Art Industry News: The Louvre Has Given Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ a New Birthday + Other Stories

by admin

Sep 11, 2019

artnet

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know on this Wednesday, September
11.

NEED-TO-READ

Antony Gormley on Art Fairs’ Big Carbon Footprint –
The British sculptor
wants the art world to
reduce its carbon footprint—though he admits that he is part of the
problem. Speaking to The
Sunday Times ahead of
his major survey at London’s Royal Academy, Gormley admits,
“I’ve been absolutely hook,
line, and sinkered by it!” He notes that art fairs are particularly
profligate with resources, especially as they serve a “minute
proportion of the world’s population.” The art world will soon have
to wrestle with the problem. In its level of waste and destruction,
he says, “there’s no question that the art fair is [up there] along
with probably the arms industry.” (The
Art Newspaper)

Will the Rise of Amazon Help Art? – As an increasing number of storefronts stand
empty across New York, gallerists and nonprofits see an
opportunity. Leading the way is the Swiss
Institute, which moves to a former bank in the East
Village converted by
leading architect Annabelle Selldorf. With the rise of Amazon and
online shopping, a glut of empty spaces that used to be chain stores or
banks could be a boon for other nonprofits, artists, and
gallerists. Johannes Vogt thinks that it is a renter’s market at
the moment in the city, with landlords dropping rents and no longer
holding out for “luxury tenants.” He was offered 50 percent off the
first year for a ground-floor space in Tribeca that used to be
retail. Simon Castets, the director of the Swiss Institute, says
the closure of multiple Duane Reade locations across the city alone
has opened up opportunities for enterprising arts
organizations. (Vulture)

Salvator Mundi Is Getting
a New Date – The whereabouts of the world’s most
expensive painting remain unclear, but Leonardo da
Vinci’s Salvator Mundi is expected to be
included in the catalogue for the Louvre’s forthcoming
Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster exhibition with a confirmed
attribution and a new date, placing it closer to 1510 than 1500, as
it was initially dated. It is unknown whether the painting will
surface at the show in the flesh—it has not been seen in public
since it sold at Christie’s in 2017. The exhibition will be divided
into four chapters that trace Leonardo’s artistic evolution.
(TAN)

Purdue Pharma Insists Deal to Settle Opioid Cases Is Possible
– The Sackler-owned
pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma insists that a
multibillion-dollar deal to settle the more than 1,000 lawsuits
related to its role in the opioid crisis is still on the table.
After US state attorneys said they thought that the company would
file for bankruptcy, Purdue told NPR that negotiations
were continuing. Eight members of the Sackler family, some of whom
are major arts philanthropists, have reportedly agreed to give up “the entire value” of the
company and contribute to a possible $12 billion settlement. They
deny allegations that they transferred around $4 billion from
Purdue to themselves between 2008 and 2016 as the backlash against
their role in the opioid crisis mounted. (TAN)

ART MARKET

Everyone Wants a Vija Celmins – The veteran artist’s paintings now sell for upwards of $5 million
and drawings for about $1 million—that is, if you can get your
hands on one. When Celmins’s touring
retrospective opens at the Met Breuer on September 21, her prices are set to increase
and the waiting list will get even longer. Part of the challenge is
that Celmins, who has always been resistant to the market,
works really slowly. “It was always as difficult to
get her to release her work as it was to get her to raise her
prices,” says her former dealer David McKee. “That’s Vija.”
(Bloomberg)

The Top of the Market Is Shrinking
– AM New York takes a look at the
latest artnet Intelligence Report and zeroes
in on the fact that sales for trophy works priced at over $10
million have shrunk 35 percent in the first half of the year
compared to the equivalent period in 2018. In fact, the $10
million-and-up sector hit its lowest point since 2016. More works
are hitting the auction block now than in previous seasons, but
because there are fewer expensive outliers, the average price of a
work at auction has dropped 28 percent, to $46,281. (AM New
York, artnet
News)

Gagosian Adds the Estate of Simon Hantaï –
The estate of the French abstract
artist has been nabbed
by Gagosian. Hantaï’s work was previously shown by Kasmin gallery of
New York and Timothy Taylor of London and New York. Gagosian will
present his first show at the gallery in October at its Le Bourget
space near Paris. (ARTnews)

Presenhuber Will Represent Tschabalala Self –
The American
artist Tschabalala
Self will be represented
by Galerie Eva Presenhuber, which plans to open a solo show of her
work in New York in May 2020. Self will continue to be represented
by Pilar Corrias in London. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Tiona Nekkia McClodden Wins the Whitney’s Bucksbaum Award
– The Philadelphia-based artist
has won the Whitney Museum of American Art’s top prize, which was
founded to recognize an artist of note featured in the current
edition of the Whitney
Biennial. McClodden is
showing a multichannel video installation called
I prayed to the wrong god for
you that charts the
artist’s initiation into the Afro-Cuban religion Santería/Lucumí.
(Artforum)

Major British Museum Loan Heads to the Getty
– Squeezed for space and
unable to show all of its treasures, the British Museum has decided
to lend an important group of Assyrian sculpture reliefs to the J.
Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for three years. The loan includes
the Banquet
Scene, which is known as
the world’s finest relief panel from Assyria and has not been shown
consistently for more than a decade. (TAN)

The Louvre Expands Islamic Art Wing –
The Louvre Museum has unveiled new
spaces dedicated to Islamic art. The Paris institution is opening a
renovated reception area and a new temporary exhibition space. The
project was funded with support from the Alwaleed
Philanthropies Humanitarian Foundation. (Sortir Paris)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Reconsidering Hitler’s Art Theft – Hitler’s Last Hostages: Looted Art and the Soul
of the Third Reich is
out in print today, a detailed and intensely researched book by
former Wall Street
Journal journalist Mary
M. Lane. Hitler’s Last
Hostages examines the
legacy of looted art left behind by Hitler and World War II from
his campaign of cultural tyranny. Lane fast forwards to today,
recounting the discovery of the Gurlitt
trove of looted art, and
the German authorities’ handling of this incredibly sensitive and
problematic past. (New York Times)

Phoenix Museum Struggles Following Director Departure –
The Phoenix Art Museum has been
suffering since it underwent major changes earlier this summer,
when its director Amada Cruz left to take over as director and CEO
of the Seattle Art Museum. Now, a few short months after her
departure, Vanessa Davidson, curator of Latin American Art has
announced her resignation at the Phoenix institution for a position
in Austin, Texas. (KJZZ)

Berlin Art Week Kicks Off Across the German
Capital – The
annual Berlin Art
Week is back with scores
of openings and events going on across the city’s many project
spaces, museums, private collections, and galleries. It all starts
today and runs through September 15. Tomorrow, the fair art berlin
opens at the historic Tempelhof airport. Before you hit the
streets, check out our top
picks of what to see and do. (artnet
News)

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