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 Thursday, December 3.

NEED-TO-READ

Prince Charles and Camilla Get a Private Tour of the National Gallery – The royal couple were given an exclusive tour of Artemisia Gentileschi’s blockbuster show at the National Gallery in London as the city emerged from a four-week lockdown yesterday. Prince Charles spent time contemplating Judith and Holofernes and Susanna and the Elders. (Evening Standard)

Hong Kong’s Museums Shut Down… Again – Tai Kwun Centre, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Para Site are among the Hong Kong museums that are shutting their doors for the fourth time this year in light of new executive orders and rising infection rates. The measures come into effect on the heels of Art Basel Hong Kong’s mini fair Spotlight, held in collaboration with Fine Art Asia last week. (ARTnews)

Black Lives Matter Tops ArtReview’s Power List – The magazine’s annual effort to rank the most powerful figures and forces in the art world focuses this year on those who have fought injustice, repression, and colonialism. It handed its top spot to the Black Lives Matter movement, which the mag says has accelerated change in every part of the art world. Second place goes to the Indonesian art collective ruangrupa, which will curate documenta 15 in 2022, followed by Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and French art historian Bénédicte Savoy, who co-authored an influential report on colonial-era artifacts and the need for restitution. Number four is another movement, #MeToo, and number five is the influential American philosopher and poet Fred Moten. We’ll just assume the issue went to press before the Monolith could crack the top 10. (Guardian)

Lord of the Rings Cast Wants to Save Tolkien’s House – Cast members from the film franchise are crowdfunding to save 20 Northmoor Road, the Oxford, UK house where author J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his fantasy novels. Actors Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman are among those trying to raise funds to buy the house before it goes on the market. (Polygon)

ART MARKET

Steps from the Eiffel Tower Sell for Ten Times Estimate – Fourteen steps from the Eiffel Tower’s original staircase fetched €274,000 ($328,427) at auction—10 times the expected price. The piece went to a European collection. (France24)

Lempertz Is Selling a Rare George de La Tour – Twenty-three Old Masters from the collection of Hinrich Bischoff will hit the auction block at Germany’s Lempertz. The haul includes the last privately owned work from George de La Tour’s “night painting” series. The piece is estimated to sell for between €3 million and €4 million ($3.6–4.8 million). (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Singapore Art Museum Launches Residency Program – In a vote of confidence for the resumption of international travel, the Singapore Art Museum is launching a new residency program beginning in July. Four one- to six-month residencies—for artists, curators, educators, and arts organizations—will be held in various sites around the city-state. Applications go live next week. (ARTnews)

Art Explora Gives European Museums €150,000 – Art Explora has named three museums as winners of its inaugural Académie des Beaux-Arts award, which is designed to help European institutions broaden their audiences. The €150,000 prize, which is underwritten by the French culture ministry, will be split among the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, Mucem, in Marseille (which earned €80,000); the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid (€50,000); and London’s National Gallery (€20,000). (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Florence’s Soccer Stadium Sparks a Design Debate – Italians are up in arms after the new American owner of Florence’s beloved Artemio Franchi stadium said he wants to tear it down to build a more modern venue. The cantilevered canopy of the Pier Luigi Nervi-designed stadium is an icon of 20th-century architecture, and conservationists worldwide are campaigning to save it. (New York Times)

Mika Rottenberg Is Readying Her First Feature – The Argentine-Israeli video artist is making her first full-length feature film, a Korean-language work created with Mahyad Tousi called Remote. It follows five women in the near future who meet while in quarantine (from a different virus) through a shared love of dog-grooming and stumble upon a portal to an ancient internet. (ARTnews)

See Mark Titchner’s New Murals Across London – The former Turner Prize nominee has created a series of four hopeful new murals for different sites across London. The works were commissioned by Team London Bridge in light of the popularity of the artist’s “Please Believe These Days Will Pass” poster campaign back in April. (Press release)

Mark Titchner posters commissioned by Team London Bridge in collaboration with the BUILDHOLLYWOOD family of Jack, Jack Arts and Diabolical.

Mark Titchner posters commissioned by Team London Bridge in collaboration with the BUILDHOLLYWOOD family of Jack, Jack Arts and Diabolical.

Mark Titchner posters commissioned by Team London Bridge in collaboration with the BUILDHOLLYWOOD family of Jack, Jack Arts and Diabolical.