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.
Tens of millions of dollars in PPP loans went to NYC museums, art galleries, and other organizations. David Zwirner, Pace, and Gagosian galleries each received over $2 million in PPP funding, and the Whitney and the Guggenheim Museum each received a loan between $5 and 10 million. See our report here.
The Brooklyn Museum laid off 26 full-time and 3 part-time employees. The New Museum laid off 18 full and part-time staff from the 41 workers it has furloughed since March.
Every Wednesday since June 17, the Queens Museum has hosted a food pantry designed to serve 1,000 families weekly, distributing a week’s worth of fresh and nonperishable food items.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today new guidance that will have a devastating impact on international students across the country. A series of modifications to temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students forbid anyone with an F-1 or M-1 visa who is enrolled in a school offering only-online courses to remain in the US through the fall semester.
Over 70 former employees penned a letter denouncing director Elysia Borowy-Reeder’s leadership at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). Their claims are bolstered by several letters of resignation and complaint from current and former staff members. Borowy-Reeder has since been placed on administrative lead by the board.
Korean-American artist Kate Bae was physically assaulted in Manhattan’s Bryant Park. She tells Hyperallergic, “People yell at me ‘go back to China’ or ‘hey, coronavirus.’ I face these attacks at least twice a week on my way to work.”
After a Shaun Leonardo exhibition at moCa Cleveland was canceled, the museum issued an apology for its decision-making process. Since, activists and art workers in the Cleveland community have come forward as critics of the exhibition. Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, has also asked Leonardo to stop exhibiting artwork featuring her son’s likeness.
How risky is visiting a museum during the COVID-19 pandemic? A graphic by the Texas Medical Association provides some answers.
The Trump administration is considering banning TikTok, a popular video app. Trump, whose xenophobic remarks about COVID-19 have stoked violence and discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans, framed the ban as a punitive measure against China’s handling of the coronavirus. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo says the proposal is an effort to “deny the Chinese communist party access to private information that belongs to Americans.”
In Rochester, a Frederick Douglass monument was torn down and found in a nearby river.
On July 4, a group of protesters tore down a Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore and pushed it into the harbor.
Transactions
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC announced the acquisition of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s “I See Red: Target” (1992). The purchase was made with funds from Emily and Mitchell Rales, the couple behind Glenstone. An 11-foot-tall mixed media work on canvas, “I See Red: Target” is a significant work in Smith’s oeuvre and marks the NGA’s first acquisition of a painting on canvas by a Native American artist. The painting incorporates a target and dart game and is installed in the East Building pop art gallery across from Johns’s “Target” (1958).
The skulls of 24 resistance fighters, taken by French colonial officers as “war trophies,” were repatriated to Algeria by France. One of the skulls belonged to Sheikh Bouzian, who led an uprising against French rule in 1849. Upon their arrival in Algiers, the skulls were honored with a 21-gun salute and an extensive funerary ceremony; they proceeded to be displayed and were ultimately buried in the martyr’s section of El Alia Ceremony. Algeria is one of several countries currently engaged in active campaigns for the return of human remains. To quote the International Council of Museums, “repatriation of human remains to indigenous communities is … a growing legal issue.”
The US Supreme Court will hear an appeal from German state museums regarding the Guelph Treasure lawsuit. In 2015, the descendants of the Jewish art dealers who formerly owned the Guelph Treasure — a collection of German reliquaries valued at $275 million — brought suit against the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), claiming that the 1935 sale was forced in Nazi-controlled Prussia. (Nazi art looter Hermann Göring took the treasures and ultimately gifted them to Hitler.) The SPK argued that that the case should be dismissed because it is a lawsuit against a foreign government, which is outside of the US courts’ purview. The Supreme Court’s acceptance of the appeal will have major implications for future restitution cases.
This Week in the Art World
in. (© The Murray-Holman Family Trust/Artists Rights Society, New York. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels)
French Prime Minister Jean Castex appointed Roselyne Bachelot as France’s Culture Minister. | Art Newspaper
The estate of Elizabeth Murray joined the roster at Barbara Gladstone Gallery. | New York Times
MOMENTUM appointed Théo-Mario Coppola as curator and Håkon Lillegraven as associate curator of its 2021 biennale. | e-flux
The Estate of Juan Muñoz will now be represented by David Zwirner. | ARTnews
The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit placed executive director Elysia Borowy-Reeder on leave. | OBSERVER
Sohrab Mohebbi will curate the 2022 Carnegie International. | Artforum
Janice Bond was named Deputy Director at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. | ARTnews
Bergen Assembly appointed Saâdane Afif as its 2022 convener. | e-flux
Mary-Dailey Desmarais was named the Director of the Curatorial Division at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). | via email announcement
British historian David Starkey has been ousted from his positions at The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth and more. | Art Newspaper
Kamel Mennour announced the appointment of Olivier Belot to the role of director. | ARTnews
Artists Kristina Norman and Bita Razav will represent Estonia at the 2022 Venice Biennale. | ERR
Hales Gallery added Chitra Ganesh to its roster. | Hales Gallery
In Memoriam
Earl Cameron (1917–2020), British film star | The Guardian
Nick Cordero (1978–2020), Tony-nominated Broadway actor | Associated Press
Ragaa El-Gedawy (1938–2020), Egyptian actress | Al Jazeera
Richard di Liberto (1938–2020), museum photographer | artdaily.com
Henry Martin (1925–2020), New Yorker cartoonist | The New York Times
Enrico Morricone (1928–2020), Oscar-winning film composer | NPR
Margaret Morton (1948–2020), photographer and educator | artdaily.com
Emma Sanders (1928–2020), civil rights activist | The New York Times
