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…)

A piece in Art News this week notes the recent fundraising successes at MOCA, and Klaus Biesenbach’s vision for the museum. “I think the future of MOCA is getting back to serving art and serving community—that’s the message,” says artist and board member Catherine Opie. “It’s all about opening up the museum and what MOCA stood for when it started. I think people are feeling really good about everything. I’ve been trying to take a beat from people I know, people that work inside the museum, as well as the perspective outside of MOCA. I have to say that, so far, everyone’s been giving the thumbs up.” (more…)

A survey finds that museum holdings in the U.S. tend overwhelmingly towards white males, with men making up 88% of collection holdings nationwide. The survey breaks down collection data across a range of datasets and reports.  (more…)

Aras Amiri, a British Council employee accused of spying for the UK, has been sentenced to a ten-year prison sentence in Iran. “We are very concerned by reports that an Iranian British Council employee has been sentenced to jail on charges of espionage,” the UK Foreign Office said. “We have not been able to confirm any further details at this stage and are urgently seeking further information.” (more…)

The collector couple Emily and Mitchell Rales were the buyers of Lee Krasner’s The Eye is the First Circle (1960) last week at Sotheby’s, which set a record of $11.7 million for the artist.  WSJ reporter Kelly Crow broke the news on her Instagram. “We weren’t sure we’d get it,” Rales told her. “We’re so happy.” (more…)

The Guardian has a piece on the Savitsky Museum in Nukus, Uzbekistan, which holds a collection of avant-garde masterpieces rescued from the Staling regime in Russia.  The works were taken by Igor Savitsky, an electrician who fled Russia with the works in tow. (more…)

The NYT looks at the redesign of the Hirshhorn Museum Gardens and the plans in place for Hiroshi Sugimoto to rework the design. “This is what we’re seeing again and again,” says . Charles Birnbaum, the founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. “It’s really about having more open spaces to accommodate more people and more programs.” (more…)

The NYT has a piece on Robert Mnuchin this week, following the dealer’s winning bid on a $91 million Jeff Koons that made the work the most expensive price for a living artist. “It was an intense business,” he says of his past career at Goldman Sachs. “It was very competitive and I was successful at building relationships with serious institutional people, that I could work for them and myself at the same time. That I could serve as their agent and be their principal. And I think I’ve carried that over somewhat into this.” (more…)

Following a $10 million donation by MOCA board president, Carolyn Clark Powers, the LA Museum is planning to eliminate general ticket fees. “I think many of us are at a point where we understand that museums should not be ivory towers,” Klaus Biesenbach says. “MOCA should feel like a public library where you can go and have access to culture.”  (more…)

New York’s Alexander Gray Associates will host a series of shows centered around single works in a barn upstate this summer, Art News reports.  The project will kick off with a show of Harmony Hammond’s Bandaged Grid #5 (2016). “Certainly, with the environment that we’re in right now, there’s so much noise, and there’s a big emphasis on spectacle,” Gray says. “We’re interrupting that really fast-paced rhythm of looking.” (more…)

Lutz Bacher, via K21

Artist Lutz Bacher, a relentless innovator whose works frequently defied easy categorization or understanding, has passed away.  The artist, who has long avoided releasing much biographical information about herself, was either 75 or 76 at the time of her death. (more…)