Manifesta 11, held in Zurich in 2016, has announced Christian Jankowski its lead curator, the first time an artist has been invited to fill the role.  “Jankowski will investigate the whole array of art’s authorship, its production and its reflection on Zurich’s professional landscape,” says Director Hedwig Fijen. “In doing so, Manifesta 11’s Chief Curator approaches the complex identities of the city in an unexpected way, reaching out to audiences beyond the inner circle of contemporary art biennials.” (more…)

Egon Schiele, Portrait of Gertie Schiele (1909), all photos by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

The energy on view in the paintings of Egon Schiele often feels as if the surface itself cannot contain it, as if the visceral poses and lucid, flowing lines of the artist’s hand posses an ethereal force beyond that of his practice.  The Austrian painter, who died at the young age of 28 during the Spanish Flu epidemic, poured himself into his works with an enthusiasm few have ever matched, constantly pushing the gestural formats and emotional charges of his materials and subjects.

Egon Schiele: Portraits (Installation View)

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Hermann Nitsch,Kreuzwegstation (Station of the Cross) (1961) at Hauser and Wirth, via Art Observed

The Viennese Actionist movement was one of the more visceral post-war collectives that sprung up from the war-torn landscape of mid-20th Century Europe.  The group of Austrian artists (while claiming they were never affiliated officially), among them Otto Mühl, Günter Brus, and Rudolph Schwarzkogler, combined disturbing and often surreal imagery with a ritualistic approach to art making, creating elaborate pieces that often involved flayed animal carcasses, body parts, and bucket upon bucket of blood.

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A group of researchers working at Geneva’s Fine Arts Experts Institute have made the claim that about half of all artworks in circulation today are fakes, an estimate “When you buy an apartment, you always get an appraisal first. But in the art world, until recently, you could buy works for 10 million euros without sufficient documentation,” says FAEI chief Yann Walther. (more…)

A painting by Edward Degas, valued at around $7.6 million, has been stolen from the home of an elderly Greek Cypriot.   Ballerina Adjusting Her Slipper was stolen Monday in Limassol on the island of Cyprus, and police have already arrested one man in connection with the case. (more…)

A potential ban on cadmium pigments in the EU has many artists concerned in the quality and consistency of their materials.  The ban, favored by the Swedish government, claims that the cadmium in paints ends up in sewage when artist’s rinse their brushes, and ultimately may wind up spread over fields in various fertilizers, but many seem to disagree.  “[Nickel cadmium] batteries are the real problem, it’s just an easy fix to ban everything with cadmium in it,” says Michael Craine, the managing director of Spectrum Artists’ Paints. “Artists are not rotters; they are not tipping this stuff down the drain, it’s an expensive substance.”  (more…)

Wassily Kandinsky, Group with Crinolines (1909), via Art Observed

On view at the Guggenheim New York is an exhibition of early works by the pioneering Russian modernist Wassily Kandinsky, made between the years of 1901 and 1911, during the time he and his partner Gabriele Münter traveled extensively throughout Europe, Tunisia, and Russia.  The works, featuring a blend of Kandinsky’s developing lyrical style and his more early, studied figurative pieces and landscapes offer a strong look at an oft-overlooked part of the artist’s career.

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A viewer looking at Max Beckmann’s Departure (1932-1933), All Images via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

As much as it was an act of overt political action, the 1937 exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) in Munich marked a pivotal juncture in German art.  Intended as an outright attack on the careers of artists like Emil Nolde, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Georg Grosz and many more, the original exhibition crammed hundreds of works together for a mocking, derision-filled critique of the perversions and mistakes of the modernist practice.

George Grosz, Portrait of the Writer Max Herrmann-Neisse (1925)

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With the busy summer season in full swing, popular European museums are examining new methods of crowd control in an effort to curb the ever-growing hustle and bustle that could cause damage to both visitors and the art itself. Some museums such as the Louvre and the Prado in Madrid have pursued softer methods like timed tickets and extended hours. Others such as the Vatican Museums and the Uffizi in Florence have taken a harder line. Within the next year the delicate frescoes of the Sistine Chapel will be protected by a crowd-limiting climate control system while the Uffizi has already established a cap of 980 visitors at a time. (more…)

Adrian Ghenie, Darwin and the Satyr (2014) ©Adrian Ghenie Courtesy of The Pace Gallery

Tempestuous, chaotic and captivating are only a few of the many attributions to describe the delirious colors and harmonics of Adrian Ghenie. Born and raised in Romania, the thirty-seven year old artist often experiments with the set techniques of painting through extensions and variations of narrative, conveying eerie tales of decay and disarray throughout his works. On view at Pace Gallery in London until July 25th is Ghenie’s most recent body of work, featuring nine oil on linen paintings and a large-scale room installation, reflecting the artist’s approach to the roots of Western ideology and the impact of intellectual thinking. (more…)

Zhang Wan, Artificial Rock at Art Unlimited photo by Art Observed

As Sunday winds down, the 2014 edition of Art Basel in Switzerland is drawing to a close, concluding another week that saw the small Swiss city at the center of the art world for one dizzying week of sales, projects and installations.  The wealth of collectors, dealers and curators saw dealers bringing big-ticket works to the table across the board, and the steady stream of sales for blue-chip works and high priced works continued well beyond the VIP days early last week.

Andra Ursuta, Orthodoctrinator at Art Unlimited (more…)

Outside Art Basel, via Art Observed

The works are hung, the location is set, and the doors will soon open on the 2014 edition of Art Basel’s flagship art fair in its namesake city, bringing an estimated $4 billion in art to the Swiss city alongside an enthusiastic flock of collectors, dealers, artists and visitors.

Paola Pivi, Titled to be determined (2014) at Galerie Perrotin (more…)

An agreement between Cornelius Gurlitt and the German government was announced on Monday, which gives state-appointed investigators one year to analyze the works seized from Mr. Gurlitt’s home.  The deal bypasses the German statute of limitations for stolen property (30 years), and shows the government’s increased willingness to deal with claims over works looted during the Nazi era.  “We are dealing with a top-class team of experts, and given Mr. Gurlitt’s advanced age and frail health, it can be expected that they should be able to complete their work within this time frame,” says spokesman Stephan Holzinger. (more…)

Bernd Leifeld, who has served as the director of the Documenta art festival since 1996, has announced that he will step down from his post, having organized four successful editions of the event during his tenure.   “I am leaving with two weeping eyes,” Leifeld said in an interview with the German Press Agency. “But I wanted to decide for myself when I leave.”  (more…)

An Alexander Calder sculpture previous installed at Gramercy Park in New York has been installed in Maastricht for this year’s edition of TEFAF Maastricht.  The installation was organized by dealer Christophe van der Weghe, and is for sale for about $20 million. (more…)

A cache of 60 artworks have been removed from the Salzburg home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the elderly son of a Nazi-era dealer whose trove of over 1,000 works was seized late last year from his Munich flat.  The new set of works features paintings by Renoir and Picasso, among many others.  “Cornelius Gurlitt has ordered experts to examine these works on suspicion of having been looted,” says spokesman, Stephan Holzinger. (more…)

Reporter Doreen Carvajal has published an article in the New York Times, detailing her independent efforts to track down the potential heirs to paintings lost or stolen during the Nazi occupation of much of Europe.  The search was inspired by the French government’s increased efforts to return confiscated paintings, and the legal challenges it faces.  The article also addresses a perceived indifference to the process of returning the works, which is in part caused by a need for thoroughly exhaustive research.  “There is no French omerta to refuse to return the paintings,” says Cultural Minister Aurélie Filippetti.  “On the contrary, I am committed to move faster and further.” (more…)

ArtNews offers an inside look on the secret market for Nazi-looted artworks, an underground network of curators, dealers and collectors who maintained a market for looted works long after the war.  With little involvement from occupying American forces, former influential Nazi art officials quickly attained positions of prominence again after the war, often maintaining ties to collectors with little qualms in purchasing formerly confiscated works.   (more…)

Marc Chagall, Time is a River without Banks (1930-39), via The Jewish Museum

A new exhibition entitled “Chagall: Love, War, and Exile” is currently on view at The Jewish Museum in New York, reviewing the part of Marc Chagall’s career during the rise of European fascism in the 1930s through 1948 while he was living in Paris and New York. The exhibition includes 31 paintings and 22 works on paper.

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FIAC at the Grand Palais, via Grand Palais

Following close on the heels of last week’s blockbuster Frieze art fair in London, the French capital of Paris will take its turn in the art-world spotlight, opening the doors of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) for its 40th edition.  It’s a markedly different affair from the high-profile glitz of the comparatively younger Frieze franchise, but will nevertheless boast an impressive lineup of galleries, installations, performances and spotlights that place the fair among the top events of the contemporary art calendar.

Neo Rauch, Das Bannende, Neo Rauch, (2013), Courtesy Galerie Eigen+Art (more…)

Robert Mapplethorpe, Lindsay Key (1985), via Thaddeus Ropac

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg is currently presenting an exhibition of works by American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, as part of the gallery’s celebration of its 30th anniversary. This exhibition is the latest addition to the gallery’s ongoing series dedicated to Mapplethorpe’s career.

Robert Mapplethorpe, (Installation View), courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg (more…)

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has released a series of specially designed skateboard decks for The Sk8room.  Featuring shots of some of the artist’s work (including his iconic sunflower seeds work), overlaid with text from the artist. The set of three decks follows in the wake of other Sk8room Collaborations with Damien Hirst and Banksy.   (more…)

The New York Times profiles the tactics and approaches of the Art Loss Register, an independent investigation agency that specializes in locating and returning stolen or lost works of art around the world.  Accused of occasionally crossing ethical and legal lines, the agency has nevertheless maintained a reputation for its top-notch database and effectiveness. “When you’re doing a sting operation, for example,” Says company owner Julian Radcliffe, “you don’t say, ‘By the way, I’m lying to you.’ ” (more…)

Despite a vocal commitment to the return of Nazi-looted works to the proper owners by French culture minister Aurélie Filippetti, the French government has taken few steps towards a faster, more efficacious practices towards stolen works.  While over half of the over 100,000 works stolen from the country during the war have been recovered, a low percentage of works have found their way back to their original owners, which Filippetti blames on “the deaths of the victims and their direct descendants, and not because of a lack of will on the part of museums.” (more…)