A conflicting report in the Wall Street Journal notes that the buyer of the da Vinci piece last month at Christie’s is actually Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, noting that another prince served as a proxy buyer for the work.  The news comes as the Louvre Abu Dhabi has claimed that it will be showing the piece in its museum. (more…)

A new amendment to the Republican tax bill would strike artist residences from qualifying low-income housing. Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican senior senator from Kansas, changed language in the bill shortly before it was signed this past week. (more…)

Galerie Balice Hertling has opened a second space in Paris at 239 Rue Saint-Martin, only a few blocks from the Centre Pompidou. Art consultant Sibylle Rochat has also joined the gallery as a partner. (more…)

The buyer of the $450 Million Leonardo da Vinci has been identified as Saudi prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, the New York Times reports. The news comes shortly after an announcement by the Louvre Abu Dhabi that the painting was coming to the institution.  (more…)

A proposed $50 million Rothko Pavilion at the Portland Art Museum is steps closer to reality, after the museum raised over half of its funds for the expansion. “What sealed it for me was, they have a chance to be one of the most accessible art museums on the West Coast,” says City Commissioner Nick Fish. (more…)

Major wildfires in Los Angeles have prompted the shut-down of the Skirball museum and Getty museum, CNN reports.  The massive fires are producing so much smoke that they can be seen from space, and have left acres of forest and homes ravaged.   (more…)

Material Art Fair is moving locations next year to Frontón México, an Art Deco building that signals the fair’s growing scale and influence during Mexico City Art Week. “There’s a lot more work that needs to be done here, not only in terms of continuing to strengthen the fair but also in terms of strengthening Mexico City’s contemporary art community in general,” says co-founder Brett Schultz. (more…)

Collector Jorge Pérez has accused Miami-Dade County of slashing the budget for his namesake museum after it launched an exhibition of Cuban art. “They could have taken the money from other museums on an equal basis,” he says. “They only took it from PAMM. This was definitely an orchestrated move and it was punishment for our show.” (more…)

Responding to a petition, The Met has stated that it will not removed a Balthus painting from view at the museum, one which features the artist’s young sitter with her underwear exposed. “Moments such as this provide an opportunity for conversation, and visual art is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past and the present and encouraging the continuing evolution of existing culture through informed discussion and respect for creative expression,” the museum says. (more…)

The Ford Foundation has given Los Angeles’s Hammer Museum a $200,000 grant to support public programming, which will be used in part to upgrade its tech infrastructure. “We are eager now to share our equally impactful public programs with the wider audience they deserve,” says director Ann Philbin. “By investing in a critical pillar of our activities, Ford is giving us the ability to strengthen our infrastructure, share this important work more broadly, and realize the full potential of our public programs.” (more…)

Artist Lubaina Himid has become the oldest artist to win the Turner Prize, announced today in Hull. “I won it for all the times where we put our heads above the parapet,” she says, “we tried to do things, we failed, people died in the meantime … for all the black women who never did win it even though they had been shortlisted … it feels good for that reason.” (more…)

Vincent Honoré, senior curator for the Hayward Gallery in London, will organize an entire edition of the Independent Art Fair in Brussels, including commissioned presentations by galleries and institutions, and an expanded talks program. “Vincent brings a strong vision and track record of exhibitions that go beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar format,” says fair founder Elizabeth Dee. “We’re looking forward to delivering a truly unique context for future art experiences.” (more…)

As reports of the Sackler family, whose fortune is tied tightly to the sale of OxyContin, donations to various art museums and institutions, the New York Times asks if it might be necessary for museums to vet their donation funds. “We regularly assess our funding activities to ensure best practice,” says Zoë Franklin, a spokeswoman for the Victoria and Albert Museum. “The Sackler family continue to be an important and valuable donor to the V & A and we are grateful for their ongoing support.” (more…)

Steven A. Olsen has been named as the next vice president, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Art News reports. “I am very much looking forward to working for an arts organization with such an enormous impact here in Los Angeles and worldwide,” Olsen said in a statement. (more…)

The UK Creative Economies are growing at twice the speed of the rest of the economy, a new study shows. “Britain’s creative industries play an essential role shaping how we are seen around the world but as these new statistics show they are also a vital part of the economy,” says Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley. (more…)

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s current work and growing market value is profiled in Bloomberg this week, exploring how the artist’s paintings have expanded in value in recent months.  “She’s an extraordinary painter,” says Tamsen Greene, a senior director at Jack Shainman gallery. “She’s made her own, unique style, but she uses this classic, incredibly formal visual language that draws people in.” (more…)

Peter Doig’s work is spotlighted in the New Yorker this week, as the artist discusses his studio practice and approach to painting.  “I am trying to create something that is questionable, something that is difficult, if not impossible, to put into words,” Doig says. (more…)

Jewish Museum curator Jens Hoffman has been suspended from his post at the institution after sexual harassment allegations were brought forward by museum staff members late last week. “A number of Jewish Museum staff members came forward on November 30, 2017, with allegations of sexual harassment by Jens Hoffmann during his tenure at the Museum,” a statement reads. “In light of this information, we have suspended all current projects with him while we review the allegations.” (more…)

The Guggenheim Museum will collaborate with architect Rem Koolhaas to research “nonurban areas of the Earth.” “The fact that more than 50 percent of the world’s population now lives in cities has become an excuse to ignore the countryside,” Koolhaas says. “I have long been fascinated by the transformation of the city, but since looking at the countryside more closely in recent years, I have been surprised by the intensity of change taking place there.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper looks at Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan, and notes how its restrictions on deductions for charity giving and middle class tax deductions could affect the art world, which certain changes to the tax code would make them “almost impossible for people to use,” says Andrew Finch, the director of policy at the Association of Art Museum Directors. (more…)

During a speech in Burkina Faso, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron laid out a new plan in which he says France will distance itself from its colonial past in Africa, including a call for African art in European museums to return to the continent. “I’m from a generation that doesn’t tell Africa what to do: I have come to listen,” Macron says. “France has a historical link to Africa, Africa is engraved in French history, culture and identity. There were faults and crimes, there were happy moments, but our responsibility is to not be trapped in the past.” (more…)

Calvin Klein has entered into a four-year agreement with the Andy Warhol Foundation that will allow the fashion company to license Warhol’s art across its collections, Vogue reports. “I’ve come to realize that Warhol’s genius goes much deeper than cheerful Campbell’s Soup paintings,” says creative officer Raf Simons. “He captured all sides of the American experience, including sometimes its darker sides. Warhol’s art tells more truths about this country than you can find almost anywhere else.” (more…)

The New York Times speculates on the broader impacts of Leonardo da Vinci’s astronomical auction record of $450.3 million, examining possible movements its price may cause among the upper echelons of the market, and how sales strategies might change. “It probably wouldn’t have made that much in a 19th-century sale,” says Wendy Goldsmith, an art adviser based in London.  “We’ll probably end up with ‘best of the best’ sales, with complete cross-fertilization.” (more…)

A civil court in Florence this week ruled against a tourist agency, ordering it to remove images of the Michelangelo’s Statue of David because of copyright infringement.  Claiming that Galleria dell’Accademia holds exclusive rights to license and distribute images of the statue.  “Now many other museums who have been victims of the plague of tickets sold at inflated prices can take this path to defeat this scam,” says gallery director Cecilie Hollberg. (more…)