Bonhams Finds a Buyer: Epiris, a British private equity firm that bought Time Inc’s UK businesses earlier this year, has acquired Bonhams. The auction house has been offered for sale privately and publicly for several years. No financial terms were disclosed; nor was their any indication whether the deal includes Bonhams real estate in central London. One personnel announcement was made. “CEO Matthew Girling and CFO Jonathan Fairhurst will be joined by Bruno Vinciguerra as Executive Chairman. Bruno served for eight years as COO at Sotheby’s.” …
Peter Brant Buys Interview Magazine From Himself: Speaking of art and media companies, WWD points out that Peter Brant was able to “to wipe out $3.3 million in debts owed to hundreds of former employees, freelancers and agencies” by purchasing the assets of Interview magazine out of bankruptcy. Brant was the sole secured creditor and claimed he was owed $8m, so the pre-planned maneuver was easily executed. …
Brazil’s National Museum Destroyed by Fire: The images of Brazil’s National Museum on fire were spread around the internet on Monday. The feared loss of 20m items in the museum threatens to spread from being a cultural cataclysm for the South American nation to become a political issue, according to the Washington Post:
- Brazil has struggled to emerge from a 2014 recession and the political fallout that followed, and the museum blaze threatens to become a symbol for angry Brazilians frustrated by high unemployment and glacial economic growth. …
Lawrence Rubin, Knoedler President, Stella Dealer and Matta Friend, Dies: Roberta Smith writes the obituary for art dealer Lawrence Rubin. He spent much of his life living and working in Europe and was the brother of influential MoMA curator:
- Starting in 1959, Mr. Rubin owned or directed five different galleries. He spent the last two decades of his career as president of Knoedler & Company, one of the nation’s oldest art galleries. He joined Knoedler as head of contemporary art several years after the financier and art collector Armand Hammer bought the gallery in 1971, when it was in financial trouble. He soon rose to director and then president. During his tenure he helped restore Knoedler’s fortunes by emphasizing the increasingly lucrative 20th-century and contemporary art market. He retired from the gallery in 1994. …
Wu Guangzhou’s Career Put in Context: Wu Guangzhou studied with Zao Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun under Lin Fengmian in Hangzhou. All three went to Paris at the same time but it took longer for Wu to receive recognition. He returned to China after the Communist victory in 1950. It wasn’t until the 1980s when Wu was in his fifties that collectors began to recognize his work culminating in a 1992 exhibition at the British Museum which was a first for a living Chinese painter. Now, Enid Tsui points out in the South China Morning Post, museums in Hong Kong and Singapore have created permanent collections of the artist’s work:
- On August 22, the Hong Kong Museum of Art said it would open a permanent Wu Guanzhong Art Gallery next year after it received an unprecedented sixth donation of works from the Wu estate. The addition of Wu’s last works, significant sketches and personal memorabilia has brought the Hong Kong museum’s collection to around 450 pieces. In 2016, the Singapore National Gallery also opened its own Wu Guanzhong gallery to permanently showcase the highlights of its collection of more than 100 of the artist’s works.