ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Coney Art Walls Brings a Sort of Curated Street Art to America's Playground

ArtfixDaily / June 16th, 2015

Works from Jeffrey Deitch's latest project can now be seen at America's Playground. The art dealer and former Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MoCA) director has teamed up with redevelopment firm Thor Equities to display street art around Brooklyn's Coney Island.  Deitch ...

Marina Abramovic Piece Causes Uproar at California High School

OC Weekly / June 15th, 2015

Showing a video documentary of seminal performance artist Marina Abramovic has erupted into a scandal at a Southern California high school. Now, an art history teacher has been removed and the school's popular principal fired, leaving questions about whether contemporary art led to the ...

Moscow's Garage Museum Debuts, With One Work in the Pipeline for 3015

NYT / June 14th, 2015

The Rem Koolhaas-designed museum in Moscow masterminded by Dasha Zhukova opened to much fanfare last week. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is the first contemporary art museum to land in the capital since the fall of Communism. With 65,000-square-feet of space to cover, the verdict is ...

Judge Rules for Museum in Case of Contested Pissarro

NYT / June 11th, 2015

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that an Impressionist painting that a Jewish woman was forced to sell to the Nazis in 1939 will stay at Spain's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Judge John F. Walter of the United States District Court for the Central District of California said that the ...

Cooper Union President, Trustees Resign Amid Turmoil

Inside Higher Ed / June 11th, 2015

Five trustees and the president of the Cooper Union resigned this week following years of turmoil at the elite New York college that trains artists, architects and engineers. President Jamshed Bharucha resigned Wedsnesday, a day after the trustees. The exodus follows backlash from students, ...

Hedge Fund Billionaire Revealed as Buyer of Record-Busting Sculpture

PageSix / June 8th, 2015

Hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen was the anonymous bidder who won the world's most expensive sculpture in May, according to Page Six. Alberto Giacometti’s “Man Pointing” brought a record price of $141.3 million at Christie’s on May 11. The 1947 masterpiece, also titled “L’Homme au ...

California Artist James Turrell Lights Up UK's Houghton Hall

ArtfixDaily / June 8th, 2015

On view now through October 24, 2015, the Palladian manor Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, UK, hosts a spectacular exhibition of James Turrell's light pieces, called Lightscape. Many works shown were collected by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton, who has long been an admirer of ...

World's Most Valuable Privately-Owned Car Collection Offered at Auction

Autoblog / June 7th, 2015

RM Sotheby’s flagship sale in Monterey, Calif., each August will this year offer an unparalled private colleciton in a special session. Among the highlights are a rare 1998 McLaren F1 (one of five), 2005 Saleen S7, 2005 Maserati, a 2005 Ferrari Enzo, and a pair of Bugatti Veyrons. ...

Boston Public Library Finds its Missing Durer, Rembrandt Prints

Boston Herald / June 5th, 2015

Boston Public Library officials announced that missing prints were "misfiled" in the main library amid an ongoing investigation by the FBI, U.S. Attorney's office and Boston Police. Library President Amy Ryan said that the artworks were found 80 feet from where they should have been. The ...

Frick Museum Scraps Controversial Expansion Plan

ArtfixDaily / June 4th, 2015

A plan to expand the Frick Collection in Manhattan with a six-story tower has been abandoned. Protestors railed against a 106-foot-tall addition that would be built over the historic mansion's Russell Page Garden. A movement to preserve the garden, and the Frick's cherished intimate scale, ...

Crystal Bridges Museum to Reveal Major Acquisitions

NYTimes / June 3rd, 2015

Walmart heiress Alice Walton has spent nearly $150 million on art in the last year, reports the New York Times, and some of her most recent purchases are yet to be made public. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Bentonville, Ark., museum largely bankrolled by Walton, is expected to make ...

Former Employee of Dale Chihuly Charged in $3M Theft

USAToday / June 3rd, 2015

Authorities in Washington State have charged a former employee of glass artist Dale Chihuly with first degree theft and three counts of first-degree trafficking of stolen property. Pierce County Prosecutor's Office has accused Christopher Robert Kaul with stealing 90 pieces worth over $3 ...

Artist Richard Serra Receives France's Highest Honor

Observer / June 1st, 2015

Artist Richard Serra has been chosen  France's most prestigious award, the insignia of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. French ambassador Gérard Araud bestowed the award Monday at the French Embassy in New York. Begun in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honor is the ...

Birkin Bags Record Auction Price in Hong Kong

ArtfixDaily / June 1st, 2015

A fuschia diamond-encrusted Hermès Birkin bag snatched an auction record price of 1.72 million Hong Kong dollars ($221,846) at a Christie's sale on Monday. An anonymous phone bidder was the winner at an afternoon handbags and accessories sale in Hong Kong. The price surpassed a ...

Murdered Art Forger's Work Up for Auction in UK

DailyMail / June 1st, 2015

Master forger Eric Hebborn duped museums, galleries, and auction houses worldwide with his drawings and paintings in the styles of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Claude, Augustus John and others, sold as originals by the artists. Hebborn's con worked for nearly two decades until a National Gallery of ...

Hopis Protest More French Auctions of Tribe's Sacred Artifacts

AZCentral / May 31st, 2015

Hopi leaders are stepping up efforts to block auctions in France of ceremonial katsina, considered sacred by the tribe. With the backing of Arizona's congressional delegates, tribal leaders called on the Justice Department and other federal agencies last Wednesday to put more pressure on ...

National Portrait Gallery Unveils New Sculpture of Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web

ArtfixDaily / May 31st, 2015

A newly commissioned portrait of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has been unveiled at  the National Portrait Gallery, London, and is now on view. A painted bronze sculpture, by artist Sean Henry, shows Berners-Lee standing at two-thirds life-size on a tall plinth, ...

Monet and American Impressionism

ArtfixDaily / May 31st, 2015

Monet and American Impressionism opens at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga on June 27. The exhibition features several Monet paintings and highlights twenty-five American artists who launched a new way of painting in response to the influence of French ...

Rijksmuseum Named European Museum of the Year

ArtfixDaily / May 28th, 2015

What is the Rijksmuseum doing right? The European Museum Forum recently named Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum the European Museum of the Year. “This is a great museum, at the height of its powers, providing a rich experience to the public, and a socially aware outreach program for visitors of ...

Barbra Streisand to Donate John Singer Sargent painting to LACMA

LA Times / May 27th, 2015

A rarely-exhibited painting by American master John Singer Sargent is headed for permanent display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. But when the Sargent will arrive at the musuem is unknown. The LA Times reports that Oscar-winning actress and singer/songwriter Barbra Streisand will ...