Art Movements

Justin Brice Guariglia , “We Are the Asteroid” (2018),  solar-powered LED highway message sign, gilded with 24K gold; text: Timothy Morton, 2018 , 15 ft 6 in x 11 ft 6 in x 13 ft 3 in (courtesy the artist)

Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.

Authorities arrested a man for attacking Ilya Repin’s “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581“ (1885) at Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery.

Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams vowed to work towards increasing representation and closing the gender pay gap following a UK government investigation into companies with over 250 employees. According to the report’s findings, women earn 37% less than men at Bonhams, 25% less at Christie’s, and 22% less at Sotheby’s.

The French Ministry of Culture abandoned plans to install Jeff Koons’s “Bouquet of Tulips” outside the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Indicators: Artists on Climate Change opened at the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York. The exhibition, which includes work by Justin Brice Guariglia, Mark Dion, Maya Lin, Mary Mattingly, and Meg Webster, examines the scientific, cultural, personal, and psychological challenges of climate change.

An artwork by Lee Bul caught fire at the artist’s solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, hours before a private view of the show was due to take place. The show was rescheduled to open today.

A yearlong fraud investigation involving art dealer Yves Bouvier was dropped by US officials due to the $400 million auction sale (excluding fees) of “Salvator Mundi” (ca 1500). Collector Dmitry Rybolvelv accused Bouvier of pocketing over $1 billion by marking up multiple art transactions, including the prior private sale of “Salvator Mundi” for $128 million. According to Bloomberg, US authorities reportedly dropped the case after Rybolovlev later sold the painting for a record $400 million at Christie’s. “Had the case proceeded,” the report states, “Rybolovlev’s windfall could have enabled the defense to claim that he wasn’t a fraud victim because he profited in the end.”

Antonio Canova, “Bust of Peace” (1814), white marble (courtesy Sotheby’s)

Antonio Canova’s “The Bust of Peace” (1814), part of the sculptor’s Ideal Heads (Teste Ideale) series, will be sold at Sotheby’s next month. The recently reattributed work was last publicly exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1817.

German police raided the Kalabal!K anarchist library in Berlin, arresting two men on suspicion of distributing posters in the area following violent clashes at the G20 summit in Hamburg last year. The posters depicted members of the Hamburg police and local politicians, describing them as “a terrorist group for the purpose of attempted manslaughter, serious injury, mistreatment and kidnapping.”

Former Labour MP and director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tristram Hunt, defended the museum’s decision to exhibit a fragment from the recently demolished Robin Hood Gardens estate in London. In an article for the Art Newspaper, Hunt described the display of the fragment at the museum’s Venice Architecture Biennale pavilion as part of “a broader engagement with the question of social housing,” dismissing critics as “keyboard warriors and ‘art-wash’ agitators.”

A bronze fragment in the Louvre’s collection was identified as the index finger of the bronze statue of Emperor Constantine at the Musei Capitolini in Rome.

The Archives of American Art digitized 77 of Matt Mullican’s notebooks.

The Kimbell Art Museum launched its new podcast ARTMinded.

Transactions

Betye Saar, “Liberation of Aunt Jemima: Cocktail” (1973), mixed media assemblage, 12 x 18 in, Brooklyn Museum, purchased with funds given by Elizabeth A. Sackler, gift of the Contemporary Art Committee, and William K. Jacobs, Jr. Fund (© Betye Saar and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California)

The Brooklyn Museum acquired 96 works by women artists in conjunction with its year-long program A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, including pieces by Betye Saar, Betty Tompkins, Emma Amos, and Beverly Buchanan. This and other notable sales and acquisitions are chronicled in our latest Transactions story.

Transitions

Philippe Vergne resigned as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Vergne’s resignation follows the controversial firing of chief curator Helen Molesworth in March.

The Museum of Modern Art’s board of trustees elected Leon D. Black as board chair and Ronnie Heyman as president.

Jennifer Carlquist was appointed executive director of Boscobel House and Gardens.

Carolyn Sickles was appointed director of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Liz Jolly was appointed chief librarian of the British Library.

Ariel Plotek was appointed curator of fine art at the Georgia O’ Keeffe Museum.

Brian Boucher, a former senior writer for Artnet, was appointed creative director of Sperone Westwater gallery.

The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) unveiled the design for its new building at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California.

Pratt Institute selected Allied Works to design the new School of Art Building on its Brooklyn campus.

The Kunsthalle Mannheim completed its $75 million expansion project.

Anthea Hamilton is now represented by Thomas Dane Gallery.

Accolades

Joi T. Arcand, “Amber Motors – Here On Future Earth” (2009), inkjet print, 50.8 × 66 cm (photo courtesy Saskatchewan Arts Board, via gallery.ca)

The Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada announced the five finalists for the 2018 Sobey Art Award; Jordan Bennett, Jon Rafman, Kapwani Kiwanga, Joi T. Arcand, Jeneen Frei Njootli.

The Swiss Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for best national participation at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The Bronx Council on the Arts announced the recipients of the 2018 Bronx Recognizes Its Own Awards.