The week in art

Shepard Fairey, the graffiti artist whose Obama Hope poster became the face of Obama's presidential campaign, was sued this week by the Associated Press, owners of the original photograph on which Fairey's artwork was based. Fairey filed a preemptive lawsuit against AP last month, claiming he had changed the image so dramatically it didn't violate copyright law. It'll be up to the court to decide whether Fairey's portrait is classed as an original work in its own right, or a copy made without permission Photograph: Mannie Garcia/AP

It seems not all collectors have been laid low by the credit crunch. This was the scene at the opening night of the Affordable Art Fair at London's Battersea Park on Thursday. Organisers reported record sales of almost £500,000 in the first four hours, with 3,000 visitors in attendance. It may not be trillions of dollars - the clue's in the "affordable" bit, we suppose - but it warms the heart nonetheless. The fair runs until Sunday Photograph: PR

US photographer Gregory Crewsdon's Beneath the Roses series is among the work being exhibited at Format 09, Derby's international photography festival. The festival opened this week, boasting a stellar roster including David Lynch, Martin Parr, Brian Griffin and the Magnum agency, alongside emerging talents. The central hub of the festival is Derby's new £11m arts centre, QUAD. It runs until 5 April Photograph: PR

In the week that Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to swindling billions of dollars out of investors, no buyer stepped forward to purchase a creepy 7ft portrait by Yan Pei Ming, which was displayed by gallerist David Zwirner at the New York Armory show. Funny, that Photograph: Yan Pei-Ming. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York

Dutch police have recovered eight paintings including a Renoir, a Pissarro and a work by Jan Brueghel (pictured), 22 years after they were stolen from a Maastricht gallery. Some of the works had been damaged after being folded. So how were the culprits caught? By trying to sell the artworks to the insurance company that had paid out €2.27 million (£2m) when they went missing Photograph: Ruben Schipper/EPA

The London wing of international mega-gallery Haunch of Venison unveiled its first show at its temporary home, 6 Burlington Gardens (part of the Royal Academy), this week. The group exhibition, Mythologies, nods to the building's previous role as the Museum of Mankind, which housed the British Museum’s ethnographic collections. Works by 40 international artists including Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Damien Hirst, Bill Viola, Sophie Calle, Tony Cragg and Heather and Ivan Morison (pictured) are on show until 26 April. The gallery is based here for three years while its main home is refurbished Photograph: Peter Mallet/Courtesy Haunch of Venison

A desk belonging to Lord Lucan was sold by London auctioneers Bonhams on Wednesday for £13,200. A private British buyer bid twice its estimated price of £5,000-£7,000, no doubt fuelled by its mystery-fuelled provenance. The Victorian piece, made by Edward Holmes Baldock, sat in the family home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, London, from which Lord Lucan disappeared after the murder of his nanny Sandra Rivett in 1974 Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA