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 Wednesday, June 20.
NEED-TO-READ
Lawyer Who Represented Art Collector Disbarred – Disgraced Atlanta lawyer Gary Coulter, who claimed he was stockpiling drawings by Thornton Dial estimated to be worth $850,000 as collateral for unpaid bills, has been disbarred. The artworks belonged to his former client, the collector Bill Arnett, who founded the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. (AJC)
Experts Dispute Police’s Claims About Confiscated Antiquities – The authenticity of the carabinieri’s latest haul of antiquities, seized from a Rome-based collector, has been called into question by five experts. “I cannot imagine where a terracotta life-size horse head could come from in antiquity,” one expert said. (The Art Newspaper)
Whitney Plans Warhol Revelations – An Andy Warhol survey, due to open at the Whitney Museum this fall, will explore the artist behind the myth, hype, and Campbell’s soup cans. Organized by Donna De Salvo, who knew the artist personally and organized two shows of his work when he was alive, “Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again” will include early works from the 1950s and rarely seen experimental pieces. (New York Times)
Palace of Versailles and Orsay Museum in Paris Closed Due to Strike – Two of Paris’s top tourist attractions were closed on Tuesday due to a strike by several cultural workers’ unions in the city. Employees are protesting organizational changes due to come into force next year in the French Cultural Ministry, which they fear will adversely affect some 1,500 workers. By Wednesday, both sites had reopened. (Washington Post)
ART MARKET
Salvator Mundi Helps Art Overtake Wine as Luxury Asset – The art market grew 21 percent from April 2017 to March 2018, overtaking wine (up 9 percent) as the top-performing asset, according to Frank Knight’s Luxury Investment Index. Meanwhile, classic cars, which had previously seen double-digit growth, slumped, growing only one percent. (Barron’s)
Seattle Art Fair Unveils Futuristic Program – The fair’s new artistic director, Nato Thompson, has assembled an ambitious slate of programming for the fair, which kicks off August 2. On the agenda: the presentation of a functioning satellite by Trevor Paglen, performances by Anishinaabe artists Charlene Vickers and Maria Hupfield, and a conversation between sci-fi author Bruce Sterling and Mark Pauline, the founder of Survival Research Laboratories. (ARTnews)
New Record for Cuban-American Painter Emilio Cruz – Swann Galleries’s auction of American art in New York saw a new record for Cruz (1938–2004), whose painting Floating Figures sold for $17,500. (Press release)
Art Shippers Cadogan Tate Acquired by Dutch Investors – Amsterdam-based private equity firm H2 has bought the art-shipping company Cadogan Tate, which helped the Obamas move out of the White House. H2 says it plans to invest in the company’s storage facilities and open new offices. (Antiques Trade Gazette)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Pasadena Museum of California Art to Close – The California institution will shutter at the end of its current exhibition. Although no specific explanation has been given for the closure, a majority of board members voted to close the 16-year-old space. (Pasadena Star)
Biennale of Sydney Appoints Artistic Director – Australian artist Brook Andrew has been appointed artistic director of the 22nd Biennale of Sydney in 2020. The Melbourne-based artist plans to focus on “alternative narratives” and “edge cultures” for the upcoming edition. (ABC)
Art Basel Awards Baloise Art Prize – Suki Seokyeong Kang and Lawrence Abu Hamdan are the recipients of the 2018 Baloise Prize, which is awarded annually to emerging artists showing work in the “Statements” sector at Art Basel. The prize bounty totals $30,000. (Artforum)
Sondra Perry Wins MOCA Cleveland Prize – The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, has awarded New Jersey-based artist Sondra Perry the first Toby’s Prize. The award, established thanks to collector Toby Devan Lewis, awards an artist $25,000 in cash and another $25,000 to create a new commission that will go on view in the museum. (ARTnews)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Mayor of Bristol Removes Slave Trader’s Portrait – The Mayor of Bristol in the west of England has taken down a portrait of the slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston from her office. The painting, which dates back to 1702, has hung in the office for at least 50 years. Cleo Lake wants to portrait placed in a museum with a label that includes information about Bristol’s role in the slave trade. (Guardian)
Giacometti Institute Opens in Paris Today – The new institute dedicated to the sculptor Alberto Giacometti is opening in Paris today. The new space will house a permanent reconstruction of the artist’s studio and is accessible only with an online reservation. Only 40 people are allowed in at a time. (France Inter)
Indian Politician Calls on the British Museum to Return Loot – The British Museum began receiving a flood of requests for the repatriation of an ancient Indian artifact after it uploaded an image of the work online. Among the tweets demanding its return was one by politician Shashi Tharoor. The Hindu sculpture is believed to have been looted by a general from the East India Company in the 19th century from the Khajuraho temple. (The Times)
Countdown to the Great Exhibition of the North Begins – An ambitious array of works are being installed—and Instagrammed—ahead of the opening of the arts festival in Newcastle and Gateshead in England on June 22. Ryan Gander is installing new sculptures for the “Great Exhibition of the North” at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, while Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich are turning the reform-minded aristocratic politician Lord Grey’s monument in Newcastle into what they are calling “the Workers’ Maypole.” (Instagram)