Art Industry News: After Her Tumultuous Queens Museum Tenure, ‘Activist’ Director Laura Raicovich Lands an Influential New Post + 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 Monday, April
6.

NEED-TO-READ

MoMA Terminates Educator Contracts – The New Museum and the Whitney Museum weren’t
the only major New York institutions cutting staff last
week. The Museum of Modern Art has also terminated all
contracts for freelance educators due to “the unprecedented
economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the museum’s
closure,” according to an email from the education department.
Educators will receive payment for scheduled work through March 30,
but all further engagements will be cancelled. In its email to
educators, the museum wrote, ominously, “it will be months, if not
years, before we anticipate returning to budget and operations
levels to require educator services.” (Hyperallergic)

The Academy Museum Taps High-Profile Guest Curators
– The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is due
to open on December 14 in Los Angeles, has announced details about
its inaugural star-studded lineup. The museum has invited
filmmakers Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar; Academy Award-winning
Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir; and Star
Wars sound designer Ben Burtt to collaborate on the
central “Stories of Cinema” galleries, which aim to tell the story
of how film has evolved over time. Among the highlights is
the original multi-camera rig from The
Matrix, a gallery devoted to The Wizard of Oz,
and an in-depth look at the history of black cinema from 1898 to
1971. (Press release)

Leslie-Lohman Museum Gets a Familiar Interim Director –
Laura Raicovich, the former
director of the Queens Museum, has been named interim director of
the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. The New York institution devoted
to queer art was previously led by Gonzalo Casals, who becomes
New York City’s new
Cultural Affairs Commissioner this week. Raicovich stepped down
from the Queens Museum in 2018 amid a dispute with the
board over her activist approach. (New York
Times)

Berlin Museums Count Their Losses – As the
shutdown continues, Berlin museums have started to estimate how
much money they’ve lost as a result. The National Museums, which
comprise 19 museums across the city, expect they may be losing a
combined total of around €2 million per month—a sum that
constitutes “active money” that can be readily spent on
programming, according to a spokesperson. Looking ahead, the
cancellation of shows is on the table, but will only be done as a
last resort. Many works and objects on loan are currently stuck in
limbo, though the museums are ensuring that everything is securely
stored. (Monopol)

ART MARKET

Online Sales Are Up During Lockdown – It appears that
with nothing much to do at home, some people are buying art
online. Sales for an online
Fauve Paris auction held by the French auction house Drouot
registered 300 buyers, far more than the typical 80 to 100 people,
on March 21. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s saw a record €2.2 million ($2.4
million) for an online watch sale on March 26, and a record 400
people registered to take part in Aguttes’s sale of collectable
cars on March 15. “We must not forget that people are confined to
their homes and therefore have more time to connect and follow the
auctions,” the head of FauveParis, Dimitri Joannidès, said.
(Le Journal des
Arts)

Margherita Missoni to Helm Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated
Sale – The designer and Missoni
fashion house heiress will guest curate Sotheby’s London’s
Contemporary Curated sale, slated to run online from April 14 to
April 21. Missoni is the latest emissary from the luxury world to
lend her eye to Sotheby’s sales and marketing strategies, following
Kim Jones, Jill Stuart, and Victoria Beckham. The Italian designer
says she is “irresistibly drawn and simultaneously repulsed by
grotesque aesthetics” and has selected works by Yayoi Kusama,
Albert Oehlen, and Monir Farmanfarmaian as highlights.
(Art Market
Monitor)

Turns Out the UAE Art Purchase Scheme Wasn’t What It
Seemed – The United Arab Emirates made headlines
around the globe when it announced it had bought $408,000 worth of
art from Emirati galleries after Art Dubai was postponed. But
gallerists are underwhelmed because, as it turns out, the
initiative was part of an existing Art in Embassies scheme—and what
they say they need instead is a comprehensive arts
bailout. (The Art
Newspaper)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Architect Michael Mckinnell Has Died – The architect of Boston City Hall, who
catalyzed the city’s urban revival in the late 1960s, has died at
age 84 from coronavirus. Mckinnell, who ran an architectural
practice with his wife, Stephanie Mallis, rose to prominence as a
26-year-old architecture student who teamed up with German
architect Gerhard Kallmann to design the new Boston City Hall—and
beat out 255 other submissions to win the job. (New York Times)

Indianapolis Contemporary to Permanently Close
– The
Indianapolis Contemporary (I/C),
formerly known as the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, has
announced it will close permanently after 19 years of operation.
The board decided it was not “economically feasible” to continue
amid the impact of coronavirus and other financial strain. The
nonprofit relaunched last May as I/C and promoted Braydee Euliss to
be its director in January.
(Artforum) 

Artist Marlo Pascual Has
Died – The
Philadelphia-based artist, who is best known for her sculptural
works that appropriate amateur photography, has died at age 48
after a battle with cancer. New York gallerist Casey Kaplan
paid tribute to her “generosity,
warmth, and ingenuity” as an artist, professor, partner, and
friend. (ARTnews) 

Phoenix Art Museum Names New Director – Timothy Rodgers has been appointed the new
director and CEO of the Phoenix Art Museum, replacing Amanda Cruz,
who took over the Seattle Art Museum last year. Rodgers is
currently director of the Wolfsonian–Florida International
University in Miami and previously served as director of the
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. (Artforum)

FOR ART’S SAKE

The Pompidou President Is Re-Appointed – The French culture ministry has renewed Serge
Lasvignes’s contract, meaning he will remain at the helm of the
Centre Pompidou in Paris, where he took over as director in 2015.
During this period, Lasvignes has continued his predecessor Alain
Seban’s campaign of international expansion, launching an outpost
in Shanghai and planning another (currently on hold) in Seoul.
(TAN) 

Marvel Illustrators Launch Initiative to Boost Comic Book
Stores – Comic-book stores are
among the retail outlets that have been particularly hard hit by
the US lockdown. But coming to the rescue are high-profile comic
creators James Lee and Rob Liefeld, who are auctioning off original
superhero illustrations online to support ailing brick-and-mortar
stores. The auctions began over the weekend on eBay and will
continue into this week; prices for works are currently between
$3,500 and $5,500. (Observer)

Boston Museum Reveals the Black American Who Posed for
Sargent – A new (though now closed) exhibition at
the Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum explores the long-hidden working relationship between the
artist John Singer Sargent and his model Joseph McKeller. The
26-year-old black American met the 60-year-old artist when working
as a bellhop in the hotel where Sargent stayed when working on his
famous murals at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard.
Portraits of McKeller appear in the works—sometimes older or
younger, occasionally female, and always white. The accompanying
publication by Yale unravels a complex story of race and hidden
homoerotic desire. (Guardian)

Ruth Asawa’s Works Are Now Stamps – If you find
yourself sending more letters than usual in this current lockdown
era, here is some good news: the Japanese artist Ruth Asawa will be
featured on a new set of US postage stamps. Ten of her enchanting
wire sculptures will grace a set of 55 cent Forever stamps, due to
be released later this year. (Hyperallergic) 

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Museum Tenure, ‘Activist’ Director Laura Raicovich Lands an
Influential New Post + Other Stories appeared first on artnet
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