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, May 25.
NEED-TO-READ
Daniel Buren Boots Street Artist From Palais Royal – Buren’s Deux Plateaux has been installed in the courtyard of Paris’s Palais Royal since 1986—long enough time to forget the controversy it initially stirred up for “disfiguring” the classical architecture. Now, Buren has demanded the removal of a temporary installation next to his work by the street artist Mehdi Cibille, aka LeMoDuLeDeZeer, arguing that it amounts to “visual gag” that disfigures his work. (Le Journal des Arts)
Stalemate Over Controversial documenta 14 Work – The public work that Olu Oguibe created for documenta 14, Monument to Strangers and Refugees, has become a pawn in a bigger political battle in Germany. The obelisk has been sold for well under its asking price to the city, but Kassel still wants to relocate it to a less central location due to mounting political pressure from the country’s right wing. (The Art Newspaper)
Imprisoned Turkish-Kurdish Artist Continues to Paint – The artist and journalist Zehra Doğan was sentenced to prison for nearly three years in 2017 by Turkish government for allegedly spreading propaganda with her artworks. She continues to paint in prison using scrap paper and her menstrual blood, according to a campaign group lobbying for her release. Doğan was the subject of a mural by Banksy in New York this March. (TAN)
Major Art District Grows Near Beijing – Guangdong Yuegang Investment Development unveiled plans for its Valley XL project at the Venice Architecture Biennale yesterday. The project, termed an “eco-city,” will spread over 400 hectares of the Xinglong Valley in Hebei and will cost around $2.8 billion. It will include a modern and contemporary art museum, an art education district, and artists’ studios. (TAN)
ART MARKET
PAFA Acquires Berkshire’s Deaccessioned Church Masterpiece – A major 1875 painting of a Grenada landscape by Frederic Edwin Church that was formerly owned by the Berkshire Museum failed to sell at Sotheby’s. But all’s well that ends well: It has now sold privately to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia for an undisclosed price. The painting is the first work by Church to join the museum’s collection. (ARTnews)
Dora Maar Comes to London – Christie’s is offering a significant painting by Picasso that depicts his (other) greatest muse, Dora Maar, in London this June. The 1942 work, Femme dans un fauteuil, was painted by the artist in occupied Paris and is expected to sell for £18 million to £22 million ($24 million to $29 million). (Art Market Monitor)
Paul Kasmin to Represent the Estate of Stuart Davis – The Chelsea gallery will represent the Modernist painter’s estate worldwide, beginning with an exhibition this fall dedicated to his lesser-known black-and-white drawings and works on canvas. Davis’s estate was previously represented by the notorious Salander O’Reilly gallery, whose founder improperly sold 90 works by the artist. (New York Times)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Guggenheim Gets a New Deputy Director – Elizabeth Duggal, who has been deputy director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, since 2014, will succeed Marc Steglitz at the Guggenheim after he retires in June. Duggal will take up the post of the museum and foundation’s deputy director and COO on July 9. (Artforum)
Tippet Rise Gets a New Pavilion – The sculpture and music park will open a new permanent wooden pavilion designed by Berlin-based Burkinabé architect Diébédo Francis Kéré—who designed last year’s Serpentine Pavilion in London—for its 2019 season. Kéré will use the commission to fund a sustainable secondary school in Burkina Faso. (TAN)
Merzbacher Collection Goes to Kunsthaus Zürich – Gabriele and Werner Merzbacher are sending 65 works to the museum on long-term loan as a symbol of gratitude for Switzerland’s hosting of Werner as a child refugee in 1939. Paintings by Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Fauvists, as well as work by members of the Brücke and Blauer Reiter groups, will remain there for a minimum of 20 years. (Press release)
Antwerp Art Weekend Opens – More than 60 galleries, museums, and event spaces are taking part in the fourth edition of the contemporary art weekend in the Belgian city of Antwerp. The events kick off today and run through May 27. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Adrian Cheng Plans to Further Fuse Art and Real Estate – The Hong Kong developer who founded the K11 Art Foundation says there are 29 new K11 projects underway in China, including important developments in the cities of Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Ningbo, and Shenyang, as well as a $2.6 billion art and design district for Hong Kong’s harbor slated to open in 2019. (ARTnews)
Court Blocks Chipperfield Nobel Center – A Swedish court has blocked the construction of a new Nobel Center in Stockholm, which was due to be the new home of the prestigious art and science awards. The court decided that the scale of the $133 million structure would harm the capital’s waterfront, which is a cultural heritage site. (Guardian)
Canadian Museum Attendance on the Rise – Government data shows that Canadians are visiting museums and galleries more than ever, with 75 million visits to heritage institutions in 2015. Fundraising has also doubled since 2012, reaching $136 million in 2015, carried by a slew of donations to the National Gallery of Canada. (The Globe and Mail)
Angelina Jolie Film Highlights the Plight of Afghan Girls – An animated film nominated for Best Animation at the Oscars and executively produced by the American actor in collaboration with an all-female production team debuts today in the UK. The Breadwinner, made by Nora Twomey is set in Afghanistan, and tells the story of Parvana, a young girl growing up under the Taliban in 2001. (BBC)