Frida Kahlo smashes record
Plus: Imperial War Museum Remembrance Sunday apology
This newsletter was sent to subscribers on Friday 19 November 2021
Today's edition is presented with Museum Bookstore
Hello and happy Friday!
What are your weekend plans? There are a TON of new shows recently opened in London so if you’re a fellow Londoner you’re definitely spoilt for choice. I will be visiting the Courtauld Gallery, which reopens today after after a three-year, £57m renovation. The critics have loved it, with five stars (almost) across the board, so to say I’m excited is an understatement.
Before we dive into this week’s this news, let me shamelessly plug the latest article I’ve written. Tate Modern have recently launched a very interesting new collaboration with the artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman (who you may remember did last year’s excellent Tate Britain Winter Commission). The project is a new “immersive shopping experience” featuring scents, neon, ice cream and lots of things to buy. It’s quite cool. I’ve written all about it for Jing Culture and Commerce so do please take a read (which you can do here).
Now let’s dive into the headlines!
Maxwell
Do you love museum books? As you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do! So visit Museum Bookstore, an online store specialising in exhibition catalogues from museums across the globe. The store has thousands of titles ranging from richly illustrated books accompanying the latest shows, to collection catalogues from major museums. It’s literary catnip for museum lovers and art enthusiasts.
This week’s top story
Frida Kahlo’s ascension to one of art history’s greats was cemented this week when one of her paintings sold at Sotheby's in New York for a new benchmark Kahlo price of $34.9m (£25m). It SMASHED the auction record for a Latin American artwork - which was previously set by Diego Rivera, Kahlo’s husband. BBC News
The painting - Diego and I and one of Kahlo’s final self-portraits - was bought by Argentine businessman Eduardo F. Costantini according to the New York Times. While it will be part of his personal collection, he said it will go on display in the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires, an institution he founded.
The Guardian hailed the record-breaking sale in an editorial. They said it was a “hard-won road to artistic greatness” and that her rocketing values from thousands in the 1980s to tens of millions now “reflects Kahlo’s assimilation from the narrow channels of art history into the broad river of popular culture.” The sale also occurred in the same week that female artists were top performers at Phillips, which saw the auction house break it’s own record for a single sales session. There’s a long way to go, but perhaps we are seeing the art market beginning to redress the gender imbalance.
This week’s other news
The Imperial War Museum has issued an apology for a rap performance that closed their Remembrance Day two-minute silence. The Mail Online say the rap was “woke” and that a visitor described it as “a vile attack on Winston Churchill.” The Museum said they recognise it was not the appropriate moment for this performance. Mail Online
A “remarkable, rare and extraordinary” painting that is thought to be one of the earliest images of a black woman by a Scottish artist, has been acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland. The 230-year-old work is to go on public display in Edinburgh for the first time. The Scotsman
The life and music of Bob Marley will celebrated in a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Opening in February, the Bob Marley One Love Experience will see unseen images and memorabilia go on show alongside fan art. Evening Standard
“One of the finest holdings of Japanese works of art in the western world” - which have been collected and cherished by the British royal family for over 350 years - will go on display at Buckingham Palace’s Queen’s Gallery next year. It will be the first major UK exhibition exploring the relationship between the British and Japanese royal and imperial families. The Guardian
Four museums in the South West of England are teaming up to to exhibit the largest collection of Thomas Hardy items ever displayed at once. Dorset Museum, Poole Museum, the Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum will join forces for this "ambitious exhibition" next year - but they need £5,000 more to make it happen. BBC News
Abu Dhabi made a rather surprising revelation this week: two major new museums are not only planned, but are already under construction. They’re being created on the Saadiyat Island cultural district so will have the emirate outposts of the Louvre and Guggenheim as neighbours. No word on when they’ll be completed though, and based on the fraught history of museum construction on the island, it might be some time. Art Forum
40 new and commissioned public artworks are coming to Qatar. It’s all part of a plan to transform the nation into a vast ‘outdoor museum’ in time for the 2022 World Cup. Over 100 will be in place by the time of the first kick off next November. ArtNet News
Two American tourists broke into Rome’s Colosseum after dark - in order to have a beer. The two were handed an €800 fine after a passerby spotted them taking in the panoramic views of the city. CNN
Film studio Miramax is suing director Quentin Tarantino over his plans to release non-fungible tokens based on his 1994 film, Pulp Fiction. It’s not because they have concerns over the environmental impact of the tokens, or that it could devalue the film’s legacy: it’s because they want to make their own. The Hollywood Reporter
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