LEIDEN COLLECTION
Museums
Philanthropists John and Anna Sie are donating $12 million to the Denver Art Museum, which will go toward remodeling its North Building. A welcome center will be named in their honor. [Denver Business Journal]
The Obama Foundation said Ralph Appelbaum Associates will handle exhibition design at the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The firm was involved with the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. [Chicago Tribune]
Gary Faigin reviews a show of landscapes from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection at the Seattle Art Museum. “There is little besides ownership tying together the 39-odd works,” he writes. [The Seattle Times]
New York entrepreneur Thomas Kaplan “now owns nearly a third of the Rembrandt paintings in private hands.” (He also owns a Vermeer!) Highlights from his Leiden Collection of Old Master paintings go on view today at the Louvre in Paris. [The Art Newspaper]
A Change in Chelsea
Andrea Rosen will no longer represent living artists and will close her Chelsea gallery space. In a letter, she said she will co-represent the Felix Gonzalez-Torres estate with Zwirner. [ARTnews]
Honors
Max Hooper Schneider won BMW’s Art Journey Award, which will fund a “a maritime exploration of coral reefs around the globe.” [Artforum]
Dealer Michael Werner will be named a chevalier in France’s Legion of Honor. In other Werner news, there’s a great Richard Oelze show at his New York gallery right now. [Artforum]
Indie Rock
Marcel Dzama directed the new Spoon video. It has a pretty heavy Marcel Dzama vibe! [YouTube]
Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu talks about the group’s latest album, its collaboration with Danh Vo, and quite a few other things. [Artforum]
Potpourri
A surgeon has written a paper about Andy Warhol’s death during gallbladder surgery, arguing that what has long been regarded as a freak accident should not have been a complete surprise. His brother-in-law Hal Foster turned him on to the topic. [The New York Times]
On the preservation of video games. [Slate]
“Artist Deborah Kass wishes we all had more #Jewtude.” [Jewish Museum/Medium]
Here are photos of the latest show by John Smith at Tanya Leighton in Berlin. [Contemporary Art Daily]