with its huge concentrations of international wealth, including Russian oligarchs with links to the Kremlin (which the British government is now trying to restrict and regulate), continues to be a magnet for buyers and sellers of big-name art trophies.

In addition to the Magritte, Sotheby’s sale also included a Monet “Nymphéas,” or waterlily canvas, painted in 1914-17, that hadn’t been seen at auction since 1978. Entered from a Japanese collection, this made $31.2 million, again bought by a telephone bidder.


“Nymphéas” (1914-17) by Claude Monet.

Credit...Sotheby's

“The Foxes” (1913) by Franz Marc.

Credit...Christie's

On Tuesday evening, Christie’s offered “The Foxes,” a market-fresh masterwork by the German Expressionist painter Franz Marc, as the headline lot of its spring London sales.

Recently returned to the heirs of the Berlin collectors Kurt and Else Grawi, “The Foxes” (1913) was one of Marc’s most powerful Cubist-influenced studies of animals. (The artist admired them more than humans.)

Guaranteed to sell for at least $47 million, it was pushed by three telephone bidders to $57.2 million, the top price of the Christie’s sale and a record for the artist at auction.

Francis Bacon’s seemingly impressive “Triptych 1986-7” was similarly estimated and guaranteed. But Bacon’s later paintings are much less sought-after than his earlier works, and the work fell to a single bid of $51.6 million, the ninth-highest auction price for the important artist.

About 90 percent of the lots at Christie’s found buyers, but Banksy’s “Happy Choppers,” a tongue-in-cheek stencil painting of helicopter gunships wearing Minnie Mouse bows, failed to sell against a low estimate of $4 million.

The Tuesday evening sales at Christie’s raised $298 million; the Wednesday evening auction of modern and contemporary works at Sotheby’s, preceded by “The Now,” took in $297.2 million. That combined total of $595 million was 39 percent down from the $971 million achieved at the equivalent London sales in February 2014, when art sales were at a high, according to Pi-eX.

Paintings by younger market favorites drew the most intense competition. After a lethargic 90-minute sale of 20 contemporary works livestreamed from Shanghai to inaugurate the company’s new offices and galleries in mainland China, Christie’s kick-started its main “20/21” sale with works by Jade Fadojutimi, Shara Hughes, Amoako Boafo and Flora Yukhnovich. “You’re going to make me blush,” a painting by Yukhnovich from 2017 inspired by Fragonard’s “The Swing,” took in $2.6 million against a low estimate of $340,000.

“Tu vas me faire rougir (You’re going to make me blush)” 

(2017) by Flora Yukhnovich.Credit...Christie's

The same names shone at Sotheby’s 21-lot “The Now” sale of works by on-trend contemporary artists. Shara Hughes’s psychedelic 2019 flower painting “The Naked Lady” sold for a record $2.7 million, and a 2020 work by Yukhnovich, “Warm, Wet N’ Wild,” soared to $3.6 million, setting an auction high for the much-sought-after British artist. It had been estimated that it would sell for $200,000.

Last year, works by artists under 40 raised a record $450 million at auction. This represented a 275 percent increase from 2020, with 8,952 works in the category offered, also a record, according to Artprice, a France-based company that tracks international salesroom results.

“It’s dangerous,” said Samuel Selby, 21, a London-based collector of contemporary pieces. “I’m worried about how the auction houses are taking works by young artists and selling them for ridiculous prices.”

“It’s going to be difficult to maintain in the long-run,” Selby added.