I.M. Pei, the preeminent US architect who forged a distinct brand of modern building design with his sharp lines and stark structures, has died in New York, his sons’ architecture firm said Thursday. He was 102 years old. The Chinese-born Pei was the mastermind behind the bold Louvre pyramid in Paris, the landmark 72-story Bank of China tower in Hong Kong and Athens’ Museum of Modern Art, works seen as embracing modernity tempered by a grounding in history. Pei Partnership Architects confirmed Pei’s death to AFP. The New York Times, citing Pei’s son Li Chung, said the architect had died overnight Wednesday into Thursday. In his adopted home country the United States, Pei became perhaps best known for his landmark East Building at Washington’s National Gallery of Art, deftly melding sharp modern angles with the monumental grandeur the US capital is known for. “Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history but it is not very deep

A sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons sold on Wednesday for $91.1 million at an auction organized by Christie’s in New York — a record price for a living artist. “Rabbit”, a stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit, overtook the previous record set by British painter David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)”, which sold last November at Christie’s for $90.3 million. It was a return to the top for Koons, whose “Balloon Dog (Orange)” for five years held the record for highest price reached at auction for a living artist after its 2013 sale for $58.4 million. The selling price of “Rabbit” was only $80 million, but once commissions and fees were added, the final total rose to $91.075 million. In an unusual turn for an art auction at this price range, the buyer of “Rabbit” was actually in the room during the sale. Produced by Koons in 1986, “Rabbit” is among the best-known works by the artist, who built a reputation for challenging art world conventions.

Moments ago in a packed salesroom at Sotheby’s New York, Claude Monet’s Meules from 1890 — one of art history’s most evocative images – sold for $110.7 million. The result marks a new world auction record for any work by Claude Monet and the first work of Impressionist art to cross the $100 million threshold at auction. Meules is one of only four works from Monet’s acclaimed Haystacks series to come to auction this century, and one of only eight examples remaining in private hands. The other 17 examples reside in distinguished museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris and six in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Meules is further distinguished by its illustrious provenance, having been acquired by wealthy Chicago socialites and fervent collectors of Impressionist works, Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer, directly from Monet’s deal