Art Movements

Vincent Desiderio, “Sleep” (detail) (2008), oil on canvas (© Vincent Desiderio, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York) (click to enlarge)

Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.

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A report published by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe (CLAE) concluded that over 10,600 works of art looted by the Nazis were sold by museums instead of being returned to their rightful owners. According to CLAE, numerous works entrusted to Bavaria’s State Paintings Collections by the Monuments Men were sold to the relatives of prominent Nazis or other parties after the war.

Unitar (United Nations Institute for Training and Research) released satellite imagesconfirming ISIS’s destruction of the Temple of Nabu in the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.

Artist Vincent Desiderio told the New York Times that he was pleased to discover that Kanye West’s new music video for “Famous” was directly inspired by his 2008 painting “Sleep.” In an interview with the Times, Desiderio revealed that he was flown out to meet West on the day the video premiered. “It was almost as if they were throwing a small surprise party for me. They were all smiling like the cat who ate the canary.”

Iranian satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani posted a new cartoon to Facebookfollowing her release from Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

George Lucas abandoned plans to build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago following sustained opposition by nonprofit group Friends of the Parks.

The Barack Obama Foundation selected Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects to design the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Martin Jennings’s statue of Mary Seacole outside the grounds of St. Thomas’s Hospital, London (via facebook.com/SeacoleStatueAppeal) (click to enlarge)

A statue of Mary Seacole was unveiled in London. The Jamaican-born nurse cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War, despite the home office rejecting her request to travel to the region. It is believed to be the first memorial statue dedicated to a named black woman in the UK.

The Stonewall Inn was designated a national monument by President Obama. The bar is the first of the United States’ 122 national monuments to commemorate the gay rights movement.

Artist Jennifer Miller (aka “Reverend Jen”), the founder of the Troll Museum, was evicted from her Lower East Side apartment. A video documenting Miller’s eviction was posted to Facebook.

Art dealer Nick Nicholson started a petition to name the corner of 57th and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan after the late New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham.

The East Village performance space La MaMa released an expanded version of its digital collections website.

Anbang Insurance Group Co. plan to convert three quarters of the rooms at the Waldorf Astoria into apartments. The Chinese company purchased the art deco hotel for $1.95 billion last year.

Transactions

Jenny Saville, “Shift” (1996–97), oil on canvas, 130 x 130 in (courtesy Sotheby’s)

Jenny Saville‘s “Shift” (1996–97) was sold at Sotheby’s for £6.8 million (~$9.1 million), a record for the artist. The same sale also set a record for Keith Haring. “The Last Rainforest” (1989), one of the artist’s last paintings, sold for £4.2 million (~$5.6 million).

Ronald O. Perelman donated $75 million toward the construction of a performing arts center at the World Trade Center site.

Thomas Borgmann donated over 600 works of contemporary art to the Stedelijk Museum. The gift includes works by Cosima von Bonin, Cerith Wyn Evans, John Stezaker, Wolfgang Tillmans, and others.

Swiss conglomerate MCH Group — which owns the Art Basel fair franchise — acquired the digital image sharing platform, Curiator.

Wayne Thiebaud donated four of his paintings to the University of California, Davis.

Vasiliki Dwyer donated 23 artworks to the Tacoma Art Museum.

Kean University acquired three of Michael Graves’s properties in Princeton, New Jersey. The late architect left the properties to Princeton University, which rejected the conditions of the gift.

The Dallas Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art jointly acquired Walter De Maria’s “Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13” (1986).

Walter De Maria, “Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13” (1986) (2016 Estate of Walter De Maria, Dallas Museum of Art through the DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund and Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) (click to enlarge)

Transitions

The Norton Museum of Art will reopen on July 5 with free admission following a major expansion project.

Guy Ullens, the founder of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, is looking for a new benefactor and owner to develop the institution.

Philipp Demandt was appointed director of the Städel Museum and Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung.

Chantel Pontbriand quit her post as director and CEO of Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Art less than a year after her appointment.

Chris Siefert was appointed deputy director of the Parrish Art Museum.

Meg Onli was appointed assistant curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tamsin Dillon and Rebecca Heald were appointed to curate the King’s Cross Project by the King’s Cross development partnership.

Ray Entwistle will succeed Simon Miller as chairman of Bonhams Scotland.

The Rosamund Felsen Gallery (founded in 1978) announced that it will permanently close this summer.

Chapter NY will move to a new space at 249 East Houston Street in September.

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac will open a space in London’s Ely House in the spring of 2017.

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art opened its new building.

The exterior of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (courtesy CMCA) (click to enlarge)

Accolades

Emma Sulkowicz received the National Organization for Women’s 2016 Woman of Courage Award.

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announced the recipients of its 2016 Artist as Activist Fellowships.

Hiwa K was awarded the 2016 Arnold Bode Prize.

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs selected the Lost Collective for an artist residency providing support and encouragement for LGBTQ youth in the foster care system.

The Getty Research Institute selected Fiona Tan as the artist-in-residence for its 2016–2017 Scholar Year.

Independent Curators International awarded the 2016 Leo Award to art dealer Marian Goodman.

Opportunties

A Blade of Grass is accepting applications for its 2017 Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art. Applicants must be at least 25 years old and legally permitted to work in the United States. Deadline for entries is Monday, September 19.

Obituaries

Tony Feher, “It Seemed a Beautiful Day” (2002), plastic bottles with plastic caps, water, food dye, wire, rope (photo by Adam Reich)

Austin Clarke (1934–2016), writer and essayist.

Bill Cunningham (1929–2016), fashion photographer for the New York Times.

Tony Feher (1956–2016), sculptor.

Barbara Goldsmith (1931–2016), founder of New York magazine and author of Little Gloria … Happy at Last (1980).

Michael Herr (1940–2016), writer. Best known for Dispatches (1977), an account of the Vietnam War.

Peter Hutton (1944–2016), filmmaker.

Norman Longmate (1925–2016), historian. Best known for How We Lived Then (1971).

The cover of Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’ (1970) (via slidesharecdn.com) (click to enlarge)

Stanley Meisler (1931–2016), foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Timesand author of Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall, and the Outsiders of Montparnasse(2015).

Kenworth Moffett (1934–2016), art historian. First curator of modern and contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1971–84) and director of the Fort Lauderdale Museum (1989–97).

Scotty Moore (1931–2016), guitarist.

Gordon Murray (1921–2016), puppeteer. Creator of the BBC children’s series Trumpton (1967).

Ben Patterson (1934–2016), artist and founding member of Fluxus.

Mack Rice (1933–2016), composer.

K G Subramanyan (1924–2016), artist.

Alvin Toffler (1928–2016), futurist. Author of Future Shock (1970).