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The Headlines
A MONDRIAN MOMENT.This year marks the150th anniversaryof painterPiet Mondrian’s birth, and the art world is toasting it in high style,Nina Siegalreports in theNew York Times. The exhibition “Mondrian Moves,” at theKunstmuseum in the Hague, the Netherlands, looks at the artist’s work through the lens of movement, and the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, has “Mondrian Evolution,” which features nearly 90 works by the artist. There are some new developments in the study of the celebrated figure, as well. New research shows that Mondrian was “a very wild dancer,”Ulf Küster,who curated the Swiss show, told the paper.Those looking to pay their respects to the man can visit his grave atCypress Hills Cemeteryin New York. TheNew Yorkerstopped bywithMoMAcurators in 2019to mark the75th anniversary of his death.
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CALIFORNIA ARCHITECT HARRY GESNER,who won a devoted following for his inventive and sometimes unusual residences,died on Friday at 97, theLos Angeles Timesreports. Gesner’s most famous project is probably theWave House, which went up in Malibu in 1957; it“juts out over the sand with a series of crested roofs that seem to evoke the forms of the waves that curl just below,”Carolina A. Mirandawrites in the paper. His path into the profession was unusual: He audited a class taught byFrank Lloyd WrightatYale, declined Wright’s invitationto study with him, and then apprenticed with an uncle. His aim,Harrison Smithwritesin theWashington Post, was “to create environmentally friendly houses that served as a source of joy, not just as shelter.”
The Digest
The 2023Turner Prizeexhibition—and award ceremony—will be held at theTowner Eastbournemuseum in England, the first time that the closely watched event has been held in the county of Sussex.[BBC News]
BillionaireAmazonfounderJeff Bezosis giving $10 million to theMuseum of History & Industryin Seattle to expand itsBezos Center for Innovation, to which he gave $10 million in 2013.[Geekwire]
TheSmithsonian‘s Board of Regents voted on Monday to deaccession 29 Benin bronzes held by theNational Museum of African Art. The Smithsonian saidthat they would be returned to Nigeria “at a later date.”[Smithsonian Institution/Press Release]
As part of theMasterpiece Toursfrom London’sNational Gallery, aRembrandtportrait of his wife from the museum’s holdings is now on view at theOriel Davies Galleryin Newtown, Wales. “People should have access to great art locally,” the National Gallery’s deputy director,Susan Foister, said.[The Guardian]
TheCleveland Museum of Artsaid that the Italian government has not contacted it following reports in May in an Italian newspaper that it holds a 16th-century ceramic sculpture allegedly stolen from a Tuscan chapel in the early 20th century.[Cleveland.com]
The Kicker
BLUNT BLAKE.ArtistPeter Blakesecured himself a lasting place in music history—and a lasting link to the most famous rock band of the 20th century—by designing the unforgettable cover of the 1967BeatlesalbumSgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Wonderful things. But he told criticJonathan Jonesin theGuardianthat they werefar from his favorite groupof the era. “I’ve never been an enormous fan of the Beatles like I am of theBeach Boys,” he said. “It’s a dangerous thing to say, I hope that won’t be your headline: ‘Peter Blake doesn’t like the Beatles.’” [The Guardian]
