Lawyers for dealer Mary Boone, the veteran art dealer facing potential prison time for tax evasion have asked that the judge grant leniency based on her traumatic childhood. “Behind the facade of success and strength lies a fragile and, at times, broken individual,” the lawyers wrote in the filing. (more…)

The British Museum is planning a major retrospective of the print works of Edvard Munch, Art Newspaper reports, making it the UK’s largest exhibition of Munch prints for nearly 50 years. The show will be held in collaboration with the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. (more…)

The Italian Government will block a loan of works by Leonardo da Vinci to the Louvre for an exhibition dedicated to the artist, underscoring the government’s populist turn. “Leonardo is Italian; he only died in France, says Lucia Borgonzoni, the undersecretary for the Italian ministry of culture. “Giving the Louvre all those paintings would mean putting Italy on the margins of a great cultural event.” (more…)

The US Supreme Court will not hear a case over the return of paintings from the Hungarian Government seized during World War II. The family of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog will continue to pursue a case in the United States against three museums and a university in the country. (more…)

Artadia and the Marciano Art Foundation will join together for the Marciano Artadia Award, a $25,000 annual prize for a Los Angeles–based artist.  “Artadia is thrilled to partner with the Marciano Art Foundation. We share a common goal of supporting the diverse Los Angeles artistic ecosystem,” Artadia’s executive director, Carolyn Ramo says. “As L.A. increasingly becomes a city for artists, we are pleased to be recognizing and providing vital funds and validation to the talent found here.” (more…)

The Architectural Digest this week profiles the recent push by Miami’s Aventura Mall to become a major site to view art, with works by Lawrence Weiner and Carsten Höller on view . “We feel we’ve invested wisely,” real-estate developer Jackie Soffer says of the property’s collection.  (more…)

As it celebrates its 200th Birthday this year, Madrid’s Prado Museum and director Miguel Falomir Faus look back on the history and mandate of the institution this week in Art Newspaper, particularly in the years before it earned a degree of autonomy from the Spanish state. “The Prado was sometimes a weapon,” Falomir says, “used by one political party against the other” (more…)

Sean Kelly Gallery in New York has added four new partners; Cecile Panzieri as senior partner and Janine Cirincione, Lauren Kelly and Thomas Kelly (the latter two are his children) as partners. “I’ve built the business to the point where I felt it was a good idea to bring partners in who have a vested interest in furthering the business,” Kelly himself said in a statement. “Two of the newly appointed partners are my children, but all of them are my professional family. I could not be more proud to have such distinguished Partners.” (more…)

The Guardian profiles a recent project by artist Emma Stibbon, whose work documents the results of climate change on landscapes previously depicted by famed landscape artists like JMW Turner. “When we think of the Alps,” she says, “we think of iconic white peaks. By the end of this century, there probably won’t be any snow.” (more…)

A protest in Paris by the Yellow Vests group led the Musée d’Orsay to close early on Saturday, Art News reports. The closures were caused by fierce clashes between protestors and police, which threatened passerby and visitors to the museum. (more…)

The Stedelijk Museum has issued a cryptic statement that it had come to an agreement with former director Beatrix Ruf “to leave the past behind.” Ruf will not return to her position, but “may however, be invited to be involved in a specific exhibition or in other museum projects, under the responsibility of a future, as yet unappointed, artistic director.” (more…)

Fashion and art collective Vaquera has been tapped by MoMA PS1 for one of its Sunday Sessions this year in Queens. “When MoMA asked us to do a Sunday Session, we were excited to do something new that would allow us to collaborate with a large group of non-fashion creatives. A free-form play seemed perfect,” the group said in a statement. (more…)

rchThe Guardian looks at the growing field of “research architecture,” and how its practitioners are redefining the line between art and architectural practice. “There’s this idea of really working as detectives,” says Lorenzo Pezzani, a professor at Goldsmith College’s Centre for Forensic Architecture.  (more…)

The increasing attention to African-American modernism has led to increased efforts at counterfeiting the work of artists like Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas and more. “It’s a whole generation: you could go from A to Z through the list, from Charles Alston to Charles White. I am seeing fakes attributed to all of them,” dealer Michael Rosenfeld says.“You simply can’t go back to the source any more, and there is only a handful of people who worked first-hand with a lot of these artists while they were alive,” he says.  (more…)

Christie’s will sell a series of works from the collection of dealer Richard L. Feigen this spring, Art Newspaper reports. Many of the works are expected to achieve record prices for the artists on sale. “Feigen has made countless and startling discoveries throughout his career and continues to champion the field of Old Masters,” says Francois de Poortere, head of Christie’s Old Masters department. “It is an honor to be offering several of his most cherished paintings.” (more…)

Hirshhorn Museum Board Chair Daniel Sallick has commented on the closure of the Smithsonian during the shutdown as a look at a “life without some of our essential culture.” “The lesson we kept returning to at the end of the day is that the public wants and needs our government to work,” he says.  “And that applies no less to government-sponsored cultural institutions.” (more…)

The 60-foot tall demon statue centerpiece from Damien Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable has been sold to the Palms Casino, Art News reports. While the sale price was not disclosed, the piece’s price tag in Venice was $14 million.  (more…)

The settlement of a lawsuit over the paintings of filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman has cleared the way for a major retrospective at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin in November. “We don’t know Derek Jarman the painter, but that was his primary practice,” says Sean Kissane, the curator at IMMA.  (more…)

Phillips is planning to add a selling exhibition of African American artists to its calendar this winter, featuring work by Fred Wilson and Kehinde Wiley, among others.  “It gives proper recognition to these extraordinary artists of the mid-20th and early 21st centuries alongside their contemporaries,” says Arnold Lehman. (more…)

Lauren Wittels has been named a partner at Luhring Augustine, promoted up from her position as the gallery’s senior director. “Lauren’s contribution to the gallery program and her dedication to the artists and clients of the gallery certainly warrants such well-deserved recognition, and we congratulate her and look forward to many more fruitful years of collaboration,” says Roland Augustine, a co-owner of the gallery.  (more…)

Artist Nicola L., known for her feminist practice in sculpture, videos, and performances, has passed away at the age of 81.  Curator Ruba Katrib confirmed her passing.  “Nicola was dedicated to art and politics, never concerned with prescriptive modes of making,” Katrib said. “She embedded her singular vision into hybrid-forms of sculpture, painting, clothing, performance, furniture, and early interactive pieces, while also making films and writing plays.” (more…)

The Louvre has shattered all ticket office records last year with more than 10 million people viewing its collection, the result of foreign tourists and an added bump in visits following the release of a Beyoncé music video filmed at the museum.  (more…)

The Chinese nation’s persecution of its Uyghur peoples has led to a number of artists being imprisoned.  “So many have been taken away,” says Tahir Hamut, a Uyghur poet and film-maker who escaped to the US. “Most of the more famous cultural figures have all been arrested. Their families won’t say for certain, because their families are afraid.” (more…)

The latest victim of the US Government shutdown, the National Gallery of Art has shuttered, one day after the Smithsonian network of musuems, which includes the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden closed due to lack of funds. (more…)