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<\/a>Allegedly The Capture of Saint Peter<\/em> by Rutilio di Lorenzo Manetti<\/p><\/div>\n In a scandal that began to unfold in the final weeks of 2023 and spilled into 2024, Vittorio Sgarbi, one of Italy\u2019s deputy cultural ministers, resigned after being caught with a stolen painting. This painting, <\/span>The Capture of Saint Peter<\/span><\/em>, attributed to Rutilio di Lorenzo Manetti, was part of a Sgarbi-curated exhibition between December 2021 and October 2022. However, some visitors noticed similarities between the Manetti and a different painting cut from its frame and stolen from a castle near Turin in 2013. This loose thread led investigators to determine that Sgarbi may have ordered someone to steal the painting, brought it to a conservator to add extra details, and tried to pass it off as a different work.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2013, Sgarbi allegedly tried to buy a painting. After the owner turned him down, someone cut the painting from its frame and stole it. Sometime between then and the 2021 exhibition, someone <\/span>added a torch in the background<\/span><\/a>, supposedly to throw off suspicions that it was the stolen painting. <\/span>This<\/span> was enough evidence for prosecutors to open an investigation into Sgarbi for laundering cultural assets, which <\/span>eventually led to his resignation from the culture ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Every two years, Britain\u2019s Fourth Plinth Commission replaces the statue on Trafalgar Square\u2019s fourth plinth to promote contemporary art. In March 2024, they announced their picks for 2026 and 2028. In September 2024, Teresa Margolles\u2019s sculpture <\/span>850 Improntas<\/span><\/a><\/em> took its place on the plinth. It consists of a series of plaster casts the artist took from the faces of several hundred transgender people. Drawing on her Mexican heritage, Margolles designed <\/span>850 Improntas<\/span><\/em> in the style of a <\/span>tzompantli<\/span><\/a>, a rack indigenous people in Mexico and Central America used to display human skulls. Margolles drew from her experiences witnessing the effects of anti-trans violence in her own country to create this poignant memorial for those suffering today.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2026, the plinth will become the home of <\/span>Lady in Blue<\/span><\/a> <\/em>by Tschabalala Self. It is a bronze sculpture of a woman in a lapis lazuli dress, representing modern, urban womanhood. The work set to replace <\/span>Lady in Blue<\/span><\/em> in 2028 is <\/span>an untitled resin sculpture by Andra Ursu\u021ba<\/span><\/a> meant to represent a horse and a rider under a shroud.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2024 marks a century-and-a-half since the advent of Impressionism. On April 15, 2024, the anniversary of the 1874 Impressionist Exhibition, I published my history of how the style came into being and how the exhibition got off the ground. It was one of the first major challenges against the supremacy of the Salon, with artists Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, and many others banding together to exhibit independently. On the walls were paintings like Degas\u2019s <\/span>The Dancing Class<\/span><\/em>, the first of his ballerina paintings, as well as Monet\u2019s <\/span>Impression, soleil<\/span><\/em> levant<\/span><\/em>. The Impressionists would put on eight exhibitions in total between 1874 and 1886.<\/span><\/p>\n The most prominent commemoration of Impressionism’s anniversary was the exhibition at the Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay in Paris, which ran from March to July 2024. It included some of the works exhibited at the First Impressionist Exhibition and many others. While Impressionism today might seem just as old-fashioned to some as its academic predecessors, it became the first successful modern art movement in continental Europe. It was not only in their technique and subject matter but in how they helped decentralize the art world. They paved the way for scores of smaller salons and exhibitions, helping jumpstart the careers of generations of modernists in the twentieth century. <\/span>Impressionism may be conservative by today\u2019s standards, but that doesn\u2019t mean we should disregard it. It was the jumping-off point from which all modern art began.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Portrait of Fr\u00e4ulein Lieser<\/em> by Gustav Klimt<\/p><\/div>\n Portrait of Fr\u00e4ulein Lieser<\/span><\/em> is a 1917 painting by Gustav Klimt. Specialists considered it lost for almost a hundred years, but it reemerged at the Austrian auctioneer Im Kinsky. Klimt left the work unfinished when he passed away in 1918, yet <\/span>it was still given<\/span> to the Lieser family. The Klimt\u2019s owners have had the painting in their family since the 1960s. Because there was a gap in ownership between the 1920s and when the seller\u2019s family bought the portrait, there was initially some concern as to whether or not the painting\u2019s provenance <\/span>was tainted<\/span> during the Second World War. Even though the Lieser family endured persecution at the hands of the Nazis, there is not much evidence to suggest that the painting was confiscated or sold under duress. To assuage any outstanding apprehensions, the current owners consigned <\/span>Portrait of Fr\u00e4ulein Lieser<\/span><\/em> jointly with the Lieser family\u2019s descendants.<\/span><\/p>\n Portrait of Fr\u00e4ulein Lieser<\/span><\/em> was the sale’s final lot on April 24, 2024. Normally, a work with a multimillion-dollar estimate would attract several interested parties, provoking a bidding war. <\/span>This<\/span>, however, was not the case with the Klimt. After only a few bids, the hammer price was up to its minimum estimate of \u20ac30 million. The auctioneer held there for just over a minute before triumphantly bringing down the hammer, followed by the rapturous applause of the audience assembled there. The buyer ended up being Hong Kong dealer Patti Wong. <\/span>Portrait of Fr\u00e4ulein Lieser<\/span><\/em> became the most valuable painting ever sold in Austria, reaching the top ten of the most valuable Klimt works sold at auction. It took a day for im Kinsky to publish final prices with added buyer\u2019s premium, which for the portrait came to \u20ac38.5 million w\/p (or $41.15 million), taking the artist\u2019s #7 spot.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As part of the New York May Marquee sales, Christie\u2019s hosted one of their twice-annual 20th Century evening sales on May 16, 2024. <\/span>This<\/span> is where the top lot of the entire week crossed the block: <\/span>Flowers<\/span><\/a><\/em> by Andy Warhol, which hammered at $30.5 million (or $35.5 million w\/p). However, the 20th Century sales can be a little confusing since Christie\u2019s tends to shove incredibly different artworks <\/span>together<\/span> under the umbrella term \u201c20th Century\u201d. Canvases by Monet, Caillebotte, and Van Gogh are placed in the same category as works by twentieth-century modernists like Frankenthaler, Lichtenstein, Ryman, and Magritte. They may have needed to pad the sale to make it longer and more substantial, filling it with Impressionist and nineteenth-century Modernist art like Van Gogh\u2019s <\/span>Coin de jardin avec papillon<\/span><\/a><\/em>, which came in second behind <\/span>the Warhol<\/span> at $28.5 million (or $33.2 million w\/p).<\/span><\/p>\n For fans of Richard Diebenkorn, it was a less-than-ideal week. <\/span>Ocean Park #12<\/span><\/a><\/em>, estimated to sell for between $7 million and $10 million, joined Joan Mitchell\u2019s painting <\/span>Crow Hill<\/span><\/a><\/em> as one of the evening\u2019s disappointments.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The British Museum<\/p><\/div>\n The Higgs Theft has cast a shadow over the British Museum beginning in mid-2023. Since the story broke, the museum\u2019s director and deputy director have both resigned while an independent panel submitted a list of recommendations on policy, security, and risk assessment changes. In May 2024, the British Museum announced the <\/span>recovery of nearly half of the stolen artifacts<\/span><\/a>. 626 artifacts have been recovered, with 100 more identified across Europe and North America. However, confirming all the recovered items as artifacts from British Museum storerooms and archives is next to impossible since the museum neglected to catalogue them. The current efforts to catalogue the British Museum\u2019s entire collection are expected to cost \u00a310 million and should be publicly available online within five years.<\/span><\/p>\n The museum also took a major step <\/span>by suing former curator Peter John Higgs<\/span><\/a>. The British Museum alleges that Higgs \u201cabused his position of trust\u201d as a senior curator to steal and\/or damage thousands of antiquities for over a decade. They <\/span>further<\/span> allege that Higgs also forged documents and manipulated museum records to sell these items. At a hearing on March 26, 2024, a judge ordered that Higgs return any museum items still in his possession within four weeks. Furthermore, the court ordered eBay and PayPal to turn over the records associated with Higgs\u2019s accounts, which would list the transactions for those stolen items he managed to sell online. In addition to the British Museum\u2019s lawsuit, there is <\/span>an ongoing police investigation. Higgs has not been charged with any crime so far. Some have <\/span>also<\/span> criticized the museum for suing Higgs, describing the move as \u201ca case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The University of the Arts, Philadelphia (photo courtesy of Ajay Suresh)<\/p><\/div>\n On May 31st, Philadelphia\u2019s University of the Arts announced that it would <\/span>be closing<\/span> after over one hundred fifty years in operation. Over the past several years, UArts has faced problems that many art schools now face, including insufficient funding and shrinking class sizes. The UArts closure came six months after another prestigious Philadelphia art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, announced it would end its degree-awarding programs (see below). <\/span>But<\/span> the<\/span> UArts closure became controversial because of how the school administration handled the announcement.<\/span> UArts <\/span>made their announcement<\/span> on May 31st that the school would close on June 7th \u2014 only a week. Many students and teachers learned of the school\u2019s closure through social media and <\/span>an article in the <\/span><\/a>Philadelphia Inquirer<\/span><\/a><\/em>, as the school had not sent out an official notice yet. The school\u2019s president and chair of the board of trustees promised to help students transfer to comparable art schools. <\/span>This<\/span> is the same promise PAFA\u2019s administration made to its <\/span>own<\/span> students, some of whom were likely looking to UArts as an option.<\/span><\/p>\n UArts received extensive criticism over its handling of the situation. Given the hurried nature of the school\u2019s closure, there <\/span>were bound<\/span> to be investigations. UArts\u2019 choosing not to tell their staff and student body about the school shutting down until the last minute is the main issue. A class action lawsuit was brought against the school by professors and department heads since a company with over one hundred employees is legally obligated to give their staff sixty days\u2019 notice in advance of any mass layoffs or closures. Both the Philadelphia City Council and state lawmakers are organizing hearings, initiating their <\/span>own<\/span> investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For over a week in early August, Banksy unveiled a new work every day at different locations in London. <\/span>Since the works were <\/span>all<\/span> animal-themed, many on social media dubbed <\/span>the project The London Zoo<\/span>.<\/span> The works included <\/span>a graffiti silhouette of a goat<\/span><\/a> in <\/span>Richmond;<\/span> two elephants<\/span><\/a> in <\/span>Chelsea;<\/span> a trio of monkeys<\/span><\/a> near Brick <\/span>Lane;<\/span> a howling wolf<\/span><\/a> in Peckham (stenciled on a fake satellite dish that <\/span>was later stolen<\/span><\/a>);<\/span> a pair of pelicans<\/span><\/a> on the sign of a fish-and-chip shop in Walthamstow; <\/span>a large, black cat stretching across an empty billboard<\/span><\/a> on the Edgware Road in Cricklewood; <\/span>a fish tank full of piranhas<\/span><\/a> on a glass police sentry box in the City of London; <\/span>a rhinoceros<\/span><\/a> mounting an abandoned car in Charleton; and finally, ending on August 13, 2024, a gorilla <\/span>lifting the roll-up security gate at the entrance to London Zoo in Regent\u2019s Park<\/span><\/a> to let out the animals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Banksy is known for his thought-provoking work imbued with political or social commentary. <\/span>For the entire duration of the London Zoo series, <\/span>both<\/span> art world specialists and the general public speculated <\/span>as to<\/span> the meaning behind each of the individual entries in the animal silhouettes.<\/span> But Banksy\u2019s agency, Pest Control, stated that \u201crecent theorizing about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved\u201d. I think the greater message is that although <\/span>art can be used<\/span> to convey profound messages, it is sometimes just as useful when it\u2019s just for a bit of fun.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In mid-November, Christie\u2019s New York hosted a series of sales dedicated to the collection of Mica Ertegun, the widow of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun. The evening sale on November 19, 2024, was made up mainly of twentieth-century artworks by <\/span>the likes of<\/span> David Hockney and Joan Mir\u00f3. But the star of the sale and the year, it seems, was one of Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2019s <\/span>L\u2019empire des lumi\u00e8res<\/span><\/em> series. <\/span>Estimated to sell for around $95 million<\/span>, the 1954 series installment <\/span>was set<\/span> to become the most expensive Magritte painting ever sold at auction. The previous record-holder was another one of the <\/span>L\u2019empire des lumi\u00e8res <\/span><\/em>paintings created in 1961, sold at Sotheby\u2019s London in 2022 for \u00a359.4 million w\/p. The Ertegun Magritte exceeded its estimate, hammering at $105 million, or about $121.2 million after fees.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nMarch: <\/span>Trafalgar Square\u2019s Fourth Plinth<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n
April: <\/span>150 Years of Impressionism<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n
April: <\/span>Lost Klimt Portrait Sells in Vienna<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>May: <\/span>This Year\u2019s Top Sale: Christie\u2019s 20th Century Evening Sale<\/span><\/h2>\n
May: <\/span>The Continuing Tale of the Higgs Theft<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>May: <\/span>The UArts Closure<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>August: <\/span>Banksy\u2019s London Zoo<\/span><\/h2>\n
November: <\/span>The Year\u2019s Top Lot: Magritte\u2019s <\/span>L’empire des lumi\u00e8res<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n
November: <\/span>Cattelan\u2019s <\/span><\/a>