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The Headlines
LEGAL AFFAIRS.The man accused of stealing three big-name artworks from Greece’sNational Galleryis now out of jail and wearing an electronic monitoring device as heawaits a potential trial, theNational Heraldreports. The suspect wasarrested last yearand reportedly said that he took works byPicasso,Mondrian, andCacciain 2012 because of his “passion for art.” (One bit of evidence: He had the Twitter handleArtFreak, according to police.) Officials are still investigating and deciding whether to pursue a trial. In other crime news, three men in Londonpleaded not guiltyto trying to sell a seven-figure, 15th-century Ming Dynasty vase stolen from theMuseum of Far Eastern Artin Geneva,Law360reports, and six teens allegedlysmashed a stolen carinto an art space in Melbourne, Australia, damaging artworks, theAgereports.
Related Articles
Ousted Orlando Museum Director Behind Seized Basquiat Exhibit Had a History with 'Discovered' Artworks
Embattled Orlando Museum Director Is Out, Artist Margaret Keane Dies at 94, and More: Morning Links for June 29, 2022
THE FREE-THINKING BELGIAN ARCHITECT LUCIEN KROLLhas died,Dezeenreports. He was 95. Kroll and his wife,Simone Kroll, startedAtelier Krollin 1958, and made their name by emphasizing close collaboration with the people who would actually utilize their designs. For a campus extension of theUniversity of Louvainin Belgium, for instance, they received input from students and made buildings with movable walls. In 2021, the couple were given theBrussels Architecture Prize‘s lifetime achievement award. Astatement accompanying that honor reads, in part: “Systematically drawn to complex situations, conflicts to be resolved and causes to be defended, Simone and Lucien Kroll never chose the easy path.”
The Digest
A major Orlando-area foundation said that it will no longer loan its collection of 18th- and 19th-century American paintings to theOrlando Museum of Art, which was recently raided by theF.B.I.amid an investigation into disputedJean-Michel Basquiatpaintings it was exhibiting. Some OMA patrons are also said to be shifting their support to the nearbyRollins Museum of Art.[The New York Times]
President Bidenappointed 11 to theNational Museum and Library Services Board, includingCameron Kitchin, the director of theCincinnati Art Museum, andMonica Ramirez-Montagut, the director of theParrish Art Museumin Water Mill, New York.[Press Release/White House]
Kamoya Kimeu, a revered octogenarianfossil hunter from Kenya whose discoveries helped expand researchers’ understanding of early human history, has died. Perhaps Kimeu’s most important find was an almost completely intact 1.6 million-year-old juvenile Homo erectus.[The New York Times]
TheU.S. National Park Serviceis giving $2 million in grants to 20 museums and nine tribes to support efforts to return human remainsand objects to Indigenous peoples.[The Art Newspaper]
JournalistHilarie M. Sheetslooked at the ongoing debates about how to manage artistDonald Judd’s sites—and legacy—in Marfa, Texas. Speaking of theChinati Foundation, artistChristopher Wool, a former trustee, said, “The board turned its back on deep institutional knowledge and instead insisted that Chinati be governed under a corporate model simply because that was their experience.”[The New York Times]
The Kicker
HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CRYPTO CROWN.In June,Christie’sNFT rainmakerNoah Davisannounced that he was joiningYuga Labs, the creators of theBored Ape Yacht Cluband the home ofCryptoPunks. Inan interviewwith theObserver, he recalled watchingBeeple’sEverydaysNFT, which he helped bring to the block at Christie’s,go for $69.3 million. “I was totally shocked and a bit terrified,” Davis said. “I knew that my career had just taken a sharp, sharp turn. Immediately the pressure was on. There’s an old adage in the auction world: ‘You’re only as good as your last sale.’ ”[The Creators/Observer]
