Art Industry News is normally a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know this Monday, July 15.

NEED-TO-READ

Heir to Prussian Monarchy Wants Germany to Return His Art – A German aristocrat is staking claim to tens of thousands of paintings, sculptures, coins, books, and furniture now in public collections that once belonged to the last Kaiser. Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, the great-great grandchild of Wilhelm II—the last emperor of Prussia, who went into exile after Germany’s defeat World War I—is leading the bid on behalf of the Hohenzollern family. (The family was initially stripped of property after the monarchy was overthrown, but later worked out a deal to reclaim some of their assets in 1926.) The family and the German government “are still very far apart” in ongoing negotiations, Der Spiegel reports. (AFP)

Anonymous Chinese Cartoonist Reveals His Identity – The political cartoonist Badiucao has revealed his face in a new documentary called China’s Artful Dissident. The film follows the Chinese artist, who is now based in Melbourne, as he prepares for a solo show in Hong Kong that is ultimately called off due to safety concerns. Censors have closed down his Weibo accounts 37 times in an attempt to suppress his cartoons, which often feature President Xi. The film follows the self-taught artist as it dawns on him that Chinese authorities already know his identity. He also offers insight into his process and reveals that some of his sculptures are made in China by unsuspecting suppliers he commissions online. (FT)

Solange Teams Up With Museums for Extended Film Project – The singer will screen her performance art film, produced in collaboration with artist Jacolby Satterwhite, in museums across the US and at the V&A in London this summer. Solange, who grew up in Houston, is bringing the film to her hometown museum, the MFA Houston, as well as Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center, the Brooklyn Museum, LACMA, MCA Chicago, and others. When I Get Home, which has the same title as Solange’s fourth album and explores notions of origin and identity, will close at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, in October. The Brooklyn Museum’s director Anne Pasternak calls Solange “an artist’s artist whose creativity knows no limits.” (The Art Newspaper)

Venice Has No Climate Change Plan – Venice’s plans produced for UNESCO in 2013 and 2018 barely mention climate change, and the organization’s World Heritage Committee has failed to address the issue at its recent meetings. A new report by the International Council on Museums and Sites explores how cultural heritage organizations can contribute to sustainability, in part by explaining to tourists what climate change would mean for their sites. But so far, the sinking Italian city has remained mum. (TAN)

ART MARKET

Sotheby’s to Auction Rare Sneakers – The rare store Stadium Goods is teaming up with Sotheby’s to auction off 100 rare sneakers online through July 23. The online sale includes a pair of early Nike shoes designed by the legendary track coach Bill Bowerman who developed its famous rubber sole by experimenting with a waffle iron. The 1972 Moon Shoe has an upper estimate of $160,000. (Press release)

FIAC Will Honor Yayoi Kusama – Jennifer Flay, FIAC’s director, says she plans to remain at the helm of the fair until 2024, when it is due to return to a revamped Grand Palais. Highlights of the 2019 edition include a monumental Yayoi Kusama sculpture in the Place Vendôme, presented by Victoria Miro. (Le Figaro)

Art Market Monitor Is Acquired by Penske Media – Penske Media Corporation, the publisher of Variety, Rolling Stone, and WWD, is expanding its art media holdings further. The company has acquired the art market publication and podcast Art Market Monitor. Its founding editor, Marion Maneker, will now become editorial director of the company that oversees ARTnews and Art in America. (Art Market Monitor)

Peter Saul Gets New Representation – The veteran American painter Peter Saul is now represented by Michael Werner (New York, London, Trebbin) and Venus Over Manhattan (New York). Saul was previously represented by Mary Boone, who closed her gallery earlier this year after she was convicted of tax evasion. Michael Werner has represented Saul outside New York since 2013. (ARTnews)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Mary Schmidt Campbell Joins the Getty Board – Campbell, who is president of Atlanta’s Spelman College, has joined the board of trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust. An art historian and curator, she formerly served as director of the Studio Museum in Harlem and was dean of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for 20 years. (Press release)

Migrants Storm the Pantheon in Paris – Hundreds of undocumented migrants stormed the Pantheon monument in Paris on Friday, where cultural figures including Voltaire and Victor Hugo are buried. The protesters, who call themselves “black vests”—a reference to the recent “yellow vest” youth protests—are demanding the right to remain in France. (Reuters)

FOR ART’S SAKE

A Female Surrealist’s Archive Is Saved by the Tate – The museum has acquired the entire archive of the British painter Ithell Colquhoun from the National Trust. The Surrealist was obsessed with magic and the occult, which created tensions with her artist peers and drove her to leave the British Surrealists in 1940. The collection, which comprises more than 5,000 works, will be the largest single-artist collection in Tate’s archives. (Guardian)

Discovery of 210,000-Year-Old Skull Is a Game-Changer – Archeologists have discovered the earliest modern human remains outside of Africa, a monumental discovery that suggests Homo sapiens arrived in Europe some 150,000 years earlier than previously thought. New technology has revealed that one of two skulls uncovered in a Greek cave in the 1970s, which were previously identified as Neanderthal remains, is actually a badly damaged example of a Homo sapien skull. (AFP)

New York’s Sanitation Department Unleashes Hand-Painted Trucks – New York’s Department of Sanitation has launched a fleet of five hand-painted garbage trucks. The project, called “Trucks of Art,” includes trucks designed by five artists or collaborations: Dister, Misha Tyutyunik and Victor A. Saint-Hilaire; Lady K-Fever; a class from Energy Tech High School; and Jillian White. You know what they say: One person’s trash is another person’s…canvas? (ARTnews)