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 Monday, March 6.
NEED-TO-READ
Roe v. Wade Documents Sell for $600,000 – A trove of some 150 documents related to the case that afforded women in the U.S. the right to abortion for nearly half a century—until last June—sold for $615,632, including fees, at Los Angeles-based auction house Nate D. Sanders on Friday, the 53rd anniversary of the historic case. The documents came from the archive of the case’s attorney Linda Coffee, who filed the original lawsuit with her co-counsel, the late Sarah Weddington, in 1970. (Hyperallergic)
Sheldon Solow Foundation Provocateur Wins in Court – The World Intellectual Property Organization has sided with Ethan Arnheim, who was accused of cybersquatting for running websites mocking the foundation. Arnheim has been maintaining a satirical website and owning a few domain names challenging the foundation over its tax exemption status when it provides no public access to the art collection, and he won after the foundation named after the late billionaire collector “failed to establish any relevant trademark rights.” (The Art Newspaper)
Curator at Orlando Museum Departs in Wake of Forgery Scandal – Hansen Mulford, the long-time chief curator of the disgraced Orlando Museum of Art, has retired after 42 years quietly without telling anyone. The departure came nine months after the FBI raided the museum for a group of questionable paintings on display attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat. The investigation is still ongoing. (Orlando Sentinel)
Kim Kardashian Bought Watch From Pharrell’s Joopiter Auction – The reality show star was spotted wearing Pharrell’s custom Casio G-Shock watch designed by Jacob & Co. in collaboration with Japanese streetwear brand Bape. Pharrell sold this watch last year on his online platform Joopiter for $73,750. (Complex)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Glenstone Acquires Trove of Photographs – The Maryland-based museum will add 112 photographs from the collection of Andrew and Mary Pilara and their eponymous San Francisco-based foundation. The move, brokered with the help of Gagosian Art Advisory and Jeffrey Fraenkel, ensures that works by the likes of Walker Evans and Dianne Arbus are available to the public following the news that Pier 24 Photography, the longtime home of the Pilara Foundation will close in 2025. More works from the collection will be sold at Sotheby’s in New York this May. (ARTnews)
Kate Fowle Joins Hauser and Wirth – The former director of MoMA PS1 is jumping into the commercial sector as a curatorial senior director at the mega-gallery, based in New York. Fowle will work with artists and estates to organize exhibitions inside and outside of the gallery, and will be a writer and editor for Hauser & Wirth Publishers and the gallery’s in-house magazine, Ursula. (ARTnews)
Estate of Henry Moore Offers Rescue Grants to Artists – The late British artist’s foundation is offering grants totaling £100,000 to 50 artists struggling amid the soaring cost of living in the U.K. Moore, the son of a coal miner, was only able to embark on his own storied art career thanks to the financial gift of a former art teacher. (Observer)
FOR ARTS SAKE
Climate Activists Stage Civil Watch in Front of Rembrandt – Ten young climate activists aged 15 to 22 from the group Extinction Rebellion protested in front of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch at Rijksmuseum on Sunday. The Dutch masterpiece, which is still undergoing a major restoration process, is sheltered in a glass cubicle, and the young protesters did not damage or glue themselves to any artwork. “The message is clear, no art on a flooded planet,” they wrote on Twitter. (Monopol)