Gustav Klimt, “Bauerngarten” (1907), oil on canvas, 43 1/4 x 43 1/4 in (courtesy Sotheby’s)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Argentinian curator and US resident Juan Garcia Mosqueda was denied entry into the US last Friday after a trip to Buenos Aires. In an open letter, Mosqueda described his experience with immigration officials as “dehumanizing and degrading.” He wrote: “To my American friends, I urge you to contact your congressmen and push for immigration reform. Push for a system that does not alienate, intimidate, and bully foreigners but that, on the contrary, welcomes and encourages citizens from all countries to want to keep investing in and contributing to your wonderful country.”
A group of anti-fascists clashed with a handful of self-described members of the “alt right” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) last Saturday.
Sotheby’s brought in £194.7 million (~$238.7 million) at its Impressionist, Modern, and Surrealist art evening sales, the highest total for a single auction in London. The star lot, Gustav Klimt’s “Bauerngarten” (1907), sold for just under £48 million (~$59 million), the third-highest price for a work sold at auction in Europe.
A swastika formed from human excrement was found on the wall of a gender-neutral bathroom at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, an Austrian Jewish entertainer and art collector murdered by the Nazis, are citing the recently passed Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act as part of an effort to claim two drawings by Egon Schiele. The law established a federal statute of limitations of six years from the time that suspected looted art was discovered. It is intended to prevent legal technicalities from preventing stolen property from being returned to its owners.
The Advancing Women Artists Foundation is soliciting crowd-sourced donations for the restoration of a painting by Plautilla Nelli (1523–87), Florence’s earliest-known female artist.
Several Boston museum directors penned a letter defending the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
An Etruscan bronze sculpture was returned to Berlin’s State Museums more than 70 years after it disappeared. The sculpture vanished after it was placed into protective storage in 1939.
Vandals destroyed four 125-year-old stone landmarks in Terlingua, Texas. The structures were built by silver miners in the late 1880s. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the capture and arrest of those responsible.
Miriam Aroeste, a Mexican-Canadian artist commissioned to produce 180 works for the new Trump Tower in Vancouver, said that she was shocked to have received a torrent of online criticism . “I’m an artist, not a politician, and my work is about love and peace” Aroeste told The Art Newspaper.
Facebook censored an image of Charles Blackman’s painting “Women Lovers” (ca 1980) on the basis that it was “advertising adult products or services.” “It’s like going back to the 1950s,” stated Paul Summer, chief executive of Mossgreen auction house, which posted the image. “It’s ridiculous to censor this sort of thing.”
Sotheby’s accidentally reproduced a forgery by Wolfgang Beltracchi in its Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale catalogue.
Two metal detectorists, Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania, discovered four iron age gold torcs in a field in Staffordshire.
Transactions
Abelardo Morell, “Camera Obscura Image of Santa Maria Della Salute in Palazzo Bedroom” (2006), gelatin silver print, 22 1/2 x 17 7/8 in (© Abelardo Morell)
The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired 386 photographs from the collection of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser. The gift includes work by Dorothea Lange, William Eggleston, Berenice Abbott, and Abelardo Morell.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles received 22 works from the collection of longtime supporters Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard. The gift includes works by Doug Aitken, Matthew Barney, Thomas Hirschhorn, and Catherine Opie.
Mayen Beckmann, the granddaughter of Max Beckman, donated the artist’s personal effects — including letters, notes, diaries, and his 650-volume library — to the Pinakotheken.
The Orlando Museum of Art acquired works by Robin Rhode, Kate Gilmore, and Frederick MacMonnies.
Artists Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Ellen Gallagher, and Julie Mehretu jointly purchased Nina Simone’s home in Tryon, North Carolina for $95,000.
The University of Houston Library acquired the records of Zine Fest Houston.
(courtesy University of Houston Library)
Transitions
Thomas P. Campbell abruptly resigned as the director and chief executive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York Times reporter Robin Pogrebin deduced that Campbell “resigned under pressure.” The museum is struggling with a $40 million deficit.
Hauser & Wirth announced that Paul Schimmel “will no longer serve as Director, Partner, and Vice President of the gallery.” Schimmel joined the gallery as a partner in 2013, rekindling the debate regarding the transition of museum professionals to the commercial art scene.
Laurence des Cars was appointed director of the Musée d’Orsay.
Russell Panczenko will retire as the director of the Chazen Museum of Art in June.
Karin Kidder was appointed executive director of the Bellevue Arts Museum.
Sarah Guernsey was appointed deputy director for curatorial affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Aurélie Samuel was appointed director of collections at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent.
Jenny Gibbs was appointed director of the Master of Arts in Art Business program at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York [via email announcement].
Creative Time will to end its Creative Time Reports publication.
According to a press release, Auctionata will close as “sufficient funds for maintaining the going concern could not be found.” Of the company’s 170 employees, between 30 to 40 will remain at the company “to support the wind-down process.”
The Marciano Art Foundation will open its new museum in Los Angeles on May 25.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, announced the opening of ‘The Watershed,’ a seasonal outpost for large-scale installations and projects.
The Greek state assumed control of the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center.
Marlborough Chelsea rebranded itself as Marlborough Contemporary.
Lisson Gallery announced plans to open a second space in New York.
The Pace Gallery broke ground on an eight-story building at 540 West 25th Street, which will give it a total exhibition space of 75,000 square feet. Pace Gallery will open a new “office gallery” in Seoul. The gallery also announced its representation of Tony Smith’s estate.
Victoria Miro announced that it now represents the estate of Milton Avery.
Milton Avery, “French Landscape” (1953), oil on canvas, 44 x 34 in, collection of the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation (© 2017 The Milton Avery Trust/Artists Rights Society,ARS, New York)
Accolades
Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta, the founders of RCR Arquitectes, were awarded the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Jose Dávila, Eric N. Mack, Toni Schmale, and Shen Xin were awarded the inaugural Baltic Artists’ Award
Nestor Topchy won the ReUse People of America’s National Reuse Contest.
The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art announced the winners of its travel grants for international curators.
Obituaries
Fritz Koenig’s “The Sphere” on display in Battery Park after 9/11 (via Wikipedia)
Mostafa A. H. el-Abbadi (1928–2017), scholar. Championed the revival of the Great Library of Alexandria.
Trish Arnold (1918–2017), pioneer of movement training for actors.
Gary Cartwright (1934–2017), writer and journalist.
Ward Chamberlin Jr. (1921–2017), architect of the US public broadcasting system. Supported the work of documentarian Ken Burns.
Ren Hang (1987–2017), photographer.
Aileen Hernandez (1926–2017), feminist. Former president of the National Organization for Women.
Emmanuelle Khanh (1937–2017), fashion designer.
Fritz Koenig (1924–2017), sculptor. Best known for his World Trade Center commission, “Sphere.”
Leigh Markopoulos (1968–2017), art critic, curator, and teacher.
Armin Medosch (1962–2017), artist, writer, and curator.
Gustav Metzger (1926–2017), pioneer of auto-destructive art.
Nicholas Mosley (1923–2017), novelist and biographer. Son of Oswald Mosley, the founder of the British Union of Fascists.
Horace Parlan (1931–2017), jazz pianist.
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (1923–2017), conductor.
James Stevenson (1929–2017), cartoonist for The New Yorker.
