National Gallery of Art
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The Headlines
RETURN OF THE REAL.Last month, theNational Gallery of Artsaid that, after careful study, it believed one of its fourJohannes Vermeerpaintings,Girl With a Flute(1665–70), was not, in fact, a Vermeer, but instead the work of someone with “a profound understanding of Vermeer’s techniques,” asARTnewsreported. However, at its hotly anticipated Vermeer retrospective in February, Amsterdam’sRijksmuseumplans toexhibit the work as a Vermeer, theGuardianreports. Its director,Taco Dibbits, told the paper, “Attribution is not a hard science but we feel that Vermeer is such an innovative artist who took so many directions in his art that we feel that for us as yet the painting is by Vermeer.” Meanwhile, thefull listof pieces for the show has been released, theArt Newspaperreports, and it includes some 28 of his roughly 35 paintings.
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A Vermeer at the National Gallery of Art Loses Its Attribution, Opening New Questions About the Master Painter
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ARTIST UPDATES.PainterArghavan Khosravitalked withCNNabout her poignant, surreal, and occasionally discomfiting, depictions of women, some of which are now on view atRockefeller Centerin New York. Artist duoZheng Mahlerspoke with theSouth China Morning Postabout aKyungah Hamsculpture that they loved so much that they named their daughter after it. AndJune Leafis about to open a show atOrtuzar Projectsin Manhattan and answered some questions—but only some!—fromT: The New York Times Style Magazine. When she starts a new artwork, where does she begin? “Who thought of these questions?” Leaf said. “I can’t answer that.”
The Digest
A court in Kumbakonam, India, sentenced art dealerSubhash Kapoorto 10 years in prison for receiving stolen property and other charges in a case concerning the 2008 theft and illegal export of antiquities from the Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple in the Ariyalur district.[The New India Express]
The Paris auction houseMillondelayed the sale of a 19th-century Vietnamese imperial seal after the Southeast Asian nation’s government said that it wants to engage in talks about its repatriation. The piece, which weighs 24 pounds, is estimated to sell for as much as about $3 million.[Bloomberg]
The Chinese artistLu Shengzhong, who won acclaim for his “little red figures,” which he cut from paper and assembled into awe-inspiring installations, has died at 70, after being hospitalized following an asthma attack.[ArtAsiaPacific]
Philadelphia arts advocateBlake Bradford—who said he aimed to “make arts and culture institutions, collections, and experiences more rewarding for more people”—has died at 52, of lymphoma. Bradford foundedPoints of Entry, which works to have cultural groups hire young people from underserved communities.[The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Betty Fung, the leader of Hong Kong’sWest Kowloon Cultural District Authority, which oversees theM+museum, called on city officials to allow newly arrived foreign tourists to visit museums while they undergo the three days of mandatory medical observation that bars them from crowded venues.[South China Morning Post]
The lateMicrosoftcofounderPaul Allenwas fairly tight-lipped about the masterpiece-filled art collection that he built,Katya Kazakinawrites in a column that tracks where he loaned some of his holdings over the years. NowChristie’sis set to sell more than 150 works he owned with a record estimate of $1 billion.[Town & Country]
The Kicker
DOUBLES CHAMPIONS.TheNational Portrait Galleryin Washington, D.C., is about to unveil portraits of filmmakerAva DuVernayand tennis greatsSerenaandVenus Williams, by artistsKenturah Davis,Toyin Ojih Odutola, andRobert Pruitt, respectively. In theNew York Times,Hilarie M. Sheetsspoke to everyone about how theprocess of making the pieces played out. Said Serena Williams: “Toyin’s perspective as an artist is unparalleled and to be able to say Toyin Ojih Odutola painted my portrait feels surreal.”[NYT]
