Paint Drippings is excerpted from The Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know art industry intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access—subscribe now to receive this in your inbox every Friday. 

Art Fairs

– Dealers at Expo Chicago said that business went swimmingly. Sundaram Tagore sold a work by Hiroshi Senju for $385,000, Miles McEnery Gallery sold a painting by Wolf Kahn for $150,000, and Timothy Yarger Fine Art brought in $175,000 for a light sculpture by Mads Christensen. (Artnet News)

– The VIP opening of the Miart Fair in Milan attracted 178 modern and contemporary art exhibitors; during its crowded opening, galleries were racking up five- and six-figure sales. The commercial linchpin of Milan Art Week, Miart had a prime slot on the calendar this year, running just before the city’s juggernaut trade fair, the Salone del Mobile, and the Venice Biennale, which both opened last week. (Artnet News)

Auction Houses

– A Leonora Carrington painting coming to Sotheby’s next month is guaranteed to sell. It carries an estimate between $12 million and $18 million, meaning that it will smash her previous auction high, which currently stands at $475,500. (Artnet News)

– Christie’s set a new record for Modernist painter Florine Stettheimer at its Modern American art sale on Thursday, April 18. Tulips Under a Canopy (ca. 1925) bore a high estimate of $300,000; it hammered for some $820,000 for a total of $1 million with the house’s fees. (Artnet News)

– Phillips has appointed Cindy Yen as deputy chairwoman, Taiwan, and Dina Zhang as head of modern and contemporary art, China, based in Beijing. (Press release)

Cindy Yen. Courtesy of Phillips.

Galleries

– Pace has announced global representation of The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, Kurimanzutto now represents Marta Minujín, and Conrad Egyir has joined Miles McEnery Gallery. (Press releases)

– London’s Gathering will open a second gallery in Ibiza in May. First up: a group exhibition of works by Kristian Kragelund, Rannva Kunoy, and Jennifer Tee. (Press release)

Institutions and Biennials

– Pro-Palestine activists staged a protest at the Venice Biennale on Wednesday, April 17, calling for the complete closure of Israel’s pavilion, which remains locked after artist Ruth Patir, who is representing Israel, refused to open her exhibition and called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages on Tuesday. (Artnet News, Artnet News)

– The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has returned an ancient Sumerian sculpture to Iraq following an internal review by the institution, which recently appointed a head of provenance research. (Artnet News)

– London’s National Portrait Gallery incorrectly stated that 19th-century Glasgow-based art dealer Edward Fox White built his career using money from slavery; the note was included in wall label text accompanying a portrait of him by the artist James Tissot. The museum has removed the mention of slavery from the description after the dealer’s grandson, Donald Gajadhar, brought the issue to light and accused the museum of “sloppiness.” (The Times)

– The Brooklyn Museum has appointed its first composer-in-residence, 27-year-old cellist Niles Luther. (Press release)

Tech and Legal News

– Aleksandra Artamonovskaja has been appointed head of arts for London-based TriliTech, the Web3 startup that supports the Tezosblockchain. Tezos has emerged in the last three years as one of the favored homes for communities of artists minting NFTs. (The Art Newspaper)

– An unnamed Spanish art dealer has been arrested for selling a looted ancient Egyptian sculpture worth about $200,000 at TEFAF Maastrichtusing fake documents. (The National News)