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 Wednesday, October 18.

NEED-TO-READ

Qatar Thwarts UK Export System – Renewed calls to reform the British export system are likely to follow the V&A’s second failed acquisition campaign for the Clive of India, a 17th-century jade flask owned by Qatar Museums. After Qatar’s application for an export license was deferred, the V&A began to raise £6 million to buy it, but were thwarted when Qatar later withdrew its application. (The Art Newspaper)

How Basquiat’s Old Friend Authenticated His Drawing – An old friend of Jean-Michel Basquiat takes us inside the process of authenticating his art in the absence of an official authentication board. Kim Reeder received a work from the artist as a gift in 1984. Arts nonprofit POBA was able to confirm its provenance through independent authenticator Richard Polsky, who was persuaded by the personal inscription. (ARTnews)

Karen Pence to Launch Art Therapy Initiative – America’s Second Lady—who recently brought along 120 pounds of self-drying clay on a trip to survey Hurricane Maria damage—plans to formally announce her art therapy initiative today in Florida. Some of her fellow art therapists, who have in the past argued that the Trump Administration’s policies are at odds with the field’s goals, are no doubt holding their breath. (AP)

Lawsuit Claims Museum Misused Funds – Last month, a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the Grand Rapids Art Museum by its former COO alleged that executives misused donor-restricted funds to plug holes in the museum’s operations budget. A six-month discovery period in the case is expected to begin in November or December. (MiBiz)

ART MARKET

Léger Headlines Christie’s November Sale – A painting from 1913 that has never before been on the secondary market is coming to the house’s mid-November auction with an estimate of around $65 million. Although it does not carry a third-party or in-house guarantee, the work is poised to set a new record for Fernand Léger. (Art Market Monitor)

Kay Rosen Joins Alexander Gray – The Texas-born artist and 2017 Guggenheim Foundation fellow, best known for her text-based works that link form, typography, and meaning, will have her first show with the New York gallery in February. (ARTnews)​

COMINGS & GOINGS

Big Bear Artist Lawrence Argent Dies – The sculptor has died at the age of 60 from cardiac arrest. Argent was known for his large-scale and cheeky works, including massive public sculptures of bears and other animals that weigh more than 250 pounds each. (Washington Post)

Hayward Gallery Taps Two New Curators – Vincent Honoré and Cliff Lauson have been named senior curators of the London institution. They begin their new roles later this fall. Honoré joins from his long-held post at David Roberts Art Foundation; Lauson has been promoted from within the Hayward. (Press release)

VCU ICA Gets Opening Date – The new Steven Holl-designed Institute for Contemporary Art, which has now successfully completed its $37 million capital campaign, will open at Virginia Commonwealth University on April 21. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

William Eggleston Releases Debut Album – Musik, the septuagenarian photographer’s debut album, will be released this week, featuring pieces he recorded on his Korg synthesizer more than 25 years ago and later stored on floppy disks. Tonight, New York’s International Center of Photography screens a film about the making of the album. (New York Times)

Inside a Million-Dollar Ron Mueck Mystery – Christchurch Art Gallery is racing against the clock to raise NZD $1 million ($713,000) to commission Ron Mueck to create a work for the New Zealand museum. The artist has not revealed, even to the museum, what he might make if the fundraising target is reached by November 5. (Stuff)

Coming Soon: Hip Hop and Rap, the Smithsonian Anthology – The Smithsonian’s record label and the National Museum of African American History and Culture have joined forces in a $1 million effort to create the Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap. With funds raised on Kickstarter, they hope to produce nine discs featuring more than 120 songs chosen by an expert panel, plus a 300-page illustrated history. (Smithsonian)

MoMA Launches Casting Call for Bruguera Performance – New York’s MoMA is looking for performers to present Tania Bruguera’s Untitled (Havana, 2000) next year. Candidates must be Cuban or of Cuban descent and comfortable sharing a confined, cave-like space with televised recordings of the late Fidel Castro daily, from January until March 2018. (NYFA)

FROM OUR PARTNERS

“Steve McCurry: The Importance of Elsewhere”
Cavalier Galleries – New York
October 18 – November 12

Internationally renowned since his iconic photo of an Afghan girl from the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan made the cover of National Geographic in June 1985, focusing attention on the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, Steve McCurry is a photographer whose richly colored, majestically composed images from around the world speak volumes about our shared humanity. Now, the longtime Magnum Photos star will be showing his work from Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa in a new show at Cavalier Galleries.