Enrico Castellani Dies at 87: The New York Times offers a belated obituary for Enrico Castellani who died on December 1st.
• “Castellani participated in the swirl of movements and self-proclaimed groups, some armed with manifestoes, that flourished on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1950s and ’60s. They included Group Zero in Germany and the Cobra group in Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, as well as the circle around Yves Klein in France and the Neo-Concrete artists in Brazil.”
• “His peers in those efforts [to project painting out from the wall] included the American artists Lee Bontecou and Donald Judd and the German artist and Group Zero founder Günther Uecker” …
UK’s Gifts of Art in Lieu of Tax Scheme Has Best Year Ever: The Financial Times Reports that “a total of 44 artworks and historical items, carrying a value of £40m, were included in the Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu scheme in the year to March 2017…” This is the highest total since the program was developed in 1909. The gifts during that period include a Barbara Hepworth sculpture and a £5.4m “a group of 89 sculptures at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, including more than 20 Roman portrait sculptures, 15 funerary monuments and sculptures of gods and mythical creatures, some of which were acquired by the 18th century Earls of Carlisle on tours of Europe.” …
Art Basel’s Impact on a Dealer: Art Basel’s galleries are vetted by a panel of dealers but some folks complain of what they feel are arbitrary decisions. Kenny Schachter flips the story around and tells us what the impact is on a dealer when the gallery is banished from the kingdom:
• “Then there was a young, trendy dealer lamenting that he was reduced to participating in the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), having been closed out of the main event due to petty politics and greed. He related that a dozen galleries in the Basel fair were pursuing a star from his stable of successful artists; without access to the slate of Basels, his relationships were jeopardized and he was exposed to poaching.” …
