News

  • The Inhotim Institute in Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais, a state in southeast Brazil.
    February 28, 2020 at 7:19am

    Brazilian Court Clears Inhotim Institute Founder of Money Laundering Charges

    Bernardo Paz, the founder of Inhotim Institute, an outdoor contemporary art museum near the city of Belo Horizonte in central Brazil, was acquitted of money laundering charges by Brazil’s Federal Regional Court of the First Region on Tuesday, Folha de S.Paulo reports.

    A leading member of the country’s art scene, Paz was accused of funneling money he had raised for Inhotim into Itaminas, a conglomerate of twenty-nine mining and steel companies he ran. A complaint filed by Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry in 2013 claimed that he set up an overseas account for the art park that received more than

    Read more
  • *The February 2020 issue of Cahiers du Cinéma.
    February 27, 2020 at 4:45pm

    Entire Editorial Masthead of Cahiers du Cinéma Quits to Protest New Ownership

    All fifteen staff members of Cahiers du Cinéma, the prominent French film magazine, have quit to protest its acquisition last month by twenty bankers, tech entrepreneurs, and movie producers—a deal the staff says would compromise their editorial independence.

    “The new shareholders are composed notably of eight producers and this poses a problem of conflict of interest for a critical review,” reads a statement released today by the staff. “No matter what articles might be published on film by these producers, it would automatically be suspected.” The statement notes that its new publishers have

    Read more
  • Liz Magor, One Bedroom Apartment, 1996–, contents of the David Ireland House.
    February 27, 2020 at 10:04am

    Following Restructuring, David Ireland’s House at 500 Capp Street Reopens

    The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, established in 2016 to preserve the late conceptual artist’s former residence, announced that it is reopening after an eight-month hiatus. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, during the cultural site’s temporary closure, management completed an assessment of its operations, reduced the venue’s operating budget from $600,000 to $400,000, and decided to eliminate admission fees in an effort to make the historic house more accessible to the public.

    “This exciting announcement follows an eight-month closure and

    Read more
  • Alice Walton, Martin Puryear, and Kwame Anthony Appiah. Photo: Francesca Bottazzin. Courtesy of Getty.
    February 27, 2020 at 8:00am

    Alice Walton, Martin Puryear, and Kwame Anthony Appiah Receive Getty Medals

    The 2020 Getty Medals, which recognize contributions to the arts and humanities, will be awarded to philanthropist Alice Walton, artist Martin Puryear, and scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah. “The Getty Medal recognizes excellence and impact in cultural areas that help expand our understanding and appreciation of the world around us,” said David Lee, chair of the Getty board of trustees. “This year we are thrilled to honor three influential and transformative leaders.”

    Walton, the founder of the Crystal Bridges American Art Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, is being honored for her dedication to expanding

    Read more
  • Sharon Corwin. Photo: Greta Rybus.
    February 27, 2020 at 7:30am

    Sharon Corwin Named President and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art

    The Terra Foundation for American Art has appointed Sharon Corwin as its new president and CEO. Corwin comes to the organization from the Colby College Museum of Art where she has served as director and chief curator since 2006. She is also a professor in the college’s art department. She succeeds Elizabeth Glassman, who has led the Terra Foundation for nearly twenty years.

    “Sharon’s background and history creating opportunities for dialogue and scholarship around the visual arts convey her existing commitment to the foundation’s mission, making her the obvious choice to lead the Terra Foundation

    Read more
  • Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals, circa 1517. Photo: Wikipedia.
    February 27, 2020 at 6:15am

    Uffizi Gallery Committee Resigns Following Loan of Raphael Painting

    The entire scientific committee of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, comprising four industry experts who serve in an advisory capacity to the museum, has resigned in protest of director Eike Schmidt’s decision to loan a Raphael painting for a blockbuster exhibition in Rome despite its recommendation that the work should not be moved.

    “It is a matter of principle,” scientific committee member Fabrizio Moretti told The Telegraph. “We had declared this painting part of the Uffizi’s core identity and therefore not movable. But we are a consultative body and the Uffizi’s director is a ministry employee

    Read more
  • Barbara Steveni. Photo: Flickr.
    February 26, 2020 at 6:04pm

    Barbara Steveni (1928–2020)

    British artist Barbara Steveni, who founded the conceptually and politically driven art organization Artist Placement Group (APG) with her partner John Latham in 1966 and maintained much of its collaborative and administrative functions for more than two decades, has died at ninety-two years old.

    The couple conceived of APG in 1965, and, after Steveni assembled a board of directors, the organization was formally established the following year. In the early 1970s, against the backdrop of ongoing discourses about the dematerialization of art, APG published print-based interventions in Studio

    Read more
  • Chiyo Ishikawa. Photo: Scott Areman.
    February 26, 2020 at 4:41pm

    Seattle Art Museum Curator Chiyo Ishikawa to Retire after Thirty Years

    Chiyo Ishikawa, the deputy director for art and curator of European painting and sculpture at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), announced that she will retire in the summer of 2020. “It has been my honor and pleasure to work for an institution that so fully embraces its civic responsibility to serve our community,” Ishikawa said. “After thirty years, it seems a good time to turn this wonderful opportunity over to someone new.”

    Ishikawa joined the museum in 1990 as a part-time assistant curator of European painting, one year prior to the opening of its downtown location. During her tenure, she curated

    Read more
  • Georges de La Tour’s The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, circa 1635–1637, a from the Ahmanson Foundation. Photo: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
    February 26, 2020 at 2:46pm

    Concerns over LACMA Redesign Prompts Major Donor to Suspend Acquisition Program

    The Ahmanson Foundation, the Beverly Hills–based charitable organization which helped launch the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1965, is ending the acquisition program through which it has gifted more than $130 million in art to the institution in the last five decades. The Los Angeles Times reports that the major donor of European Old Master paintings and sculptures decided to suspend the initiative because of growing concerns over the museum’s new $650 million, Peter Zumthor–designed building.

    LACMA’s new construction will involve tearing down four structures—in addition to the

    Read more
  • Charles Hirschhorn. Photo: James Ross Mankoff. Courtesy of Otis College.
    February 26, 2020 at 12:44pm

    Charles Hirschhorn Appointed President of Otis College of Art and Design

    The Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles announced today that Charles Hirschhorn has been named its next president. Hirschhorn currently serves as head of AEG Television and sits on the boards of the Berklee College of Music, Harvard College Office of the Arts, and Wilshire Boulevard Temple. He will join the college on June 1.

    “On behalf of the board of trustees of Otis College of Art and Design, I’m excited to welcome Charles Hirschhorn as incoming president to the college,” said Mei-Lee Ney, the college’s board chair. “His background and experience in the arts, digital media, education,

    Read more
  • Rendering of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada. Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron, Herzog & de Meuron.
    February 26, 2020 at 11:24am

    Vancouver Art Gallery Gifted $1 Million for New Building

    The Vancouver Art Gallery has received a donation of $1.1 million in support of its fundraising campaign for its new 300,000 square-foot, Herzog & de Meuron–designed building, bringing the total amount raised to $102 million. The gift was made by Donald Ellis, a longtime museum supporter and the founder of an eponymous gallery, whose clients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris. Specializing in North American art, Ellis also recently donated several works by the Haida artist Charles Edenshaw.

    “Through

    Read more
  • Rendering of Toyo Ito’s design for the State Hermitage Museum’s Barcelona outpost. Courtesy of the State Hermitage Museum.
    February 26, 2020 at 9:56am

    Barcelona Rejects Proposal for Branch of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum

    Barcelona’s city council has refused to greenlight a planning application for an outpost of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum. The council took issue with the site chosen for the project as well as the branch’s economic viability. Several expert reports commissioned by the council and published on January 27 cite the accessibility of the Nova Bocana section of the city’s port, its proximity to the sea, and traffic congestion in the area as well as unanswered questions about the new institution’s staffing, projected visitor numbers, and admission prices as reasons why the proposal wasn’t approved.

    Read more