Hartley Waltman will serve as general counsel of the Americas for Phillips auction house, Art News reports. CEO Edward Dolman says Waltman “brings with him considerable expertise, sharp judgement, and a long track record of successfully negotiating high value art transactions and resolving complex disputes.” (more…)

Christie’s will offer a 1913 work by Fernand Léger from the artist’s influential “contrastes des formes,” series this June in London, carrying an estimate of £25 million. “[The] contrastes des forms changed the direction of art as we know it,” says Jason Carey, Christie’s head of impressionist and modern art in London. With this series, executed between 1912 and 1914, Léger went beyond the Cubists and Futurists of the time by “completely deconstructing representation,” Carey says. (more…)

The New York Times has a piece this week on budget woes at the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion-Winning Lithuanian Pavilion, which have caused performances of the “beach opera” to be cut back to once a week. “Going into the vernissage week, we didn’t have enough money to guarantee us until the end of the Biennale, even performing once a week,” said curator Lucia Pietroiusti. (more…)

The State Hermitage Museum is exploring a possible outpost in Saudi Arabia, Art Newspaper reports. The Museum is also looking to expand its footprint in the Crimea.  (more…)

The Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities has stated intent to recover thousands of antiquities from the United States, including “5,500 artifacts from the Hobby Lobby company and 10,000 clay figurines from Cornell University as well as artifacts from the University of Pennsylvania.” (more…)

Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first head of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, will serve as the next secretary of the entire Smithsonian, the NYT reports. “I want to help it transform America,” he said. (more…)

Sharis Alexandrian has joined Lévy Gorvy as its new senior director, following a seven-year run as director at White Cube. “What really drew me to Sharis is her fierce loyalty to the collectors and the clients she works with,” Lévy says. “She has their best interests at heart in a way that can at times mean fighting the gallery for the client, and I really appreciate that.” (more…)

The recently expanded Glenstone Museum, founded by the Rales family, gets a profile in Washington Post this month, examining its claims of public accessibility and vision of a new public art museum.  (more…)

Marianne Boesky Gallery has tapped Bradford Waywell as senior director of sales and acquisitions, starting in September. “His keen eye and wide-ranging relationships with collectors, curators, and artists are incredible assets,” Boesky says. “With my vision to grow equally the gallery’s primary and secondary market business, I know Brad’s experience will prove invaluable.” (more…)

A Swiss court has ruled that a $123 Million Da Vinci will not have to return to Italy over import disputes, noting that the illegal import/export of a cultural good is “only if the object in question” can be found “corresponding Italian inventory, which is not the case.”  (more…)

Swiss-based MCH Group, which owns Art Basel, has sold its 25% stake in Art Dusseldorf to Sandy Angus and Tim Etchells of ArtHK, Art Newspaper reports. “It’s about giving a broader context to Art Düsseldorf through our contacts in Asia, but at the same time we are hoping to build a rapport with more German galleries, which might lead them into our Asian and other fairs,” Angus says. “Building confidence and relationships with galleries is key.” (more…)

Staff at the Louvre went on a daylong strike this past Monday, forcing the museum to close.  The protest was over insufficient support for staff in the face of the museum’s massive number of daily visitors. “Due to a strike by reception and security staff linked to high visitor numbers, the Louvre will exceptionally be closed on Monday,” the museum said on Twitter. (more…)

A piece in The Guardian this week reports that the Louvre is not pursuing the Salvator Mundi for inclusion in a major Leonardo da Vinci show this year, as museum curators do not believe the work can be solely attributed to the artist.“If they did exhibit it … they would want to exhibit it as ‘workshop,’ says art historian and writer Ben Lewis. “If that’s the case, it will be very unlikely that it will be shown, because the owner can’t possibly lend it … the value will go down to somewhere north of $1.5m (£1.2m).” (more…)

A piece in The Guardian this week charts the damage caused by neglect and looting at many of Italy’s cultural and historical sites. “Anywhere else in the world, this site would have been transformed into a museum, attracting millions of visitors. And instead, there it is, a 6th-century BC treasure falling apart before our eyes,” says said Mimmo Macaluso, an EU researcher speaking of one site in San Marco. (more…)

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has hired Carla Acevedo-Yates as its new curator, Art News reports. “The MCA consistently features the most relevant contemporary voices of our time, and I look forward to contributing to that legacy,” Acevedo-Yates said in a statement. “Chicago is a vibrant city with a rich and diverse cultural history, and I am excited to connect with the many communities that the museum serves.” (more…)

John Waters‘s art collection gets a profile in the NYT this week, as he tours the paper through his apartment and talks about his vision for collecting. “It has to sometimes, at first, make me angry,” he says. “It has to delight me and surprise me and kind of like, put me off a little bit at first, and then I embrace it. The kind of art I like is the one that makes people angry, that hate contemporary art — the ones that easily fall for the bait of it. I always go to that first.” (more…)

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery has added Chinese artist Wong Ping to its roster of artists. The artist was recently included in the 2018 New Museum Triennial and in the exhibition One Hand Clapping, a survey of work by emerging Chinese artists held at the Guggenheim Museum. (more…)

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a ruling allowing the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, meaning that the museum will retain possession of two masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder that were looted by the Nazis. “We are pleased that the US Supreme Court denied plaintiff’s petition for review and finally put an end to this lawsuit. The unanimous decision of the Ninth Circuit is now final, confirming that the Norton Simon Art Foundation has proper title to these paintings,” the museum said in a statement.  (more…)

Nate Lowman has joined David Zwirner, Art News reports. “The gallery is excited to represent Nate Lowman, an artist whose career I have been following with interest for many years,” Zwirner said in a statement. “His critical engagement with contemporary culture as much as with art history is evident in his strikingly relevant works.” (more…)

A piece in Art News notes the increased pace of acquisition of artists and artists’ estates by Hauser & Wirth of late, and looks at the sizes and purported earnings of each of the mega-galleries. “Gagosian was reputed to gross the most: roughly $1 billion a year,” says writer Michael Shnayerson. “The others were said to be closer to $250 million each, but claimed to do better.” (more…)

Administrative workers and cinema staff at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York are trying to unionize, Artforum reports. “We are here because we believe in BAM’s mission,” the new union’s Twitter account posted last month. “Through unionization, we raise our morale, pride, and job satisfaction. Our union will make BAM stronger, more democratic, and more sustainable. BAM is a cultural institution that stands for freedom of expression, innovation, and open dialogue. However, as administrative staff, we need a truly powerful voice of our own in our workplace.” (more…)

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has given a $1.7 million gift to PBS, Art News reports. “This initiative raises the visibility of artists working across the U.S., north to south and east to west, in cities large and small,”says Victoria Rogers, the Knight Foundation’s vice president for arts. “Through its iconic national programming and expanded digital presence, PBS NewsHour’s Canvas elevates art as national news, bringing arts directly to millions of people on their screens big and small.” (more…)

Kim Gordon, Zenas Hutcheson, Glenn Ligon, Olivia Marciano and Conor O’Neil have been named to the board of the nonprofit art space LAXART in Los Angeles. “I’m simply giddy—humbled, honored, inspired all at once. These new members heighten our dynamism,” Hamza Walker, LAXART’s director, said in a statement. “Whereas Gordon and Ligon are seminal figures (read rock stars) in the field of contemporary art, Hutcheson, Marciano, and O’Neil mark a new generation of cultural stewardship. They join an already outstanding slate of directors who are our primary supporters and advocates.”” (more…)

Artists Cheng Ran and Cameron Rowland have been awarded the newly launched Nomura Emerging Artist Award, with each of them receiving $100,000.  “It is extraordinary and admirable that Nomura has based this award program on the concepts of change and challenge,” Kathy Halbreich, a member of the prize’s jury and the executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation said. “For the Nomura Emerging Artist Award, the jury has responded by selecting two artists of high purpose, exceptional intellectual ambition, and profound sensitivity to the fast-moving currents of today’s world.” (more…)