DAVID HEALD/©SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION
The Annals of Art History
Mayor Gallery in London filed a lawsuit against the group behind the Agnes Martin catalogue raisonné, alleging that the authentication committee wrongfully refused to accept 13 works. Until those works are accepted, Christie’s and Sotheby’s will not offer them for sale. [The Art Newspaper]
Marlene and Spencer Hays have pledged their art collection to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The Texan couple’s 600-work gift, which includes works by Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, will go to the museum after the collectors die. [The New York Times]
The Chicago Cubs
For the first time ever, the lions outside the Art Institute of Chicago wore Cubs hats in honor of the baseball team advancing to the World Series. [Huffington Post]
The Smithsonian
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art announced yesterday that it received a whopping $900,000 challenge grant from the Walton Family Foundation. The grant supports digitizing the archive. [Artforum]
Starting on January 31, 2017, philanthropist and financier David M. Rubinstein will be the chairman of the Smithsonian’s board. [The Washington Post]
After the Dust Settles
For a new Museum of Modern Art audio guide, artist Nina Katchadourian has chosen to focus on the dust that collects on artworks and exhibition structures. [The New York Times]
Criticism
Peter Schjeldahl reviews the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant,” writing, “You might even call the French artist the Jeff Koons of his day: possessed of a virtuosity so extreme that it becomes its own subject, seducing every class of viewer, while mirroring the self-regard of the wealthy and privileged.” [The New Yorker]
Adrian Searle reviews this year’s Artes Mundi show at the Chapter Arts Centre and the National Museum of Wales. The winner of the show receives £40,000, or about $48,900; Theaster Gates took home the prize money last year. [The Guardian]
Expansions
Galerie Perrotin will open a space in Tokyo next year. This will be the gallery’s third space in Asia. [Artinfo]