Art Movements
John Sloan, “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire” (for New York Call, March 27, 1911), charcoal, ink, and gouache on board, sheet: 18 7/16 x 14 11/16 inches, Delaware Art Museum, gift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1991 ( Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.
Theresa May wore a bracelet emblazoned with images of Frida Kahlo at the Conservative Party conference. The prime minister’s keynote speech was widely panned as a disaster; May had to be handed a lozenge after struggling with a cough, two letters from a party slogan fell off the wall behind her, and a prankster managed to evade security and interrupt the speech. “Can I just point out that Theresa May is wearing a bracelet of Frida Kahlo, a member of the Communist party who LITERALLY DATED TROTSKY,” tweeted Guardian writer Hannah Jane Parkinson. Musicians Florence Welch and Calvin Harris later took to Twitter to complain about the use of their music at the conference.
Beginning November 1, small groups of tourists will be permitted to climb to the fifth and highest level of the Colosseum in Rome.
Performance artist Deborah de Robertis was charged with exhibitionism and assault following an incident in which she exposed her genitals in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. De Robertis stated that her performance — during which she shouted “Mona Lisa, my pussy, my copyright” — was a tribute to a work by Valie Export.
St Hugh’s, the Oxford University college where Aung San Suu Kyi studied PPE (philosophy, politics and economics), removed her portrait from display following widespread condemnation of her response to the Rohingya crisis. On Wednesday, Oxford city council voted unanimously to strip the Myanmar leader of the Freedom of the City of Oxford.
A small painting by Renoir, “Portrait of a Young Girl with Blond Hair,” was stolen from an auction house near Paris a day before it was due to be sold.
An American Journey: The Art of John Sloan, the first full-career retrospective of the artist’s work to be staged, will open on October 21 at the Delaware Art Museum. A founder of the Ashcan School, Sloan is best known for his street scenes of New York City.
A reel from the Lumière Collection at the George Eastman Museum
The George Eastman Museum acquired and restored a rare collection of 18 films by the Lumière brothers. The nitrate reels, consisting of seven 35mm negatives and eleven 35mm positive prints, have been dated to approximately between 1896 and 1903.
The heirs of Jewish museum director Curt Glaser are to receive compensation for an artwork he was forced to auction in order to flee Nazi Germany in 1933. The current owners of Bartholomäus Spranger’s “Mercury Carriers Psyche to Mount Olympus” (ca 1576) have agreed to give Glaser’s heirs a cut of the proce after the work is sold at Christie’s on December 7.
A man wielding a screwdriver attacked a painting by Adolf Hitler in Salò, Italy, where it is included in an exhibition titled Museum of Madness, from Goya to Bacon. The painting was not significantly damaged.
The Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris foundation was established to raise funds for the complete renovation of the cathedral. An estimated $40 million is required in order to carry out the most urgent repairs.
The Whitney Museum of American Art unveiled David Hammons‘s proposal for a public artwork situated in Hudson River Park.
Conservators working on Mary Rose were forced to shore up the wreck with scaffolding after observing that the ship had begun collapsing on itself.
The Victoria Albert Museum’s David Bowie exhibition will make the last stop of its international tour at the Brooklyn Museum. The show is scheduled to open on March 2, 2018.
Marine archaeologists recovered a bronze arm from an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
Archaeologists working in southern Egypt discovered what is thought to be one of the earliest known pet cemeteries.
Marina Abramović collaborated with luxury dessert brand Kreëmart to produce a macaron that embodies her identity “in the form of taste.”
Transactions
Audrey Flack, “World War II (Vanitas)” (1976–77), oil over acrylic on canvas, 96 x 96 in, museum purchase (courtesy PAFA)
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced 28 new acquisitions, including works by Audrey Flack, Sonya Clark, Linda Kramer, and Mickalene Thomas.
David Geffen pledged to donate $150 million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the largest single cash gift from an individual in the museum’s history.
Sutton Hoo, one of the UK’s most important archaeological sites, was awarded a £1.8 million (~$2.36 million) National Lottery grant [via email announcement].
A rare Ru guanyao brush washer was sold to an anonymous buyer at Sotheby’s for $37.7 million, a record for a Chinese ceramic.
The Davis Museum at Wellesley College acquired 14 paintings from Ria Brodell’s Butch Heroes (2010–12), a series celebrating the lives of trans men throughout history.
Emory University acquired the so-called “Joan Anderson Letter,” an 18-page letter sent to Jack Kerouac by Neal Cassidy. Kerouac credited the letter’s spontaneous prose style as a direct inspiration for his 1957 novel On the Road.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded $375,000 to the Museum of the Moving Image. The grant will be used to fund the long-term preservation of born-digital objects.
The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation gave a $250,000 gift to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
The Tate acquired works by Dorothy Iannone, Mary Beth Edelson, Hannah Black, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan through the 2017 Frieze Tate Fund.
Dorothy Iannone, “Wiggle Your Ass For Me” (1970), acrylic on canvas, mounted on canvas, 1900 x 1500 mm, from Air de Paris, ParisTransitions
The $500 million renovation plan for Lincoln Center was scrapped according to The New York Times.
Julia Gonnella was appointed director of Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art.
Susanne Pfeffer was appointed director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.
Paul L. Whalen was appointed president of the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation [via email announcement].
Cleveland T. Johnson was appointed executive director of the Morris Museum.
Hadeel Ibrahim was elected to the governing board of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
The Museum of Modern Art promoted Ana Janevski to a new post as curator of its Performance and Media Art department.
Emily Liebert was appointed associate curator of contemporary art at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Gilbert George announced plans to convert a 6,000-square-foot former brewery near Brick Lane, London into a foundation to show their work.
The 8th Floor extended its hours to include Saturdays from 11am to 6pm.
The LEGO House opened in Billund, Denmark.
Accolades
Anh Do, “JC” (2017), oil on linen with unicorn hologram, dead insects found in garden and other mixed media, 240 x 200 cm ( the artist; photo by Mim Stirling, AGNSW)
Anh Do’s portrait of Indigenous actor Jack Charles was awarded the 2017 Archibald prize people’s choice award.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan was awarded the 2018 Abraaj Group Art Prize.
Lauri Stallings was awarded the 2017 Hudgens Prize.
Lis Rhodes was awarded the 2017 Freelands Award.
The Royal Institute of British Architects awarded its 2018 Royal Gold Medal to Neave Brown.
The Rose Art Museum awarded Tony Lewis its Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award.
The Ford Foundation announced the recipients of its Art of Change fellowships.
MAXXI announced the finalists for its MAXXI Bulgari Prize: Talia Chetrit, Invernomuto (Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi), and Diego Marcon.
Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Obituaries
Vern Blosum, “Rescued” (2015), oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in (courtesy ESSEX STREET, New York)
Vern Blosum (1936–2017), artist. Best known for his works mocking Pop art.
CeDell Davis (1926–2017), blues guitarist and singer.
Arthur Janov (1924–2017), psychotherapist. Best known as the creator of primal therapy.
Reggie Lavong (1933–2017), radio DJ.
Donald Mitchell (1925–2017), musicologist and publisher. Founder of Faber Music.
S.I. Newhouse Jr. (1927–2017), owner of Condé Nast.
Tom Paley (1928–2017), singer and musician. Pioneer of the 195os American Folk revival.
Tom Petty (1950–2017), singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Valton Tyler (1944–2017), artist.
