A surprise protest organized by PAIN Sackler in the V&A’s Sackler Courtyard (photo by Naomi Polonsky for Hyperallergic)
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.
PAIN Sackler held its first action in the United Kingdom, holding a “die-in” in the V&A’s Sackler Courtyard to honor the five people who die every day in the UK from opioid overdoses.
Over 300 books are available for free download in the Getty Museum’s virtual library. Since its launch in 2014, the Virtual Library has had 398,058 unique downloads of its PDFs.
The Baltimore Museum of Art will only acquire artworks by women in 2020.
LAXART, Friday, November 15, 2019 (photo by Matt Stromberg for Hyperallergic)
Former Marciano Art Foundation employees, who were laid off soon after their attempt to unionize, have continued their protests. They picketed a $400/plate dinner hosted by the Marciano Brothers, and demand that Olivia Marciano, the Foundation’s Artistic Director and a board member at the arts nonprofit LAXART, speak up.
Free admission to LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art will begin January 11, 2020. You’ll still have to may for special exhibitions.
1,200 stolen paintings were discovered this month in a Los Angeles storage locker. The works are by Scottish painter and mystic Benjamin Creme, and valued at around £600,000 (~$777,000).
Petroleus (image courtesy of BP or not BP?)
Activists dressed as Trojan heroes and gods crashed the opening of a BP-funded exhibition at the British Museum. Activist group BP or not BP? interrupted the opening of Troy: Myth and Reality at the British Museum, dressed as “living statues,” including a character of their own invention, “Petroleus.”
On Monday, November 18, the Europol the European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST) announced that about 10,000 cultural items had been seized and 23 people were arrested in a coordinated cross-European police operation that dismantled a large-scale international archeological trafficking ring.
Under new articles in Egypt’s antiquities protection law, climbing monuments and smuggling antiquities out of the country will result in high fines and jail sentences.
An exhibition by Chinese-American artist Hung Liu that was set to open in Beijing next month was canceled by local authorities. The cancellation comes amidst growing trade tensions between the United States and China and signifies increased censorship of political art in China.
France’s high appeals court upheld a suspended two-year sentence against Picasso’s former electrician Pierre Le Guennec and his wife, Danielle Le Guennec, for possession of 271 stolen works by the famous painter.
Jean Etienne Liotard, “Woman in Turkish Dress, Seated on a Sofa” (ca. 1752) (photo by Hakim Bishara for Hyperallergic)
Take a look at a remarkable trove of European artworks, now on display at the Metropolitan Museum thanks to a gift from the late Jayne Wrightsman.
After a series of devastating floods in Venice, locals are mobilizing to save the lagoon city’s cultural heritage.
Sal Ruiz and Roger Montoya founded Moving Arts Española, a youth arts education organization building a more resilient community, in New Mexico in 2008. Now, the organization is in the running to win the $100,000 CNN Heroes of 2019 award.
Artemisia Gentileschi, “Lucretia” (c. 1630), oil on canvas, 95.50 x 75 cm (courtesy of © Artcurial)
The dust has settled from a $1.1 billion New York Fall Auction Week. Over in Paris at Artcurial, Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Lucretia” (c. 1630) sold for $5.3 million, a significant jump from her previous auction record of $3.6 million. This and other notable sales and acquisitions are chronicled in our latest Transactions story.
Also, check out Hyperallergic’s lists of must-see, fun, and insightful art events in New York and Los Angeles this fall.
This Week in the Art World
80 minutes installation opera in one act. A woman in search of an unattainable ideal in a world activated by her voice.
August 29, 31, 2019 MGM Cotai theatre, Macau, China. Performed by Qian Yi, John Holiday, Joshua Dennis, Joo Won Kang, Ao Li. (courtesy the artist and Anonymous Was A Woman)
Elia Alba, Marsha Cottrell, Torkwase Dyson, Heide Fasnacht, Nona Faustine, Rhodessa Jones, Jennifer Wen Ma, Amie Siegel, Diane Simpson, and Karina Aguilera Skvirsky have received the 2019 “Anonymous Was a Woman” grants. | Hyperallergic
Nairy Baghramian, Kevin Beasley, Deana Lawson, Elias Sime, Cecilia Vicuña, and Adrián Villar Rojas have been shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize. | via email announcement
Francie Bishop Good was appointed chair of the Board of Governors at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. | via email announcement
William Buchina is now represented by Hollis Taggart. | via email announcement
Douglas S. Brown, Karen M. Keane, Dr. Sohail Masood, and Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham have joined the Board of Trustees at the Worcester Art Museum. | via email announcement
Aimée Chan-Lindquist was appointed executive director of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation. | Artforum
Stephanie Comilang was awarded the 2019 Sobey Art Award. | Edmonton Journal
Donna De Salvo was appointed Senior Adjunct Curator of Special Projects at Dia. | via email announcement
Barbara Kruger is now represented by David Zwirner in collaboration with Sprüth Magers. | via email announcement
Jova Lynne was appointed curator at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. | via email announcement
Kamiar Maleki was appointed director of Volta and Pulse art fairs. | via email announcement
Denise Murrell was appointed associate curator of 19th- and 20th-century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. | The New York Times
Hélio Oiticica is now represented by Lisson Gallery. | ARTnews
Ucross has appointed Scott Manning Stevens to its board of trustees. | via email announcement
Kaari Upson is now represented by White Cube. | Art Daily
Alice Walton, Rod Bigelow, Gretchen Dietrich, Charles M. Diker, Michael Govan, Glenn D. Lowry, Darren Walker, and Pauline Willis assemble the Art Bridges Foundation first board of directors. | via email announcement
Obituaries
Gillian Jagger with her sculpture, “Reveal” (2011); (photo courtesy Edward M. Gómez and the John Davis Gallery)
Gillian Jagger (1930–2019), artist and teacher | Hyperallergic
William Loren Katz (1927–2019), historian and author | New York Times
Kehinde Lijadu (1948–2019), songwriter who performed with her twin sister as the Lijadu Sisters | Pitchfork
Branko Lustig (1932–2019), Academy Award-winning film producer and Holocaust survivor | New York Times
Mustapha Matura (1939–2019), first black playwright to have a work performed in London’s West End | The Independent
Terry O’Neill (1938–2019), fashion and celebrity photographer | Time
James I. Robertson Jr. (1930–2019), Civil War historian | AV Press
Josephus Thimister (1962–2019), fashion designer | New York Times
