Art Industry News: Holy Mackerel! Experts Say This ‘Fake’ Van Gogh Is Not So Fishy After All and May Be Real + Other Stories

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 Monday, December
2.

NEED-TO-READ

The Rembrandts a Thief Nearly Stole
Return Home – The two
paintings by Rembrandt that a thief narrowly
failed to steal from a London museum have returned
home. The Dulwich
Picture Gallery has returned Pilgrims at Emmaus (1648) to the Louvre in Paris and
Philemon and Baucis
(1658) to the National Gallery of
Art in Washington, DC. The
pictures were on loan for a special exhibition, “Rembrandt’s
Light,” which has reopened to the public (without the two
threatened works) following the attempted robbery on December 13.
No arrests have been made so far. (The Art Newspaper)

Pierre Soulages Prepares for His
Louvre Honor – The
French painter best known for his
black monochrome canvases will have a solo
show at the Louvre this month. Soulages will be only the third contemporary
artist to have a solo exhibition at the storied museum during his
lifetime (after Picasso and Chagall). “Soulages at the Louvre,” which opens on
December 11, will feature around 20 works spanning his 70-year
career. The artist, who
celebrates his 100th birthday this year, is still working in his
studio: He completed two new “outrenoir,” or “beyond black,”
abstracts in August without
the help of assistants. (New York Times)

A “Fake” Van Gogh Could Be Genuine
– A still life that was
downgraded as a forgery could, in fact, be a genuine Van
Gogh. Still Life With
Mackerels and Tomatoes,
which has been in a Swiss
collection since 1919, fell from grace in 2003 after an expert
declared the brushwork and coloring to be, ahem, fishy. Now, Oliver
Tostmann, a curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut,
points out the still life’s similarity to two other downgraded Van
Goghs that have recently been reattributed to the artist. The
director of the Oskar Reinhart “Am Römerholz” Collection in
Winterthur, which owns the work, is keen to get a second opinion.
Next stop: specialists at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
(TAN)

Spanish Police Seize a Fake Murillo
– Police in Spain have seized a
religious painting that was on sale for €100,000 ($110,000) as a
genuine Murillo, but is not believed to be fake. It bore the
signature of the artist and was on offer with authentication papers
signed by an Italian “expert.” Real experts, however, believe the
work is actually an 18th-century copy of a crucifixion by Murillo
owned by the Prado. A court in Málaga has ruled that it should
be marked “fake” on the back to hinder any fraudulent sale in the
future.  (El Pais)

ART MARKET

Dickensian Portrait Hits the Block
– A painting commissioned by
Charles Dickens of one his fictional heroines—which had been unseen
for more than a century—is going on sale at Sotheby’s London on
December 10. William Powell
Frith’s painting of Kate Nickleby has been in a private collection
in Ireland since 1885. Dickens paid £20 for the painting in 1842.
It now has an upper estimate of £20,000 ($26,000).
(TAN)

Perrotin Moves His Hong Kong
Gallery – Emmanuel Perrotin is
moving his Hong Kong gallery from the protest-riddled Central
neighborhood to Kowloon, across the river. The French dealer has
taken a space near K11 Musea, the
billionaire art collector Adrian Cheng’s waterfront
development. The move, which will be complete in March,
has “nothing to do” with the protests, according to the gallery,
and had been in the works long before the unrest began earlier this
year. (TAN)

Major Works by Tiepolo and Rubens
Head to Auction – Sotheby’s New York is offering the last major
altarpiece by Tiepolo in private hands. The Madonna of the Rosary with
Angels (1735) has an
upper estimate of $15 million. Also on offer in the January 29
sale is a work by
Rubens that has been in a private UK collection since 1946.
The Virgin and Christ Child,
With Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist (around 1612) has an upper estimate of $8
million. (Press release) 

COMINGS & GOINGS

Syndicat National des
Antiquaires Elects New President – Anisabelle
Berès-Montanari has been named president of the Paris-based antique
dealers’ association for the next three years. In her new
role, Berès-Montanari will oversee the ongoing
transformation of the art and antiques fair La Biennale Paris,
which, despite its name, became an annual event in
2017. (Press
release)

Lauren Halsey Designs
Sneakers for Nike – The sought-after Los Angeles
artist has designed a collection for Nike that will be available
beginning December 7. The collection, which the artist has been
working on for eight months, comprises sneakers, socks, and
t-shirts, as well as an Air Force 1 called “Summaeverythang” (which
also happens to be the name of her Twitter handle).
(ARTnews)

Artist Silvianna
Goldsmith Has Died – The pioneering
feminist filmmaker and activist has died at the age of 90 in
New York. In 1969, Goldsmith co-founded Women Artists in
Revolution, a protest group pushing back against the
underrepresentation of women in the Whitney Museum Annual (which
later became the Whitney Biennial). (ARTnews)

FOR ART’S SAKE

ICA Miami Announces 100
Acquisitions – The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami,
has been building its collection at a brisk pace. As it prepares to
celebrate its fifth anniversary, the museum announced it has
acquired more than 100 works of art, including objects by John
Baldessari, Liam Gillick, Arthur Jafa, and Anicka Yi.
(Artforum)

Meet the Guards Who Keep
Kehinde Wiley’s Sculpture Safe – Several
“public art ambassadors” for Kehinde Wiley’s monument
Rumors of War have the job of explaining the context
of the piece to wandering tourists in Times Square. The monument
will be moved today to its permanent home outside the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. (New York Times)

David Batchelor’s
Scaffold Christmas Tree Is Unveiled – Who needs pine
when you’ve got LEDs? The artist best known for his light works has
unveiled a scaffold Christmas Tree at King’s Cross in London. The
44-foot-tall work is made from LED lights and scaffolding (as well
as holiday cheer, of course).
(Instagram)

The post Art Industry News: Holy Mackerel! Experts Say This
‘Fake’ Van Gogh Is Not So Fishy After All and May Be Real + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.