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 this Monday, June 11.
NEED-TO-READ
Italian Judge Rules Against the Getty in Youth Saga – An Italian magistrate has ruled that the Greek bronze in the Getty Museum, which is known as the Victorious Youth or Athlete of Fano, belongs in Italy. The decision comes more than eight years after an Italian court first ruled that it should be restituted from the US. The LA museum maintains the bronze sculpture was discovered in international waters. (ARCA blog)
G7 Face-Off Photo Becomes an Instant ‘Old Master’ – The image taken of Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump confronting each other surrounded by other world leaders at the G7 Summit has gone viral. Many were quick to point out the resemblance between Jesco Denze’s dramatic photograph and a Renaissance painting. (Guardian)
The Dark Side of Bernado Paz’s Inhotim Museum – Tax evasion, money laundering, environmental and labor violations, including alleged child labor in his mines: the charge sheet against the Brazilian mega collector is getting even longer. While he appeals his convictions, Paz continues to live in his art-filled mansion on the edge of the vast open-air museum he built at Inhotim. (Bloomberg)
Expert Accuses Chagall’s Heir of Censorship – The art historian Martin Kemp is challenging the Chagall authentication committee’s verdict that a watercolor of St. Matthew, which could also be a self-portrait of the artist, is a fake. He alleges that the artist’s granddaughter, Meyer Grabner, lobbied the editor of the publication Kunstchronik to “censor” an article about the work spotted by a retired plumber. (Times)
ART MARKET
End of the Road for New York Ceramic and Glass Fair – After two decades, the fair is no more. Its organizers have announced that there won’t be a 20th edition next January. “Many of our historic dealers are at the point of retiring and there just isn’t a big enough pool of other dealers to replace them,” says co-organizers Meg Wendy. (ArtFixDaily)
Uli Sigg Joins UBS’s New Collectors’ Circle– The Swiss bank’s secretive club of $50 million-plus collectors, many with private museums, includes Sigg, the Swiss businessman and collector of Chinese contemporary art, the FT reveals. UBS calls the circle a cultural offshoot of its Global Philanthropists Community. (Financial Times)
Superfine! Fair Heads to LA – The self-styled art fair for emerging collectors is expanding, its co-founders, James Miille and Alex Mitow have announced. They will organize an edition in Los Angeles in February 2019 with a quarter of the works priced under $5,000 and many below $1,000. (Press release)
Boris Becker’s Trophies in Bankruptcy Sale – The tennis champion’s trophies and memorabilia have gone on sale in an online auction. The medals, awards, rackets, and watches are being sold by Wyles Hardy & Co. on behalf of the trustees in bankruptcy of the estate of Boris Becker. (Antiques Trade Gazette)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Photographer David Douglas Duncan Has Died – The American war photographer, who worked for Life magazine and famously photographed Pablo Picasso at his home and studio in the French Riviera, has died at age 102 from complications due to pneumonia. (The Guardian)
David Zwirner Will Represent the Roy DeCarava Estate – Zwirner will now represent the estate of the African American photographer of New York life from the 1940s onwards, and will show his work in the city next year around the centennial of his birth. Zwirner Books will also reissue DeCarava’s 1955 photobook, made in collaboration with the poet Langston Hughes, The Sweet Flypaper of Life. (ARTnews)
Aki Sasamoto Joins Yale School of Art – The Japanese performance and installation artist has been appointed assistant professor in sculpture at the Ivy League institution. Sasamoto, who sees teaching as an extension of her art practice, will take up the role in July. (Press release)
Lubaina Himid and Rose Wylie Receive Queen’s Birthday Honors – Alongside the two artists who received OBEs (Order of the British Empire), the Royal Academy’s chief executive Charles Saumarez Smith was knighted, and Ingrid Swenson, the director of the arts charity Peer, also received an OBE. (Gov.uk)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Anthony Bourdain Once Wanted to Draw Comics – Comics editor Karen Berger reflects on the beloved TV chef and writer who died last week. Bourdain grew up reading EC Comics and R. Crumb and wanted to draw comics himself. He co-wrote two graphic novels in 2012 and 2015, and his anthology of horror, Hungry Ghosts, is set to be published in October this year by DC Comics’ adult imprint, Vertigo. (Vulture)
Swedish Cathedral Commissions Nathan Coley Tent – A tent-like sculpture by the British artist titled And We Are Everywhere was unveiled in Lund, Sweden, earlier this month and will stay until March next year. Commissioned by Lund Cathedral, the work looks like a tent that was hastily erected as a place of worship. (Press release)
John Baldessari Creates Penguin Self-Portrait Sculpture – Marian Goodman gallery has announced that a new work by the LA-based artist titled Penguin will be included in Frieze Sculpture in London’s Regent’s Park. The humorous self-portrait made from polyurethane will measure Baldessari’s height of 6 foot 7 inches. (Press release)
Suffragette Marches Take Place Across the UK– Tens of thousands of women marched in London and three other UK cities for a mass-participation artwork yesterday, marking 100 years since some women in the UK gained the right to vote. They donned scarves to create an aerial shot of a river of the Suffragette colors: green, white, and violet. Among the hundreds of banners were 100 commissioned from female artists. (BBC)