Art Industry News: A Former Investment Banker Predicts That the Art Market Won’t Recover Until a Vaccine Is Widely Available + 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 Tuesday, May
26.

NEED-TO-READ

Prince Charles Issues Warning on the Future of the Arts –
The Prince of Wales, a patron of
several arts institutions in the UK, is sounding the alarm over the
precarious financial situations faced by cultural organizations
across the country. In an interview with Classic FM, he said it was
paramount that the country “find a way of keeping orchestras and other arts
bodies going,” adding that they are of “enormous importance” to the
economy. The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the
Southbank Centre are all facing financial collapse due the loss of
income from the lockdown. (BBC)

Museums Collect Pandemic Artifacts – The Museum of the City of New York is among an
increasing number of museums around the world that are acquiring
items documenting the coronavirus pandemic. The institution has
acquired around 4,000 photos related to daily life amid the global
health crisis, while the Autry Museum of the American West has acquired
160 items, including illustrated journals. In
addition, the 12
Smithsonian museums will also begin collecting such items via
digital submissions. (New York Times) 

Another Uproar Over the Humboldt Forum – A Christian cross to be installed atop
the new museum’s dome on Friday is igniting further debate
about the beleaguered $700 million institution. Germany’s
culture minister, Monika Grütters, says the large cross is a symbol
of charity, freedom, cosmopolitanism, and tolerance. But critics
say the cross is an inappropriate symbol to put atop
a museum that holds a
large amount of objects collected from Africa during Germany’s
colonial era.
(Monopol)

Philadelphia Museum of Art Workers Seek to Unionize –
Staff at the Philadelphia Museum of
Art have filed a petition with the US National Labor Relations
Board in a move to unionize and join the American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the country’s biggest labor
unions. The workers are hoping that forming a union will ensure the
museum prioritizes worker and visitor safety as it begins to crawl
its way out of a financial hole created by the pandemic.
(Artforum)

ART MARKET

Marie Antoinette’s Travel Trunk Sells for Nearly
€44,000 – The Queen of France’s trunk, with inscriptions
on its cover in small brass nails that read, “Queen’s Bedroom #
10,” sold for €43,750
($47,843), well above its estimate of €8,000 to €10,000, in a sale
at Versailles. A serviette from her coronation sold for €14,500
($15,800). (Guardian)

What Can the Art Market Learn From Banking?
– Patric Johnson, a
former investment banker and now managing partner at art advisory
firm Beaumont Nathan, says that “real confidence” in the art market
will only bounce back when a coronavirus vaccine is made widely
available. He says “fluff-value” artworks made by some of
today’s busiest artists could lose as much as 40 percent of their
value. “The economy is falling off a cliff so transient demand will
go away,” he says. (Financial Times)

COMINGS & GOINGS

The Southbank Center Will Struggle to Reopen This Year –
London’s Southbank Center, which
includes the Hayward Gallery, may not reopen until April
2021. The Centre, which has
been closed since March 17, anticipates losing at least £5.1
million ($6.2 million) this financial year after running through
its reserves and using £4 million ($4.91 million) from the
government’s furlough program. (BBC)

Edinburgh Gallery Reopens as Climate House – The contemporary art space Inverleith House in
Edinburgh will reopen this year under a new name: Climate House.
The space, which opens with a Keg de Souza installation, will be
partly programmed with the Serpentine Galleries as part of a “Back
to Earth” initiative. (ArtReview)

FOR ART’S SAKE

National Geographic Society Defends Plan to Remove Sculpture
– The National Geographic
Society in Washington, DC, is defending its decision to remove an
art installation from its courtyard to make way for a new building.
The organization says that Elyn Zimmerman’s sculptures are neither
a historic landmark nor a feature that “draws attention.”
(The Art Newspaper)

How Conservators Are Staying Busy During Lockdown –
Conservators have been mostly
relying on on-site engineers and climate technology to safeguard
museum collections during lockdown. With lights turned off and less
dust from visitors to harm the works, among the main concerns are
possible infestations from insects and small rodents that are
attracted to unoccupied spaces. (TAN)

Cleveland Museum of Art Launches Slack App – The Cleveland Museum of Art has launched an app
for Slack that would allow companies to curate their own virtual
exhibitions from its collection. ArtLens, as the project is called,
was designed as part of the museum’s online initiative, “Home is
Where the Art Is.” (ARTFIXdaily)

Children’s Book Illustrator Creates Quarantine Book –
The children’s book illustrator
Steph Plant has created a quarantine edition of Richard Scarry’s
1968 children’s story What Do People Do All
Day? In Plant’s
edition, the animals of Busytown are occupied with projects such as
“frantic home improvement” and “snooping on the neighbors.”
(Instagram)

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Predicts That the Art Market Won’t Recover Until a Vaccine Is
Widely Available + Other Stories appeared first on artnet
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