Art Industry News: Why Conspiracy Theories That Van Gogh Was Murdered Are 100% Wrong + 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, September
6.

NEED-TO-READ

Wangechi Mutu Transforms the Met’s Entrance –
The Kenya-born, Brooklyn- and
Nairobi-based artist will install four bronze statues of women in the normally empty
niches at the main entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mutu
gave the Times
a sneak peek of her monumental
sculptures, explaining that she was inspired by Yoruba and
Congolese art and classical Greek caryatids. Called “The NewOnes,
will free Us,” the series of imposing female figures will, she
hopes, convey “words that we haven’t heard, people we haven’t
noticed” within the Met and beyond. The inaugural annual
contemporary sculpture commission is due to be unveiled on
September 9. (New York Times)

Drag Artists With Down Syndrome Defy Ban – Drag performers with Down Syndrome faced
alleged discrimination after a Republican congressional candidate barred them from appearing
at arts venue he owns. The London-based group, Drag Syndrome,
has performed across Europe but ran into problems in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, when Peter Meijer stopped them from appearing in his
building at an event organized by the nonprofit DisArts. The
American Civil Liberties Union has now filed a complaint with the
Michigan Department of Civil Rights against Meijer, claiming that
he discriminated against the performers because of their
disability. Meijer, for his part, says he was concerned about the
potential for exploitation. One of the artists replied: “We deserve
the right to be ourselves and be in drag.” (NYT)

Calm Down, Conspiracy Theorists: Van Gogh Was Not
Murdered – Van Gogh expert Martin Bailey breaks down
10 reasons why the theory that Van Gogh was murdered—rather than
that he died by suicide—is a myth. He cites the fact that the
artist’s doctor, brother Theo, and friends (including artist Paul
Gauguin) all believed Van Gogh killed himself, as did police. He
also notes that Vincent had tried to kill himself the year before,
in 1889, and was suffering a depressive episode in the final months
of his life. He also notes that the recent emergence of the gun Van
Gogh purportedly used, which sold at auction in
June, also supports his belief: it was discovered on the
surface of a field, suggesting it was abandoned, not hidden.
(The Art
Newspaper)

Fashion Houses Pull Shows From the Shed – A growing
number of fashion
brands—including Michael Kors, Vera Wang, and Rag & Bone—appear
to be shunning the Shed as criticism of the
developer and board member Stephen Ross’s support of President Donald Trump grows. The
Academy of Art University has also pulled its event at the venue
during New York Fashion Week. Fern Mallis, Fashion Week’s creator,
told the Post that the Shed is now “kind of
over.” The Shed has not commented directly on the withdrawals,
but said its aim “is to provide a powerful platform to realize the
values we share of equity, diversity, and freedom.” The only
remaining designer scheduled to show at the venue is Helmut Lang;
but at least one fashion editor told the Post she would boycott the show. “I wouldn’t step
foot within the Shed,” she said. (New York Post)

ART MARKET

Sotheby’s Remains Upbeat About Its Prospects in Hong Kong
– Kevin Ching, chief executive
of Sotheby’s Asia, has downplayed the potential impact of the
US-China trade war and ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong
on the region’s art market. He hopes it will be business as usual
at the house’s forthcoming October sales—although the auction house
has installed extra phone lines for remote bidders who might have
otherwise attended in person. (South China
Morning Post)

Japanese Museum Demands Compensation for a Stolen Reynolds
– The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is refusing to return a
stolen painting by Joshua Reynolds to the heirs of its original
owner unless it receives compensation. The £1 million ($1.2
million) portrait was stolen in 1984 from the home of the late
collector Henry Price. The private Japanese museum bought it in
good faith from an art dealer who acquired it at Sotheby’s in
1990. (Daily Telegraph)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Serpentine Curator Joins Lehmann Maupin – The London-based curator Amira Gad is the
latest museum professional to make the move over to the commercial
side. She will leave her post as curator of exhibitions and
architecture at the Serpentine Galleries, where she has been since
2014, to become Lehmann Maupin gallery’s new artistic director.
(Press release)

National Gallery Names First Artist in Residence –
The filmmaker and painter Rosalind
Nashashibi is the National Gallery’s first artist in residence. She
will have access to an on-site studio, the museum’s collection, and
its reams of research starting this month. The museum will present
an exhibition emerging from the yearlong residency in summer 2020,
before it travels to the gallery’s partner institution, the Pier
Arts Centre, in the Orkney Islands. (Artforum)

The Huntington Library Changes Its Name – The Los Angeles
institution known as Huntington Library, Art Collections, and
Botanical Gardens has announced that it is now the Huntington
Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The addition of the
word “museum” is intended to telegraph the fact that its art
collection is publicly accessible. The institution also announced
that it will partner with the Hammer Museum on the next “Made in
LA” biennial, which runs from June 7 to August 30, 2020.
(Los Angeles Times)

Francisco Toledo Has Died – The Mexican contemporary art star Francesco
Toledo has died. The 79-year-old expressionist painter and
sculptor, who donated his private
museum, the Oaxaca Institute of Graphic Arts, to the state of
Mexico in 2015, died following an illness. (Monopol)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Two Aboriginal Art Museums Rise in Australia –
Australian politicians have
expressed support for two proposals for Aboriginal art museums in
Adelaide and Alice Springs. But the country’s arts minister,
Michael Lynch, has expressed fears that if both proposals are
approved, the two institutions might compete for collections,
audiences, and funding. (The Art Newspaper)

Jose Davila’s Virgin Mary Causes an Upset – Politicians and religious groups are
criticizing the Griffith University Art Museum in Brisbane, South
Australia, for exhibiting Chilean-Australian artist Juan Davila’s
1985 work Holy
Family. The artwork
based on Michelangelo’s Pietà depicts the Virgin Mary
cradling a giant penis instead of the body of Jesus after his
Crucifixion. (10 Daily)

Neïl Beloufa Opens His First Show with Kamel Mennour –
The French actor and former
professional soccer player Eric Cantona has lent his voice to the
French-Algerian artist’s exhibition in Brussels. In “The Moral of
the Story,” Cantona narrates a fable about a post-capitalist camel
and a fox in the desert, which the artist has illustrated in an
interactive exhibition. (Galleries Now)

"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);">

"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);">

The post Art Industry News: Why Conspiracy Theories That Van
Gogh Was Murdered Are 100% Wrong + Other Stories appeared first
on artnet News.