Art Industry News: The Met Museum Boasts Record Attendance Numbers + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Charles Saatchi gets a new newspaper column on art and Magnum Photos seeks private funding for the first time.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Timothy Neesam, via Flickr.

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 Wednesday, July 12.

NEED-TO-READ

Sam Gilliam on Yves Klein and 55 Years of the Venice Biennale – The Washington, DC-based artist talks about earlier editions of the Biennale, the transformative influence of Yves Klein, and his desire to connect painting and architecture. (Artforum)

Magnum Photos Seeks Private Investors for the First Time – The renowned photography agency has long been in the red. Under managing director David Kogan the agency will accept private funding from music streaming service Deezer to keep afloat in a market over-saturated with photographic production. (Press release)

The Telegraph Launches New Column by Charles Saatchi – The celebrated art collector and author, whose brand as a buccaneering proto-flipper was tarnished by his ugly split from British food icon Nigella Lawson, will contribute a weekly column titled “Charles Saatchi’s Great Masterpieces” that will delve into the rich history behind some of the world’s most famous artworks. In his inaugural column, Saatchi’s delves into Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas. (The Telegraph)

The Met Boasts Highest Attendance in Its History – The museum may be a bit roughed up by scandals, but between the Met 5th Avenue, the Met Cloisters, and the newish Met Breuer, the institution welcomed seven million visitors in the 2017 fiscal year, which ended on June 30; 37 percent of these were international visitors, while 30 percent came from New York’s five boroughs. The tally is an increase over last year’s attendance of 6.7 million—also a record at the time. (Press release)

A John Berger Collaboration Comes to New York – Craig Hubert writes about the collaboration between the late John Berger and Swiss filmmaker Alan Tanner that led to three experimental films, a loose trilogy reflecting on life after the failure of political movements, that are screening at New York’s Metrograph from July 12. (Hyperallergic)

ART MARKET

Madrid Museum Must Face Heirs’ Claim in Nazi Art Case – A US Federal Appeals Court ruled on Monday that a Jewish family may sue the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Spain for the return of a masterpiece by Camille Pissarro, which their ancestor had been forced to sell in 1939 so she could flee Germany. (Reuters)

German Museum Returns Expressionist Masterpiece to Jewish Heirs – Ending a protracted process which started in 2004, the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany has returned Emil Nolde’s Frauen im Blumengarten (1916) to the great-grandson of Dresden collectors Eduard and Rita Müller, who were murdered in Auschwitz. (Deutsche Presse Agentur)

Belongings of Film Icon Vivien Leigh to Go on Sale at Sotheby’s – This September, the London outpost of Sotheby’s will be auctioning off the personal items of Vivien Leigh, who played the legendary role of Scarlett O’Hara in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind(Press release) 

COMINGS & GOINGS

Christie’s Announces New Co-Chairmen of the Impressionist and Modern Art Department – Giovanna Bertazzoni and Adrien Meyer have been named Co-Chairmen; the two will focus on working with clients and collectors of 20th-century art, and supporting the expansion of services in key growth markets. (Press release)

Nanne Dekking Named New Chairman of TEFAF – Dekking, who is the co-founder and CEO of Artory LLC, New York and Artory GmbH, Berlin, joins TEFAF after working at Sotheby’s New York, where he was Vice Chairman and Worldwide Head of Private Sales. He will succeed Willem van Roijen in the role. (Press release)

Emma Enderby Appointed Curator at The Shed – Enderby joins The Shed, a new multi-arts center in New York slated to open in spring 2019, after posts at the Public Art Fund and the Serpentine Galleries in London. She will work closely with The Shed CEO Alex Poots and Hans Ulrich Obrist in realizing exhibitions. (Press release)

Jan Boelen Will Curate The 4th Istanbul Design Biennial – Boelen is currently Artistic Director of Z33 House for Contemporary Art in Hasselt, Belgium, and Artistic Director of atelier LUMA, an experimental laboratory for design in Arles, France. The Biennial will take place from September 22 to November 4, 2018. (Artdaily.com)

Abstract Art Icon Pierrette Bloch Dies at 89 – The artist will be remembered for her textile work, her contribution to the field of abstract art, and her shared obsession (alongside close friend Pierre Soulages) with the color black. (Le Point)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

65+ Galleries to Participate in Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA – The Getty-led initiative has announced more than 65 galleries will take part in the four-month long exploration of Latin American and Latino art, scheduled to begin this September. (Press release)

CCS Bard Welcomes Works From the Barjeel Art Foundation – The two have collaborated to organize an exhibition titled “No to the Invasion: Breakdowns and Side Effects,” which includes works by Kader Attia, Mona Hatoum, and Yto Barrada. The show is mounted at CCS Bard in New York state until October 29. (The Art Newspaper)

Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater Postpones Ballet About Rudolf Nureyev  The Russian theater has postponed the ballet about the life of dancer Rudolf Nureyev due to controversy about its subject matter, which some claim is “gay propaganda” that violates a 2013 law in Russia forbidding the existence of anything that might support homosexuality. (Artforum)

Someone Drew All the Deaths From “Game of Thrones” – And uploaded it to YouTube for your squirmy viewing pleasure. (YouTube)

UNESCO Expands Bauhaus Sites in World Heritage List – Bauhaus structures in Dessau and Bernau, Germany, have been added to the list, which had previously only included buildings and monuments around Dessau and Weimar built by Walter Gropius, the first director of the Bauhaus School. The extension includes the Houses with Balcony Access in Dessau and the ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau, built under the direction of Hannes Meyer, successor to Gropius until 1930. (UNESCO)

See images of the building below:

Bundesschule des ADGB in Bernau. Architects Hannes Meyer and Hans Wittwe (1930) 2007.

Laubenganghäuser (Houses with Balcony Access). Architect Hannes Meyer (1930) 2010


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