Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will award the first eponymous Woman of Leadership Award to collector and activist Agnes Gund. “To be compared to Justice Ginsburg is so extraordinary and an overwhelming honor,” Gund said in a statement. “I have worked most of my life to ensure that access to art should be a right, not a privilege because it can open minds and inspire dreams.” (more…)

Collector Ella Fontanals-Cisneros has called off a donation of 400 works from her massive collection to the Spanish state after a series of confrontations with minister of culture and sports, José Guirao. “What I perceived was a refusal to continue with the project,” she says. “It surprised me coming from a person like José Guirao, with knowledge in fine arts.” (more…)

Frieze LA’s Projects section gets a profile in the FT this week, showcasing its focus on engaging large-scale works. “You can present works that typically would not fit within a gallery booth or within the confines of a tent,” says curator Rita Gonzalez. (more…)

The Volta Art Fair is relaunching this year after a year off in 2019, Art News reports. “It truly is an exhilarating time,” says Kamiar Maleki, the art fair’s new director. “We have focused the exhibitor list on a strong and diverse 50-plus galleries and have loosened up the solo-project mandate to offer participants greater liberty to stage their presentations as they would do so at their home galleries.” (more…)

Art Eric Doeringer will be selling a miniature bootleg version of a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting in the collection of the Broad Museum at the Felix art fair this week, asking for $1,000.  The work is part of a series of bootlegs drawn from the museum collection. (more…)

Julie Curtiss has joined White Cube, and will show with the gallery alongside her NYC gallery Anton Kern.  Curtiss has seen her star on the rise in recent years after strong auction performances and a well-received solo show in New York. (more…)

Barbara Kruger will launch a major museum survey at the Art Institute of Chicago this November. “Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.” is set to run at the Art Institute of Chicago through February 14, 2021, then travel to MoMA PS1 and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, thento London’s Hayward Gallery and LACMA. (more…)

The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art has postponed a number of shows at cornoavirus fears continue to mount. “UCCA would like to thank all the artists, journalists, friends of the institution, and other stakeholders who have had to reschedule travel plans and visits to our museums due to this unexpected situation,” a museum statement reads. “We hope to see you soon, and thank you for your understanding and additional support during this trying time. UCCA sends its care and concern to those affected by the virus, and expresses our sincere gratitude to the medical staff and emergency response teams selflessly working to ensure public health.” (more…)

After much back and forth over whether or not Art Basel Hong Kong would attempt to continue in the face of the coronavirus outbreak in China, parent company MCH Group announced today that the 2020 edition of ABHK is cancelled.  “Our thoughts are with those affected by the recent coronavirus outbreak all around the world. We are acutely aware of the important role that the fair plays within the region’s cultural scene and for our galleries, both in Asia and around the globe,” says Marc Spiegler, Member of MCH Group’s Executive Board and Global Director Art Basel. “Our team dedicated extensive time and effort to ensure our show in March would be a success over the course of the past year. Unfortunately, the sudden outbreak and rapid spread of the novel coronavirus radically changed the situation.” (more…)

Sotheby’s will sell a David Hockney sunflower painting in Hong Kong this spring, estimated at around $10.3 million, and will embark on a tour of Asia before its sale. “Having witnessed substantial interest in Hockney amongst Asian collectors in our international sale locations, this was a natural move for us. The flower still life is furthermore a popular motif for Asian audiences,” Yuki Terase, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, Asia said. (more…)

Bloomberg has a piece this week on collectors increasingly borrowing against their collection to fund new purchases, taking advantage of low interest rates to drive spending. “The collector base tends to come from credit-savvy, market-driven industries: private equity, hedge funds, tech, big data,” says Evan Beard, art-services executive at Bank of America Corp. “They built their companies using debt, and now they apply the same methodology to building art collections.” (more…)

Artist Pilvi Takala has been tapped for the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale next year. “The fact that I could start researching early on means I don’t have to make any compromises due to lack of time and can be more ambitious about what I’m making,” Takala said in a statement. (more…)

Beijing Gallery Weekend has been postponed over coronavirus concerns. “Facing this major threat to public health, all members of the team will fully cooperate with prevention and control measures while still working online with the utmost efficiency,” reads a statement from the organization. (more…)

Deutsche Bank is scaling back its art collecting activities, and has already sold some of its key works.  The works sold include a massive Gerhard Richter triptych from the lobby of the bank’s Wall Street tower. (more…)

Martine Gosselink, current head of history at the Rijksmuseum, will head to The Mauritshuis as its next general director.  “Alongside her wealth of experience in the museum sector, we see great added value in her historical expertise and ability to present artworks in their historical context, as a result of which the story of the Mauritshuis collection can be even better communicated,” said Lokke Moerel, chair of the Mauritshuis’s supervisory board. “The museum’s objective is to connect the present with the past and thereby contribute to contemporary themes and the social debate. We believe that Martine, together with the Mauritshuis staff, will bring this to life in an inspiring way.” (more…)

Jaime Botin’s fine from the Spanish government over his taking a Picasso work out of the country has been increased to €91.7 million (about $101.2 million), Art News reports. (more…)

A German court this week ruled that the current holder of a work cannot its registration on a government database of Nazi-looted art, despite dealer claims that these postings make the work unsellable. “From the moment an artwork is listed in lostart.de, a serious art dealer cannot trade it,” says Rupert Keim, the president of Germany’s Federal Association of Art Auctioneers. “The seller is forced to find a solution with the claimant.”  (more…)

Peter Saul and Jamian Juliano-Villani speak with each other for an interview this week in Art News, discussing their work and their senses of humor. “You know how you have all the different areas for tastes on your tongue? In paintings I’ve got to hit those marks—and humor is one of them,” Juliano-Villani says. “When I make a painting, I like to start out with something stupid, then bring it somewhere to cancel that out—then bring it back to something else.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper has a piece this week documenting the immense cost of the recent flood damage in Venice, and the challenges the city will face as climate change continues to threaten the lagoon city. “We now need to draw a line between the emergency response and subsequent restoration projects,” says Manuela Carpani, the head of the local authority for archaeology, fine art and landscape. (more…)

Artist Christine Sun Kim, who showed in last year’s Whitney Biennial, was tapped this week to perform the sign language version of the National Anthem during the Super Bowl, calling out the broadcasters for failing to include more footage her performance.  “To be honest, it was a huge disappointment — a missed opportunity in the struggle for media inclusiveness on a large scale,” she writes in the NYT. “Though thrilled and excited to be on the field serving the deaf community, I was angry and exasperated.” (more…)

A “community artwork” referencing recent anti-government protests and placed on view at the India Art Fair (IAF) in New Delhi was shut down by police this week, Art Newspaper reports. “Our contract with the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre (where the work was exhibited), consistent with others, required them to share with us the details of all activities which were to take place at their booth over the course of four days of India Art Fair,” a statement from the fair reads. (more…)

The New York Times has a piece on the explosion of recent street art in Iraq as anti-government protests grow in scale and focus.  “You know, we have many thoughts about Iraq, but no one from the government ever asked us,” says art teacher Riad Rahim. (more…)

A group of alumni at CalArts are working to make the school’s tuition more affordable. “The aptitude to be a great artist comes from all over the world, from every income bracket, from every gender identity, from every racial identity, and from different countries,” said Ravi S. Rajan, the school’s president. “But I know there are students who don’t come to CalArts because they cannot afford it.”  (more…)

A large-scale portrait thought to be of the son of Louis XIV has been revealed to be of a lord mayor of London. “Of all the periods of art history this is the one people find the most difficult,” says Tabitha Barber, curator of British art 1550-1750 at Tate Britain. “Mainly because there aren’t many British names to latch on to. So I think there is a great deal to be discovered about this period, still. I’ve been working on this period for goodness knows how many decades and I’m still being surprised.” (more…)