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
–Despite cancelling its New York edition in September, Photofairs will launch in Hong Kong next March, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong. (Press release)
Auction Houses
–The 10 most expensive artworks sold at auction in May include two works by Jean-Michel Basquiat ($46.5 million and $32 million, respectively), a Monet ($34.8 million) and a Van Gogh ($33 million), and the record-breaking Surrealist work by Leonora Carrington ($28.5 million). (Artnet News)
–The S&P Global Ratings has cut its credit rating of Sotheby’s after its bond prices have dropped about 8 percent over the past month, following the implementation of its new fees structure, and falling revenue in this year’s first quarter. The auction house’s rating went from a B to a B minus. (Wall Street Journal)
Galleries
–Mitchell-Innes and Nash, founded in 1996, will close its Chelsea space in New York and transition into a project-based advisory. (Press release)
–Barbara Gladstone, founder of Gladstone Gallery, has died at age 89. The gallery’s partners, Max Falkenstein, Caroline Luce, Paula Tsai, and Gavin Brown will continue to lead the gallery. (Artnet News)
–Marisol Rodríguez has been appointed as the curatorial director of Mariane Ibrahim’s three locations in Paris, Chicago, and Mexico City.(Press release)
–Viet-Nu “Nu” Nguyen has joined Gagosian as a director based in Los Angeles. (Press release)
–Gavlak Gallery has taken on representation of Robert Peterson and Mariane Ibrahim now represents Djabril Boukhenaïss. (Press releases)
Patrick Moore. Photo: Abby Warhola, courtesy of the Andy Warhol Museum.
Institutions and Organizations
–Patrick Moore, formerly the executive director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, has been named the director and culture lead of the investment group and advisory Panarae Partnership Limited. As part of the new role, he will advise South by Southwest (SXSW) London in advance of its inaugural event in Europe next June. The high-profile technology and arts event, founded in Austin, Texas, has also appointed Adem Holness, formerly of the Southbank Centre, and Katy Arnander, who has worked for the Barbican and Sadler’s Wells, to its executive team. Additionally, Alex Poots will serve as a creative advisor while continuing his work full-time at The Shed in New York. (Press release)
–Jeffrey Yin has been appointed as chief executive of the online marketplace Artsy, effective July 1; he has been the chief financial officer and general counsel since 2019. Current CEO Mike Steib will step down to lead Tegna, a broadcast and digital media firm. (Press release)
–Art Money has paused its business operations due to the art market’s contraction, according to CEO Paul Becker. The financing platform has partnered with more than 2,000 galleries and 40 auction houses, including Christie’s, which announced an investment into the firm in April. (Financial Times)
–Declan Kiely has been named executive director of the Grolier Club in New York. Previously, he worked as the New York Public Library’s director of special collections and exhibitions. (Press release)
–The Art Institute of Chicago will return a 12th-century decorative architectural sculpture to Thailand’s Phanom Rung temple. It marks the second time the museum has repatriated an object to the temple. (Artnet News)
–The Kunsthaus Zurich will sell Claude Monet’s Man with Umbrella (1865/67) after the museum reached a settlement with the heirs of the Jewish textiles manufacturer Carl Sachs, who fled to Switzerland from Nazi Germany in 1939. (Press release, Artnet News)
Tech and Legal News
–U.S. federal prosecutors have charged three British nationals with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering for their involvement in a scam to sell NFTs of digital artworks known as “Evolved Apes.” (Artnet News)
–Woman Ironing, a 1904 painting by Pablo Picasso, will remain with the Guggenheim following a lengthy legal battle from a relative of the German Jewish art collector Karl Adler, who claimed the piece was sold by Adler following financial pressures to escape the Third Reich. The case was dismissed by the Manhattan Supreme Court. (ARTnews)
–The owners of New York auction house Merces Gallery have been indicted for selling “tens of thousands of dollars worth” of objects made from elephant ivory and rhino horn. (The Art Newspaper)
Awards
–VIA Art Fund’s spring 2024 grantees received a combined $350,000 this year. Recipients include Sonya Clark, Gerard & Kelly, Joiri Minaya, Harmonia Rosales, and Saya Woolfalk. (Press release)