Art Industry News: London Announces a Starry Shortlist of Artists to Create Its First Post-Pandemic Trafalgar Square Monument + Other Stories

Plus, Banksy will auction a drawing to benefit the NHS and the Louvre gets creative with merchandising to offset its budget shortfall.

The empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Photo by David Cliff/NurPhoto via 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 on this Tuesday, March 9.

NEED-TO-READ

Banksy Work Will Be Auctioned for NHS Charities  Inspired by the tireless work of health care professionals, the anonymous street artist donated a painting of a child playing with a superhero nurse doll to England’s Southampton General Hospital back in May. Now—despite the best efforts of a would-be thief—that work will be auctioned off on March 23 at Christie’s, where it is expected to raise more than £3 million to benefit the National Health Service Charities. (Guardian)

Glenstone Will Present a Major Faith Ringgold Show – Glenstone, the bucolic private museum in Maryland, is preparing a major monographic exhibition dedicated to American artist Faith Ringgold. The institution—which is known for investing big in long-term solo shows—will bring together more than 70 works by Ringgold, including nine from its collection, as part of a two-year international tour organized by the Serpentine in London. The show is scheduled to open in the spring. (Press release)

Fourth Plinth Announces Shortlist for Next Commission – London’s mayor has announced the six artists who have been shortlisted for the prestigious commission: Nicole Eisenman, Samson Kambalu, Goshka Macuga, Ibrahim Mahama, Teresa Margolles, and Paloma Varga Weisz. The artists’ proposals will go on view at the National Gallery this summer and the two winning commissions will be unveiled in 2022 and 2024, respectively. (Press release)

Louvre Gets Creative to Address Pandemic Deficit – The Paris museum has launched a wave of brand partnerships and e-commerce initiatives in an effort to fill its coffers after its attendance plummeted last year. New collaborations include a line with clothing brand Uniqlo, home furnishings by Maison Sarah Lavoine, and tech accessories with Hong Kong-based Casetify. The products will be available on the Louvre’s own online boutique, which launched on January 28. (The Art Newspaper)

ART MARKET

Lanvin Family Collection to Sell at Sotheby’s – The Polignac Foundation, established by the art-collecting heirs of the Lanvin fashion house, will sell five Impressionist works by the likes of Degas, Pissarro, and Renoir at Sotheby’s Paris on March 25. The top lot is a rare Degas pastel of a ballerina estimated at €2 million to €3 million ($2.5 million–3.6 million). (Art Market Monitor)

Galerie Barbara Thumm to Rep Teresa Burga’s Estate – The Berlin gallery will represent the estate of the path-breaking conceptual artist Teresa Burga, who died in Peru on February 11. 

Thumm is planning a comprehensive exhibition on the artist for spring 2021. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

No Wave Artist Barbara Ess Dies at 73 – The New York-based photographer, writer, and musician created the acclaimed No Wave experimental magazine Just Another Asshole. She was best known for producing large-scale photographs with a pinhole camera. (Artforum)

National Museum of Women in the Arts Founder Dies at 98 – Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, who founded the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, has died at 98. Established in 1981, it was the first museum dedicated to championing female artists. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Dates Announced for Creative Coast Commissions – Curator Tamsin Dillon has selected seven artists to create outdoor works for England’s Creative Coast project, which will run May 1 through November 12. Highlights include a piece by Michael Rakowitz presented by Turner Contemporary in Margate, and a Holly Hendry work presented by De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea. (Press release

Lina Bo Bardi Gets the Golden Lion at Venice’s Architecture Biennale – Italian-born Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi will receive a posthumous Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. The acclaimed architect, designer, and artist was known for her hyper-modernist designs, including of the São Paulo Museum of Art. (Designboom)