COURTESY QIAO ZHIBING
Courtesy Qiao Zhibing
Controversies
Curator Nikki Columbus has reached a settlement in her lawsuit against MoMA PS1, which she alleged rescinded a job offer after finding out that she had recently become a mother. [The New York Times]
Contractors who worked on the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India have accused the biennial of allegedly refusing to pay for construction fees. In response, the biennial has called their claims a “disinformation campaign.” [ARTnews]
Special Sales
Eleven works from the collection of publishing magnate S.I. Newhouse Jr. are heading to auction at Christie’s in New York this may. The works—among them a prized Cézanne still life—are expected to bring in $130 million. [The New York Times]
More than 60 paintings from the art collection of Nirav Modi, a diamond tycoon whom authorities have accused of being involved in bank fraud, were sold in Mumbai for $8 million. [Reuters]
Museums
At long last, collector Qiao Zhibing’s Tank Shanghai museum has opened in China. Housed in a series of former oil tanks, the museum is now home to an installation by Adrián Villar Rojas and an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art. [South China Morning Post]
Flashback: In 2016, Barbara Pollack profiled Qiao, who has appeared on each edition of the “ARTnews Top 200 Collectors” list since 2013. [ARTnews]
The critically lauded exhibition “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Plower” will make a stop at the de Young museum in San Francisco this fall. [San Francisco Chronicle]
The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles is looking to transfer the building for its Southwest Museum, the oldest arts institution in the city, to a new owner, who will use the site for “community benefit.” [Los Angeles Times]
Lost and Found
Arthur Brand, an art detective based in Amsterdam, has recovered the stolen Pablo Picasso painting Portrait of Dora Maar (1938). It had been taken from a Saudi Arabian owner’s yacht in 1999. [The New York Times]