Art Industry News: Police Announce a $550,000 Reward to Hunt Down Dresden’s Jewel Thieves + 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, November
29.

NEED-TO-READ

The Rubells Open a New Museum and
Plan Another – Miami’s leading
collectors Mera and Don Rubell are opening their new space in time
for Art Basel in Miami Beach next week. The sale of the family
collection’s old home, a former DEA warehouse in
Wynwood, paid for
their new space in Allapattah “and
then some,” says Mera Rubell. The Rubells are already planning
their second private museum, this time in Washington DC, which
could open within three years. “We finally have a developer and
financial partner,” she says. The Rubells will not have any trouble
filling both venues as they have been as savvy in collecting
contemporary art as their real estate deals. Mera Rubell
acknowledges the galleries and artists who “give us a great price
and long payment terms.” (Financial
Times)

The Uffizi Will Send Botticellis to
Hong Kong – The Uffizi is
lending up to ten paintings by the Renaissance master to Hong Kong
next year. The Botticelli show at the Hong Kong Museum of Art will
also include a dozen paintings by his contemporaries also from
Florence’s art museum. The Uffizi’s first major show in China is
the start of a long-term partnership with the Hong Kong government,
which is contributing $660,000 towards the exhibition.
(The Art Newspaper)

There’s a $550,000 Reward to Recover the Green Vault
Jewels –Authorities in Germany are offering a reward
of €500,000 ($550,000) for information that leads arrests
or to the recovery of the treasures thieves took from Dresden’s
Green Vault. Saxony’s police force has added 20 more officers to
help track down the four thieves who carried out the audacious
heist on Monday morning. The
gang made off  with 11 complete jewelry
sets about around a dozen other parts of jewelry—most of them
from the 18th-century and encrusted with diamonds, which were uninsured.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to solve this
case,” said Horst Kretzschmar, the head of Saxony’s police force.
(Monopol)

Indigenous Elders Reclaim Their Ancestors’
Remains – A group of Indigenous elders from
Australia reclaimed the remains of 45 ancestors from a museum in
Leipzig, Germany, this week. The ceremonial handover took place at
the Grassi Museum of Ethnology. Boxes containing skulls and
bones were draped in an Aboriginal flag ahead of their return. A
further ceremonial handover is planned for 2020. The event comes as
museums across Europe confront the dark
side of their colonial-era collections, although some
institutions still insist human remains have scientific and
educational value. (Guardian)

ART MARKET

A Bankrupt Collector Tried to Borrow $51 Million Against Fake
Art – The bankrupt
businessman and collector James Stunt lent copies of work purportedly by Monet, Dalí, and
Picasso to Prince Charles’s favourite Scottish country house. Now,
it has emerged that Stunt tried to borrow $51 million using the
copies made by the LA-based artist Tony Tetro as collateral. Stunt
also owes Christie’s $5 million. (TAN)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Three Artists Triumph in Hong Kong’s Election –
Artists Susi Law Wai-shan, Clara Cheung, and Wong Tin Yan are
among the newly elected district council members in Hong Kong. The
activist artists are three of the 389 pro-democracy candidates who
enjoyed a landslide victory in the elections. (TAN)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Ancient Cave Art Is Discovered in Spain – A researcher
has stumbled upon 5,000-year-old cave art in Spain. The drawings of
humans, arrows, and other symbols were found need Albuquerque,
which is close to the border with Portugal, by Agustin Palomo. He
was looking for a tomb. (Daily Mail)

A Statue Is Unveiled of a Pioneering Female Politician –
A bronze statue depicting the first woman to take her seat as a
member of Parliament, Nancy Astor, has been unveiled in Plymouth,
in the West of England. The sculpture of the Conservative
politician was unveiled by former UK Prime Minister Theresa May. It
stands outside Astor’s former home in the port city. Astor and her
circle of aristocratic friends’ admiration of Hitler in the 1930s
has never been forgotten by her critics. (Guardian)

The post Art Industry News: Police Announce a $550,000
Reward to Hunt Down Dresden’s Jewel Thieves + Other Stories
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