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, June 9.
NEED-TO-READ
Report Finds Governments Interfering With Museums – International museum organizations have joined forces to publish standards aimed at fighting government overreach in the face of “worryingly high levels of state meddling,” especially in Europe. Commissioned by the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art and the International Committee for Museum Management, they will provide a basis for discussions at the International Conference of Museums conference in Prague this August. (The Art Newspaper)
Shakespeare First Folio Heads to Sotheby’s – One of the few remaining Shakespeare First Folios in private hands will hit the block at Sotheby’s London in July with an estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million. The volume is thought to be the only copy with Scottish provenance, having been acquired by the Gordon Family in the early 17th century and passed down to racehorse breeder William Stuart Stirling Crawfurd. In the 1960s, it found its way into the collection of Chicago real estate executive Abel E. Berland. (Press release)
Starbucks Workers Rally Outside MoMA – Protesting Starbucks workers gathered outside MoMA on Tuesday, as it hosted its annual Party in the Garden fundraiser. The event honored businesswoman Mellody Hobson, the chair of Starbucks’s board of directors and, with her husband George Lucas, co-founder of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Union organizers, who are seeking to improve working conditions for Starbucks workers, chanted, “Mellody, it’s not hard to see, you’re on the wrong side of history.” (TAN)
Bozar CEO Sophie Lauwers Has Died – The CEO of the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Sophie Lauwers, has died at 55 after a long-term illness. (Press release)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Museum of Natural History President to Step Down – Ellen V. Futter announced plans to depart the New York museum when the institution’s new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation opens next March. During her 30-year tenure, Futter oversaw the opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the GIlder Center. A search for her replacement is underway. (New York Times)
Parrish Art Museum Names New Director – The Water Mill, New York-based art institution will be helmed by Mónica Ramírez-Montagut following the departure of Kelly Taxter, who left in December after less than one year in the job. Ramírez-Montagut, who recently served as director of the Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, will begin her new post on July 8, just in time for the annual summer gala. (NYT)
Nino Mier Opens Outpost in New York – The longtime Los Angeles-based gallery is expanding to the East Coast with a gallery in SoHo. “I think it was inevitable,” the dealer said. “New York is the center of the art world, so it was always on my mind.” The gallery will open its New York location with a show of work by German artist Jana Schröder, followed by shows of new paintings by André Butzer, Aeyni Awa Camara, and Kareem-Anthony Ferreira. (ARTnews)
Gallery Weekend Beijing Finally Gets a Date – After the relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions, the postponed Gallery Weekend Beijing has officially been rescheduled. It will be held from June 28 through July 3. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Natalie Frank Remembers Paula Rego – The artist reflects on the life of her mentor Paula Rego, who died this week at the age of 87. “The last time I visited her in the studio, I knew it would be our last,” Frank wrote. “She took me by the hand into a small room with her girlhood sketchbooks…. We didn’t speak, but she clasped my hand tightly while flipping through the pages. She always began her letters to me detailing the violence and sexuality that she saw in my pictures, saying that these were much after her own heart. In closing, she signed off that my pictures gave her hope.” (ARTnews)
Paula Rego in her London studio, 2021. Photo by Gautier Deblonde, ©Gautier Deblonde, courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro.
Paula Rego, Oratório (2009). Photo by Ben Davis.
Paula Rego, The Artist in Her Studio (1993). Courtesy of Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), U.K./Bridgeman Images, ©Paula Rego.