Art Movements
This week in art news: Florida's museums braced for Hurricane Matthew, Sotheby's declared a purported Frans Hals painting fake, and a restitution claim was filed against the Metropolitan Museum over Picasso's "The Actor."
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
A number of museums — including the ICA Miami, Pérez Art Museum, Wolfsonian-FIU, Norton Museum of Art, Orlando Museum of Art, and MOCA Jacksonville — closed on Thursday in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew making landfall in Florida on Friday.
Sotheby’s declared that a portrait attributed to Frans Hals is a fake. According to the BBC, the auction house has reimbursed the client who purchased the work for a reported $10.8 million in 2011. It is thought that the painting may be by the same forger responsible for the painting attributed to Orazio Gentileschi that was loaned to the National Gallery in London in 2014 as well as a number of other Old Masters currently under investigation.
The estate of a German Jewish businessman Paul Leffmann filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Museum of Art over Pablo Picasso’s “The Actor” (1904–05). The suit asserts that the museum does not hold good title over the work as Leffmann was forced to sell the painting for a low price after fleeing Nazi Germany.
Tate Modern unveiled Philippe Parreno‘s commission for the Turbine hall. The work is comprised of flickering lights, speakers, acoustic panels, a screen, a carpet, and a number of fish-shaped balloons.
The Artists Rights Society launched a petition advocating for the implementation of an artist resale royalty in the US.
Audrey Azoulay, France’s minister of culture and communication, pledged to increase funding for museums by €3.9 billion (~$ 4 billion) following a steep decline in museum attendance and revenue in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. The pledged sum is the largest amount of government money promised for the arts in the country’s history.
The Turkish government decided to withdraw from Creative Europe, an EU fund for arts organizations and cultural programs. A report by Haberturk suggests that the decision was motivated by the fund’s support of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra’s Requiem project — a concert that directly refers to the Armenian genocide.
Ryan McGuigan, the defense attorney for mobster Robert Gentile, told the Guardian that his client is near death. Federal officials contend that Gentile knows the whereabouts of paintings stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, a charge that Gentile has repeatedly denied.
Ryan Mendoza plans to reconstruct the former Detroit home of civil rights activist Rosa Parks in Berlin. Parks’s family gave the artist permission to deconstruct and reconstruct the activist’s home after struggling to raise funds for the building’s preservation. “I hope either President Obama or his successor will be sensitive to this issue and catch word of the house that is held hostage across the world,” Mendoza told the Guardian. “I feel eventually the Rosa Parks’ house should be rebuilt on the lawn in front of the White House.”
The University of Ghana stated that it will remove a statue of Mahatma Gandhi from its campus in Accra. University staff launched a petition earlier this month with the hashtag #GandhiMustComeDown in response to Gandhi’s early writings, in which he described black South Africans as “savages” and “kaffirs.”
The Frick Collection launched an acquisitions fund.
Google commissioned Chris Hadfield, Friends With You, Gray Malin, Justin Maller, and FAILE to design cases for its new phone.
Transactions
Artcurial sold a drawing by Hergé for €967,279 (~$1.08 million) — a record for a post-war original work by the artist.
Leslie Waddington’s collection achieved a 100% sell-through rate at Christie’s.
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts acquired the archive of hip-hop polymath Michael Holman.
Kohl’s committed to donating $1.5 million to the Milwaukee Art Museum over a three-year period.
The Terra Foundation for American Art awarded a $200,000 grant to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’s Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life exhibition [via email announcement].
The Tate acquired works by Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Leonor Antunes, and Phillip Lai through the 2016 Frieze Tate Fund [via email announcement].
The Pérez Art Museum Miami acquired Tony Vazquez-Figueroa’s “In the Land Where Gold is Black II” (2015).
Transitions
Queen’s House will reopen on October 11 following a £3 million ($3.8 million) restoration. The former royal residence includes a gold leaf installation by Turner Prize winner Richard Wright — the artist’s largest work to date.
Thomas J. Berghuis will step down as director of Indonesia’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN). Agung Hujatnika and Charles Esche were appointed to the museum’s curatorial team.
Sam Gappmayer was appointed director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Kate Brindley was appointed director of collections and exhibitions at Chatsworth House.
Team Gallery will open a second space in Los Angeles next year.
Accolades
Rana Begum was awarded the 2017 Abraaj Group Art Prize.
Shannon Te Ao was awarded the 2016 Walters Prize.
3Arts announced the recipients of its 9th annual 3Arts Awards.
The winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture were announced.
Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery was awarded the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize.
Obituaries
Walter Darby Bannard (1934–2016), painter. Pioneer of Color Field painting.
George Barris (1922–2016), photographer. Conducted Marilyn Monroe’s final photoshoot.
Oscar Brand (1920–2016), folk singer and songwriter.
Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927–2016), graphic designer and artist.
Gordon Davidson (1933–2016), artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum.
Edith Gaines (1922–2016), programs director at the Art Institute of Chicago. Created the museum’s travel program.
Shirley Jaffe (1923–2016), abstract painter.
Kashif (1956–2016), R&B singer, writer, and producer.
Sir Neville Marriner (1924–2016), conductor and violinist.
Gloria Naylor (1950–2016), author. Best known for The Women of Brewster Place (1982).
Jonathan Riley-Smith (1938–2016), scholar of the Crusades.
Rod Temperton (1947–2016), songwriter, musician, and producer.
Andrew Vicari (1938–2016), artist.
Joseph Wheelwright (1948–2016), sculptor.
