Despite a demonetization trend, India’s art market continues to grow, and is now valued at $223m, the Art Newspaper reports.  “Historically, India hasn’t been the easiest market to navigate, primarily on account of poorly managed processes and administrative hurdles. This, however, is evolving and has cleared a fair distance,” says Arvind Vijaymohan, the chief executive of the art advisory and data firm Artery India. (more…)

Brett Littman, head of the Drawing Center, will leave his post to lead the Noguchi Museum, Art News reports. “The museum’s commitment to the fullness and multi-disciplinary aspects of Noguchi’s vision, to his pacifism and his championing of workers rights and racial equality, to the City of New York, and to the international cultural creative community of which Isamu Noguchi was­­ such an integral part is absolutely inspiring,” Littman said in a statement.

Sotheby’s is suing a New York art collector over his failure to pay for a $6.5 million Keith Haring purchased in May 2017.  Anatole Shagalov refused to pay for the work, forcing the auction house to resell it.  Sotheby’s is now demanding the difference between the work’s sale price and Shagalov’s bid.  The collector claims he was on a payment plan for the work, which some have outright rejected. “Sotheby’s occasionally gives installment payment plans but it does that in writing and it requires the installment payments to be made,” says litigator John Cahill. “There is nothing in writing and he never made any payments.” (more…)

As the Getty begins a drive in search of new patrons, many in Los Angeles are concerned the museum may pull donors away from other institutions. “From the viewpoint of a philanthropy adviser, it’s better that donors have more opportunities,” says Scott Stover, the president of the Los Angeles-based firm Global Art Development. “But if I were working at a major museum here, such as Lacma, I would be pretty angry. There are limited funds, and it continues to be a very competitive environment.” (more…)

A federal judge has thrown out a case over the ownership of Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, leaving it in the collection the The Met. “The Met welcomes the court’s thorough and well-reasoned decision dismissing the plaintiff’s claim to Picasso’s The Actor, which has been an important part of the museum’s collection since 1952,” the museum said in a statement. (more…)

Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier has appeared for questioning in Geneva over accusations of fraud in his sale of more than $2 billion worth of artwork to Dmitry Rybolovlev, Bloomberg reports. “This is about a complaint that led nowhere in Monaco, Singapore or Bern,” says David Bitton, Bouvier’s lawyer. (more…)

Jasper Johns gets a lengthy profile in the NYT this week, as the artist prepares to open a major career retrospective at The Broad in Los Angeles.  “What Johns did was he presented a new model,” Richard Serra says of the artist. “There was an abrupt shift. It was sort of like the Beatles kicking out Elvis.” (more…)

Sotheby’s is leading its spring Impressionist and Modern Sale in London with a £14 million Pablo Picasso, Art Market Monitor reports. “This powerful portrait exemplifies Picasso’s creative force in his final years and represents the culmination of a life-long obsession,” says Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. (more…)

Barbara Jatta, the pioneering curator of the Vatican Museum in Rome, is profiled in the Art Newspaper, as she prepares to open a show of works by Andy Warhol. “These are the Pope’s museums,” Jatta says of her work with the Holy See. (more…)

Mark Grotjahn has caused a broader discussion over diversity at MOCA in LA, after the artist declined an award from the museum, citing a lack of diversity among recent honorees. “Since the day you extended your invitation to me, our country and the world have changed in ways that were difficult to anticipate.There is a new urgency to change the power dynamic and we have an opportunity to do so,” he said in a statement. (more…)

Artist Bjarne Melgaard is causing controversy in Norway over his chosen location for a new home designed by architectural firm Snohetta, which will impede on views from the home of painter Edvard Munch. “I believe this talk about the legacy of Munch is ridiculous,” Melgaard said. (more…)

Last night, during a talk in Berlin, collector Ronald Lauder presented demands that Germany address Nazi-era art theft more thoroughly. “The fact that we are still dealing with this topic is simply not acceptable,” said Lauder. “If Nazi-Germany had not stolen so much Jewish owned art in the first place, we would all be doing something else tonight.” (more…)

Jamie Fobert Architects will embark on an ambitious £35.5m renovation plan for the National Portrait Gallery in London. “This is the perfect time to work with Jamie as we take the National Portrait Gallery into one of the most exciting chapters in its history,” says director Nicholas Cullinan. (more…)

London’s Serpentine Pavilion project is expanding to Beijing, the Architect’s Journal reports. The final plans are set to be announced later this year.   (more…)

Artist Adam Pendleton has joined Galerie Max Hetzler, which will present a first show with him in 2019.  Pendleton will also continue to show with Pace and Eva Presenhuber. (more…)

Collector Roman Abramovich is included in the “Kremlin Report” a list of 220 people compiled by the U.S. Treasury that reports on influential economic and political agents in Russia. Abramovich is listed as having a net worth of about $11.2 billion. (more…)

The UK Government has placed an export bar on a JMW Turner painting under threat of leaving the country.  The piece carries an asking price of £18,533,750.  “I very much hope that it can remain in the UK, where it can be admired and appreciated by future generations for many years to come,” says arts minister Michael Ellis. (more…)

The Vatican is organizing a show of works by Andy Warhol, exploring the artist’s spiritual ties to Christianity and its iconography throughout his career. “It is very, very important for us to have a dialogue with contemporary art. We live in a world of images and the Church must be part of this conversation,” says Barbara Jatta, the director of the Vatican Museums. (more…)

In one of the more unusual stories to come out of US politics in recent months, the New York Times reports that the Guggenheim denied a request from the Trump White House for a Van Gogh painting, instead offering the divisive leader Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous gold-plated toilet. “It is, of course, extremely valuable and somewhat fragile, but we would provide all the instructions for its installation and care,” curator Nancy Spector wrote in an email to the White House. (more…)

Christo will create one of his Mastaba sculptures for London’s Hyde Park this summer, Art Newspaper reports.  The work will float on the park’s sizable lake, and corresponds with a show of the artist’s work at the Serpentine. “In parallel with this exciting exhibition, Christo hopes to create his first large-scale temporary sculpture in the UK in the middle of the Serpentine Lake. Many years in the planning, this will be funded entirely by the artist,” a Serpentine spokeswoman says. (more…)

Andreas Gursky is profiled in the New York Times this week, as the artist prepares a new body of work, and reflects on his continually evolving practice.  “I’m just interested in making images,” he says. “And, of course, you have to reinvent yourself.”  (more…)

Paddle8 is merging with The Native, a Swiss technology and e-commerce company, and will use blockchain technology in its pitch to wealthy millennial buyers. “Last year was a horrible start to the year,” founder Alexander Gilkes. “There were very many salient reasons for doing it, but we didn’t see how the events would unfold.” (more…)

Nan Goldin is confronting the makers of painkiller OxyContin, after battling a painkiller addiction that nearly killed her, condemning the Sackler family’s continued support of arts institutions around the globe. “Your own skin revolts against you,” she said. “Every part of yourself is in terrible pain.” (more…)

Cho Yoon-sun, South Korea’s former culture minister, has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in creating a blacklist of ten thousand artists whose political beliefs went against now impeached president Park Geun-hye. “It is unprecedented that the president and her aides, who are at the top of the highest powers, organized, planned and carried out such discriminatory treatment,” the court said. “There is no right or wrong in culture. . .once the government discriminates against those who think differently, it leads to totalitarianism.” (more…)