Art Movements
This week in art news: Germany's culture minister revised a controversial export bill, two stolen Warhol prints were handed over to the LAPD, and posters protesting the DSEI Arms Fair appeared across London.
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Monika Grütters, Germany’s minister of culture, toned down the provisions of a controversial bill that sought to block national treasures from leaving the country. The original proposal was criticized by a number of dealers and artists, including George Baselitz who withdrew all loans of his work from German museums. According to The Art Newspaper, the latest version of the bill states that works by living artists can only be categorized as national treasures with the consent of the artist.
Jerry Wolkoff, the owner of G&M Realty, successfully registered the servicemark “5Pointz” with the state of New York — allowing him to use the name for the apartment towers that are currently being constructed on the former site of the celebrated “graffiti mecca.”
Skinner Inc. plan to auction Mary Beams‘s 19 mural panels depicting Boston’s Green Line trolley cars and their riders. The murals were recently taken down in order to accommodate the reconstruction of the Government Center subway station.
Two of nine Andy Warhol prints that were stolen from the offices of movie company Moviola were handed over to the LAPD. According to The Telegraph, a lawyer named Harland Braun told the police that one of his clients purchased the works several years ago from a man involved in commercial construction. The theft, in which the perpetrator(s) replaced the prints with fakes, is thought to have taken place over the course of many years. The crime was first reported by TMZ last week.
The Farnese Palace will be open to the public from September 19–20 to celebrate the restoration of Annibale Carracci’s “The Loves of the Gods” (1597–1608).
The American Museum of Telephony was destroyed by wildfire in California.
The Wall Street Journal described an email sent by Carnegie Hall chairman Ronald Perelman to the board’s trustees in which he accuses executive and artistic director Clive Gillinson of “a troubling lack of transparency.” According to the email, Gillinson was suspended from his role in August.
Joel Alexander Greene is countersuing the Honolulu Art Museum over its allegation that the collector failed to provide documentation proving that his gift of five southeast Asian artifacts had not been smuggled.
Hundreds of posters protesting the DSEI Arms Fair (Defence and Security Equipment International) appeared across London. The guerrilla ads are part of an exhibition at Banksy’s Dismaland entitled Cruel Designs.
A large photographic mural by Damien Hirst was installed on the south facade of Otium, the restaurant next door to the Broad Museum.
Transactions
Maya Angelou‘s art collection fetched almost $1.3 million at Swann Auction Galleries. The star lot, Faith Ringgold’s “Maya’s Quilt of Life” (1989), was acquired by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The museum also announced the acquisition of works by James McNeill Whistler, Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Thomas Eakins, Jeffrey Gibson, and Maya Lin.
Bloomberg Philanthropies‘ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program will donate $30 million to 262 arts organizations.
Artist Not Vital will purchase Schloss Tarasp, a C12th castle in the Swiss town of Scuol, for $8 million. A condition of the purchase is that the castle must be made accessible to the public through 2030.
The Contemporary Austin announced the launch of a major renovation and expansion of its downtown location. The project was made possible by a $1.3 million grant from the Moody Foundation.
$750,000 will be allocated towards the preservation and creation of murals around Los Angeles. The city funds will be split between the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) and the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.
Maurice Tuchman, the former curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, donated his papers to the Getty Research Institute.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site received $460,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities and $150,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a major restoration project.
Transitions
Salvador Salort-Pons was appointed director of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Ellen Salpeter was appointed director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.
Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, the director of the Frye Art Museum, will leave her post once her contract expires in September 2016.
Lorenzo Benedetti, the director of the De Appel Arts Center, was fired by the Center’s board.
Omar Kholeif was appointed curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
David Appel, Marcus Brauchli, Theaster Gates, and Sheri Schlesinger were appointed trustees of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Shawnya L. Harris was appointed curator of African American and African Diasporic Art at the Georgia Museum of Art.
Washington DC’s Crime Museum will close its doors at the end of the month.
Accolades
Laura Davis, Irena Haiduk, LaMont Hamilton, and Cauleen Smith were the winners of this year’s Chicago Artadia Awards.
ARTIS awarded $200,000 in grants as part of its 2015 Artis Grant Programs. A full list of grant winners can be found here.
Obituaries
William Becker (1927–2015), theatre critic and financier. Acquired Janus Films in 1965.
Melvin Bernhardt (1931–2015), theatre director.
David Findlay Jr. (1933–2015), art dealer.
Adrian Frutiger (1928–2015), type designer. Best known for Univers, Avenir, and Frutiger.
Frank D. Gilroy (1925–2015), playwright and dramatist.
Nereo López (1920–2015), photographer.
Adam Purple (1930–2015), gardener and environmentalist.
Salvo (1947–2015), artist.
Jonathan Woolf (1961–2015), architect.
