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 Tuesday, November 14.
NEED TO READ
Berkshire Museum Opponents Protest at Sotheby’s – Though the sale was temporarily barred by a judge on Friday, protestors nevertheless gathered outside the auction house on Saturday to protest the planned sale of works from the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, museum. “We are cautiously optimistic,” said Hope Davis, a member of the organization Save the Art – Save the Museum. (Hyperallergic)
Albright-Knox May Go Back to the Drawing Board on Renovation – Following protests over the original plan, which involved altering a well-known building by Gordon Bunshaft, the museum has announced that it will not move forward on the renovation immediately and is now looking to build on a different site. (Buffalo News)
Picasso’s Tortured Relationship to Women – “Women are machines for suffering,” Picasso once told his mistress Françoise Gilot. The Paris Review details the artist’s toxic dynamic with women through interviews with family members and mistresses. “For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats,” he told Gilot. (The Paris Review)
New UNESCO Chief Not Affected by US Pullout – Of the US’s decision to remove itself from the agency, the new UNESCO chief (and former French culture minister) Audrey Azoulay said on Monday that the US “was not the beginning and end” of the organization. She points to long periods—including 15 years beginning in the ’80s—when America was not involved. (Artdaily)
ART MARKET
Sotheby’s First Dubai Sale Sets Artist Records – Sotheby’s first sale in the Emirate achieved a total of $3.6 million and a sell-through rate of 80 percent. Artist records were broken for Egyptian surrealist Antoine Malliarakis “Mayo,” Lebanese photographer Fouad Elkoury, Iranian painter Taher Pourheidari, and Egyptian painter Effat Nagui. (Artdaily)
What to Buy Instead of Art – Sure, you could spend $100 million on Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi this week—or you could pay tuition and board for Princeton’s entire freshman class. You could have a Bacon triptych—or a private island. Ahead of the auctions this week, Bloomberg is asking the tough questions billionaires should be asking about where to get the best bang for their many, many bucks. (Bloomberg)
Sales From the Art21 Fair – Art in the five-figure range seems to be the sweet spot for collectors at Art021 in Shanghai, Alexander Forbes reports, although some ambitious young collectors are willing to shell out $100,000 or more. Big deals included a Lisa Yuskavage painting priced at just under $1 million at David Zwirner and a $950,000 work by Paul McCarthy at Hauser & Wirth. (Artsy)
Stolen Rockwell Leads Dallas Auction – Norman Rockwell’s Lazybones (Boy Asleep With Hoe), also known as Taking a Break, proved no slouch at Heritage Auctions on November 3. Recently returned to a family after it was stolen more than 40 years ago, the painting sold for $912,500 at the American art sale in Dallas. (Press release)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Names Grantees – This year’s lucky grantees are Allison Janae Hamilton, Antone Konst, Diamond Stingily, Dylan Vandenhoeck, Grace Metzler, Maia Ruth Lee, Matthew Schrader, and Sable Elyse Smith. The New York-based emerging artists will each receive $10,000. (ARTnews)
ICA Boston Announces Inaugural Show for New Space – The Institute of Contemporary Art’s new seasonal art space, the Watershed, will open with a major light and moving image installation by US artist Diana Thater next summer. (Press release)
PAMM to Launch Ford Curatorial Fellowship – The Pérez Art Museum Miami has awarded the inaugural Ford Foundation Curatorial Fellowship to Ade Omotosho. The two-year fellowship is offered to students of color who have recently completed their studies and wish to embark on a curatorial career. (Press release)
India to Get First Sculpture Park – In a bid to boost tourism, the Indian state has collaborated with a non-profit to create the country’s first sculpture park. The park is due to open December 10 on the premises of the Madhavendra Palace, inside Jaipur’s Nahargarh Fort. (Firstpost)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Rare Portrait of Dalí’s Sister on Show at Theater-Museum – An exhibition at the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation in Figueres includes a portrait of Dalí’s sister Anna Maria not exhibited since 1925. The foundation picked up Figure in Profile at Bonhams London for £1.8 million this past March. (Press release)
Artist Unveils Monument to Syrian Civil War in Berlin – An installation by Syrian-German artist Manaf Halbouni titled Monument will tower over the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin until November 26. The three buses propped up vertically recreate a 2015 photograph of a makeshift barricade erected in Aleppo to protect civilians from snipers during the country’s civil war. (NYT)
Jeremy Deller Helps Recreate MLK Newcastle Speech – The Turner Prize-winning artist’s latest project gave Martin Luther King’s powerful words new life across barber shops, train stations, and cafés in Newcastle yesterday. To mark half a century since MLK received an honorary degree from Newcastle University in 1967, Deller recruited 50 people to recite his acceptance speech in unlikely spaces. (BBC)
Tour Wangechi Mutu’s New Show – Can’t make it to Texas? Get a taste of the Contemporary Austin’s new Wangechi Mutu exhibition courtesy this video tour with curator Heather Pesanti. The two-venue show includes Water Woman, a sculpture inspired by African folklore, and Mutu’s site-specific action painting Throw, as well as a selection of new and recent sculptures. (Contemporary Austin)
