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 Monday, November 6.
NEED TO READ
Major Drawings Collection Is Donated to Harvard – The powerhouse collector George Abrams will donate his landmark collection of 330 Dutch and Flemish 17th-century drawings to the Harvard Art Museums. Boston is quickly becoming a destination for Dutch Golden Age art: The MFA Boston received two major collections of paintings from the period just last month. (Boston Globe)
How a Curator Traced a Drawing Back to Michelangelo – Carmen C. Bambach explains how she attributed a black chalk drawing from 1530 to the Renaissance master using a combination of documentary evidence and old-fashioned connoisseurship. The newly attributed drawing is included in the upcoming exhibition “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (New York Times)
Shepard Fairey Tries to Reinvent His Image – With his biggest gallery show yet opening in LA’s Chinatown this weekend and a new documentary premiering on Hulu, Fairey is hoping to move on from the embarrassing copyright infringement lawsuit tied to his Obama candidacy posters and shift the focus back to his politically pointed work. (NYT)
Private Museum Opens in Indonesia – Collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo, the head of the chemical and energy conglomerate AKR Corporindo, founded the Museum MACAN—the only private museum in Jakarta—to fill a gap in the country’s cultural infrastructure. The inaugural show traces the role artists have played in Indonesia’s recent history. (TAN)
ART MARKET
Hollywood Agent to Sell Chinese Art Collection – Norman Kurland, whose agency produced hits like Cheers, Frasier, and The X Files, also happens to be a very specialized collector of Chinese sculptures from the Six Dynasties period (220-581 AD). Having decided to leave London and return to the US, he is offloading his collection through dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi. (FT)
Tribal Art Collection Comes Up for Sale – The Vérité family hoard, amassed over two generations, is legendary among collectors of the genre. When a portion came to market in 2006, it fetched €44 million, a record at the time. Now, on November 21, another part of the collection will be sold at Christie’s Paris. (FT)
Amanda Wilkinson Launches New Soho Space – After ending her 20-year partnership with Anthony Wilkinson this past July, the London dealer is starting afresh at a new Soho location on November 18. The gallery’s first show will present work by Korean artist Jewyo Rhii. (TAN)
Father and Son Get Back $2.8 Million Paid for Fakes – A Malaysian construction executive and his father won a lawsuit against the Singapore-based Dahlia Gallery and collector Quah Beng Hoe to get back $2.8 million they spent on 13 paintings they thought were by famous Indonesian artists but turned out to be forgeries. (Straits Times)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Berlin Dealer Family Donates Collection to Chemnitz – The Bastian family has gifted more than 200 works by important 20th century artists including Picasso, Rauschenberg, Warhol, and Richter to the collection of the German city of Chemnitz. The newly donated works will go on view November 12. (DPA)
Brooklyn Museum Hires New American Art Curator – Margarita Karasoulas, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Delaware who specializes in 19th and 20th century art, will join the Brooklyn Museum. She previously held positions at the Delaware Art Museum, Bruce Museum, and Amon Carter Museum of American Art. (Artforum)
New LGBTQ Art Prize Backed by HBO – The nonprofit Queer|Art joined forces with HBO to create a new award to recognize artists whose work addresses queer culture. The inaugural prize, which comes with $10,000 cash, was awarded to photographer Catherine Opie and multimedia artist Reina Gossett. (Artforum)
Which Works Might Stay in Münster Permanently? – Skulptur Projekte Münster may be over, but the city is considering making 10 of the works from the show permanent fixtures in the German town. Emeka Ogboh’s sound piece, Oscar Tuazon’s fireplace-sculpture, and a new version of Nicole Eisenman’s fountain are among the works under discussion. (DPA)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Grayson Perry’s Dresses Go on Show – The British artist famously dons flamboyant dresses when he takes on the persona of his alter-ego, Claire. Twelve of his frocks will go on show at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool until February 4. (BBC)
Roberta Smith on Zwirner’s Kusama Shows – Citing Kusama’s mesmerizing Infinity Nets series and other works on view now across David Zwirner’s New York spaces, the art critic argues that the polka-dot queen might, in fact, be the greatest artist to come out of the 1960s. (NYT)
Prince Charles Visits Islamic Art Museum – On his first ever visit to Malaysia to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations with the UK, the Prince of Wales headed to the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, where he gave a speech lauding the country’s “rich cultural and racial diversity.” (ABC News)
Jil Sander Gets the Museum Treatment – The German fashion designer is getting her first solo exhibition at a museum courtesy of the Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts. The “multimedia spectacle,” as the museum describes the show, includes installations that combine fashion, product design, sound, light, and film. (Frankfurter Allgemeine)