A new work by JR at the US/Mexico border (via Twitter/@JRart)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.
Numerous museums, including the Perez Art Museum Miami, Wolfsonian — FIU, ICA Miami, Dimensions Variable, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, and Faena Art, will remain shut through the weekend as Hurricane Irma potentially makes landfall in South Florida.
The Washington National Cathedral will remove two stained glass windows honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Harvard Law School unveiled a memorial dedicated to the slaves whose labor made the school possible.
Members of the Dakota Nation will bury the wooden remains of Sam Durant’s “Scaffold” (2012) at an undisclosed location later this month.
JR unveiled a work in progress on the Mexican side of the border with the US.
German authorities recovered 15 stolen artworks by artist Georg Baselitz. Two men, aged 51 and 26, were arrested in connection with the theft last month.
A DNA test proved that Salvador Dalí is not the biological father of María Pilar Abel Martínez. The tarot card reader claimed that Dalí had an affair with her mother, leading to a court order to have the artist’s body exhumed for a DNA test.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum removed a study assessing US involvement in the Syrian conflict from its website after it was met with condemnation and anger from Jewish leaders and thinkers. Using game theory and computational modeling, the report concludes that additional support for anti-Assad rebels could have contributed to greater casualties — a conclusion that writer and critic Leon Wieseltier slammed as “justif[ying] bystanderism.” “If I had the time I would gin up a parody version of this that will give us the computational-modeling algorithmic counterfactual analysis of John J McCloy’s decision not to bomb the Auschwitz ovens in 1944,” Wieseltier told Tablet. “I’m sure we could concoct the fucking algorithms for that, too.”
“The Snowy Day — Peter leaving footprints in the snow” (courtesy USPS)
The US Postal Service issued a set of Forever stamps commemorating Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day (1962).
A report by BBC Brazil revealed that Brazilian surfer Eduardo Martins photoshopped images of various conflicts in war-torn countries and passed them off as his own. Several news outlets, including the BBC, Al Jazeera, and the Wall Street Journal, published profiles of Martins, reproducing his fraudulent claims.
The College Art Association condemned the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Berkshire Museum withdrew its affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution following its controversial decision to deaccession works from its collection.
A sculpture recently erected in Guadalajara, Mexico, was met with protests by tens of thousands of Catholics who objected to its combination of an image of the Virgin Mary and Coatlicue, the Aztec death goddess.
Tristram Hunt, the former Labour MP and director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, stated that the V&A was “honored” to accept Leonard Blavatnik’s £5 million (~$6.5 million) donation to the museum’s Exhibition Road redevelopment, adding that he would welcome gifts from donors of “all political views and no political views”. Bo Rothstein resigned as professor of government and public policy at Oxford University last week after learning that the billionaire — whom critics accuse of being a close associate of Vladimir Putin — had donated funds both to the University and to Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Richard Neutra’s Chuey House, a celebrated example of midcentury modern architecture, was listed for sale as “a truly unique development opportunity.”
The Nova building in London was awarded the Carbuncle Cup, Building Design magazine’s award for the UK’s ugliest building.
Transactions
Banner by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) (courtesy People’s History Museum)
The People’s History Museum acquired an embroidered banner used as a backdrop for Emmeline Pankhurst’s suffrage speeches. The banner had sat in the back of a charity shop in Leeds for a decade.
Lisa and Dudley Anderson donated 97 contemporary and studio glass works to the Chrysler Museum of Art.
The Victoria & Albert Museum acquired a T-shirt bearing Jeremy Corbyn’s name and an altered Nike logo. The garment was designed by Bristol Street Wear during the UK’s 2017 general election campaign.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired Adrian Ghenie’s “Rest During Flight Into Egypt” (2016).
Installation view of Adrian Ghenie’s “Rest During Flight Into Egypt” (2016), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the Abrishamchi Family Collection (© Adrian Ghenie)
Transitions
The Village Voice laid off 13 of its 17 union employees.
Dr. Jennifer Y. Chi was appointed deputy director and chief curator of the Brooklyn Museum.
Eike Schmidt will step down as the director of the Uffizi galleries to head Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Jerry N. Smith was appointed chief curator of the Dayton Art Institute.
Lisa Saltzman was appointed director of the Clark Art Institute’s research and academic program.
MIT’s List Visual Arts Center promoted Henriette Huldisch to director of exhibitions and curator. Yuri Stone was appointed assistant curator and Jamin An was named the List Center’s 2017–18 curatorial fellow.
The Frans Hals Museum announced three new appointments: Melanie Bühler was appointed curator of contemporary art; Geert-Jan Davelaar was appointed coordinator of education and public outreach; and Marrigje Rikken was promoted to head of collections.
Rashid Rana stepped down as artistic director of the inaugural Lahore Biennale “owing to differing views on the vision” for the exhibition.
Indian Country Today announced that it will cease operations in order “to consider alternative business models.”
Film Forum announced a major refurbishment and the addition of a fourth screen.
Ruberta will open in Glendale, Los Angeles on Sunday. The gallery is a collaboration between five galleries from Latin America: Galeria Agustina Ferreyra, Lodos, Proyectos Ultravioleta, Carne, and BWSMX.
Eyebeam will launch its new space on November 30, with programs slated to begin in Spring 2018.
The Laura Bartlett Gallery in London closed.
The Freymond-Guth Gallery in Zurich closed.
Lévy Gorvy opened a new office in Shanghai.
Sixteen galleries joined the New Art Dealers Association, including Asya Geisberg, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Lulu, and Library Street Collective.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi will open to the public on November 11.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi during construction (via @tdicae/Instagram)
Accolades
Agnes Varda is to become the first female director to be awarded an honorary Oscar.
Haegue Yang was awarded the 2018 Wolfgang Hahn Prize.
Bucky Miller was awarded the 2017 UMLAUF Prize.
Sadie Barnette and Carrie Hott received the San Francisco Artadia Awards.
Caroline Bergvall was awarded the 2017 Bernard Heidsieck-Centre Pompidou literary prize [via email announcement].
The National Portrait Gallery in London announced the shortlist for the 2017 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. The three finalists are César Dezfuli, Maija Tammi, and Abbie Trayler-Smith.
Abbie Trayler-Smith, “Fleeing Mosul” from the series Women in War: Life After ISIS (© Abbie Trayler-Smith)
Opportunities
A.I.R. Gallery is currently accepting applications for its 2018–19 fellowship program, a 12-month “sponsored membership and solo show opportunity for emerging and under-represented self-identified women artists.” The deadline is November 3, at 11:59pm.
Wikimedia launched Wiki Loves Monuments, an open call for Creative Commons images of US historic and cultural sites.
Obituaries
John Ashbery (1927–2017), poet. Best known for Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975).
Walter Becker (1950–2017), guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Co-founder of Steely Dan.
Shelly Berman (1925–2017), stand-up comedian.
Janine Charrat (1924–2017), ballerina and choreographer.
Linda Cathcart (1947–2017), executive director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (1979–1987).
Holger Czukay (1938–2017), musician. Co-founder of Can.
Larry Elgart (1922–2017), jazz bandleader.
DeLoris “Dolly” Fiterman (1924–2017), art collector, dealer, and philanthropist.
Elaine Ford (1938–2017), novelist.
Murray Lerner (1927–2017) documentary filmmaker.
Karoly Makk (1925–2017), film director and screenwriter.
Kate Millet (1934–2017), artist, author, and feminist activist.
Susan Vreeland (1946–2017), novelist. Best known for Girl in Hyacinth Blue (1999).
