The Swiss government is investing over $2 million to aid museums in determining the ownership of artworks that may have been stolen by Nazis during WWII. “Switzerland is one of the first countries that offers financial assistance for provenance research,” said spokesperson Anne Weibel. (more…)
The Art Institute of Chicago has received a cash bequest of thirty-five million dollars from Dorothy Braude Edinburg, the largest single donation of money to the school in its history. The money will be used to build the school’s collection of Asian art, and to acquire new paintings and drawings. “We will use this incredible funding to carry Dorothy’s vision forward—to inspire, educate, and delight future generations through the collection and presentation of exceptional art,” says Art Institute president Douglas Druick. (more…)
David Zwirner is reportedly looking for exhibition space in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reports. “A couple of years ago, we thought we would just come to the art fair. Now, I’m convinced we need a gallery here,” he said. (more…)
The Art News reports from the early days of the Knoedler Gallery trial, noting early testimony and opening arguments from both sides, including an interesting piece of evidence that director Ann Freedman had allegedly traded an authentic Rothko from her personal collection to fraudulent dealer Glafira Rosales for a fake one, and kept it hung in her apartment for 15 years. (more…)
MoMA has scaled back its ambitious expansion plans for its museum, the New York Times reports, abandoning the “art bay” entrance that would have allowed direct access to galleries from the street, and the fourth floor performance space. “The goal is to be larger and clearer,” says Ann Temkin, chief curator of paintings and sculpture. “You think these two things might be opposed, but we’re going for both. As you travel through the building, the relationship among galleries is more evident, and the choices for places to go are more obvious.” (more…)
An article in Art Newspaper this week notes a gradual cooling of the art market, but also points to an increasingly competitive market for Modern pieces, as seen in last year’s record-setting sales by Picasso, Gauguin and Modigliani. “Throughout last year we saw increasingly high sell-through rates in the middle market across categories, including post-war and Impressionist and Modern,” says Christie’s CFO Stephen Brooks. “Christie’s is just as much about a $15m Warhol as a £15,000 chandelier sold in South Kensington.” (more…)
Ai Weiwei has created a series of new works for Paris department store Le Bon Marché, showing a body of work inspired by traditional Chinese “Shan Hai Jing” children’s stories. “This casualness of urban culture is very appealing: It’s not like being in a museum, in a white box — it’s part of a metropolitan landscape — and the people, or audience, are not artgoers,” the artist says. “People experience the art as they go about their day and something unconsciously happens.” (more…)
Marianne Boesky’s temporary project gallery uptown will close its doors this year after a six-year run. The space had been intended as a five year “experiment” by the gallery, but “I loved it so much we signed on for another year,” Boesky said. (more…)
The New York Times takes a look inside the Hebrew Home senior center in Riverdale, which has built a remarkable collection of art from Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Marc Chagall and Alex Katz, among others. “Art is an integral part of life here,” says curator Emily O’Leary. “Because many of them can’t go out to museums,” she said, “the idea was to bring the museum to them.” (more…)
The New York Times takes a look inside 347 West 20th Street, the former home of Louise Bourgeois that has been converted into a museum documenting the artist’s rigorous studio practice. “It has a heart and a soul. People are very moved when they come here,” says former assistant Jerry Gorovoy. (more…)
A selection of previously unpublished diaries by Eric Allden, a close friend of Francis Bacon’s, who writes on the artist’s early years. “His people live in Ireland, County Kildare, and he told me that when he was 16 he ran away to Paris, but was brought back, though soon after he was permitted to return there,” Allden writes in one passage. (more…)
The Venice Biennale has announced Christine Macel as the Director of the 57th edition of the Italian art exhibition. Macel, currently the Chief Curator at the Musée national d’art moderne, has worked with Venice in curated the French and Belgian pavilions in past years. “Her experience in the Department of “Création contemporaine et prospective” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris has long offered her a vantage point rich in potential from which to observe and identify new energies coming from various parts of the world,” says Biennale President Paolo Baratta. (more…)
The art forgery lawsuit between the family of Sotheby’s Chairman Domenico De Sole and Knoedler Gallery’s Ann Freedman is set to begin this week over the sale of a counterfeit Mark Rothko. “Banking on their unblemished and impeccable reputations, Knoedler and Freedman fraudulently warranted that the work was an authentic Rothko, when they knew or should have known otherwise, lied about their knowledge of the work’s provenance, and hid the true facts,” writes the De Soles lawyer. (more…)
Barcelona gallery Mayoral is bringing a replica of Joan Miró’s studio to the 2016 Armory Show, placing the artist’s work in the context of his creative process. “The Studio offered Miró a suitable working environment,” says the artist’s grandson Joan Punyet Miró. “When he closed the door behind him he knew he was cutting all contact with the outside world and entering into his imaginary universe.” (more…)
Artist Cai Guo-Qiang is set to premiere his documentary Sky Ladder at Sundance this week, documenting the artist’s magnum opus performed in 2014. “His story is not just that of a Chinese artist becoming successful and going international,” says producer Wendi Murdoch. “His is a story that reflects the changes in China over the past 15 years.” (more…)
The ICA in London is embarking on a mission to find and help develop the future of the British avant-garde, led by Director Gregor Muir, known for his early championing of the YBA’s. “If we are looking for something radical, it is not always about shocking people. It is about being more pernicious, about getting under people’s skin,” he says. “Finding a real sub-culture is more important now than just calling something the new ‘avant-garde’. We need to hear a voice from cultures that are not represented well elsewhere.” (more…)
The Hammer Museum has announced its artist list for the 2016 edition of Made in L.A., its biennial event, featuring a list of 26 artists ranging from Dena Yago and Martine Syms to Sterling Ruby and designer Eckhaus Latta. (more…)
Collector and hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen has taken out another large loan using his own collection as collateral, evidence that he may be planning another considerable purchase in the coming auction sales. Cohen sold his Andy Warhol Mao last November for $47 million. (more…)
Sotheby’s announced a fourth quarter loss this week, noting that it would scrap its year end dividend in favor of a stock buyback. The loss was caused in part by charges for a previous buyback, and by the sizable guarantees made to secure the Taubman collection sale last year, which failed to live up to estimates. (more…)
The City of Dresden has bought back Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Strassenbild vor dem Friseurladen, a work which was seized by Nazis as “degenerate art” from Dresden City Art Gallery almost 80 years ago. “The acquisition of Kirchner’s work has a special significance for Dresden,” says Hilke Wagner, the director of the Albertinum museum, which will show the painting. (more…)
While some warn of a potential bubble burst, auction houses remain confident in Asia, pushing Chinese buyers in particular as a strong bet in the upcoming sales, particularly as new collectors expand their tastes. “They go within one year from general purchases to sophisticated purchases, such as Surrealism and Max Ernst,” says Giovanna Bertazzoni, Christie’s deputy chairman and senior director of global auctions. (more…)
One in five UK Museums has been forced to make partial closures in the past year, or will do so in 2016, Artforum reports. “We know from previous research that funding cuts are changing the way museums are managed with many forced to cut jobs, introduce admission charges, reduce opening hours and cut back on other services,” says Museums Association director Sharon Heal. (more…)
The Judd Foundation and David Zwirner have announced a plan to publish an expansive collection of Donald Judd’s writings and criticism, part of an effort to extend the artist’s intellectual legacy. “In order to understand Don and his work you have to put things together, you have to look at furniture, architecture, art and everything else all at once,” says the artist’s son Flavin, who alse serves as co-president of the Judd Foundation. The writings are part of that, and with this book people will finally have access to what Don was thinking as he developed his work and his life – the writings interweave his activities. We are very excited to be getting this out and, plus, we just like books.” (more…)