Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, BMW i3 “Spaghetti Car” (2016) (click to enlarge)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Students from Sydney University’s Sydney College of the Arts clashed with police during protests over a planned merger with the University of New South Wales’s UNSW Art and Design. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 60 students plan to pursue legal action against Sydney University, citing a breach of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law concerning “deceptive conduct in the course of business.”
The New York Times is currently unable to publish Bill Cunningham‘s photographs according to a report by the New York Post. The Post‘s report, which does not name its sources, states that the late fashion photographer’s images are “tied up in rights issues.” Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio temporarily named the corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue after Cunningham. A permanent renaming will require the approval of the City Council.
A car designed by Maurizio Cattelan was unveiled at the Rencontres d’Arles Festival of Photography. The “spaghetti car” is a collaboration between BMW and Toilet Paper, a biannual arts publication founded by Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari. A press release issued by BMW states that the design “will be destroyed according to Cattelan’s wishes sometime after Rencontres d’Arles.”
Seven artworks from collections across the UK have been replaced with forgeries as part of a new show named Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge. Last year, London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery replaced Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s “Young Woman” (circa 1769) with a fake, but only 12% of the museum’s visitors were able to correctly identify the forgery.
Four Beatrix Potter drawings were discovered during a cleanup of Melford Hall in Suffolk. Three of the drawings were discovered by house manager Josephine Waters and the fourth was discovered by Lady Hyde Parker. Potter took regular holidays at the Hall between 1899 and 1916.
Beatrix Potter, Line Drawing of Fireplace (date unknown), private collection of Hyde-Parker Family (courtesy National Trust) (click to enlarge)
Der Standard reported that purported fragments of Christo and Jeanne-Claude‘s “Floating Piers” have appeared for sale on eBay. The monumental installation closed to the public on July 3.
Iranian authorities confiscated Parviz Tanavoli‘s passport the day before he was due to discuss his new book — European Women in Persian Houses: Western Images in Safavid and Qajar Iran — at the British Museum.
Farmers in the German town of Kamenz dumped a 10-foot-tall pile of cow dung in front of a freestanding frame that commemorates a landscape rendered in one of George Baselitz‘s paintings. Bernd Preuss, the head of the town’s agricultural cooperative, told Bild that the group “thought nothing of it.” “Our biogas plant is being renovated so the pile will remain here until the middle of August.”
(via Twitter/@schroederromero)
Art critic Peter Schjeldahl and his wife, Brooke Alderson, cancelled their annual Independence Day firework display and party. The couple attributed their decision to the attendance of over 2,000 people in 2015 — many of whom had learned about the party through social media. “It was 300 hipsters from Bushwick coming down the driveway, and I nearly died,” Alderson told the New York Times.
Hyperallergic contributor Mike Watson reported on the decline of Rome‘s contemporary arts scene. Watson attributes the situation to the eviction of a number of prominent cultural spaces during Ignazio Marino’s tenure as Rome’s mayor.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled its newly reinstalled galleries dedicated to Egyptian Ptolemaic art (305–30 BCE).
Transactions
Suite of tapestries manufactured at Beauvais to a design by Jean Baptiste Monnoyer (1695) (courtesy Nationalmuseum) (click to enlarge)
The Nationalmuseum acquired four tapestries designed by the painter Jean Baptiste Monnoyer (1636–99).
The Art Institute of Chicago acquired Sebastiano del Piombo’s “Christ Carrying the Cross (1515/1517).
Vice Media acquired a majority stake in Garage Magazine, a biannual publication run by art collector Dasha Zhukova. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Norton Museum of Art acquired Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s “Super Blue Omo” (2016).
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, “Super Blue Omo” (2016), acrylic, transfers, colored pencils, and collage on paper, 84 x 108 in, Norton Museum of Art, acquired through the generosity of Jim and Irene Karp (courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London; © Njideka Akunyili Crosby) (click to enlarge)
Transitions
Donald J. Hall, Jr., Ramón Murguía, and Kent Sunderland were appointed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s board of trustees.
William Penrose was appointed executive director of NUTUREart.
Claudia Schmuckli was appointed curator-in-charge of contemporary art and programming at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Mami Kataoka, the chief curator of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, was appointed artistic director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney.
Phillips appointed Robert Manley as deputy chairman and senior international specialist of 20th century and contemporary art and Scott Nussbaum as senior specialist and head of 20th century and contemporary art.
Tracy Williams, Ltd. announced that it will continue operations without a gallery space.
ArtList, the online art sales startup, shut down.
The Main Museum will commence a series of public programs ahead of its construction. The LA-based museum is currently being designed by Tom Wiscombe Architecture.
A rendering of the Main Museum, Los Angeles (courtesy Tom Wiscombe Architecture) (click to enlarge)
Accolades
The Foundation for Contemporary Arts awarded Cauleen Smith the inaugural Ellsworth Kelly Award.
Autumn Knight, Julia Phillips, and Andy Robert were named the Studio Museum in Harlem’s artists in residence for 2016–17.
Michael Simpson was awarded the 2016 John Moores Painting Prize.
Barkley Hendricks was awarded the 2016 Rappaport Prize.
Enrique Martínez Celaya was awarded Dartmouth University’s 2016-17 Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar fellowship.
Cheng Ran was awarded a three-month residency by the New Museum and the K11 Art Foundation.
The Victoria and Albert Museum was named the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year.
Obituaries
Dave Heath, “Hastings-on Hudson, Fall 1963” (1963) (courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery and Stephen Bulger Gallery) (click to enlarge)
Caroline Aherne (1963–2016), comedian.
Anahid Ajemian (1924–2016), violinist. Founding member of the Composers String Quartet.
Peter J. Amdam (1977–2016), artist, curator, and musician.
Yves Bonnefoy (1923–2016), poet.
James Campbell (1935–2016), historian of medieval England.
Beatrice de Cardi (1914–2016), archaeologist.
Michael Cimino (1939–2016), film director. Best known for The Deer Hunter (1978).
Baldev Duggal (1937–2016), film processing innovator.
Matthew Evans (1941–2016), publisher. Chairman of Faber & Faber between 1981 and 2002.
Elyse Grinstein (1929–2016), architect, art collector, and co-founder of Gemini G.E.L.
Robin Hardy (1929–2016), film director. Best known for The Wicker Man (1973).
Mike Hart (1943–2016), singer and songwriter. Founder of The Roadrunners and a member of The Liverpool Scene.
Dave Heath (1931–2016), photographer.
Geoffrey Hill (1932–2016), poet.
Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016), film director. Best known for Taste of Cherry (1997).
Inge King, “Red Rings” (2008) (via Wikipedia) (click to enlarge)
Inge King (1915–2016), sculptor. Founding member of Centre 5.
Lisa Liebmann (1955–2016), arts writer and Artforum contributor.
Neery Melkonian (1955–2016), curator.
Robert Nye (1939–2016), writer.
Wassyl Slipak (1974–2016), baritone at the Paris Opera.
“Sir Charles” Thompson (1918–2016), jazz pianist.
Rob Wasserman (1952–2016), bassist.
Frank Whipple (1923–2016), artist. Best known for his “nun paintings.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016), writer, activist, and Holocaust survivor. Author of Night (1970).
