Art Industry News: $20 Million Annie Leibovitz Trove Draws Legal Scrutiny + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Agnes Gund makes another high-profile gift and the Broad plans to release Yayoi Kusama tickets en masse.

Annie Leibovitz delivers a speech at the press conference for her exhibition 'WOMEN: New Portraits' at TOLOT/heuristic SHINONOME on February 17, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Photo Christopher Jue/Getty Images for UBS.

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 Tuesday, July 18.

NEED-TO-READ

The Broad Will Put Yayoi Kusama Tickets Online En Masse – Mark your calendars: Rather than releasing tickets month to month as is typical, the Los Angeles museum will put all of the $25 tickets for the upcoming blockbuster exhibition “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” on sale at once on September 1. (LA Times)

Annie Leibovitz Trove Stuck In Legal Limbo – The Toronto family that donated 2,000 Leibovitz prints valued at $20 million to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is now under scrutiny by authorities after the gift was flagged as a potential tax shelter. The hoard has reportedly remained hidden in storage since it was donated four years ago. (CBC News)

Agnes Gund Awards Parrish Art Museum $500,000 – The philanthropist awarded the money to the New York museum to create a new initiative, the Dorothy Lichtenstein ArtsReach Fund, which will supports programs dedicated to social change. Lichtenstein, a longtime member of the Parrish board, has added $100,000 of her own money to the pot. (Press release)

Star-Studded Art Documentary Nets Indie Distributor – Coming to a theater near you? The independent film distributor Gravitas will represent Barry Avrich’s eye-opening documentary Blurred Lines, which delves behind the scenes in controversial art-world dealings, featuring high-profile participants such as Damien Hirst, Rashid Johnson, and Michael Ovitz. (Variety)

ART MARKET

UK Represents 21% of the Global Art Market – The British art market is the second largest in the world behind the US, according to a new report, with £9.2 billion in sales representing 21% of transactions worldwide in 2016. Researchers hope the findings will remind the government that the art market is an important consideration during Brexit negotiations. (The Art Newspaper)

Salon Art + Design Fair Reveals Exhibitor List – The New York fair has announced the exhibitor list for its upcoming sixth edition on November 9–13, which will present historic and contemporary furniture, decorative arts, and fine art from over 50 galleries. (Press release)

Norman Rockwell Paintings to Be Sold by Berkshire Museum – Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop and Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop are among 40 works of art the Pittsfield museum intends to sell within the next six months to fund a $60 million “reinvention plan.” The art was considered “not essential to the museum’s refreshed mission.” (Page Six)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Wim Wenders Wins Award for Cultural Heritage Awareness The director, photographer and author won the fifth Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage. The ceremony will take place at Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on October 24. (Artforum)

Meet the Winners of the Newest Arts Journalism Prize – Phong Bui, Charles Desmarais, Bob Keyes, Jason Farago, Jeff Huebner, Carolina Miranda, Christina Rees, and Chris Vitiello will each receive a $50,000 grant thanks to the new Rabkin Prize. (Glasstire)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Ralph Lauren Executive Sues New York’s Museum of Sex – A 35-year-old woman is suing the museum claiming she “cracked her teeth and broke her nose” while jumping on the boob bounce house. “It was her birthday […] She was bouncing between the two boobs and then she didn’t bounce up,” a source said. (Daily Mail)

Exhibition Marks 80th Anniversary of the “Degenerate Art Show” – “Munich 1937,” which opens today at the Haus der Kunst, focuses on the infamous historical show, in which the Nazis denounced the Modern art they despised by giants like Picasso, Max Beckmann, and Vincent van Gogh. (Press release)

Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About The Scream Think you know everything about Munch’s most famous painting? Check these little-known facts to test your knowledge. (Lapham’s Quarterly)

Catherine Opie to Debut Old Masters-Inspired Portrait Series – For her first exhibition at London’s Thomas Dane Gallery, which will open during Frieze Week this October, the American photographer will show her recent portraits of top British artists, including David Hockney, Gillian Wearing, and Isaac Julien. Below, Hockney takes a turn in the subject’s chair. (Press release)

Catherine Opie, David (2017). ©Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Thomas Dane Gallery, London.

Catherine Opie, David (2017). ©Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Thomas Dane Gallery, London.


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