From the Finale to Salvador Dalí’s Surreal Paternity Saga to Thomas Campbell’s Starry Rise and Fall: The Best and Worst of the Art World This Week

BEST

• We talked to some smart people to find out what the swankiest, strangest, and most prestigious residency programs throughout Europe are. This went viral.
• Everyone is agog about the gargantuan canvases Julie Mehretu created for SFMOMA—and we have the story about how she made them.
• “Tapestry Tom” Campbell, the former Metropolitan Museum of Art director, spoke with artnet News‘s editor-in-chief about his unlikely rise through the ranks of the institution, and the shadowy backroom machinations that led to his departure.
• We learned how the billionaire artist Massimo Agostinelli turned trash cans into treasure at Art Basel.
• Oh, it’s back-to-school season, you say? We compiled the definitive gallery guide to the must-see shows opening in New York this month, so you didn’t have to.
• Muggles the world over are gleefully awaiting an exhibition devoted to the wizarding world when “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” opens at the British Museum in October. We wrote about the exhibition in honor of the book’s 20th anniversary, which will travel to the New York Historical Society later in 2018.

Ron Weasley’s Howler, a prop from the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Courtesy of Prop Shop.

WORST

• Father-and-son bonding time was broken up by authorities in Munich, who arrested the multi-generational thieves along with a third suspect for stealing 15 paintings by blue-chip artist Georg Baselitz.
• The backlash against the Berkshire Museum’s planned deaccession continues to make waves, as it announced it would be severing its affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution.
• She should’ve seen it coming…. In the surreal conclusion to the paternity suit filed by psychic Pilar Abel Martínez, Salvador Dalí’s exhumed body was tested for DNA, and the results prove the painter is not Martínez’s father.
• The lawsuit saga between Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and art dealer Yves Bouvier continues, with reports that Bouvier could owe over $100 million, due in part to the deals he brokered for Rybolovlev.
• Acclaimed art journalist John Pluecker wrote movingly on the chaos in Houston, and how a crisis makes art into a distant concern.
• Meanwhile, Florida-based museums are gearing up for a potentially catastrophic storm.
• A prison in Charlottesville rejected distribution of The Humanist magazine to inmates, citing Eve’s partial nudity in a 17th-century masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens; a legal complaint has been filed to combat the DOC’s rampant censorship.
• According to Condo founder Vanessa Carlos, more than half of the galleries in London are in serious financial trouble.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES 

• The first non-Italian director of the Uffizi announced he would be leaving the Florence-based Gallery to lead Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
• Lévy Gorvy Gallery is set to open an office in Shanghai, where former Christie’s specialist Danqing Li will be the senior director.
• After months of waiting, the Louvre Abu Dhabi finally settled on an opening date, so mark your calendars for November 11.
• The London-based gallery Carroll/Fletcher has closed after five years, with the directors parting ways to pursue independent projects.
• The Brooklyn Museum has tapped Jennifer Y. Chi to be its new Chief Curator and Deputy Director.