COURTESY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
News
A second round of signatories—including artists in the upcoming Whitney Biennial—added their names to an open letter calling for the removal of Warren B. Kanders from the museum’s board. [ARTnews]
More than 1,100 conservators, curators, and others signed an open letter published in Le Figaro urging French president Emmanuel Macron not to rush to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral. [ARTnews]
The Asia Society in New York will stage an inaugural Triennial of Asia in June 2020 with some 40 artists, intellectuals, and historians assembled around the theme “We Do Not Dream Alone.” [The New York Times]
A section devoted to virtual- and augmented-reality art at Frieze New York raises the question of whether such crowd-pleasing installations will have an effect on the market for technology-driven works. [The Art Newspaper]
Leonard-oh?
“Two Italian experts are set to perform a DNA test on a lock of hair that they say might have belonged to Leonardo da Vinci. The hair strand was found in a private collection in the U.S. and will be go on display for the first time at the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci (the Tuscan town where the artist was born).” [The Guardian]
Michael Lewis devoted the latest episode of his new podcast Against the Rules to the authentication process surrounding Salvator Mundi, the $450.3 million painting that may or may not have been painted by Leonardo himself. [iTunes]
Europa
Scott Reyburn looked into the Berlin art scene in mind of a question: “Poor No More, but Still Sexy?” He writes, “The city still has the reputation of being the creative capital of the European art world. How is that reputation shaping up to reality in today’s troubled times?” [The New York Times]
For the New York Review of Books, Jenny Uglow wrote about “the art of Czechoslovakia amid a fight over de-accessioning.” [The New York Review of Books]
Art
Nadja Sayej wrote about Robert Longo’s “incendiary” new exhibition titled “Amerika” and tilted toward the presidency of Donald Trump. “I really have a sense of urgency about the work I’m making right now; my pedal is to the metal,” the artist said. [The Guardian]
The Los Angeles Times reviewed a show of work by photographer Roy DeCarava at the Underground Museum. On his practice: “It was an everyday act, and it was personal, a ritual not that different from prayer in its assertion of purposeful connection between individual and wider world.” [Los Angeles Times]
The New York Times covered the “otherworldly ceramic sculptures” of 80-year-old Ron Nagle, who posed for a picture for the story in a Red Lobster shirt. On some of his works: “Named with tongue-in-cheek puns like Pastafarian, Urinetrouble, and Karma Gouda, they are … extensions of his irreverent sense of humor.” [T: The New York Times Style Magazine]
Money
Billionaire and storied art collector Carlos Slim pleaded to Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to save a project to rebuild Mexico City’s airport. “He was frozen out instead.” [Bloomberg]
On opera: “The Met’s ‘Ring’ succeeds in spite of—and in no way supported by—a $16 million set.” [The Washington Post]