Ben Enwonwu, “Christine” (1971) (courtesy Sotheby’s)
Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.
Artist, activist, and writer Molly Crabapple tweeted pictures from this week’s protests in San Juan showing rubber “stinger” bullets produced by Defense Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Safariland Group. “I was visiting the home of some young protesters,” Crabapple told Hyperallergic in an email. “They had picked the cartridge off of the street last Monday at the protests (in front of Fortaleza) and gave it to me to photograph,” she explained. | Hyperallergic
Until recently, members of the Davis family in Texas did not know what valuable artwork they had at their hands every time they looked at a portrait of their mother Christine, hung in the family home for over 40 years. A Google search of the name signed on the portrait finally revealed to the family that the work had been painted by one of the most prominent African artists of the 20th Century, Ben Enwonwu. The portrait, valued at up to £150,000 (~$200,000), will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art Auction on October 15 in London. | Hyperallergic
A study conducted by students and a professor at Yale School of Medicine suggests that art plays an important role in creating a welcoming space in higher education; alternatively, homogenous paintings and statuary can make women and minority groups feel excluded from institutional spaces. | Hyperallergic
Egon Schiele, “Reclining Nude Girl” (c. 1918), Black crayon on cream wove paper, 7 3/4″ x 16 3/8″ (19.7 x 41.6 cm), Study for the lithograph Girl (Kallir G. 17). Kallir D. 2196a. (courtesy Galerie St. Etienne)
In a once in a lifetime stroke of luck, a shopper found and purchased a pencil drawing by Egon Schiele in a Habitat for Humanity thrift store in Queens, New York. The drawing is valued between $100,000 and $200,000. | Hyperallergic
Three University of Mississippi students are facing a possible civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice after posing for an Instagram post with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and shotgun next to a bullet-punctured sign commemorating Emmett Till. | Hyperallergic
A new report says about two-thirds of New Yorkers are people of color while two-thirds of the people running arts organizations are white. The pilot survey collected data from 65 NYC Department of Cultural Affairs-funded groups. | Hyperallergic
Congress is investigating the rapid closure of Art Institutes across the United States. The House Education and Labor Committee says it has evidence that suggests the Trump administration helped the failing for-profit colleges lie to students about accreditation as their systems collapsed. | Hyperallergic
A street artist has sued Walmart and Ellen DeGeneres for alleged copyright infringement. Street artist Julian Rivera claims his copyrighted design, a heart symbol enlaced with the word “Love” in cursive, was used in a DeGeneres-designed apparel line sold at Walmart without his permission. | Hyperallergic
New Extinction Rebellion acquisitions go on display at the V&A. Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images for The V&A (image courtesy The V&A)
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has acquired a collection of fonts and signage used by Extinction Rebellion — the climate change activist group — as part of the museum’s “rapid response collecting” initiative, which collects works pertaining to contemporary events. This collection was started in 2014 and is comprised of signs, flags, pamphlets, and other memorabilia used in Extinction Rebellion’s protests and related activist efforts. This and other notable sales and acquisitions are chronicled in our latest Transactions story.
Opportunities
Artists seeking or currently holding an O-1 Artist Visa are invited to apply to an open call Hunter East Harlem Gallery‘s The Extraordinary. The group exhibition “seeks to bring transparency to this process [of acquiring an O-1 artist visa] and at the same time, inspect the system which requires those to have ‘distinction’ and be ‘renowned’ in the arts—a subjective and complicated qualification.” Applications are due August 15. | Hunter East Harlem Gallery
Learn about other opportunities you can apply for this month in our latest “Opportunities for Artists in August 2019.”
This Week in the Art World
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, installation view, (center) Sam Gilliam, “Carousel Change” (1970) (photo by Jonathan Dorado, courtesy Brooklyn Museum)
Kathleen Ash-Milby was appointed curator of Native American art at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. | Oregonian
Dr. Pascal Bertrand will be the fourth recipient of the Getty Rothschild Fellowship. | via email announcement
David Breslin was promoted to the Whitney Museum of American Art‘s first director of curatorial initiatives. Jane Panetta was promoted to director of the collection. | via email announcement
Bénédicte de Montlaur was named CEO of World Monuments Fund. | via email announcement
Jim Dine was awarded the French Legion of Honor. | via email announcement
Owen Duffy was appointed director of Yeh Art Gallery at St. John’s University in New York. | via email announcement
Suzanne Egeranwas appointed director of Paula Cooper Gallery. Cara Zhuang will be the gallery’s representative in Asia. | via email announcement
Jacob Fabricus was appointed artistic director of the 2020 Busan Biennial. Art Asia Pacific
Sam Gilliam is now represented by Pace in New York. | New York Times
Jay Gorney was appointed senior director of Marlborough Gallery. | via email announcement
Sunil Gupta is now represented by Hales Gallery. | Art Daily
Dakota Hoska was appointed assistant curator in the Native Arts department of the Denver Art Museum. | via email announcement
Sam McKinniss is now represented by Almine Rech. | via email announcement
The Norfolk Nelson Museum will shutter this fall. | Eastern Gazette
Damián Ortega was awarded the Ezratti Family Prize for Sculpture by ICA Miami. | Art Daily
Gary Simmons was appointed to the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts’ board of directors. | via email announcement
Amy Smith-Stewart was promoted to senior curator at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. | Artforum
Adrienne Tarver will create the inaugural artist commission, a site-specific installation, for Art Aspen. | via email announcement
In Memoriam
Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923–2019), kinetic artist | Chicago Sun Times
Wendell Dayton (1938–2019), outdoor sculpture artist | Artsy
Neil Estern (1926–2019), public sculpture artist | Brooklyn Eagle
Rutger Hauer (1944–2019), actor, writer, and environmentalist | Film School Rejects
Agnes Heller (1929–2019), philosopher and lecturer | Reuters
Ben Johnston (1926–2019), contemporary music composer | NYT
Rev. Ben Kinchlow (1936–2019), co-host of The 700 Club | NYT
Harlan Lane (1936–2019), professor and researcher who championed Deaf culture | Northeastern
M. Owen Lee (1930–2019), Catholic priest who was an American-Canadian classics and music scholar | NYT
Yao Li (1922–2019), known as the “Queen of Mandarin pop” | What’s on Weibo
Bryan Magee (1930–2019), philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author | NYT
Arthur McGee (1933–2019), fashion designer who blazed trails for designers of color | The Root
Hal Prince (1928–2019), theatrical producer and director | AP
Karsten Schubert (1961–2019), art dealer and publisher | Art Newspaper
Gregory Shorter Jr. (1978–2019), record producer and DJ known as Ras G | LA Times
Russi Taylor (1944–2019), voice actor who played Minnie Mouse | NYT
Lois Wille (1931–2019), journalist, editor, and author | Chicago Tribune
