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 Friday, April 29.
NEED-TO-READ
Venice Museums Are Sending Supplies to Ukraine – Local museums in Venice are sending protective fabrics, foam panels, and data loggers for tracking changes in humidity and temperature to Ukraine’s Lviv National Art Gallery as part of the initiative Save Ukraine Art 22. The network of private companies, public institutions, and museums is working to create a supply chain for delivering key materials protect art in the besieged country. (The Art Newspaper)
Matisse’s The Red Studio Brought to Life in NYC Show – A show opening on May 1 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art will recreate Matisse’s The Red Studio (1911). The real paintings pictured in the packed composition will be brought together to create a replica of the scene. The show will travel to SMK National Gallery of Denmark, in Copenhagen, in October. (TAN)
How Brexit Killed One Dealer’s Business – British Old Masters dealer Steve Shovlar says Brexit ruined his business practically overnight after he had been successfully selling art for the past 15 years. Since the U.K. left the E.U. on January 31 2020, his company’s income dropped by 60 percent. Because the majority of his clientele is in the E.U., the accompanying taxes and red tape have made trade “virtually impossible.” (TAN)
SFAI Gets a Grant to Preserve Diego Rivera Mural It Tried to Sell – The San Francisco Art Institute received a $200,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to preserve a fresco by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera that was recently given landmark status. The embattled school previously considered selling the 1931 mural, estimated to be worth $50 million, in order to settle a $19.7 million debt. The move was decried by locals and art historians. (ARTnews)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Harry Potter Galleys Make Estimates Go Poof! – The only known set of galley sheets (original printing proofs) for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for £37,500 ($47,011) at London’s Chiswick Auctions. The uncorrected sheets are a version of the book that was submitted for proofreading. The pages went to a telephone bidder from overseas. (Evening Standard)
Friends Revive Trailblazing Black Superhero for Art Show – Larry Fuller invented one of the first Black superhero comic characters, Ebon, in 1970, paving the way for others including Marvel’s Black Panther. A new show at California’s Culver Center of the Arts, “‘Ebon: Fear of a Black Planet’: A Black Kirby Project” explores his legacy. It is a collaboration between Fuller and the duo behind the art collective Black Kirby, Stacey Robinson and John Jennings. (L.A. Times)
The Royal Academy Names New Trustees – Clara Amfo and Dame Vivian Hunt have taken up roles as trustees of the Royal Academy Trust. Amfo is a popular voice on British radio and television; Dame Hunt is a senior partner for McKinsey & Company. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
London Gallery Weekend Plots New Initiatives – The second edition of London Gallery Weekend—the largest event of its kind in the world—will take place next month, from May 13 to 15, across more than 150 participating galleries. For the first time, the platform will launch a performance public art commission, with the artist Mandy El-Sayegh. The Gallery Weekend has also named the 18 institutions that will receive funding from its inaugural partnership with Art Fund in a bid to build relationships between commercial galleries and regional institutions. These include Nottingham Contemporary and the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow. (Press release)
Mandy El-Sayegh by Abtin Ashraghi.