Art Industry News: After Lawsuits, Boy Scouts May Have to Sell Off Norman Rockwell Paintings to Pay Their Accusers + 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 Thursday, February
27.

NEED-TO-READ

Isamu Noguchi Artwork in Midtown Is in Peril –
The artist’s large sculptural
installation, which Noguchi himself described as “a landscape of
clouds,” is under threat of demolition. The Japanese-American
artist designed the piece in 1957 for a skyscraper’s twin lobbies
at 666 Fifth Avenue, but it has not received landmark status. Now,
developers want to remodel the lobbies and potentially remove the
work, which they say no longer merits preservation because of
previous renovations. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation says it is aware
of the situation and is working to ensure that the installation
remains in place. (New York
Times)

Met Acknowledges Jewish Heritage of Painting on Display –
The Met has updated the provenance
of an important painting to acknowledge its troubled
history. The Rape of
Tamar, a large work from
the 17th-century by French painter Eustache Le Sueur, was once
owned by Jewish dealer Siegfried Aram, who fled Germany when the
Nazis came to power in 1933. The painting ended up in the hands of
the man who bought his home, and Aram tried for decades to retrieve
the painting. The truth, uncovered by a local researcher in
Germany, came to light earlier this month. The Met has declined to
comment on whether a restitution claim has been made for the
painting. (NYT)

Bankrupt Boy Scouts May Sell Off Rockwell Paintings
– For decades, Norman Rockwell’s art helped shape the
image of the Boy Scouts of America. The illustrator created artwork
for the covers of Boys’ Life, the organization’s
magazine, for more than 50 years. Now, his art might be sold to
help pay back creditors of the now-bankrupt Boy Scouts. In a filing
last week, the organization—which is facing an estimated 1,700
lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse going back decades—listed
“original Rockwell paintings” as an asset that could be sold to pay
victims. A Boy Scouts spokesperson declined to comment further on
the fate of the art. (USA Today)

Hermitage Reacts to Barcelona’s Rebuff of Its Satellite
– A month after the
Barcelona city council rejected the Russian State Hermitage
Museum’s application to build a branch in the Spanish city’s port,
the Hermitage director has responded. “The Hermitage is ready to
show its collections and share its experience of museum work around
the world, but never forces it on anyone and is used to being
treated politely,” Mikhail Piotrovsky said. On January 27, the
council raised concerns over the desired site’s accessibility,
questioned the museum’s economic viability and its private funding
sources, and cited skepticism of the quality of the project and
fear of over-tourism. (The Art
Newspaper)

ART MARKET

Prison-Made Art Goes on Sale at Sotheby’s – Eight contemporary artists, including Ai Weiwei
and Wolfgang Tillmans, have lent their designs to a project called
Human Touch, organized by Fine Cell Work, a charity that sends
embroidery instructors into prisons. A selection of prisoner-made
embroideries designed by art stars will go on sale online today at
Sotheby’s. (Telegraph)

Original “Flash Gordon” Comic Art Headed to Auction –
The original artwork for the “Flash
Gordon” comic strip is going up for sale on March 31 at the auction
house Profiles in History. The pencil-and-ink drawing by artist
Alex Raymond was first published in January 1934 and inspired later
science-fiction stories like Star Wars. It carries an estimate of $400,000 to
$600,000. (Boston
Globe)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Terra Foundation Names New President – The Terra Foundation has named Sharon Corwin as
its new president and chief executive. Corwin will join the
nonprofit, which is dedicated to supporting research and
exhibitions of American art, in September. She arrives from the
Colby College Museum of Art, where she has been director and chief
curator since 2006. (Press
release)

Seattle Art Museum Curator Retires After 30 Years –
Chiyo Ishikawa is stepping down
from her post  as director for art and curator of European
painting and sculpture at the Seattle Art Museum this summer.
During her 30 years at the museum, she organized shows dedicated to
French Impressionism, Picasso, and Yves Saint Laurent, among many
others. (Seattle
Times)

French Auctioneer François Tajan Dies
– The deputy chairman of the Paris-based auction
house Artcurial has did at age 57 after suffering from food
poisoning. Trajan oversaw the house’s expansion to Belgium, Italy,
Austria, and Morocco. A spokesman said: “He took the first French
auction house to a new level, as much through his vision for the
business as through his intellectual curiosity.” (TAN)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Norway Authorizes Demolition of Building With Picasso Murals
– Officials in Oslo have
granted permission to demolish a bomb-damaged building that has
Picasso drawings sandblasted onto its walls. The government will
relocate the murals, which were created by Norwegian artist Carl
Nesjar in collaboration with the Spanish master. (AFP)

A Critique of Kara Walker’s Turbine Hall Commission –
Kara Walker’s much-lauded Turbine Hall commission at
Tate gets a dressing-down in ARTnews. Joining a group
of Walker detractors that includes prominent African-American
artists Howardena Pindell and Betye Saar, the author declines to
partake in a “blind allegiance to Black artists, especially women,”
and suggests that only a “disappointing and offensive lack of
understanding… would allow for such a flattening of Black British
life and history.” (ARTnews)

A Chance to Buy Postcards by Women Artists, Including the
Guerrilla Girls – The nonprofit
Art on a Postcard is selling postcard-size artworks by women in
order to raise money to eliminate Hepatitis C in women’s prisons.
The works by artists including the Guerilla Girls and Genieve
Figgis will be on sale at Paddle8 for around $65 each through March
11. (Hyperallergic)

The post Art Industry News: After Lawsuits, Boy Scouts May
Have to Sell Off Norman Rockwell Paintings to Pay Their Accusers +
Other Stories appeared first on artnet News.