Art Industry News: ‘Fearless Girl’ Was Almost a Cow + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, the Fondazione Piero Manzoni is now represented by Hauser & Wirth and documenta will collaborate on a show in Angola.

Tourist venture out to take photos of Fearless Girl on Wall Street in March. Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.

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 Friday, June 9.

NEED-TO-READ

Fearless Girl Was Almost A Cow – State Street Global Advisors, the company behind the controversial statue on New York’s Wall Street, originally imagined a bronze cow—a more subtle feminine symbol—opposing Charging Bull, until realizing that many women probably wouldn’t like being compared to a cow. (New York Post)

documenta 14 Will Collaborate on an Exhibition in Angola – The show is set to take place in 2018 in Luanda, Angola’s capital, and feature the works of 16 artists of African descent who are participating in documenta 14. (The Art Newspaper)

How One Foundation Is Expanding the US Art Canon – The Souls Grown Deep Foundation, based in Atlanta, promotes the work of contemporary African-American artists in the southern US, and has been extremely successful in getting their work into the collections of major institutions. (TAN)

Zwelethu Mthethwa Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison – The artist, who was in March found guilty by a Cape Town court of murdering a sex worker, has received an 18-year sentence, which his lawyer says he will appeal along with the conviction. (Hyperallergic)

ART MARKET

Hauser & Wirth Now Represents Piero Manzoni Worldwide – Hauser & Wirth is now the sole commercial representative of the work of the late Italian avant-garde artist. The gallery will show Manzoni’s work at Art Basel, and in an exhibition at its 22nd Street space in New York, and create a new catalogue raisonné. (Press release)

Lost Jackson Pollock to Hit Auction Block – A canvas found in an Arizona attic is purportedly a lost Pollock painting, set to be auctioned on June 20 at J. Levine Auction & Appraisal in Scottsdale, Arizona, with an estimate of $10-15 million. But some doubt the credibility of the experts that verified its authorship. (Art Daily)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Sister Museums in Austria Find a New Director – Hemma Schmutz plans to re-brand both the Lentos Kunstmuseum, which is dedicated to Modern and contemporary art, and the Nordico Stadtmuseum, which focuses on historic objects, to bring a more international audience and increase engagement with the public. (Artforum)

Berlin Gets a New Cultural Institute for Roma Artists – The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) opened with an exhibition of Roma artists including Tibor Balogh, Delaine and Damian Le Bas, and Erika Varga. The institute gives a voice to Europe’s largest minority group. (TAN)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Isaac Julien Wins the Royal Academy of Arts’s Wollaston Award – Julien’s film work WESTERN UNION: Small Boats won him the prestigious £25,000 prize; the piece contrasts scenes of migration with those of luxury and opulence. (Press release)

Astha Butail Wins BMW Art Journey Award – Art Basel and BMW awarded Butail the prize for her work In the Absence of Writing, which focuses on oral traditions; now, she will hone in on Zoroastrian Avesta, Jewish Oral Torah, and Indian Veda traditions for her Art Journey project. (Artforum)

Artadia Announces Winners for the 2017 Houston Artadia Awards – Photographer Regina Agu and sculptor Kaneem Smith will both receive an unrestricted prize of $10,000. Both women have, per the awards’ regulations, been based in Harris County, Texas, for two years or more. (Artforum)

And here’s a work by Piero Manzoni, newly represented by Hauser & Wirth:

Piero Manzoni, Corpo d’aria (Body of air), (1959 – 1960) Photo by Johnny Ricci/Annalisa Guidetti, Milan ©Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Milano. Courtesy of the Foundation and Hauser & Wirth.


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