Plus, Ai Weiwei calls for Leon Black to step down as chairman of MoMA and the Van Gogh Experience is coming to New York City.
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 Tuesday, February 23.
More Artists Call on MoMA, Dartmouth to Cut Ties With Leon Black – Artists including Ai Weiwei and Nan Goldin have joined calls for the Museum of Modern Art and Dartmouth College to cut ties with investor Leon Black after revelations that he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for tax advice. Black is MoMA’s chairman; Dartmouth’s visual arts center is named after his family. “I would feel ashamed to be associated with the MoMA if it takes a firm position in keeping someone who has been confirmed to have hurt basic values or has worked against truth and fairness,” Ai said, adding that he would “hope” they wouldn’t keep his artwork in his collection if so. (New York Times)
Dutch Officials Reconsider Heirs’ Claim to Stedelijk’s Kandinsky – The mayor of Amsterdam has asked the national Dutch restitution commission to reconsider its decision to let the Stedelijk Museum keep a 1909 work by Wassily Kandinsky in its collection. The work was part of a Jewish collection before World War II and the heirs of its former owners have sought to reclaim it for years. In a letter, the mayor and other officials say that society has a “moral obligation” to restore injustices wrought on the Jewish people, and called for greater empathy in the restitution commission’s decision-making. (NYT)
Jim Carrey Wants to Take a Break From Political Art Now – It was the sign of the end of the Trump era that we didn’t know we needed. The actor Jim Carrey, the 21st century Honoré Daumier we deserve, now says he plans to take a break from political cartoons. “It truly feels as though you and I have crossed an ocean of outrage together, but something tells me it’s time to rest my social media gavel and reclaim a little neurological bandwidth,” he wrote on Twitter. (CNN)
Facebook Blocks Australian Art Institutions – Facebook disabled more than 500 art-related pages on February 18 after mistakenly identifying them as news outlets. The social-media giant issued an overnight ban on Australian news outlets after the country passed a controversial law requiring tech companies to get permission to repost original content from national publications. Since then, some pages, such as the one for Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria, have been restored, while others remain blocked on the platform. (Art Asia Pacific)
South South Veza Opens – A new sales platform focusing on artists from the Global South kicks off today with a live auction vernissage. Following the live event, participating galleries will open online viewing rooms from tomorrow through March 7. (Press release)
Artnet Auctions Holds 40 Under 10 Sale – The “40 Under 10” sale exceeded estimates and saw several new records set, including for a print by Radcliffe Bailey, whose Until I Die / Minor Keys (1997) sold for $22,000, four times its high estimate. Other notable sales include Kehinde Wiley’s multiple St. Francis of Adelaide (2006), which sold for $19,200, and Romare Bearden’s screenprint Two Women (1981-82), which fetched $5,760. (Press release)
The Van Gogh Experience Is Coming to NYC – Tickets to attend the immersive light show “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” in New York City will be released on February 25 at noon. The experience—one of a number of Van Gogh-inspired installations launching across the US—will open at a yet-to-be-announced location in June. (Press release)
National Gallery of Art Announces Its Latest Mellon Lecturer – The Harvard University art historian Jennifer Roberts will give a series of talks on the processes behind different types of printmaking. “It’s a very complex form of intelligence that’s very different from painting,” Roberts tells Artnet News. “In many cases, it’s the opposite of painting.” Roberts hopes to edit the lectures into a book that can serve as an entry point for historians looking to better understand the form. The first lecture is scheduled for April 11. (Press release)
Art Detective Charles Hill Dies – The British art detective Charles Hill died on February 20 after a heart attack. Hill was a member of Scotland Yard’s art squad, and best known for his role uncovering Edvard Munch’s 1893 version of The Scream after it was stolen from Oslo’s National Museum in 1994. (ARTnews)
Courtauld Gallery Receives Gift of Prized Drawings – The artist Linda Karshan has gifted London’s Courtauld Gallery with a collection of 25 important Modern drawings in memory of her husband, the late collector Howard Karshan. The trove, which includes works by Cézanne, Kandinsky, and Paul Klee, will go on display when the institution reopens after renovations in late 2021. (Guardian)
Vivienne Westwood Joins the Serpentine on Green Energy Campaign – The fashion designer and activist has teamed up with the Serpentine and WePresent to call on the public to make the switch to green energy providers. As part of the Serpentine’s “Back to Earth” environmental program, Westwood has created hand-drawn slogans, posters, and cards responding to the prompt, “How can I save the environment?” (WePresent)
Vivienne Westwood, SWITCH for Groundwork, presented by WePresent x Serpentine.
