Art Movements
This week in art news: the Panama Papers revealed the owner of a disputed Modigliani painting, German and Swiss museums planned a joint show of art from the Cornelius Gurlitt trove, and 2,000 fans of a Scottish soccer club received giant foam thumbs designed by David Shrigley.
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
An investigation of the “Panama Papers,” the cache of leaked documents from the wealth management firm Mossack Fonseca, revealed that Amedeo Modigliani’s “Seated Man with a Cane” (1918) — which was allegedly seized from Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner by the Nazis — is owned by a Panamanian shell company belonging to the Nahmad family. The Nadmads purchased the painting in 1996 for $3.2 million and in 2011 Stettiner’s grandson, Philippe Maestracci, took them to court in a bid to get the painting back, but the case was withdrawn when the Nahmads stated that the painting was owned by a company named International Art Center. The disclosures reveal that International Art Center has been owned by the Nahmads for over 20 years.
The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn and the Kunstmuseum Bern announced plans to stage simultaneous exhibitions of work recovered from the Cornelius Gurlitt trove.
David Shrigley distributed 2,000 yellow foam thumbs inspired by his Fourth Plinth sculpture to supporters of Scotland’s Partick Thistle football club. Last year, the artist designed Partick Thistle’s new mascot as part of the club’s $200,000 sponsorship deal with US investment firm Kingsford Capital.
A mass grave containing the bodies of around 40 men, women, and children was discovered on the north-eastern edge of Palmyra. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights concluded that ISIS executed at least 280 people during their occupation of the ancient city.
The Leopold Museum returned two Egon Schiele drawings to the 95-year-old descendent of collector Karl Mayländer. Mayländer gave the works to his partner, Etelka Hoffman, shortly before he was deported to Lodz and murdered by the Nazis.
RCA Secret, the Royal College of Art’s annual fundraiser, opened today. The exhibition features 1,920 postcards on sale for £55 (~$78) each. The cards — whose creators are not identified — are designed by famous artists, current students, and alumni. Members of the public are permitted to buy up to four postcards each. Previous contributors include David Bailey, John Baldessari, Zaha Hadid, Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, and Yinka Shonibare.
A French judge ruled that the Valsuani foundry should be liquidated in order to pay off its creditors. The foundry’s posthumous production of Edgar Degas bronzes is a subject of considerable controversy among scholars and art historians.
A copy of Skakespeare‘s first folio was discovered at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. There are only 230 known copies of the first folio, which was printed in 1623, seven years after the playwright’s death.
Residents of the Cité de Refuge (1933) in Paris will begin giving tours of the building this month. The Salvation Army shelter was designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.
Jan Fabre resigned as artistic director of the Athens and Epidaurus festival in Greece. Local artists protested Fabre’s directorship after he announced plans to turn the festival into a “tribute to Belgium.”
Transactions
Gordon W. Bailey donated 47 works to the High Museum of Art. The gift includes pieces by Thornton Dial, Jr., Arthur Dial, Ivy Billiot, and Herbert Singleton.
The Eclectic Bar Group purchased Brighton Pier for £18 million (~$25.4 million). The Grade II listed structure was opened in 1899.
The Phoenix Art Museum received a $2 million endowment from Jacquie Dorrance, a member of the museum’s board of trustees.
The Dia Art Foundation received a $735,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant.
The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts awarded nine LA-based nonprofits a total of $310,000. The recipients include the Echo Park Film Center, Frogtown’s Clockshop, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.
Transitions
The Essl Museum in Klosterneuburg, Austria, will stop staging exhibitions as of July 1.
The Palm Springs Art Museum announced the retirement of architecture and design curator Sidney Williams.
United States Artists appointed Ann Hatch to its board of trustees.
The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden appointed Stephanie Foster and Adam S. Metz to its board of trustees.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art appointed Yves Béhar to its board of trustees.
Lily Cabatu Weiss was appointed executive director of the Dallas Arts District.
Sotheby’s promoted Oliver Barker and Mario Tavella to the position of European cochairmen.
Lisa Clements was appointed assistant director of education, public programs, and interpretative media at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The MCA Chicago appointed José Esparza Chong Cuy as an associate curator.
Christie’s announced plans to shut down offices in Boston, Philadelphia, and Palm Beach, Florida.
San Francisco’s Altman Siegel gallery will relocate to a new space in the Dogpatch district in September.
Accolades
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced the recipients of its 2016 Guggenheim Fellowships.
The Federal Republic of Germany awarded Klaus Biesenbach the Cross of the Order of Merit.
Martin Puryear will receive the third annual Yaddo Artist Medal on May 18.
The Whitney Museum of American Art named its new building after longtime trustee and chairman emeritus Leonard A. Lauder. The businessman received the inaugural Whitney Collection Award earlier this week.
JJ Peet was named the recipient of the 2016 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award by Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum.
Vilhelm Sundin was awarded the first-ever Philip B. Lind Prize Emerging Artist Prize.
Ben Rivers was awarded the second EYE Art and Film Prize.
Clara Drummond, Benjamin Sullivan, and Bo Wang were shortlisted for the 2016 BP Portrait Award.
Obituaries
Leandro “Gato” Barbieri (1932–2016), jazz saxophonist.
David Blackburn (1939–2016), artist.
Joseph Medicine Crow (1913–2016), Native American historian and anthropologist.
Coca Crystal (aka Jacqueline Diamond) (1947–2016), counter culture icon. Host of If I Can’t Dance, You Can Keep Your Revolution.
Peggy Fortnum (1919–2016), illustrator. Best known for illustrating Paddington Bear.
John Gunter (1938–2016), set designer.
Merle Haggard (1937–2016), country music singer and guitarist.
Inge Hardison (1914–2016), actress and sculptor.
Kazuko Hirabayashi (1933–2016), choreographer.
Carlo Mastrangelo (1937-2016), doo-wop and progressive rock singer. Member of Dion and the Belmonts.
Andy “Thunderclap” Newman (1942–2016), jazz pianist. Founding member of Thunderclap Newman.
Gary Pulsifer (1957–2016), publisher and writer.
María Rostworowski de Diez Canseco (1915–2016), historian.
