Plus, the politician behind London's much-hated art mound resigns, and a new exhibition changes how we think about Titian.
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, August 13.
Can We Look at Titian the Same Way Now? – Holland Cotter visits the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston to take in its “small supernova of a show,” “Titian: Women, Myth & Power,” which brings together six mythological scenes that Titian created for King Phillip II. While the exhibition is an “art historical coup that institutions many times its size should envy,” he writes, its depictions of rape also raise doubts about whether any art, however great, can be exempt from moral scrutiny. (New York Times)
Politician Resigns Over Controversial Art Mound —Melvyn Caplan, deputy leader of London’s Westminster Council, resigned after the bill came in for a controversial, 25-meter-tall fake mountain. The costs associated with the Marble Arch Mound, which is set in downtown London, soared to double of what they were projected to be—totaling £6 million ($8.3 million). (Guardian)
55 Exhibitors Drop Out of IRL Armory Show, Citing Travel Restrictions – As the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc around the globe, the Armory Show will present a slimmed-down edition from September 9–12 in New York. Only 75 percent of the previously announced 212 exhibitors will have an in-person presence at its new home at the Javits Center, with 55 mostly European-based galleries opting out. (A similar situation happened with Frieze New York in May.) The remote galleries will defer their IRL participation to 2022 and instead have a presence on the fair’s digital platform. Forty-four international galleries still plan to attend in person. (ARTnews)
Why Lost Leonardo Is Worth Watching – A new documentary directed by the Danish filmmaker Andreas Koefoed traces the trajectory of Salvator Mundi from a $1,000 bargain purchased in New Orleans to the $400 million subject of international intrigue. According to critic Glenn Kenny, the film “freshly demonstrates that a conventionally structured documentary can pack the fascination and wallop of an expertly executed fictional thriller.” (NYT)
Cecily Brown Helps Bring a Street-Art Renaissance to Buffalo – To brighten up the city amid ongoing economic difficulties, artists are plastering Buffalo with murals. Among them is celebrated painter Cecily Brown, who spent two months this summer creating Flight of the Chickadee. The yellow cityscape sees flying birds against bits of blue sky. (Bloomberg)
New Residency Launches for Indigenous Artists – A Hudson Valley-based residency called the Forge Project has awarded its inaugural fellowship to a group of Indigenous creatives including architect Chris T. Cornelius, artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka, ecologist and writer Jasmine Neosh, and language preservationist Brock Schreiber. Each will receive $25,000 and a studio residency. (Artforum)
Major Museums Acquire Work From N.Y.C. Artists in Residence – Works created as part of N.Y.C’s Public Artists in Residence program are now in major institutions. The V&A in London and the Library of Congress acquired a series of illustrations dealing with anti-Asian hate by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, while the Jewish Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Queens Museum, and MoMA in New York acquired photographs by Julia Weist. (The Art Newspaper)
Dealers Open a New Sculpture Garden in Hamburg – Berlin’s Wentrup Gallery is expanding. It will open a second space in a lakeside art villa in Hamburg on August 22. The new gallery, called Wentrup am Feenteich (Wentrup on the Feen Pond), aims to draw collectors from across the region and boasts a sculpture garden alongside a three-story Art Nouveau mansion. (Press release)
Wentrup’s new gallery garden on the Feen Pond in Hamburg. Photo: Patricia Parinejad.
Wentrup’s new gallery garden on the Feen Pond in Hamburg. Photo: Patricia Parinejad.
