Art Industry News: Rain Dove Scores a Rare Victory in the Art World’s War With Instagram to Free the Nipple + 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, November
25.

NEED-TO-READ

Michael Bloomberg Will Run for US
President – The billionaire
philanthropist, art collector, and former New York mayor has
formally joined the US presidential race. Bloomberg tweeted on
Sunday that he is running “to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild
America.” Rumors that he would seek the Democratic nomination have
been swirling for months. Ahead of the announcement, we took a look
at Bloomberg’s track record of
funding the arts as mayor and through his foundation, Bloomberg
Philanthropies.
(BBC)

France’s Push for Restitution Is…
Slow – Two years after France’s
president made international headlines by pledging to return
African art looted during the colonial era, little concrete action
has been taken. Treasures from Benin still await legislation to
allow their restitution, and a sword from Senegal is the only other
object to be formally returned. The academic Felwine Sarr,
the co-author of a radical report commissioned by Emmanuel
Macron, says that “things are not moving as fast as we would have
liked” in France. For now, the country maintains it will examine
formal requests from African nations for specific objects, but
otherwise will pursue alternative forms of exchange, like long-term
loans. (New York Times)

Instagram Battles the Art World
Over Nudity – Instagram’s
prohibition on photographs that show female nipples
continues to upset artists and anti-censorship activists. Last
month, Free the Nipple campaigners met with representatives of the
social media giant in New York. In the private meeting, the company
listened to concerns but gave no indications that it was changing
its policy. To test it, artist Micol Hebron posted a topless selfie she took
outside the building ahead of the meeting. Her Instagram account
was soon shut down. But Rain
Dove, a gender-nonconforming model who does not consider their
nipples to be female, did win a battle with Instagram. After
threatening to take legal action, the company has allowed their
bare-chested post to remain online. (New York Times)

German Food Company Returns Nazi-Looted Art –
The family that owns the German
food company Dr. Oetker has returned a painting to the heirs of a
Jewish art collector who was murdered by the Nazis. The
19th-century painting by Carl Spitzweg belonged to Leo Bendel, who
was forced to sell art when he fled Berlin for Vienna during WWII.
His wife, who was not Jewish, survived but never succeeded in
recovering his art. The company, which began researching its
extensive Nazi links in 2015, has now returned
seven works to various heirs, including a portrait by Anthony van
Dyck. (The Art Newspaper)

ART MARKET

Louis Vuitton Buys Tiffany for $16
Billion – After months of
rumors and negotiations, it’s official: the French billionaire art
collector Bernard Arnault’s luxury giant LVMH has bought the
jewelry brand Tiffany & Co for $16 billion. “We look forward to ensuring that Tiffany
continues to thrive for centuries to come,” Arnault said in a
statement. (BBC) 

Hauser & Wirth Postpones a Hong
Kong Show – The gallery has
indefinitely postponed a planned Annie Leibovitz show scheduled to open in Hong Kong this month
as pro-democracy protests continue. (The postponement came days
before Hong Kong’s elections, in which a surge of turnout from
young people drove decisive gains
for democracy advocates on local councils.) Announcing the delay,
the gallery said it “will find an opportunity to present this
wonderful exhibition at our Hong Kong gallery in the future.” The
show is the first comprehensive exhibition in Asia devoted to the
early work of the photographer. (ARTnews)

Expo Chicago 2020 Names Section
Curators – Marcella Beccaria,
the chief curator of Italy’s Castello di Rivoli contemporary art
museum, and Humberto Moro, the deputy director of the Museo Tamayo
in Mexico City, will organize sections at Expo Chicago in the fall
of 2020. Beccaria will oversee a display of large-scale
installations, while Moro will curate a section dedicated to
galleries 10 years old and younger. (Press release)

Nara Roesler Will Represent JR
– Rio de Janeiro’s Galeria Nara
Roesler will represent the French street artist and photographer in
Brazil. The artist has longstanding links to the country and city:
he is the founder and
director of Casa Amarela, a cultural project in a Rio
favela. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

An Art Center Opens in
Togo – The West African nation of Togo opened a
flagship arts center on Friday after a sweeping multi-million
renovation of its historic building, a palace formerly occupied by
French and German colonial powers. The opening of the museum, which
is dedicated to artists from Tojo and across the continent, comes
as the country vies for a spot in the ascendant African art
scene. (AFP)

The Huntington Names New
Vice President – Janet Alberti will
become the vice president and chief financial officer of the
Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in
mid-January 2020. She currently serves as the deputy director of
finance and administration at SFMOMA. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Michelangelo’s Pietà Will
Be Conserved in Public – As experts continue to restore
Rembrandt’s The Night Watch in full
view of visitors at the Rijksmuseum, it seems conservation as a
spectator sport is all the rage. The next high-profile patient to
go under the knife
is Michelangelo’s Pietà. The legendary
sculpture will be restored before the public at Florence’s Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo, where conservators will work on a stage
installed around the base of the sculpture. (TAN)

Russia and Europe Will
Organize a Joint Show – A major exhibition
opening in November 2020 called “Diversity United” will
see 200 works by 81 artists from 35 countries examine modern
European identity, including responses to the 30-year anniversary to the
fall of the Berlin Wall and Brexit. The show is organized by
the Foundation for Art and Culture in Bonn, Germany, and Moscow’s
State Tretyakov Gallery. Supporters of the project include Russian
president Vladimir Putin, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
and the French president Emmanuel Macron. (TAN)

Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
Is Leaving
the UK for the Third Time in 100 Years – Van Gogh’s 1888
painting is traveling to Australia in 2020, where it will be shown
at Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia. The museum will
present Sunflowers in the traveling show “Botticelli to
Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London,” which
opens November 13, 2020, after stops at two previously announced
Japanese venues. (TAN)

The Venice Biennale Closes With 600,000 Visitors
– The 58th Venice Biennale closed on Sunday, November
24 with a send-off by its artistic director Ralph Rugoff and the
Biennale’s president Paolo Baratta (as well as a performance by
Solange) as the city continues to recover from devastating
floods. A total of 600,000 visitors attended the exhibition
during its run, 32 percent more than the 2017 edition. Celebrity
visitors included Brad Pitt (accompanied by
the sculptor Thomas Houseago), Julie Andrews, and Tim Robbins.
(Press release)

The post Art Industry News: Rain Dove Scores a Rare Victory
in the Art World’s War With Instagram to Free the Nipple + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.