Art Movements
This week in art news: the Metropolitan Museum revealed details of its modern and contemporary art wing expansion, hundreds of Art Students League members filed a lawsuit over the $31.8-million sale of the school's air rights, and Josh Kline's sculpture "Po-Po" graced the cover of Fatima Al Qadiri's
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed details of the forthcoming renovation and expansion of its modern and contemporary art wing, which will be designed by David Chipperfield and will give the space a total of 180,000 square feet — all without affecting the museum’s roof line or footprint.
Around 300 members of the Art Students League filed a lawsuit over the school’s $31.8 million sale of air rights in 2014. The purchaser, Extell Development, is currently building a 1,500-foot tower next door to the historic non-profit school.
Fatima Al Qadiri‘s upcoming album, Brute, features an image of Josh Kline’s sculpture “Po-Po” by art director Babak Radboy. Kline’s sculpture was part of “Freedom,” an installation exhibited at the New Museum’s 2015 Triennial, Surround Audience.
Jaume Plensa‘s “Spillover II,” a sculpture comprised entirely of metal letters, was reinstalled in Atwater Park, Milwaukee. The work was temporarily removed and partially reconstructed after a blogger claimed to have discerned anti-semitic messages in its form.
The board of the proposed National LGBT Museum has abandoned plans to build in Washington, DC, and is looking for a site in New York City.
The UK government designated Grade II protected status to 41 works of postwar public art.
The office of Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, announced that the city will consider giving landmark status to the Stone Temple Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. regularly preached.
Archivist Mariah Leavitt discovered a long-lost recording of a 1964 speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. at the New School.
Ana Prvački‘s Stealing Shadows opened at 1301PE in Los Angeles. The exhibition consists entirely of the “stolen shadows” of famous artworks including Michelangelo’s “David” (1501–04) and Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit” (1986).
Duane Hanson‘s former Manhattan residence is available to rent for $29,000 per month. One of Basquiat’s “SAMO©” tags has been preserved at the apartment, which is located at 184 Grand Street.
The Norman Lykes Home in Phoenix, the last building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is on sale for $3.6 million.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions will auction a 1939 house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright next month.
The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020. The decision follows widespread criticism of the lack of diversity among the 2016 Oscar nominees. For the second year running, all 20 of the acting nominees are white. A number of actors, including Jada Pinkett and Will Smith, have decided not to attend this year’s ceremony in protest.
A study by anthropologist Jamie Tehrani and folklorist Sara Graça da Silva concluded that a number of popular fairy tales can be traced “long before the emergence of the literary record.”
Scholastic withdrew A Birthday Cake for George Washington, a children’s picture book depicting one of the US president’s slaves.
The interior of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum can now be explored online via the Google Cultural Institute with the use of street view technology.
The Acanthonus armatus, better known as the “Assfish,” went on display at the Royal British Columbia Museum.
Bonhams will host a dog-themed art auction, Dogs in Show and Field: The Fine Art Sale, on February 17.
The Saint Louis Art Museum is currently accepting applications for the Romare Bearden Graduate Minority Museum Fellowship.
Transactions
Dresden’s State Art Collections purchased Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Straßenbild vor dem Friseurladen” (“Street Scene in Front of the Hair Salon”) (1926). The painting was confiscated by the Nazis from the Dresden City Art Gallery in 1937.
Ninety-year-old Holocaust survivor Batszewa Dagan donated a good luck charm that she handmade at Auschwitz to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Oswiecim.
The Museo del Prado acquired Fra Angelico’s “The Virgin of the Pomegranate” (ca. 1426) for €18 million (~$19,437,000).
Corbis, which is owned by Bill Gates, sold its image licensing business to Visual China Group.
Microsoft acquired Joel Levin’s MinecraftEdu, a version of the popular sandbox video game designed for classroom teaching. The technology giant plans to launch its own version, Minecraft: Education Edition, with a free trial next summer.
David Rubenstein donated $10 million to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture‘s capital campaign.
The Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation donated $2 million to Asia Society.
The Ellsworth Kelly Foundation donated $250,000 to the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.
Transitions
The Walker Art Center‘s expanded Sculpture Garden will include 16 newly installed artworks, including Tony Cragg’s “Level Head” and Katharina Fritsch’s “Hahn/Cock.”
Sylvie Hubac will succeed Jean-Paul Cluzel as head of France’s Réunion des Musées Nationaux.
Glenn Adamson will step down as director of the Museum of Arts and Design at the end of March.
Tibbie Dunbar will step down as executive director of the A+D Architecture and Design Museum on February 1.
Anne-Marie Russell was appointed executive director of the Sarasota Museum of Art.
Lisa Robb was appointed executive director of the Center for Arts Education.
Susan Lubowsky Talbott was appointed interim executive director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Maori Karmael Holmes was appointed director of academic and public partnerships at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
Maristella Casciato was appointed the Getty Research Institute’s senior curator of architectural collections.
Timothy J. Malyk was appointed vice president and head of the modern and contemporary art department at Freeman’s.
Claudia La Rocco was appointed editor-in-chief of Open Space.
The Gibbes Museum of Art in will reopen in May following a $13-million renovation.
Accolades
Olafur Eliasson will receive the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Lee Wen was awarded the Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art.
Svay Sareth was awarded the Overall Best Emerging Artist Prize at the 2016 Prudential Eye Awards for Contemporary Asian Art. The artist also received the Best Emerging Artist Award in the sculpture category.
Scott Merrill will be awarded the 2016 Richard H. Driehaus Prize on March 19.
Joachim Coucke was awarded the De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award at the 2016 London Art Fair.
Obituaries
Leila Alaoui (1982–2016), artist.
Edmonde Charles-Roux (1920–2016), novelist. Former editor of French Vogue.
Glenn Frey (1948–2016), singer and guitarist. Member of the Eagles.
Denny Griffith (1952–2016), former president of the Columbus College of Art and Design.
Gottfried Honegger (1917–2016), painter and sculptor.
Avrom Isaacs (1926–2016), art dealer.
Thomas McAnulty (unconfirmed–2016), sculptor and Professor Emeritus at Adelphi University.
Harrison McIntosh (1914–2016), ceramicist.
Georg Nees (1926–2016), pioneer of computer art.
Jeram Patel (1930–2016), artist. Co-founder of the Group 1890 collective.
Ettore Scola (1931–2016), film director.
Michel Tournier (1924–2016), novelist.
Lord Weidenfeld (1919–2016), publisher. Co-founded Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Carolyn D. Wright (1949–2016), poet.
