Art Industry News: The New MoMA Promises a Turbo-Charged, Non-Linear Art History + 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 Friday, October
4. 

NEED TO READ

Vanity Fair Releases “New Establishment” Power
Rankings – The magazine lists the movers and
shakers according to their “tribal affiliations” in Hollywood,
technology, politics, and culture—and there are some art-world
heavyweights on the list. Larry Gagosian appears in the “Old New
Establishment” category (yikes), honoring him for his recently launched
Gagosian Art Advisory. Appearing on the more exciting, and
much younger, “Tastemakers” group are David Zwirner, described as
“[a]rt world puppet master, super-gallerist,” and Swizz Beatz,
celebrated for his No Commission art platform, which is
“upending the art industry.” (Vanity Fair)

A Smuggled Ethiopian Crown Is Revealed in the
Netherlands – In 1998, Sirak Asfaw, a Dutch civil
servant who had fled political terror in Ethiopia, spotted a stolen
crown from his home country in a guest’s luggage. Concerned that
the Ethiopian government was complicit in its theft and that the
Dutch government might confiscate it, he held onto the work for 21
years. Now, with a new democratically elected prime minister in
Ethiopia, Asfaw has arranged for the return of the rare and
spectacular artifact, which features images of the Holy
Trinity and Disciples, and was likely given to a church by an
Ethiopian warlord several hundred years ago. “Finally it is the
right time to bring back the crown to its owners—and the owners of
the crown are all Ethiopians,” Asfaw said. (BBC)

MoMA’s New Non-Linear Art History – When
New York’s Museum of Modern Art reopens later this month after its
massive face-lift and restructuring, there will be a focus on
unexpected new pairings that upend the strict chronological
placement it has adhered to for decades. Though crown jewels like
Monet’s waterlilies and Warhol’s soup cans will remain on
view, the curators are planning a (by comparison) rapid rehanging
schedule to take effect every few months, ensuring works once
languishing in storage get their time in the gallery spotlight.
(New York Times)

Gordon Parks’s Unseen Muhammad Ali Photos Will Finally
Be Seen – Parks’s pictures of the boxer and civil rights
icon for LIFE magazine are among the most famous sports
photos of all time. Now, a set of 55 of Parks’s images of Ali, the
majority of which were never before published, are getting a show
at the Nelson-Atkins of Art in Kansas City next February. The
museum has also bought some 13 of the photos, including works from
Parks’s “American Champion” portfolio. (Press
release)

ART MARKET

Sotheby’s Officially Belongs to Patrick
Drahi – The French billionaire has closed
the deal, which takes Sotheby’s back into private ownership.
Jean-Luc Berrebi replaces Michael Gross as the auction house’s
chief financial officer with Drahi’s $3.7 billion take
over. (The Art
Newspaper)

Newly Discovered Drawing by Mantegna
Heads to Auction – A drawing by Andrea Mantegna
that has been in a private collection is expected to sale for more
than $12 million at Sotheby’s New York in January. The sketch for
Mantegna’s painting Triumph of Caesar was recently
shown by the National Gallery in London. (TAN)

COMINGS & GOINGS

The Academy Museum Names a New Director
– The new head of the long-delayed Academy Museum of
Motion Pictures is Bill Kramer, who served as the institution’s
managing director of development and external relations from 2012
to 2016. He replaces Kerry Brougher, who left the job in April
after five years. The museum is now scheduled to open some time
next year. (Press Release)

Vienna Gets an Instagram-Friendly Museum – Inspired by the popularity of Insta-traps like
the Museum of Ice Cream, a new museum for selfies is opening in
Vienna. Petra Scharinger, co-creator of the nofilter_museum, which
opens today for six months, says that they are trying to combat a
drop in the number of young people attending museums by bringing in
social media. (BBC)

The Prado Begins a Major Expansion – The Madrid
museum has begun its long-planned modernization of the Hall of the
Kings. Architect Norman Foster and Partners is leading the
expansion project. (EFE)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Germano Celant Will Curate KAWS in Qatar
– The famed Italian curator, best known for coming up
with the term “Arte Povera” in 1967, is turning his
sights to a rather different, and much younger, artist. Celant will
curate a show of work by Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, at the Garage
Gallery in Qatar, presented in association with the Qatar Art
Museum. This isn’t the first time the odd couple have worked
together though. Celant curated a KAWS exhibition in Hong Kong
earlier this year. (ARTnews)

Bestseller Leads to the Return of a Beloved Sculpture
– In her bestselling 2018 book about the 1986 Los Angeles
Public Library fire, The Library Book, Susan Orlean wrote about the
disappearance of 1926 bronze sculpture Well of the
Scribes from the library’s gardens 50 years ago. The
work, sculpted by Lee Lawrie, depicted a Pegasus and writers from
different world cultures. A piece has now been returned, thanks to
an antiques dealer in Bisbee, Arizona, who read an article about
the book in Alta magazine and realized he had one of
three sections of the sculpture, which he had purchased a decade
earlier for $500 from an unknown woman. (Los Angeles
Times)

Kusama Infinity Room Heads to Ohio – The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio will be hosting
a Yayoi Kusama Infinity Room in an effort to bring in more visitors
by offering multi-sensory experiences. Fireflies on the Water (2002), on loan from the Whitney, will be at the
museum from December 14 through April 26, 2020. Tickets are
available from November 25. Visitors will be given just 60 seconds
to admire the work. (ARTnews)

A Lost New-Deal Mural Is Uncovered in San Francisco
– Marble Workers, a 1935 fresco mural by
Frederick Olmsted Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute is being
painstakingly restored, after having been discovered in 2013. The
restoration of the scene featuring workmen laboring at a waterfront
tile shop is no easy, task, given that the work was whitewashed
over and covered with 10 layers of paint, but a $94,000 grant from
Save America’s Treasures should do the trick. (San Francisco Chronicle
Datebook)

The post Art Industry News: The New MoMA Promises a
Turbo-Charged, Non-Linear Art History + Other Stories appeared
first on artnet News.