France will delay lifting Covid-19 restrictions, meaning museums will remain shuttered for several more week, a move which has drawn fierce criticism from artists and institutions. “We are tired of not being given more consideration. Once more culture is being left on the side of the road,” says actor and director Philippe Lellouche. (more…)
Dawoud Bey does an interview with Aperture this week, reflecting on his life and work since the 1970’s, and the impact of photography in the post-social media landscape. “Photography has had a huge impact on the Black Lives Matter movement as a mass mobilization tool, through which huge numbers of people can see these acts of violence against the Black body on their phone or computer screens,” he says. (more…)
The UK has announced another round of emergency loans totaling over £165m, reserved for the country’s largest arts institutions. “The loan will enable us to invest in the freelance creative workforce to produce some of the world’s most exciting theatre,” says Lisa Burger of the National Theatre. “It is a vital lifeline that will form part of our recovery” (more…)
Two French politicians are calling for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris to be renamed after Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President who pushed for the museum’s creation. “The official decision to build the Musée d’Orsay was taken in ministerial council on 20 October 1977, as an initiative of President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing,” says the museum website. (more…)
A piece in the Art Newspaper today writes on the Old Masters Market’s move into the digital sphere, spurred by the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Never have we learned so much about what we can do in such a short space of time. We had to be so nimble,” says Andrew Fletcher, Sotheby’s head of department, Old Master Paintings. (more…)
The curators for the 2021 Istanbul Biennial have been named, with curator Ute Meta Bauer, artist Amar Kanwar, and art historian David Teh taking on the project. The trio hinted at a focus on ecology and environmental concerns in their statement: “Rather than a great tree, laden with sweet, ripe fruit, this biennale seeks to learn from the birds’ flight, from the once teeming seas, from the earth’s slow chemistry of renewal and nourishment.” (more…)
The Andy Warhol Foundation is auctioning a selection of holiday themed works by the artist online. “While Warhol’s style may have shifted starting in the 1960s, his generous spirit and penchant for the holidays was always evident by his creation of works of art as gifts for family, friends, and colleagues throughout his career,” says Michael Dayton Hermann, director of licensing, marketing, and sales at the Andy Warhol Foundation. (more…)
The Smithsonian Institution and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation have joined forces in an effort to build an international network of provenance research on Asian art. “Research on objects from the Asian region has so far been overshadowed by other focal points of provenance research, but the first seminar already showed there is great interest in the topic,” says SPK President Hermann Parzinger. (more…)
Collector Ronald Lauder has made a significant gift of arms and armor to The Met, Art News reports. “When I began thinking about where I wanted my collection to ultimately be displayed, it was only fitting that it would all come back to The Met,” he said. “Just as I have learned and continue to learn at The Met, I know that this collection will educate future generations about this important period in our history.” (more…)
Creative Capital has announced a round of 35 new grants totaling $1.75 million in funds. “We are thrilled to honor these brilliant artists and the powerful, boundary-pushing work that they are creating,” says Leslie Singer, Creative Capital’s interim executive director. “We look forward to seeing these projects grow to make their mark on the world, in spite of the tremendous challenges this year has posed for so many artists.” (more…)
A piece in the Washington Post charts the blowback over the Baltimore Museum of Art’s attempted sale of works from its collection. “There’s one thing the Baltimore episode made clear: Even the most noble of causes, including paying the mostly minority guards a living wage and improving access for the community, can’t be funded by monetizing the collection,” says one insider. (more…)
In an effort to mitigate financial damage caused by the pandemic, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London will remain closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, likely through 2022. “It will take two to three years to get a reasonable recovery, but it could even be five years to reach the pre-Covid highs,” says Tim Reeve, the V&A’s deputy director. “Consumer confidence about busy, enclosed spaces will take a long time to recover.” (more…)
Christie’s and Sotheby’s have been ordered to reveal dealings with the late Jeffrey Epstein, including all dealings and correspondences. (more…)
Arguments have begun in a pair of Supreme Court cases that could drastically change the U.S.’s policies on Nazi-looted art from WWII. “Just imagine there’s a campaign of genocide and as part of that there’s an effort to take all the property including jewelry, art and even the extraction of gold teeth,” said Clarence Thomas. “You could go down the list of the awful things that were done.” (more…)
Tracey Emin, The Hunter’s Moon (2019), via White Cube
Opening a new exhibition at White Cube in London, Tracey Emin has brought forth an enervating body of new works that continue her expressive and lyrical approach to her life and her work. The paintings, neon, sculpture and film in this exhibition take their cue from the elemental, sometimes primal, artistic expression, culminating with a screening of her 1998 film Homage to Edvard Munch and all My Dead Children.
Museums in Seoul are shuttering again as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the city. The nation’s health minister has called the city a “covid war zone.” (more…)
A mural on the wall of the restaurant at Tate Britain has been deemed offensive, and will likely lead to the restaurant’s closure. The mural was criticized for racist depictions of non-Europeans. The museum’s trustees have not been satisfied with explanations of the work by the museum. (more…)
Dia Chelsea will reopen in April, the NYT reports. “From the beginning, we’ve been trying to do this in an economical fashion and really not overextend,” says director, Jessica Morgan. (more…)
Artist Titus Kaphar has an interview this week on CBS News, discussing his work and recent show at Gagosian. “I think the paintings do speak to those different kinds of disappearance that happens to young Black children, that is the violence against them by police, that is being poisoned by the water in our communities, Flint, that is natural disasters that the country hasn’t come up and really completely finished resolving and repairing yet,” he says. (more…)
An artist group called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for the monoliths installed in Utah and California this past month. “I am not able to say much because of legalities of the original installation,” says group member Matty Mo. “I can say we are well known for stunts of this nature and at this time we are offering authentic art objects through monoliths-as-a-service. I cannot issue additional images at this time, but I can promise more on this in the coming days and weeks.” (more…)
An investigation into Dutch Museum restitution policies has found that the restitution review panel in the country too frequently sides with the institutions which hold the works in question. “If it’s looted art and there’s an heir, the interests of the museum shouldn’t be taken into account,” Jacob Kohnstamm, a lawyer who led the panel that wrote the report. “We’re trying to strive for justice.” (more…)
Soyeon Shin at Mrs., all images via NADA
Returning to Miami amidst the pressures and concerns of the current Covid-19 crisis, this year’s iteration of NADA Miami from the New Art Dealers Alliance feels a bit different. Reworking the format to fit the travel concerns and logistical issues posed by the virus, this year’s iteration, its 18th, manages to showcase an international series of presentations from a diverse roster of 47 NADA Members and 27 first-time exhibitors for a total of 97 galleries from 44 cities, both in gallery spaces and online. (more…)
The Supreme Court will consider a case over whether the heirs of Jewish art dealers can sue to recover works and/or compensation for looted works, a case concerning forced sale and the question of whether works are recoverable. “The Nazi regime stripped German Jews of the protection of the rule of law from the moment Hitler took power and declared explicitly that Jews were not ‘German.’” says Boston attorney Nicholas O’Donnell. (more…)