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 Thursday, November 2.
NEED-TO-READ
Unseen Photographs of Bowie Emerge – A new book will feature previously unseen images of Bowie’s 1983 Moonlight Tour, which has been dubbed the most transformative tour of his career. But only Bowie superfans need apply: the limited-edition tome by Denis O’Regan, to be released in May, costs £3,000 ($3,980) a pop. (Guardian)
Attorney General Seeks to Bolster Case Against Berkshire – The Massachusetts attorney general is throwing her weight behind the plaintiffs in the ongoing battle to halt the Berkshire Museum’s planned sale of works from its collection. After the first hearing yesterday, the AG asked the judge to allow the office to become a plaintiff in the case if he decides those already suing do not have proper legal standing. (Berkshire Eagle)
Protesters Swarm Banksy’s ‘Street Party’ – On the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, which promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine, Banksy held a satirical “street party” outside the hotel he opened in the West Bank. He also unveiled a new work, an apology from Queen Elizabeth etched into the wall. Not everyone was amused: Protesters from a nearby refugee camp crashed the party, objecting to the inclusion of children and the use of British flags in the mock celebrations. (Guardian)
Let’s Talk About Sex (and Pioneering Feminist Artists) – “I became an overnight success at 72,” Betty Tompkins tells Rachel Corbett, artnet News’s deputy editor. Corbett delves into the stories of female artists in their 70s and 80s who are making some of the most revelatory art on sexual themes—and getting long overdue recognition. (T Magazine)
ART MARKET
Collectors Grapple With Fakes in Middle Eastern Art – The Lebanese Dalloul Art Foundation has placed nearly 30 works into “quarantine” while it works to establish their authenticity ahead of the opening of the foundation’s Museum of Arab Art in Beirut in 2020. The move comes amid rising concerns over forgeries in the Middle Eastern art market. (The Art Newspaper)
Modern Art Rises in London’s Islamic Art Sales – London’s Islamic art sales last week were sluggish, with half the lots going unsold at Sotheby’s Bonhams, and Christie’s. One bright spot was Modern Islamic art, where, despite concerns about fakes, a work by Indian artist Bhupen Khakhar—fresh off his triumphant posthumous survey at Tate Modern—quadrupled its estimate to sell for a record £1.1 million ($1.46 million). (The Telegraph)
Damaged, Koons’s Red Balloon Dog Gets a Second Chance – The fractured porcelain sculpture is among a handful of damaged artworks that are getting a new lease on life thanks to Polish artist Elka Krajewska. She actively collects works that are languishing in insurance warehouses, having been deemed “total losses,” and adds them to her Salvage Art Institute, a traveling collection of irreparably damaged art. (Atlas Obscura)
Real Estate Mogul Buys Trump’s Sketch – The lucky buyer of Trump’s black marker drawing of the Empire State building has been revealed as real estate executive Elie Hirschfeld. The former Trump associate bought the sketch at auction last month for $16,000, around $4,000 above estimate. (Page Six)
COMINGS & GOINGS
LA Artist Christopher Doran Has Died – Christopher Doran, also known as Click Mort, was a guitarist who became a visual artist during rehab for drug addiction. Starting with toys, he moved on ceramic figurines, turning the kitsch collectables into weird, hybrid “recapitations.” Born in Los Angeles in 1954, Doran died on October 20. (LA Weekly)
Seaside Pier Wins UK Prize – The restored Hastings Pier has won this year’s Stirling Prize for the best building in the UK. London-based architect de Rijke Marsh Morgan transformed the fire-damaged pier on the south coast of England into Minimalist architecture using reclaimed timbers. Locals have nicknamed it “the Plank.” (Guardian)
ADAA Gives Four Museum Grants – The Art Dealers Association of America has awarded four museums with operating budgets of less than $5 million—the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, and the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University—grants of up to $15,000 each to fund research and exhibitions. (Press release)
Caldwell Gallery Hudson Founder Dies at 88 – Joseph S. Caldwell III, who spent 44 years working as an art dealer and is known for his gallery of Modern and contemporary paintings on Hudson’s Warren Street, has passed away. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Eisenhower Memorial Breaks Ground – After multiple setbacks, battles, and controversies, officials will host a ceremonial groundbreaking for the $150 million memorial today on its four-acre site on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C. The memorial is expected to open in 2020. (Washington Post)
V&A Will Showcase Sustainable Fashion – For its major fashion show in April, the V&A will focus on how designers—from 17th-century dressmakers to Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney—have been inspired by nature and an evolving interest in being both eco and chic. (Press release)
Frank Stella’s Favorite Art Destinations – Ahead of his show at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Stella tells the Times about his favorite spots to see art. Of all the cities he has visited, he says there is nowhere like Rome. He has seen art inside at least 50 churches there and keeps going back to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo for its two great Caravaggios. (NYT)
MoMA Celebrates Club 57 – A club that regularly hosted the likes of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat is the subject of a new exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983” looks at the legacy of this short-lived but vital space for alternative culture in New York. (Architectural Digest)