Art Industry News: Yet Another Creepy Painting Owned by Jeffrey Epstein Has Been Discovered, This Time at His New Mexico Ranch + 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 this Monday, August
26.

NEED-TO-READ

Greece Asks France to Loan Part of the Parthenon Marbles
– The Greek government has
asked France to loan a fragment of a Parthenon marble frieze from
the Louvre Museum to mark the country’s 200th independence
anniversary in 2021. In return, Greece has agreed to loan the
Louvre a collection of ancient bronzes. Although Greece has long
advocated for the permanent return of
the Parthenon marbles, a Greek official noted this would be a
temporary exchange. (AFP)

Decoding David Koch’s Legacy as an Arts Patron –
The New York Times considers the legacy of David Koch, whose death
was announced on Friday. While many considered him a polarizing
figure because of his far-right political advocacy, institutions
including the American Museum of Natural History, Lincoln Center,
and the Met readily embraced his multimillion-dollar donations.
Koch once said he liked to put his name on arts buildings because
“it sends a message to the political groups in this country that
don’t like the conservative Republican businessman.”
(New York
Times)

Another Creepy Painting Is Found at Jeffrey Epstein’s Ranch
– The art and home decor
of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who
died by suicide in jail last month awaiting trial on sex
trafficking charges, just keeps getting creepier. After a painting
of Bill Clinton wearing a
dress on view in his New York City townhouse went viral,
reports have surfaced of another unnerving painting at his New
Mexico ranch. This one depicts a young girl wearing a wedding band
and snuggling with a lion. A snapshot of the painting was sent
to Fox News by a contractor who worked on the property in
2013. “We would talk about how creepy it was, this strange painting
with nothing else around it,” the contractor said. (Fox
News)

A War Is Raging Through Arts and Culture in Germany –
The Eurosceptic, far-right party
AfD is trying to remove what one party member has called
“totalitarian neo-leftist tyrants who dominate the cultural scene.”
Recently, the party requested a list of the nationalities of opera
and ballet employees in the Stuttgart area. Such parliamentary
requests cannot be ignored, but the theaters managed to return only
a generalized list without names. Amid this tense political
climate, Germany’s state-funded arts organizations say they are
deeply concerned by the parallels between AfD’s behavior and the
National Socialist party’s rise to power in the 1930s. However,
theaters are finding ways to fight back: a cinema in Hachenburg
recently offered political party members free entry to a screening
of the wartime epic Schindler’s List. (Financial
Times)

ART MARKET

The Financier Lord Rothschild Is Unveiling His Family Trove
– Banker, collector, and
philanthropist Jacob Rothschild is opening up his family’s
Waddesdon Manor as a permanent gallery that will house over 300
treasures from the Rothschild’s massive collection of art and
antiques. The opulent 19th-century manor, which is located
Buckinghamshire in England, is stacked with paintings by
Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Hockney, and curios that will now be
accessible as a permanent exhibition to the public. (The
Times)

Collector and Patron Wynn Kramarsky Has Died –
The Netherlands-born, New
York-based arts philanthropist and public servant has died at age
93 from pneumonia. Kramarsky was an avid collector of drawings and
amassed one of the most highly regarded collections of postwar
works on paper, which he showed at a private space in New York from
1991 to 2006. (ARTnews)

COMINGS & GOINGS

A Leonardo Feature Film Is Coming to the Big Screen
– The art film producer Exhibition on Screen is
turning its lens on Leonardo da Vinci. A new film to be released on
October 29, “Leonardo: The Works,” will take a deep dive into his
work timed to the 500th anniversary of his death. (Press release) 

Algeria’s Culture Minister Resigns After Concert Tragedy
– The country’s culture
minister Meriem Merdaci resigned over the weekend following the
tragic deaths of five young people in a stampede at a rap concert
in Algiers. On Friday, Algeria’s prime minister also fired the head
of the public authority in charge of organizing the concert.
(AFP) 

And Brazil’s Culture Minister Resigns Over Censorship –
In other culture ministry news,
Henrique Pires, the culture secretary of Brazil, has stepped down
from his post to protest what he describes as the conservative
government’s censorship of art that deals with LGBTQ+ themes. Pires
says that Osmar Terra, the minister of citizenship—which replaced the culture
ministry—is “no longer a democratic man and is now aligned with
censorship.” (The Art
Newspaper)

The Dallas Museum of Art Reopens Its European Galleries
– After a sweeping reinstallation, the European art
galleries at the Dallas Museum of Art have reopened to the public.
The new displays highlight recent gifts to the collection from
J.E.R. “Bob” Chilton and Margaret and Eugene McDermott.
(Glasstire)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Aichi Triennale Director Responds to Protests
– After closing the exhibition “After ‘Freedom of
Expression?’” because of threats of violence, a
number of participating artists released an open
letter describing the decision as “an unacceptable act of
censorship.” Now, the triennale’s director Daisuke Tsuda has
responded to the backlash. “The closure of the exhibition was a
decision to prioritize the lives of visitors and staff who were in
a position of imminent danger,” he said. “Our greatest respect for
freedom of expression, however, has remained constant throughout.”
(Hyperallergic) 

Jeff Koons’s Tulips Are Blossoming in Paris –
The installation
Bouquet of Tulips
(2016–19) is expected to begin in
Paris today, just behind the Petit Palais. The flamboyant
work, which has divided
opinions among officials in the French city, cost around $3.9 million. Each tulip—made of
either stone, bronze, aluminum, or steel—will be installed using an
80-ton crane. The public work is set to be unveiled close to the
Champs-Elysées during the night-long art event Nuit Blanche on
October 5. (The Art
Newspaper)

Visiting LACMA Right Now Is Kind of a Drag – Should a museum undergoing a renovation still
charge full price admission? Not according to Mary McNamara. The
art critic was dismayed to find on a recent visit to LACMA that
almost all of the permanent collection galleries were closed—and
will remain that way for the next five years. “There should be a
little more transparency for the permanent-collection-loving
public,” McNamara writes. To refresh your memory about what’s to
come, check out renderings of the LACMA of the future below.
(Los Angeles
Times)

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Owned by Jeffrey Epstein Has Been Discovered, This Time at His New
Mexico Ranch + Other Stories appeared first on artnet
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