Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Wednesday, April 26.
NEED-TO-READ
Civilians Killed in Russian Strike on Ukraine Museum – A local history museum in the town of Kupiansk was struck by a Russian missile this week. A former museum worker at the scene said the museum director had been trapped under the rubble and that another museum worker had died. Two women are reported dead and ten more injured. It is not clear whether the attacked on the museum was targeted. (Reuters)
More Women Helming the World’s Big Museums – Women have taken over at many of the world’s most prominent institutions, including the Vatican Museums, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and more. Laurence des Cars was appointed president-director of the Louvre in Paris in 2021, the first woman to head the institution. “Top jobs are symbols,” Ms. des Cars said recently in an interview. “And I take the symbol very seriously.” (New York Times)
The Artist “It” Girls Getting Feted in New York – The internet is aflutter with reposts of New York‘s “It” Girl issue, which includes more than 150 women who have been crowned as such at one point or another. Among the list are a handful of artists, including Petra Collins, Chloe Wise and Anna Weyant, as well as collector and Warhol model Baby Jane Holzer. For the record: “‘It’ requires not only some degree of fame but also the right leavening of obscurity. An undeniable celebrity is not an ‘It’ girl.” (The Cut)
Osman Kavala Sends a Message From Jail – April 23 marked the art philanthropist’s 2000th day behind bars after being pegged as a mastermind behind the 2013 Gezi Park protests, which several human rights watch groups have described as politically manipulated at the whim of the Turkish president Reccip Erdogan. Kavala was sentenced to life in prison. Ahead of the Turkish general election on May 14, Kavala shared a message with the world: “I fervently hope that after May 14, a new perspective that upholds legal norms, human dignity, and human rights will prevail within the judiciary and all other public offices.” (Osman Kavala)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
NFT Insider Trading Case Begins in NYC – A potentially-landmark court case featuring an ex-OpenSea employee who was indicted for insider trading begins at a Manhattan federal courthouse. Nathaniel Chastain is alleged to have bought dozens of NFTs that he knew would be featured on the homepage of the trading site, and then selling them for a huge mark-up. (Bloomberg)
Qatar’s Plan for the Arts– Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is an active member in the Qatari art world and chairwoman of Qatar Museums, helping to helm the nation in its bid to become a global art hub. As the nation prepares to unveil two major museums in the next decade, preserving the past is as important as looking to the future. “Qatar is not a very big country geographically, so we want to preserve as much as we can,” she said. (New York Times)
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Names Senior Curator – Ryan N. Dennis is joining the Texas-based museum as senior curator and director of public art; alongside two other promotions: Rebecca Matalon to senior curator and Patricia Restrepo to curator. Dennis previously served as the chief curator and artistic director at the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Jackson Mississippi Museum of Art where she co-organized the much-lauded exhibition “A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration.” (ARTnews)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Rare Klimt Landscape Makes Auction Debut – A landscape painting by Gustav Klimt titled Insel im Attersee (1901–2) could sell for $45 million at Sotheby’s New York in May. The work was once owned by art collector Otto Kallir, who was a historian and champion of Klimt and other Austrian Modernist artists. (The Art Newspaper)
Gustav Klimt, Insel im Attersee (1901-02). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.