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.
As COVID-19 cases climb, museums across the United States announce closures. Minneapolis museums and the Smithsonian are some of the first to announce their second closures, starting this weekend.
Ronald S. Lauder, honorary chairman of the Museum of Modern Art’s board of trustees, and Stephen Schwarzman, a trustee at the Frick Collection, both donated significant sums to Trump’s reelection campaign, according to Forbes.
The research group Forensic Architecture released the results of its investigation into the Beirut port explosion. Its research details the events and failures that led to one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
A controversial $2 billion tunnel near Stonehenge was approved, but critics say the project could put the prehistoric site at risk.
Artist Azikiwe Mohammed is raising funds to open the Black Painters Academy, a free space dedicated to Black art history.
Four activists who removed an ivory ceremonial spear from a Marseille museum this summer in a symbolic act of cultural repatriation have been acquitted of theft charges.
Lego announced its largest-ever building kit, a 9,036-piece rendition of Rome’s Colosseum.
The San Antonio Museum of Art acquired a mixed-media garment by Jeffrey Gibson and an aluminum signage piece by Edgar Heap of Birds, which will be the first artworks by contemporary Native American artists in its collection.
A new study reveals how some Americans feel about the arts, analyzing trends among US residents, and the impact of respondents’ political leanings, socioeconomic status, gender, and race.
Awards & Accolades
Anonymous Was a Woman announced the awardees of its 2020 grant cycle. | Anonymous Was a Woman
The Andy Warhol Foundation announced the winners of the 2020 Arts Writers Grant. | Hyperallergic
Transitions
Rachel Churner was appointed director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation, and Alvin Hall and Sara Vance Waddell were appointed board members.
Sarah Entwistle is now represented by signs and symbols.
Michael Hall was named artistic and executive director of the Arts Students League.
Suzanne McClelland is now represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery.
Maricelle Robles was appointed executive director of the Headlands Center for the Arts.
Klaudio Rodriguez was appointed executive director, and Shirley Solomon was named deputy director, of the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
In Memoriam
Gordon Baldwin (1939–2020), former curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum
Bruno Barbey (1941–2020), Magnum photographer | New York Times
Ruth DeYoung Kohler II (1941–2020), long-time Director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Eleanor Schano (1932–2020), journalist | New York Times
Ken Spears (1938–2020), writer, producer and sound editor. who co-created Scooby Doo | BBC
