Art Industry News: Jodie Foster Is Directing a Movie About the Ill-Fated Theft That Made the Mona Lisa a Legend + 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 Friday, January
31.

NEED-TO-READ

Thieves Swipe Salvador Dalí Work From a Swedish Gallery –
Thieves have stolen bronze
sculptures and etchings by Salvador Dalí from a gallery in
Stockholm in a smash-and-grab raid. Robbers broke into Couleur
gallery in Stockholm and took bronze sculptures and etchings by
Dalí that had been on loan from Switzerland for an exhibition. The
works were worth about £16,000 to £40,000 ($21,000 to $52,500)
each. Local police who are investigating the scene said the thieves
smashed the gallery’s glass entrance early on Thursday morning.
(Guardian)

Martin Kemp on What We Lose by Not Seeing Salvator Mundi
– In a new essay, the
venerable art historian and Leonardo expert decries the fact that
Salvator Mundi was not included in the Louvre’s
blockbuster Leonardo exhibition—but he says the painting has
actually disappeared in more than one sense of the word. Like the
Mona Lisa, “it is almost impossible to see her afresh through
the obscuring fogs of misapprehension and legend.” Kemp discusses
the role the press has played in perpetuating this regrettable
double loss. “If someone says the record-breaking Leonardo is not a
Leonardo, that is news. To say it is by Leonardo is not news,”
writes Kemp. “My hope is that after the fevered pace of Leonardo’s
500th anniversary year, some sort of measured sanity might
prevail.” (The Art
Newspaper)

Jodie Foster Is Directing a Movie About the Mona Lisa
– In other Leonardo news,
Jodie Foster is set to direct a drama based on the true story of
the 1911 theft of the master’s most famous painting. The film,
which is being written by Bill Wheeler, is based on a book by
Seymour Reit called The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa. The
incredible theft involved three Italian handymen, who hid in a
supply closet before swiping the painting and its protective glass.
They managed to get it onto a French subway train out of Paris
before anyone noticed it was gone. The robbery inadvertently sealed
the Mona Lisa’s worldwide fame. (The
Wrap)

LACMA Gets a $50 Million Gift for Stalled Renovation –
The Los Angeles County Museum of
Art has secured a $50 million pledge from the W.M. Keck Foundation
to put toward its long-in-the-works $750 million renovation
project. The money ends a fundraising drought for the museum, which
has struggled to raise the final millions needed for its planned
single-story exhibition hall designed by Pritzker Prize-winning
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and named the David Geffen Galleries
(after the music industry impresario who pledged $150 million
earlier on in the campaign). Construction work is scheduled to
start at the end of February. (Los Angeles
Times)

ART MARKET

Will Millennials Save the Art Market? – Figuring out how to sell art to the
new
millennial generation of budding
art collectors—those born between 1981 and 1996—was a major thread
throughout the Talking Galleries conference in Barcelona earlier
this month. Rich millennials and those standing to inherit a large
amount of money from their families have a different buying style
than their predecessors. Generally, experts find they want more
transparency through clear price lists; galleries can gather clues
about their buying habits from trends in the broader retail world.
(TAN)

Antwaun Sargent Will Organize a Special Section at Paris
Photo New York – The New
York–based art critic and writer will curate the emerging artist
sector at Paris Photo’s inaugural edition in New York. The fair
will be held at Pier 94 from April 2 to April 5. (Artforum)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Dallas Museum Removes Suspected Stolen Work From View –
The Dallas Museum of Art removed a
deity from display after an artist recognized it and informed the
museum that it had actually been stolen from a temple in Nepal. The
stele of Lakshmi-Narayana was on loan from a lender, David T.
Owsley, who had bought it in good faith from Sotheby’s.
(Dallas Morning
News)

Toledo Museum Names New Director – The chief executive of the Cummer Museum, Adam
Levine, is leaving his post after just over a year. He is returning
to the Toledo Museum of Art, where he previously served as deputy
director and curator of ancient art, to become director. His last
day at the Cummer is April 24. (WJCT)

Museum Dedicated to Artist-Built Environments Is Coming –
A new $40 million museum dedicated
to artist-built environments and immersive works is opening in
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in August. Run by the John Michael Kohler
Arts Center, the Art Preserve will provide 56,000 square feet of
exhibition space for the art center’s collection, which includes
works by Lenore Tawney, Stella Waitzkin, and Ray Yoshida.
(Artforum)

FOR ART’S SAKE

How Police Use Art to Become Better Investigators –
The NYPD has hired art historian
Amy Herman to teach a course on the art of perception to officers.
Herman is convinced that looking at fine art can test and
strengthen your perception skills, and enable you to challenge your
own prejudices. (CNN)

How One UK Museum Is Going Green – The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London has
published a climate and ecology manifesto declaring how it will
reduce its environmental impact and advocate for climate justice.
Among other things, it will highlight the environment in its
programming, will cut carbon emissions across the museum, and will
switch to renewable electricity. (TAN)

See Juergen Teller’s Vivienne Westwood Campaign –
Vivienne Westwood’s Spring/Summer
2020 campaign was shot by the artist and fashion photographer
Juergen Teller. Filmed in Paris, the campaign features Westwood
herself, her husband Andreas Kronthaler, and supermodel Naomi
Campbell. (Dazed)

The post Art Industry News: Jodie Foster Is Directing a
Movie About the Ill-Fated Theft That Made the Mona Lisa a Legend +
Other Stories appeared first on artnet News.