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 Friday, October 1.
NEED-TO-READ
Supreme Court Will Hear Case on Nazi-Looted Art – The U.S. Supreme Court began its fall term yesterday, announcing it would hear the lawsuit over a Nazi art theft during the Holocaust. The heirs of Jewish collector Lilly Cassirer thought Camille Pissaro’s painting Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain was lost after Cassirer traded the piece to the Nazis in 1939 in exchange for receiving safe passage. The heirs had previously accepted money for the lost work but a family member later discovered the work was hanging at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. (Courthouse News)
Met to Return Ancient Nepalese Sculpture – The New York museum will return a religious sculpture from 10th-century Nepal after researchers noticed gaps in its provenance history. The work, which depicts Lord Shiva, was likely stolen from a temple shrine in the Kathmandu Valley five decades ago. (NYT)
Emily Ratajkowski Loses Copyright Case – Model Emily Ratajkowski has lost her latest effort to reclaim her own image after a court ruled that she violated paparazzo Robert O’Neil’s copyright when she posted a photo he took of her on her Instagram stories without credit or permission. The judge disagreed with her argument that she had sufficiently “transformed” the image by adding a caption. (TheWrap)
Artists to Redesign Liverpool Waterfront – Architects David Adjaye, Mariam Kamara, and Asif Khan will work together with artist Theaster Gates on a “transformational” redesign of Liverpool’s waterfront. Their winning proposal will foreground the site’s connection to the transatlantic slave trade, wherein the port was used to repair and service ships reserved for transporting enslaved people. (Designboom)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Katharina Grosse Appointed Chair of KW – The artist has been elected board chair of Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art, succeeding artist Olafur Eliasson. (Press release)
Almine Rech Represents Jonathan Gardner – Almine Rech now represents New York–based artist Jonathan Gardner in Europe. His first solo show with the gallery will take place this November. (Press release)
Hilton Als Heads to the Gardner Museum – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has named the New Yorker critic a visiting curator for performing arts (Boston Globe)
Martin Wong Dorm Room Sleeper Sells for $1.1 Million – A large, 48-by-72-inch canvas by artist Martin Wong hung in a dorm room at boarding school Rumsey Hall for decades. Now, the 1984 piece, titled Persuit (El Que Gane Pierde – He Who Wins Looses), has sold at Hindman for $1.1 million. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Gallery Climate Coalition Gets a Booth at Frieze London – The coalition will participate at Frieze London 2021 with its own booth, which was donated by the fair. The non-profit membership organization will sell a donated work by Wolfgang Tillmans to help support its operations. It will have resources and recruiting members on-site. (Press release)
Alvaro Barrington’s Show Opens at South London Gallery – “Spider the Pig, Pig the Spider” opens today at South London Gallery, a new solo exhibition by the rising star artist who is based in London. In a profile in the Financial Times, he gave a hint on what to expect from him next for the second chapter of his three-part show on Marcus Garvey (the second part has yet to have a location announced): “The next show, Garvey II, will be paintings of people I grew up with and the conditions in which they figured out how to survive… Except, there won’t be any paint.” (Financial Times)