Art Industry News: Top Los Angeles Art Patrons Donate $750 Million to Bankroll Climate-Change Research + Other Stories

by admin

Sep 27, 2019

artnet

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
27.

NEED-TO-READ

The British Museum Is Still the UK’s Best-Attended Art
Institution – A sea change seemed to be afoot
when news broke earlier
this year that Tate Modern had surpassed the British Museum as
London’s most-attended art institution in 2018. But it now appears
that that report—released by the tourism organization Visit
England—was based on incorrect figures. The British Museum said its
numbers were suppressed by around 300,000 due to an error in its
automated visitor counting system. The new figures put the BM’s
attendance at more than 6 million, comfortably beating out Tate
Modern’s 5.8 million. (The Art
Newspaper)

Saudi Arabia Opens Up to Cultural Tourists – Saudi Arabia, which has multibillion-dollar
plans to increase foreign visits to its historic sites as well
as develop new museums, is launching a new tourist visa. The
country is also relaxing its
strict dress codes for female visitors. Tourism minister Ahmad
al-Khateeb described the policy changes as a “historic moment” for
the country, which is home to five Unesco World Heritage Sites.
France and Russia are among
the countries being
wooed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help develop its cultural
infrastructure. In an attempt to rehabilitate his international
image, he has also belatedly accepted “responsibility” for the
murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s
Istanbul consulate. (BBC)

Los Angeles Patrons Donate $750 Million to Fund Climate
Research – The billionaire
philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick, who have a pavilion in
their name at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, have pledged
$750 million to the California Institute of Technology. Caltech
will use the funds to build a center for environmental
sustainability research, expanding the work of its existing Resnick
Sustainability Institute. The gift is the largest ever for
sustainability research and the second-largest donation to an
American university in history. The Resnicks have previously
donated $45 million to LACMA and $30 million to the Hammer
Museum. (Artforum)

Ex-BP Chief Steps in to Fund the Turner Prize –
The former BP CEO and ex-chairman
of the Tate, John Browne, has helped fund this year’s Turner Prize.
He stepped in after the Tate and Margate Contemporary were criticized for accepting
sponsorship from a company that is owned by the Scottish
businessman Brian Souter, who has campaigned against gay rights.
The art museums proceeded to cut ties with Souter’s company,
Stagecoach, leaving a gap in
funding that Browne has volunteered to fill. The executive also
backed Tate Britain’s queer British art show
in 2017 and supported the British pavilion at that year’s Venice
Biennale. (TAN)

ART MARKET

An Artemisia Gentileschi Will Be Sold in Paris –
A painting attributed to the
in-demand female Renaissance artist is heading to auction in Paris
on November 13. Artemisia
Gentileschi’s portrait
of Lucretia, which has been in a private collection in
Lyon for the past 40 years, has a conservative upper estimate of
€800,000 ($873,000). (The Art Newspaper)

Gagosian’s Advisory Arm Makes a High-Profile Hire
– Bernard LaGrange, a Princeton-educated art
historian, protégé of rainmaker Amy Cappellazzo, and a key player
at Art Agency, Partners, Sotheby’s advisory arm, has left the
auction house to join Gagosian’s art
advisory, led by Laura Paulson. He will begin his new role
after a six-month gardening leave. (Baer Faxt)

Lévy Gorvy Now Represents Tu Hongtao – The Chinese artist, whose work explores the
relationship between landscape painting and abstraction, has joined
the stable of Lévy Gorvy, which will represent him worldwide. The
gallery will stage a solo show of the artist’s work in London in
fall 2020. (Press release)

Hauser & Wirth Teams Up With the Fontana Foundation –
The gallery and the artist’s
Milan-based foundation are collaborating on three exhibitions,
starting in Los Angeles in February. Lucio Fontana shows in New
York and Hong Kong are due to follow in 2021. The gallery stressed
that it is not currently representing the artist’s
foundation. (ARTnews)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Pamela Joyner Gifts Seven Works to the Baltimore Museum of
Art – Collectors Pamela Joyner
and Alfred Giuffrida have donated works by to the Baltimore
institution by Radcliffe Bailey, Zander Blom, Moshekwa Langa,
Clifford Owens, Adam Pendleton, and Purvis Young. They have also
promised two future gifts of large-scale works by Meleko Mokgosi
and Angel Otero to celebrate the opening of the museum’s show
“Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art.”(Press release)

Bangkok Art Director Is Fired, and Fighting Back –
The director of the Bangkok Art and
Culture Center, Pawit Mahasarinand, is hitting back at the center’s
board of directors after his contract was terminated last month
following comments to the media about a lack of financial support
from local authorities putting the institution at risk.
Mahasarinand says he was “wrongfully terminated” for speaking out,
although the official reason for his departure on September 30 was
“unsatisfactory work performance.” (Artforum)

Former French President Jacques Chirac Dies at 86 –
Chirac was a champion of the arts
who founded the Musée du Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac in Paris and
the Louvre’s Pavillon des Sessions. “Throughout his political
career, Jacques Chirac, modest man that he was, never boasted of
his tastes in culture in order to cast a favorable light on his
character,” the Quai Branly’s president Stéphane Martin said in a
statement. “For all that, and while cultivating a form of
anti-conformism in this domain compared to his era, President
Chirac proved to be a learned connoisseur of the non-Western arts
and civilizations.” (TAN)

The Frick Pittsburgh Names New Director – The next director of the Frick Pittsburgh is
Elizabeth E. Barker, who will take up the role December 1. Barker,
who has curated at the British Museum and the Met, among other
institutions, succeeds Robin Nicholson in the role, and is the
first woman to direct the institution. (Art Daily)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Pace Will Bring Picasso to Silicon Valley – Pace has teamed up with the Fundación Almine y
Bernard Ruiz-Picasso to bring a Picasso survey to Silicon Valley.
The show will mark the fifth birthday of the gallery’s Palo Alto
space and will be on view from November 2 through February
16. It will be the first
ever Picasso show in the city, according to the
gallery. (Press release)

Are Art Museums “Married to the Mob”? – The writer and Artforum contributing
editor Rhonda Lieberman does
not pull any punches in her deep dive into art museums’ addiction
to toxic philanthropy. In a sweeping piece about recent art-world
controversies, from the Nan Goldin-led
backlash against the Sacklers to Warren Kanders’s stepping down at
the Whitney, Lieberman declares that art museums are “married to the
mob.” She also calls out the museum directors, curators, and
artists who court the super-rich, calling them “toxic
philanthropy’s enablers.” (New Republic)

How an American Cleric Amassed a Major Chinese Art Collection
– A reverend in San Francisco,
Richard Fabian, has amassed an impressive collection of Chinese
art, including work by Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, and Xu Beihong. He
now plans to sell 38 works at Bonhams Hong Kong on October 9. In an
interview, Fabian opens up about how he fell in love with Chinese
art when he was at Yale in the 1970s and ultimately became one of
the field’s early Western collectors. (South China Morning
Post)

Olafur Eliasson Brings His Little Sun to Fashion Week –
For its spring 2020 fashion show,
Missoni homed in on the climate crisis with looks inspired by
nature and illuminated by Olafur Eliasson’s “Little Sun” solar
lamps, which were handed out to guests. The models also
carried the lamps during their finale walk. “We are at a crucial
point for our planet, and we need to take action,” Missoni and
Eliasson said in a joint statement. “Join us in holding hands with
the sun.” (WWD)

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