A study by the German Lost Art Foundation has found that a “surprisingly large number of objects with dubious provenances” linger in eastern German museums, the Art Newspaper reports. “We had the sense beforehand that there were items with critical provenances in all our museums, but we didn’t know how many,” says Alexander Sachse, a researcher at the Brandenburg State Museums Association behind the research. (more…)

The Broad has acquired David Hammons‘s African-American Flag (1990), Art News reports. The museum also acquired Mark Bradford’s 50-feet-long mixed media work Deep Blue (2018), which is now on view. (more…)

Jackson Pollock, Moon Vibrations (1953-55), all images via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Continuing Abstraction is a fitting title for the exhibition just opened at Rheinsprung 1, another pop-up fair exhibition by the mighty Gagosian Gallery that simultaneously serves as the inauguration for its 17th permanent exhibition space worldwide. Marking both an exploration and elaboration on the language of abstraction, both in the past and through today, the show seems to look back at Gagosian’s impact on contemporary art, intertwined with the languages of abstraction that have changed and evolved over the past century. (more…)

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac will host a major survey of 1980s-era works by Roy Lichtenstein this summer in Salzburg, Art News reports. “I have had a special history with Lichtenstein thanks to Leo Castelli, who introduced him to me in the 1990s,” Ropac says. (more…)

The New York Times profiles the Dia Foundation’s recent expansions of its holdings, focusing more on women and artists outside its historical holdings of mostly American and German records, as the museum opens shows by Lee Ufan and Charlotte Posenenske.  (more…)

The Guardian broke news this morning that Chief Executive of the Serpentine Galleries, Yana Peel is a co-owner in an Israeli tech firm that sells software used by authoritarian regimes to crack down on dissent. “The Peel family has an investment in Novalpina. I have no involvement in the operations or decisions of Novalpina, which is managed by my husband, Stephen Peel, and his partners,” she said of the holding company the owns part of NSO. (more…)

Salon 94 is set to focus operations at an Upper East Side Headquarters, Art News reports.  “My plan is to consolidate our program,” the gallery’s founder Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn said. (more…)

Postmasters Gallery is expanding to its first international outpost this month with a space in Rome, located near the Colosseum. The space  will open on June 20 with an exhibition of haiku paintings by Rafaël Rozendaal. “It doesn’t follow obvious patterns of where galleries open branches,” co-founder Magda Sawon says. “But we have this very firm belief that the city has vitality and that it also needs to be vitalized by a gallery like ours, which is super-contemporary. It’s a bit of an intervention, but we have great hopes.” (more…)

The National Sound Library of Mexico has discovered what could be the first known voice recording of Frida Kahlo, taken from a pilot episode of 1955 radio show El Bachiller. “He is a gigantic, immense child, with a friendly face and a sad gaze,” she says of her husband, Diego Rivera in the piece. (more…)

The lawsuit filed in New York’s Southern District Court by Lehmann Maupin Gallery against former director Bona Yoo for the alleged theft of trade secrets has been dismissed with prejudice. (more…)

A number of high-profile art galleries, including the Hong Kong Pavilion at the Venice Biennale to closed Wednesday in support of protests against the Hong Kong government’s proposed changes to its extradition law.  “[Artist] “Shirley [Tse] and I respect people’s right to strike,” curator Christine Li says. (more…)

Phillips auction house will sell two pieces from the collection of star baseball player Alex Rodriguez, including a Basquiat valued at £3 million to £4 million.  “A number of gallerists and advisors pointed me in the right direction, and I have been in conversation with several artists, whose studio practice seem close to my own as an athlete,” Rodriguez says of his collecting. (more…)

Hauser & Wirth is planning to open a 16,145-square-foot space on Menorca’s Isla del Rey in the Balearic Islands, off the coast of Spain. “This is a very cultured island but there is no art education in the curriculum there,” says president Iwan Wirth. “If we want to engage with our audience we’re not just going to drop shows there—we want to have a dialogue.” (more…)

Joyce Pensato, Liza at Berlin (2009), via Petzel

American painter Joyce Pensato, whose recurring cast of American pop icons and slurred, often disturbing renditions of familiar cartoon characters made her a standout of the late 20th Century New York downtown scene, has passed away at the age of 78. (more…)

Bridget Donahue at Liste, via gallery

Liste Art Fair has returned to Warteck, a former brewery on the banks of the Rhine now serving as an exhibition and performance space, for another year of exhibitions showcasing adventurous and exploratory projects from a range of galleries around the globe. Liste continues to build on its position as one of the central hubs for the week of Art Basel, priding itself on a careful curation of young galleries, dynamic, forward-thinking works, and a roster of performances that remains one of the week’s main draws.

Adan Vallecillo, Saturacion Doble (2019), via Livia Benavides

Adan Vallecillo, Saturacion Doble (detail) (2019), via Livia Benavides

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The Golden State Warriors have launched an initiative that will place works from the SFMoMA on view at Chase Center. “It goes back to the genesis of what we are trying to create here,” says team President and CEO Rick Welts. “This is the new public gathering place in the Bay Area, and we want it to reflect sports, entertainment and art.”

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East Harlem activists staged an action at New York’s El Museo del Barrio on Tuesday evening, calling for the museum to change policies to better serve the demands of the surrounding community. “This action today is about planting the seeds for community awareness and education,” Debbie Quinones, one of the activists, says. (more…)

Olaf Nicolai, Big Sneaker (2001), all photos via Art Observed

The first day is in the books as Art Basel has closed its doors tonight on its VIP opening, kicking off a marathon week of sales and shows in style in the Swiss city, and marking another year for the landmark giant of contemporary and modern art selling. Marking the terminus for the first half of the year’s primary market activity, the fair was a strong illustration of just how its impressive scale and appointments has turned the city into a hub for Europe’s network of dealers, galleries, artists and curators. Sightings of arts professionals from Europe and further afield were in ample showing, with Carroll Dunham, Leon Black, and many more wandering across the aisles of the fair, often pausing to greet a familiar face or to consider the pieces hung across the walls of the spaces.

Yoshitomo Nara at Pace

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The Tate will send its collection to China with plans to show premiere works at the new Pudong Museum of Art in Shanghai, Art Newspaper reports. “We are delighted to have Tate as a consultant to the Pudong Museum of Art and to be signing the MoU,” says Zhu Di, the general director of the art department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China. (more…)

Annie Leibovitz has joined Hauser & Wirth, Art News reports. “Leibovitz has developed an approach to photography that dovetails with—and advances— her medium’s evolution as a force for art-making,” says gallery partner Marc Payot. (more…)

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro has announced that changes to a federal funding for cultural projects will have negligible impact on institutions, leaving museums and organizations breathing a sigh of relief.   (more…)

Gagosian Gallery has announced plans to open its 17th Gallery in Basel, Switzerland, expanding its already massive international footprint.   (more…)

A St. Petersburg court has ruled against the State Russian Museum in a lawsuit against staff, halting a $17 million renovation of its main building, which staff claimed would irreparably harm the site’s heritage. “We were surprised not by the decision of the court, but by the courage and principled professional honesty of judge Irina Vorobyova,” Irina Shalina, an art historian specializing in icons and one of the three plaintiffs, says. (more…)

United Talent Agency has hired Arthur Lewis as creative director of its fine arts group and the UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills. “As a Los Angeleno and a collector, I’ve witnessed firsthand how important it is for artists to have space to experiment as they embark on ambitious career paths,” Lewis said in a statement. “My vision for UTA is to act as a partner to help realize artists’ dreams, and build toward their futures.” (more…)