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The Headlines
MUSEUMS UP NORTH.Huguette Vachon, the widow of the painterJean-Paul Riopelle, who died in 2002, hasproposed opening a museumdevoted to his art on the Isle-aux-Grues in Quebec, theArt Newspaperreports. The 3,000-square-footMusée-Atelier Riopelle, which would present Vachon’s holdings of his work, is estimated to cost about US$3.3 million to build and could be open by mid-2024. Meanwhile, two provinces to the east, an effort to build a new home for theArt Gallery of Nova Scotiain Halifaxhas been pausedamid concerns about soaring costs tied to construction and inflation,CBC Newsreports. Initially budgeted at about US$106.6 million, the project was recently estimated to cost US$126.9 million. Nova Scotia’s premier,Tim Houston, said that he is committed to creating a new building, but said, “The cost of this is out of control right now.”
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RETURNING HOME.On Wednesday, theAlbuquerque Museum Foundationreturned 12 ancient Indigenous sculpturesthat it recently found in storage to the localConsulate of Mexico, theAssociated Pressreports. Mexico has made an effort to repatriate such material in recent years, and its officials “definitely have the most concerted effort to stop auction sales of these pieces,”Tessa Solomon, ofARTnews, told theAP. Separately, theAPexamined effortsby various organizations to give back such material to Indigenous groups in the United States. “Some 870,000 Native American artifacts—including nearly 110,000 human remains—that should be returned to tribes under federal law are still in the possession of colleges, museums, and other institutions across the country,” the wire service wrote of its findings.
The Digest
Amid a string of high-profile exhibitions in recent years, artistBarbara Krugeris seeing her prices rises,James Tarmyreports. DealerMary Boone, who long represented Kruger, said, “Next toWarhol, there’s not another artist, aside from perhapsCindy Sherman, who’s been as influential for what things look like and how people see the world as Barbara.”[Bloomberg]
PainterHabibollah Sadeqi, who served as director of theTehran Museum of Contemporary Artfrom 2003 to 2008, and gained attention with works about Iran’s Islamic Revolution, died on Wednesday at his home in the capital city. He was 65.[Tehran Times]
TheChauvin Sculpture Garden in Louisiana was vandalized, with three concrete sculptures damaged and another going missing. The site was created by the self-taught artist Kenny Hill, who worked as a bricklayer, after he moved to the area in the late 1980s. About a decade later, he disappeared.[The Associated Press]
After a public fundraising call, some £50,000 (about $60,800) was donated to conserve what is believed to be the world’s largest watercolor,Edward Burne-Jones‘sThe Star of Bethlehem(ca. 1885–90), and now it is ready to go back on view at theBirmingham Museum and Art Galleryin England, officials said.[BBC News]
Paying $105 million,Googlewill acquire Chicago’sThompson Center, a grand monument to postmodernism conceived by architectHelmut Jahn,who died last year. The structure will be renovated with an emphasis on respecting “its iconic design,” an exec for the tech giant said.[Block Club Chicago]
TheFordandMellonfoundations announced the latest class of their Disability Futures Fellows program, which includes artistsAlison O’Daniel,Rev. Joyce McDonald, andM.Eifler. Each fellow will receive $50,000 in unrestricted funds.[NPR]
The Kicker
COLLECTORS’ ITEMS.In theLos Angeles Times, journalistDeborah Vankinoffered an in-depth look atthe wave of New York dealers setting up shop in L.A.—and had locals offer their thoughts.Greg Ito, who runs theSow & Tailorgallery in Downtown L.A., had this to say about current art-market dynamics: “A lot of these bigger galleries, they’re opening multiple spaces globally but also locally, so they go from having to schedule 10 shows a year to 20, 30, 40 shows a year, and they’re just churning out artists. The market is hot and everyone is buying everything, but it turns an artist’s work from intimate and critical into what feels like trading cards.”[LAT]
