Art Industry News: Scientists Conclude That the Cracks on the Mona Lisa’s Surface Actually Make Her Safer + 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
20.

NEED-TO-READ

This Celebrity Art Podcast Is All
the Rage – The British actor
and art collector Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament have created a hit
podcast: Talk
Art. The hosts’ easy charm
and homespun style has resulted in half a million downloads. Starry
guests range from JR and Grayson Perry to Michael Stipe and Lena
Dunham. In one remarkable episode, they spoke to a sprightly Joyce
Pensato from her hospice shortly before she died. “All we wanted to
do was make art accessible, nonacademic, non-elitist, gossipy, and
fun,” Tovey says. (New York
Times)

Graffiti Works Stolen From East Village Building –
Police are hunting for a suspect
who was captured on film stealing three paintings by the street-art
pioneer Phase 2. The works, valued at $18,000, were stolen from 67
Avenue C in Manhattan last month. The artist, who was born
Michael Lawrence Marrow, died at
age 64 in December. He is credited with developing the influential
bubble letter-style of graffiti in the early 1970s.
(Gothamist)

Why Cracks on the Mona Lisa Are a
Good Thing – Don’t fret next time you see a cracked surface on
an Old Master painting: Experts have concluded that the cracked state
of paintings done on wood, like the Mona Lisa, is actually a
healthy sign. A team from
the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University of Strasbourg, and
Yale University investigated how the craquelure of the surface
paint and gesso beneath responded to changes in relative humidity.
They concluded that the number of cracks increases the stability of
the work because it allows the layer of gesso to expand and
contract. They hope their findings will encourage museums and
historic buildings to develop “moderate-cost climate control
strategies” for their wood panel paintings, which could have major
implications for institutions’ energy bills. (Daily
Mail)

Turkish Arts Philanthropist Is Detained (Again) –
Imprisoned since 2017, the activist
and philanthropist Osman
Kavala was recently released
after being acquitted for allegedly trying to overthrow the Turkish
government—only to be detained again for a separate investigation.
He could be held for up to two more years with being indicted.
Kavala’s supporters say he is being targeted partly because of his
support of Turkey’s Armenian and Kurdish populations through his
arts nonprofit Anadolu Kültür. (Hyperallergic)

ART MARKET

What Does Marron’s Will Say About
His Art? – Many were surprised to learn that the family of the
late collector Donald
Marron had agreed to sell his
holdings not at auction, but rather through a consortium of
three rival galleries: Gagosian, Pace, and Acquavella.
The Times reveals that Marron’s will
specified that his collection should be sold “at either
Sotheby’s Inc. or Christie’s as my executors shall in their
absolute discretion determine.” It also requested
that his executors
consult with MoMA director Glenn Lowry about the disposition of the
estimated $450 million art trove. (NYT)

Seattle Art Fair Names New Artistic
Director – Deana Haggag, the
president and CEO of the Chicago-based artist funding organization
United States Artists, has been named artistic director of the 2020
Seattle Art Fair, taking the helm from Nato Thompson. She will be
tasked with developing special programs at the fair, which runs
from July 23 through July 26. (Artforum)

Africa’s Collectors Eye
Contemporary Art – In a concerted effort to keep their future
cultural heritage on the continent, a growing number of African collectors are
focusing their energies on contemporary African art.
These emerging collectors are
active both in the local market and on international secondary
market, competing against Europeans and North Americans for African
Modernist works at auction. (TAN)

Art Jameel Acquires the Abraaj
Collection – The Saudi
Arabia-based art organization Art Jameel has acquired works from
the Abraaj Art Prize collection. The 29 works, including pieces
by Kader Attia, Wael Shawky,
and Rana Begum, were commissioned as part of the now-defunct
private equity group’s sponsorship of Art Dubai. The head of
Art Jameel, Antonia Carver (who is
also a former Art Dubai director), says that major international
museums have expressed interest in taking the works on loan.
(The
National)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Bronx Museum Names a Social Justice
Curator – Jasmine Wahi has been
named the Holly Block Social Justice Curator at the Bronx Museum of
the Arts. The co-director of the boundary-pushing New Jersey
nonprofit Project for Empty Space, Wahi will organize exhibitions
in 2021 that highlight the museum’s history of activism in honor of
its late director Holly Block. (Artforum)

West Coast Arts Patron Virginia
White Has Died – The
Seattle-based art patron Virginia White has died at age 91. With
her late husband, she helped the Seattle Art Museum raise its game
from the 1970s onward, donating major works by
Mark Rothko, Barnett
Newman, and Agnes Martin, among others. The daughter of a timber
baron, Wright was interested in art from a young age: her first job
after graduation was at Sidney Janis Gallery in New York.
(KUOW)

Library of Congress Acquires Harlem
Photographer’s Collection – The
Library of Congress has purchased an archive of work by Shawn
Walker, a founding member of the Harlem-based African American
photography collective the Kamoinge Workshop. The nearly 100,000
photographs, negatives, and transparencies capture life in Harlem
from the 1960s to the present. Walker also donated audio
recordings, photographs, and other items from his time with the
collective. (NYT)

FOR ART’S SAKE

The Artist Who Ate Cattelan’s Banana Opens a New York Show
– The performance artist David
Datuna, who ate one of Maurizio Cattelan’s
$120,000 bananas at Art
Basel Miami Beach, is debuting a show of his own at Ca’d’Oro
Gallery in New York. Called, fittingly, “Hungry Artist,” the
show features edible
items from local bodegas that visitors can rip from the walls and
consume. (TAN)

Art Professor Charged With Attack
– Mount Holyoke College art
professor and artist Rie Hachiyanagi has pleaded not guilty to
armed assault on a female colleague at her home. A judge has ruled
that she should be held without bail as she faces multiple charges,
including intent to murder. (AP)

J.M.W. Turner Banknote Goes Into
Circulation – The UK’s new £20
banknote, which features J.M.W. Turner’s self-portrait and a detail
of his painting The Fighting
Temeraire, goes
into circulation today. To mark its release, Tate Britain has
acquired one of the first notes to be printed and plans to display
it alongside the portrait. The museum also announced that it is
borrowing The Fighting Temeraire from the National Gallery in London in the fall
for a major Turner exhibition. (Press release)

The post Art Industry News: Scientists Conclude That the
Cracks on the Mona Lisa’s Surface Actually Make Her Safer + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.