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
–Ari Emanuel, the honcho of Frieze’s parent company Endeavor, took home a $65 million pay package last year, following the lucrative merger of UFC and WWE to create the sports entertainment powerhouse TKO Group Holdings. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Auction Houses
–A Claude Monet canvas from the artist’s iconic haystack series will come to market next month when Sotheby’s New York offers Meules à Giverny (1893). It is estimated to go for more than $30 million at the house’s Modern art sale on May 15. (Artnet News)
–A portrait by Gustav Klimt that was missing for a century has sold at Vienna’s im Kinsky for $32 million—the highest price ever achieved by an Austrian auction house. The piece went to a buyer from Hong Kong, bidding via Hong Kong advisory firm Patti Wong & Associates. (Artnet News)
–Behold, the most expensive lots sold at auction in March, with first place going to Francis Bacon‘s Landscape near Talabata, Tangier (1963) which sold at Christie’s in London for $25.1 million. (Artnet News)
Galleries
–The Lawrence Weiner Estate is now represented by Gladstone, Theta now represents Molly Rose Lieberman, and Blum has announced representation of Ryan Sullivan. (Press releases)
–Almine Rech will open a new gallery in Monaco in May, at 20 avenue de la Costa in the Carré d’Or district. The space marks the gallery’s eleventh outpost. (Press release)
–Stalwart Berlin gallerist Daniel Marzona, 55, has died. (Berliner Zeitung)
–The 20th edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin launched on April 25, this year helmed by Antonia Ruder following longtime director Maike Cruse’s move to Art Basel. Here are five shows you shouldn’t miss. (Artnet News)
Portrait of Lawrence Weiner. Courtesy of Gladstone.
Institutions
–An ancient bronze head of a young man has been removed from view by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and will be returned to Turkey after the institution learned it was illegally excavated. (Artnet News)
–Unionized employees at the Guggenheim have continued to demonstrate as their contract is up for renegotiation for the first time since the union was formed in 2019. (The Art Newspaper)
–Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan has announced a partnership with the Las Vegas Museum of Art that will see the two institutions share expertise, storage facilities, and works from their collections. (The Los Angeles Times)
–Italy has halted art loans to the Minneapolis Institute of Art following a dispute over an ancient Roman statue that is believed to have been stolen by tomb raiders 50 years ago. (The Art Newspaper)
–Frankfurt’s Städel Museum has named Svenja Grosser as the new head of its contemporary art collection. (Press release)
Tech and Legal News
–The Art Institute of Chicago has refused to turn over a drawing by Egon Schiele to the Manhattan District Attorney, according to a document filed in a New York Supreme Court this week. In the robust 132-page court filing, the museum soundly rejected investigators’ claims that the work was looted by the Nazis. (Artnet News)
–A New York court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Judd Foundation against Tina Kim Gallery and Kukje Gallery that alleged the galleries did irreparable damage to a sculpture by Donald Judd. (Artnet News)
–An A.I.-generated work by Boris Eldagsen is on offer at London’s Palmer Gallery for €20,000 ($21,400). It is an edition of Pseudomnesia: The Electrician (2022), for which the German artist won—and then turned down—the Sony World Photography Award last year after he revealed it had been created with artificial intelligence. (Financial Times)
Awards
Tate Britain has named Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine Le Bas as the four artists shortlisted for its annual Turner Prize. (Artnet News)