New Malaysian Prime Minister Re-Opens 1MDB Case: Malaysia’s politics have been upended by accusations of corruption surrounding the 1MDB development bank which was linked purchases of real estate, art and the financing of a Hollywood movie about the excesses of Wall St. Now the new Prime Minister is re-opening the case and we may end up learning a lot more about why so much money was spent on art. …
National Gallery of Canada Gets Anonymous Donor to Cover Break Up Fees on Chagall: Canada’s National Gallery narrowly avoided a scandal surrounding the misadventure of its Chagall sale. To recap, the Chagall was going to be sold at Christie’s to raise funds to buy an Old Master painting of Saint Jerome being sold by a Canadian church to fund refurbishments. The local government stopped the sale making the Chagall sale unnecessary. That left the National Gallery on the hook for some fees to Christie’s and the political climate was turning against the National Gallery, The Art Newspaper tells us:
- The National Gallery’s board then decided to drop its plans to acquire Saint Jerome, and cancelled the sale of the Chagall painting, less than three weeks after the consignment was announced. This led members of Ottawa’s parliament to demand an explanation from the National Gallery of the management of its public funds, which nearly had to be used to pay a hefty fee to Christie’s for pulling the work from auction. …
The Royal Museums Greenwich Acquires Kehinde Wiley’s Ship of Fools: A recent work by Kehinde Wiley based upon Hieronymus Bosch’s Ship of Fools has been bought by a UK public collection.
- Head of art and curator of the Queen’s House Christine Riding added: “I am a great admirer of Kehinde Wiley’s work and I am thrilled that the museum has acquired this powerful, complex and thought-provoking painting. Ship Of Fools deftly reworks and updates Bosch’s famous allegory to highlight major challenges and injustices today. I feel certain it will resonate with many people, whatever their age, heritage and background.” …
Charles Ray Works Very Slowly: The NY Times has a brief look at Charles Ray’s new show at Matthew Marks:
- The five new pieces in the show represent a large portion of the work he has completed since his 2014-2015 retrospective, shown in Chicago, which may help explain why they cost between $2 million and $8 million each. For a major artist, Mr. Ray produces very little. “I work very slowly,” he said.
