(photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images for Somerset House) (click to enlarge)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Jeremy Deller and Fraser Muggeridge unveiled their jointly designed smiley face flag atop Somerset House in London. The flag was designed to mark UTOPIA 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility, a series of exhibitions and events celebrating the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s novel Utopia.
John Elderfield and Gretchen Diebenkorn testified at the opening of the Knoedler Gallery forgery trial. Elderfield, the chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, testified that he had doubts regarding the authenticity of a group of Richard Diebenkorn paintings exhibited at the gallery in 1994. “I didn’t come flat out and say these were fakes, because you have to rely on more than first impressions,” Elderfield stated. Richard Diebenkorn’s daughter, Gretchen, told the court that she had expressed doubts about the authenticity of the works to the gallery’s director, Ann Freedman.
Renowned dissident artist Pyotr Pavlensky was transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital according to his partner Oksana Shalygina. Pavlensky, who is best known for nailing his scrotum to the ground in Moscow’s Red Square, is an outspoken critic of the Russian government.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denied that he requested the covering up of nude statues at Rome’s Capitoline Museums. Rouhani met with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi as part of his tour of Europe. In Paris, a member of Femen staged a mock hanging at the Passerelle Debilly footbridge with a banner reading “Welcome Rouhani, executioner of freedom.”
Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot was fined over $2,550 and sentenced to 3 years in prison for “contempt of religion.”
Following a consultation process, Oxford University’s Oriel College decided not to remove its statue of Cecil Rhodes, despite an ongoing campaign by the Rhodes Must Fall movement.
Paul Bronfman, the chairman of Pinewood Toronto Studios and William F. White International, withdrew his financial support of York University in Toronto over the display of a pro-Palestinian mural entitled “Palestinian Roots.”
T’oros Roslin, Canon Table Page (1256), tempera and gold paint on parchment; leaf: 10 7/16 × 7 1/2 in (courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; gift of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, Ms. 59, fol. 4) (click to enlarge)
Two pages from the Zeyt’un Gospels, a Medieval Armenian bible created by Toros Roslin, went on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum as part of the exhibition Traversing the Globe through Illuminated Manuscripts. A lawsuit over the ownership of the work was settled last year after the Armenian Apostolic Church claimed that the pages were looted during the Armenian Genocide.
The Art Fund announced that it will cease organizing campaigns to save works under threat of export unless the UK’s laws on export licenses are reformed.
Chris Marinello, the founder of the Art Recovery Group, reported the Art Loss Register (ALR) to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. In a written complaint to the Competition Authority, Marinello — who worked for the ALR from 2006 to 2013 — accused the ALR of “abusive behavior.” Both organizations operate a commercial database of the world’s stolen and looted artworks.
Evan Hughes, the son of renowned art dealer Ray Hughes, unleashed a scathing critique of the art market in an interview with The Art Newspaper. “When we read that our great friend David McKee was closing his gallery in New York, it was almost as if we were given permission to declare that the art world had been taken over by dickheads,” he said. In the same interview, Hughes announced that he intends to run for public office as a member of the Australian Labor Party.
Bushwick’s Living Gallery will stage Free the Art on February 1. Each guest will be permitted to take home one work of art for free. “The goal is to erase competitive elements regarding money being a deciding factor in art and liberating artists from equating money with their work,” gallery owner Nyssa Frank told the Brooklyn Paper.
A series of abandoned passageways beneath Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle is being transformed into an arts venue.
The College Art Association launched caa.reviews, an online journal of book and exhibition reviews.
(via banksy.co.uk) (click to enlarge)
Google preserved Banksy‘s latest mural for their Cultural Institute project. The work, which comments on the use of teargas at the “Jungle” — Calais’ refugee camp — features the iconic girl from the musical Les Misérables.
The Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Dubuque, Iowa, reportedly rejected a $6-million offer for two paintings by Grant Wood. According to the Associated Press, the library acquired the paintings in the 1930s for $1,150.
Olafur Eliasson was selected as the Palace of Versailles 2016 guest artist.
Bernar Venet‘s “Disorder: 9 Uneven Angles,” a 25-foot sculpture comprised of nine intersecting steel beams, will be installed in New York’s Union Square next month.
A nine-foot-tall wooden sculpture of Lord Bryon and his wife Annabella Milbanke was unveiled in Seaham, County Durham. The work was created by artist David Gross.
A new luxury hotel currently under construction in SoHo, 11 Howard, will feature a mural designed by community art organization Groundswell. The project is being advised by Jeff Koons.
A representative for New York’s Essex Crossing development named the International Center of Photography as one of its prospective tenants. The photography museum is in the process of moving into a space nearby on the Bowery.
Lego unveiled its first ever wheelchair-using figurine.
Jonathan Barnbrook, the designer of several of David Bowie’s albums, released the design elements for Blackstar under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
Following his Kickstarter success, filmmaker Charlie Lyne submitted his ten-hour, single shot film of paint drying on a wall to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Lyne produced the film in protest over the fees charged by the BBFC in order to review a film for cinematic release. Having reviewed Paint Drying over the course of two sittings, the BBFC gave the film a U certificate (the equivalent of a G rating in the US).
(via @charlielyn/Twitter)
The studios of Victorian artist George Frederic Watts, and his wife, the designer Mary Watts, were opened to the public following a major restoration.
Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith was cast as Robert Mapplethorpe in an upcoming biopic on the artist. Patti Smith will be portrayed by Girls cast member Zosia Mamet.
Carl Kahler’s monumental cat painting, “My Wife’s Lovers” (1893) will shortly be on view at the Portland Art Museum. The painting was sold at Sotheby’s last year for $826,000.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government produced an advertisement featuring Yayoi Kusama.
Transactions
Frida Kahlo, “Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia)” (1928), oil on canvas (photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) (click to enlarge)
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acquired Frida Kahlo’s “Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia)” (1928). According to the museum, the painting was the first work that Kahlo ever sold.
Sweden’s Nationalmuseum acquired Carl Gustaf Rosenberg’s iconic photograph of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Rosenberg’s image of the King has been reproduced on Sweden’s five-krona coin since 1972.
The Art Institute of Chicago received a gift of $35 million, the largest cash bequest it has ever received. The donation was bequeathed by collector Dorothy Braude Edinburg, who passed away last January.
The Detroit Institute of Arts will name its Ancient Middle East gallery after the William Davidson Foundation following its $5-million grant to the museum.
Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center will offer free admission for three years following a gift by the Johnson Foundation and the Center’s young patrons circle.
The Swiss government announced that it will offer $2 million in grants to finance the recovery of art looted by the Nazis.
William Henry Johnson, “Three Girls” (1941) (courtesy Alexandre Gallery) (click to enlarge)
The Museum of Modern Art acquired five works by black artists, including William Henry Johnson’s “Three Girls” (1941) and Kerry James Marshall’s “Untitled (policeman)” (2015).
Frank Stella‘s former East Village studio was sold with an adjacent property for $21.5 million.
James Turrell will create a permanent Skyspace installation for the Mattress Factory museum in Pittsburgh.
The J.Paul Getty Museum acquired Orazio Gentileschi’s “Danaë” (c. 1621).
Wells Fargo donated $1 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The multinational bank also donated two mining stock certificates and one letterhead designed by African American artist Grafton Tyler Brown.
The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen acquired René Magritte’s “Le miroir vivant” (1928).
Transitions
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara will open in Jakarta in early 2017. The private institution will be the first museum in Indonesia dedicated to modern and contemporary art.
Christine Macel was appointed artistic director of the 2017 Venice Biennale.
James Rondeau was appointed director of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Stephan Jost will succeed Matthew Teitelbaum as director of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Diana Gaston was appointed director of the Tamarind Institute.
Harry Rich will step down as chief executive of the Royal Institute of British Architects next month.
Leslie Guy was appointed chief curator of the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Sotheby’s appointed Andrea Fiuczynski as chairman of regional offices, Americas.
Nina McNeely Diefenbach was appointed deputy director for advancement at the Barnes Foundation.
Marianne Boesky‘s Upper East Side space will close at the end of February.
Accolades
Joseph Weishaar was awarded the commission for Washington, DC’s World War I Memorial.
Kishio Suga was awarded the 57th Mainichi Art Award in the visual art category.
Opportunties
The Queens Museum launched its second iteration of the Queens Museum-Jerome Foundation Fellowship Program for Emerging Artists. The program awards $20,000 grants to three visual artists, as well as mentorship from the museum’s staff.
The Tulsa Artist Fellowship expanded its fellowship program to include writers as well as artists.
Obituaries
Thornton Dial, “Lost Cows” (2000–01), cow skeletons, steel, golf bag, golf ball, mirrors, enamel, and Splash Zone compound, 76.5 x 91 x 52 in (photo by Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio, courtesy Souls Grown Deep Foundation) (click to enlarge)
Karen Johnson Boyd (1924–2016), owner and president of Perimeter Gallery, board emerita of the Racine Art Museum.
Thornton Dial (1928–2016), artist.
Denise Duval (1921–2016), soprano.
Georgina Howell (1942–2016), fashion journalist.
Paul Kantner (1941–2016), singer-guitarist and co-founder of Jefferson Airplane.
Anna Laerkesen (1942–2016), ballerina for the Royal Danish Ballet.
Marvin Lipofsky (1938–2016), ceramicist.
Marvin Minsky (1927–2016), pioneer in artificial intelligence. Co-founded MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Clarence Reid, aka ‘Blowfly’ (1939–2016), musician and producer.
Jacques Rivette (1928–2016), filmmaker associated with French New Wave.
Agatha Sadler (1924–2015), bookseller. Owner of St. George’s Gallery, London.
Mrinalini Sarabhai (1918–2016), Indian dancer and choreographer.
Robert Tuggle (1932–2016), Metropolitan Opera archivist.
Colin Vearncombe, aka ‘Black’ (1962–2016), singer and songwriter. Best known for his 1987 single “Wonderful Life.”