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 Friday, September 22.
NEED-TO-READ
Holland Cotter Loves Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA – The art critic calls the Getty-sponsored initiative, which presents Latin American and Latino art at more than 70 institutions across Southern California, an important and effective “catch-up gesture.” He describes “Radical Women” at the Hammer as “the single most exciting and hope-inspiring historical group show of contemporary art I’ve seen in 10 years.” (New York Times)
Anonymous Qatari Buyers Nab Banksy Murals – Five murals by Banksy in Liverpool have been sold by the properties’ owners to an unknown Middle Eastern buyer for for £3.2 million ($4.3 million). The public works, including the oft-reproduced Liverpool Rat, will be stripped off the walls and sealed with varnish before being transported. (BBC)
Kerry James Marshall Makes a Mural Featuring Oprah – The acclaimed artist is planning a 132-foot-long mural—the largest he has ever made—for the Chicago Cultural Center. It will feature portraits of 20 women who have made important contributions to the city’s cultural life, including Oprah Winfrey and Susanne Ghez, the director of the Renaissance Society. (ARTnews)
Cultural Council Decries Berkshire Museum’s Art Sale – The Massachusetts Cultural Council has condemned the Berkshire’s controversial decision to put 40 artworks from its collection up for sale, arguing that the institution is not, in fact, in dire financial straits. The council has put the museum’s grant for the next fiscal year on hold. (Berkshire Eagle)
ART MARKET
Meet Jen Guidi, the New Market Star – The LA-based painter Jennifer Guidi—who, not uncoincidentally, is married to market superstar Mark Grotjahn—has become so coveted by collectors that art advisors are “batting them away.” On Facebook, controversial advisor Stefan Simchowitz took to social media to rant: “If another person asks me to get them a Jen Guidi I think I might just vomit in my bed.” (ARTnews)
Chinese Collectors Go Nuts for Photography – Photography is finding a new and eager market in China. The recent Photofairs Shanghai reported record attendance of 30,000 visitors—and solid sales as well. (South China Morning Post)
COMINGS AND GOINGS
L’Oreal Heiress Liliane Bettencourt Dies – The world’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, died yesterday at age 94, leaving behind a major art collection that is said to rival those of David Rockefeller, Yves Saint Laurent, and Pierre Bergé. (Art Market Monitor)
Sotheby’s Hires Business Development Exec – Sotheby’s has been on a hiring spree as of late. The newest addition to its ranks: Goldman Sachs senior partner (and Misty Copeland supporter) Valentino D. Carlotti, who will join as executive vice president and global head of business development. (Press release)
Moscow Young Art Biennial Announces Open Call – The 6th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, organized by Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti, is launching an open call for artists and affiliated curators up to 35 years old. The proposed theme for the biennial, which opens in Moscow on June 8, is “Abracadabra.” (Press release)
Detroit Institute of Arts Gets $5 Million Gift – Philanthropist Bonnie Ann Larson has pulled $5 million out of her very deep pockets to donate to the Michigan institution. In recognition of the gift, the DIA will establish an initiative to support the study of its Modern European collection. (ArtfixDaily)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Murakami Is the Biggest MCA Chicago Show Ever – The tripped-out show “Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg” has now become the most popular exhibition ever at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. It broke the attendance record set by its David Bowie exhibition in 2014. (DNAinfo)
Tate Modern Plans First-Ever Picasso Exhibition – The gallery’s first Picasso show will focus on a single year in the artist’s life: 1932. Three reclining nudes, based on his lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, will be reunited for the first time in 85 years for the occasion. (The Guardian)
Peabody Essex Museum Gets Native American Artifacts – More than 1,100 Native American items, mostly gathered in the 19th century by Christian missionaries, are being gifted to the museum by the Andover Newton Theological School. (NYT)
Cookie Mueller Show Chronicles Struggle With AIDS – London’s Studio Voltaire is presenting the final project by writer and actor Cookie Mueller and her husband, Italian artist Vittorio Scarpati. Their book, Putti’s Pudding, was published in 1989, the same year the pair died from AIDS-related complications. On September 30, the gallery will host a conversation between Linda Yablonsky and Philip-Lorca diCorcia tied to the show. (Studio Voltaire)
Vittorio Scarpati, Untitled, 1989. Courtesy of Bill Stelling. Credit-Tom-Carter.
Vittorio Scarpati, Untitled, 1989. Courtesy of Max Mueller. Credit Andy Keate.
Vittorio Scarpati, Untitled, 1989. Courtesy of Max Mueller. Credit Andy Keate.