This week’s Art World Roundup looks at a record-setting series of Pokémon cards, a City of London decision to remove statues of two men tied to the transatlantic slave trade, and a Kara Walker sculpture that plays a major role in FKA twigs video. Also, the USPS is honouring Emilio Sánchez with a stamp series, Basel art spaces call on government to ease up on lockdown restrictions, an online auction of things you just won’t believe, and Boston police arrest man related to odd break in at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Gotta catch ’em all?

Were you among the millions of kids (and a lot of adults, too) who latched onto Pokémon? If so, you might be kicking yourself for having opened every pack, used the cards until they were bent, and eventually thrown away or sold them off after a set of unopened first-edition cards sold for $408,000. In total the record-setting set includes 396 original cards which are split into 36 booster packs containing 11 cards each. Released in 1999 by game publisher Wizards of the Coast, the cards set a world record when they sold at Heritage Auctions in Dallas as part of their “Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction” that included 16 lots of Pokémon memorabilia. In total, the Pokémon collectibles brought in a total of $1.3 million. The cards were in “gem mint” condition, the highest level of classification. “Due to their low print run, these box sets have become extremely scarce, especially those still in the original sealed state,” wrote the auction house. “It is considered the pinnacle of Pokémon box collecting.” During the bidding battle, the auctioneer, Brian Wiedman, stated that the “Pokémon craze” was “alive and well,” which for Pokémon lovers around the world, won’t come as a surprise.

City of London votes to remove two statues

Hardly after the ink has dried on new UK legislation that would make it more difficult to remove or relocate statues of problematic historical figures, the City of London motioned to remove two statues of British politicians with ties to the transatlantic slave trade. A task force brought together by the City of London Corporation, which oversees London’s historic city centre, was asked to assess the history and legacies of William Beckford and Sir John Cass. Both Beckford and Cass have statues at the Guildhall building and the Corporation has now voted to remove them. Beckford served as mayor of London twice, but heavily profited off of the plantations he owned in Jamaica. Cass was a member of Parliament in the 17^th century who also profited off of the transatlantic slave trade, particularly through ties to the Royal African Company. The City of London Corporation has voted to relocate the Beckford statue and replace it with a new work while the Cass statue would be returned to the Sir John Cass Foundation. The decision, though, could be slowed or halted altogether due to new UK laws that were recently introduced following the toppling of a statue of Edward Colston in the summer.

Kara Walker sculpture features in new music video

Artist Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus first debuted in 2019 as part of Tate Modern’s coveted Turbine Hall commission. Now, the large-scale artwork is featured front and centre in the music video for FKA twigs’ new song “Don’t Judge Me” made with Fred Again.. and Headie One. Fons Americanus is a towering memorial to the British slave trade and draws off of inspiration Walker gathered from the Victoria Memorial fountain in front of Buckingham Palace. The artwork, which is a working fountain, is created with a similar “evocative and unsettling power” that runs through Walker’s silhouette and film works. It references JMS Turner’s Slave Ship and Winslow Homer’s Gulf Stream while some have made connections between Walker’s depictions of sharks to those in works by Damien Hirst. The video features well-known Black British individuals, like footballer Mahlon Romeo, writer Reni Eddo-Lodge (who was the first Black author to top the UK bestseller list), and writer Benjamin Zephaniah. On including Walker’s work in the video, FKA twigs said in a tweet: “it was an honour to shoot with kara walkers fountain exploring the interconnection of black history between africa, america and europe.” For its prominent location in the Turbine Hall, it is estimated that millions of people have seen Walkers work, which will now be further seen through the music video. Fons Americanus will be on view through February 7^th, although Tate Modern is currently shuttered due to COVID-19 restrictions across London. After the fountain is removed, its materials will be recycled.

First Cuban American featured on USPS stamp series

The United States Postal Service has announced a new postage stamp series that will feature the work of painter Emilio Sánchez, making his artworks the first by a Cuban American to be featured on a US Forever stamp. Four works, Los Toldos (1973), Ty’s Place (1976), En el Souk (1972) and Untitled (Ventanita entreabierta) (1981), will each be included in the stamp series that commemorates the centennial of the artist’s birth. Born in 1921 in the city of Camagüey, Sánchez eventually moved to New York City, which would become his base, to begin studying art at the Art Students League. Sánchez is best known, although he remains largely under recognised, for his abstract and geometric takes on architecture having obviously found inspiration in the buildings that made up his environment in NYC. His palette often paid homage to his childhood in Cuba. His interest in color and fascination with light continued to grow as he traveled throughout the 1970s and 1980s, which comes across in the artworks included in the stamp series. Today, works by Sánchez are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Antonio Alcalá was the art director heading the series of stamps that will be released in panes of 20 stamps.

Art spaces call for an easing of lockdown

Basel arts venues are calling on the Swiss government to allow museums and other cultural venues to reopen citing their important role in the “mental well-being of all.” Signed by 18 museum directors, including Elena Filipovic of the Kunsthalle Basel, Roland Wetzel of the Basel Museum Tinguely, Josef Helfenstein of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Sam Keller of the Riehen Fondation Beyeler, and Heidi Naef of the Münchenstein Schaulager, the letter states that when properly managed, arts venues do not significantly threaten the health of its visitors. “The protection and hygiene concepts, which have been implemented since May 2020 and have been adapted to fit the latest requirements, have since been bolstered by experience,” reads the letter in part, according to ARTnews. Continuing: “Individual exhibition and museum visits do not generate an accumulation of visitors. […] Especially for the local population, the encounter with cultural creation is an important means of contact in anxiety-provoking times, without causing much social movement. […] Museums and exhibitions engage with natural and cultural history, with art and its reflection on the present, which make them a critical counterpart and partner to reflect on new situations and crises. If physical access is limited or blocked, education and culture become fundamentally stunted.” The museums calling for the end of lockdown are supported by the Basel Conference of Museum Directors. Switzerland is one of many European countries that have recently imposed more stringent lockdown measures as COVID-19 numbers have risen. This month, bars, museums, and other such public spaces were required to close once again, but it is hoped by the letter signees that museums and arts spaces will be included in the first phase of reopening.

Buy a little slice of odd in this online auction

From the strange to the downright uncomfortable, an auction of items from the Niagara Falls, Canada Guinness World Records Museum has it all. The online auction headed by Ripley’s Auctions in Indianapolis will run through February 12^th after the closure of the Niagara Falls branch of the franchise in September of last year. As you might expect, there’s a little bit of everything at the museum dedicated to record-setting events, people, and things and you could even bring them home just in time for Valentine’s Day. Included in the auction is a life-sized electric chair model that will even mock-electrocute a replica death row inmate for just a few tokens as well as models of the world’s “oldest man,” the “hungriest sword swallower,” and the “record firewalker.” Other lots include a world population counter, the world’s largest word search puzzle, a seven-foot chair, and the world’s tiniest Qur’an. The museum is closing its doors after 42 years of operation. The Niagara Falls museum was opened with a ceremony attended by Sandy Allen, the world’s tallest woman, and a performance by Henry LaMothe who dived from a height of 40 feet into only 15 inches of water. During its time, a number of people performed their skills and others attempted to get their name on a Guinness World Record certificate.

Arrest made after odd break-in attempt at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

A 48-year-old man has been arrested in connection to an unusual attempted break-in at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum last weekend. Robert Viens has reportedly been arrested and charged for having smashed a glass door at the museum at around 4:30am on Saturday morning. What made the breach unusual is that Viens made no attempt to enter the museum, a spokesperson for the museum said. Instead, they smashed the window with a “hard object” then threw something into the museum before fleeing on a bicycle. Due to the nature of the break-in, the bomb squad responded to the scene but the thrown object, thought to be a potential explosive, ended up being a painting wrapped up in a blanket. The blanket-wrapped painting had been stolen from a Boston art gallery, Arden Gallery, just over a week before it was abandoned at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Viens was charged at a Roxbury District Court with breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, wanton destruction of property, and possession, transportation or use of a hoax device or substance. The museum is no stranger to notorious heists and in the 1990s, the biggest art heist in US history took place there when thieves made off with around $500 million in paintings.

The Centre Pompidou, one of Paris’ iconic museums, has announced that it will be closed between 2023 and 2026 for critical restoration works on the building. Built in 1977, it is hoped that the extensive refurbishment project will be completed before the museum celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2027.

The announcement comes as museums across France are eager to reopen amidst ongoing pandemic-related closures. However, the museum, known as the Beaubourg, is at the cusp of critical need for repairs. “We no longer have a choice, the building is in distress,” Serge Lasvignes, president of the Centre Pompidou, told French newspaper Le Figaro.

In September of last year, talks about restoring the Centre Pompidou began. “”There were two options on the table, one being to restore the centre while keeping it open, the other being full closure,” said culture minister of France Roselyne Bachelot. “I chose the second because it turned out to be shorter in time and a little cheaper.”

In all, the project will cost around €200 million and will see the removal of asbestos from the building and improvements made to the heating and cooling units. The refurb will also include improved accessibility, a major overhaul of the museum’s computer and server system, and overall improvement to the building’s safety.

When the museum was completed in the late 1970s by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, Piano described it as a “big urban toy.” It has long divided opinion between those who love the unusual aesthetic of its architecture, which has an exoskeleton of sorts created by the building’s innerworkings, and those who find it to be an eyesore. Despite individual thoughts on the building, the Centre Pompidou is the largest European museum of Modern and has a large public library, which will be relocated during the restoration project.

This will be the second time the building has faced construction works since it opened. In 1997, the Centre Pompidou was closed for three years while €88 million in works were completed that increased gallery space among other things. Just before the pandemic set in, a €19 million renovation project began on the “caterpillar,” the covered, red-bottomed escalator that crawls up the façade of the building. Begun in September 2019, the escalator is expected to be finished in May after having briefly stopped last spring due to the pandemic.

“These works will guarantee the future of the Centre Pompidou,” said Lasvignes in a press release. “In concrete terms, our aim is to preserve our key masterpiece, the building itself, which has not undergone any major renovation since 1977. This work is essential if it is to remain an international icon of modernity and contemporary architecture attracting thousands of visitors every year.”

In Dresden, Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh took to the streets with a recent art installation. Utilising advertising spaces in and around the German city, Ogboh installed “missing” posters of artworks that once belonged to the Royal Palace of Benin as part of a campaign to raise awareness over repatriation.

The posters were installed just before the start of the year in more than 200 locations across Dresden and in the surrounding area. Five Benin bronzes that are part of the Museum für Völkerkunde in Dresden are included on the poster series with text reading “Vermisst von Benin” (or “Missing in Benin”). The posters include an image of the bronze work against a black background along with its measurements and the last date it was “seen” in its home country: 1897.

Ogboh’s posters are meant to bring the need for repatriation to day-to-day life, making it a less abstract issue and more of an issue disseminated amongst a larger population. The posters were actually commissioned by the Museum für Völkerkunde to add urgency to talks of repatriation.

The State Art Collection of Dresden is a member of the Benin Dialogue Group which has committed to supporting the planned Royal Museum in Benin City, Nigeria by “contribut[ing] from their collections on a rotating basis.” The Royal Museum is expected to be built on a major excavation site. Excavation of the future museum site is to begin this year and its purpose is to explore the history of the ancient kingdom of Benin, which is now part of southern Nigeria. It is hoped that as the new museum moves forward, there will be developments regarding the repatriation of the Benin bronzes and other cultural artefacts. At the moment, despite pledges of by the Benin Dialogue Group, which includes the British Museum and Berlin Ethnological Museum, there has been no significant forward momentum on bringing the bronzes back to their home.

The bronzes made their way across Europe after British soldiers invaded, looted, and destoryed the Benin Royal Palace in 1897. It is estimated that around 4,000 objects were taken from the palace, including the five Benin bronzes that are shown on Ogboh’s posters, which were taken from Benin and brought to London between 1899 and 1904.

According to Léontine Meijer-van Mensch, director of the museums of world culture in Leipzig, Dresden, and Herrnhut, the Benin bronzes “have become symbolic of the question of how ethnological museums deal with the many thousands of objects in their possession resulting from mass looting or other forms of appropriation under unequal power relations in a colonial context.” It is hoped that Ogboh’s posters bring urgency to the matter of restitution by singling out individual objects.

The posters should evoke “a sense of impatience and necessity,” said Ogboh. He continued saying they serve “to frame the stagnant and abstract discourse surrounding colonial reparations with the urgency and gravity of a public service announcement.”

Ogboh’s series of posters come at a time when discourse over repatriation of artworks has once again heated up. France, in particular, has been under pressure to return artworks and cultural objects to African countries that were once colonised by France. The topic was renewed at the end of 2020 when France’s government voted to return more than 20 objects to Benin and Senegal, which if seen through would be among the first major restitutions to make good on promises made by French President Emmanuel Macron. The issue of repatriation, though, is not only an issue in France as many collections across European countries house African cultural objects taken during periods of colonialism.

The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has announced that Pam Rorke Levy will be replaced by Lonnie Graham as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The SFAI has been fighting to stay afloat, financially, as attendance had declined, but the exit of Levy comes soon after the Board faced criticism over discussing the potential sale of a Diego Rivera mural.

In 2018, Levy became Chair of the Board after serving on the committee since 2013. Last summer, Levy’s term expired but she remained on the Board to support the school as it navigated the pandemic. “I feel I can step back,” Levy told The New York Times in light of the announcement, “SFAI has the runway to rebuild itself.” Levy will work alongside Graham until the end of January to assist in the transition.

The SFAI has been in an ongoing battle to save the school from foreclosure, which was imminent in the spring of last year. A deal was negotiated with the University of California which allowed the 150-year old art school to skirt closing for good. Ultimately, the University of California purchased more than $19 million of the SFAI’s debt from private banks while the board focused on restructuring to safeguard the school’s future.

To help alleviate financial pressures, board discussions included airing the idea to sell a mural by Rivera, a renowned Mexican artist who heavily influenced the San Francisco area. The mural was created in 1931 and holds and estimated value of $50 million. When it broke that the artwork’s future was uncertain, alumni and faculty were outraged by the motion. Soon after, though, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to give the artwork landmark status, which would make any future sale or relocation of the artwork far more difficult.

The SFAI Board also faced backlash after making the decision to use restricted endowment funds to help cover school spending. However, the decision received criticism from a few Board members, one of which stepped down earlier in January, as well as others outside of the committee. According to Graham, last week the Board revisited this and decided to procure a $7 million loan so that the endowment would remain in tact.

Graham, who graduated from the SFAI in 1984, is an artist, photographer, and cultural activist. In 2002 and 2016, he was an adjunct professor at the art institute and became a part of the Board of Trustees in July of last year. He previously worked as the Acting Associate Director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia and the Director of Photography at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburg. A Pew Fellow, Graham is currently the Executive Director of The PhotoAlliance in San Francisco and a professor of art in photography at Pennsylvania State University.

Alongside the election of Graham, John Marx has been elected as Vice Chair of the Board and will replace Bonnie Levinson and Jeremy Stone, who have been co-Vice Chairs since 2020 and 2019, respectively.

“As we move forward,” Graham said in a statement released by the SFAI, “I would like to see the San Francisco Art Institute continue to cultivate and sustain experimentation and innovation in the fine arts as we imagine an inclusive and collaborative educational environment.”

In this week’s Art World Roundup we look at the future for Nick Cave’s Truth Be Told and the Robert S. Duncanson artwork gifted to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris by Missouri Republican. Also, the final Nazi-looted artwork of the Gurlitt trove is returned to the heirs of its rightful owner, the Castello di Rivoli’s part in the pandemic, and an art dealer found guilty for trying to sell a fake Albers painting. 

Sign or not, the Brooklyn Museum wants Nick Cave artwork

In Kinderhook, New York an artwork by Nick Cave continues to divide opinions, but the future of the artwork is a little more certain as the Brooklyn Museum has offered to put the artwork on view this spring. Titled Truth Be Told, Cave’s work consists of 25-foot-tall black vinyl letters that currently partially cover the façade of Jack Shainman’s Kinderhook art space. A “pointed antidote to a presidency known for propaganda that disguises truth and history to present racist and nativist ideology as patriotism,” Truth Be Told was co-designed with Bob Faust and installed in October. Almost immediately, though, Kinderhook residents took issue with the artwork. The issue hinges on if the artwork is actually a sign, which would mean it’s violating city ordinances. Mayor of Kinderhook and the town board have all called for the removal of the artwork and threatened Cave with fines. That dispute is ongoing, but no fines have been implemented, yet. Cave responded to the town’s actions with an open letter that referred to the move as censorship. The letter was signed in support by philanthropist Agnes Gund, MoMA director Glenn Lowry, curator Helen Molesworth, and Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak, among others. Following the open letter, Pasternak made moves to have Truth Be Told come to the Brooklyn Museum where it will now go on view at the same time as the museum will be showcasing one of Cave’s well-known soundsuits. “Museums are being called on to tell the truth, from the painful to the celebratory,” Pasternak told The New York Times on the topic of the artwork. “We can invite a constructive conversation.”

Artwork of hope by Black abolitionist painter headed to the Capitol Building

On Wednesday, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46^th President of the United States and Kamala Harris made history in becoming the first female Vice President. That day, Republican senator Roy Blunt of Missouri presented Biden and Harris with an 1859 painting by Robert S. Duncanson, one of the most acclaimed Black artists in US history, alongside two US flags and a pair of commemorative vases. Called Landscape with Rainbow, Duncanson’s work depicts an idealistic landscape wherein a couple walks through a pasture with a dog beneath the arch of a rainbow. Rainbows are often associated with hope, which was very much Duncanson’s aim with the work, as the painting is described as “a late hope for peace before the onset of Civil War” by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, who is loaning the work. The notions of peace and unity reflect the main theme of Biden’s inaugural address in which he emphasised the need for unity amongst the people of the US. Based in Cincinnati, Duncanson was well-known for his work and his abolitionist political view. However, the artist has gone largely under recognised outside of his home state of Ohio. Blunt call the work “a good sign” and thank Jill Biden, the new First Lady, for her help in selecting the work. “While [Duncanson] faced lots of challenges,” continued Blunt, “he was optimistic, even in 1859, about America.”

Final Nazi-looted artwork returned from Gurlitt trove

The 14^th and potentially final Nazi-looted artwork held in the Gurlitt trove has been returned to the heirs of its rightful owner. The artwork, an 1840s drawing by Carl Spitzweg titled Das Klavierspiel (Piano Playing) was among the nearly 1,600 artworks discovered to belong to Cornelius Gurlitt who had inherited the trove from his father, notorious Nazi art collector Hildebrand Gurlitt. The Spitzweg was belonged to Henri Hinrichsen, a Jewish music publisher, until 1939 when, according to the German Lost Art Foundation, the Gestapo seized the artwork “due to Nazi persecution.” In the following year, the artwork was purchased by Hildebrand and while the money was transferred into Hinrichsen’s account, he was unable to access the money. In September of 1942, Hinrichsen was murdered at Auschwitz. “Behind every one of these pictures stands a human, tragic fate such as that of Auschwitz victim Dr. Henri Hinrichsen,” Monika Grütters, culture minister of Germany, said in a statement. “We cannot make up for this severe suffering, but we are trying with the appraisal of Nazi art looting to make a contribution to historical justice and fulfill our moral responsibility.”

Castello di Rivoli to help distribute vaccines

As vaccines are rolled out around the world, the Castello di Rivoli in Turn will be the first cultural centre to be transformed into a vaccination facility. Working alongside the Rivoli heath authority, the museum’s third floor will be transformed into a vaccination site in the spring. The museum’s climate controlled, security, and current COVID-related protocols make the museum a “well-equipped” and ideal place to transition into such a facility. “Art has always helped, healed and cured—indeed some of the first museums in the world were hospitals,” said Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director of the museum, in a statement. “Our buildings can continue to serve this purpose and fulfil our mission: arte cura—art helps.” The bottom two floors of the museum will remain exhibition and gallery space while the vaccination facilities operate upstairs. Italy was among the first hardest-hit European countries in the pandemic. At the end of last year, Italy also announced pop-up vaccination pavilions designed by Stefano Boeri that will move around Italy’s public squares.

Art dealer found guilty in case involving fake Albers painting

Gabriele Seno was convicted this week after attempting to sell a fake Josef Albers painting for €320,000. In September of last year, the Court of Milan found the art dealer to be guilty for his action although he upholds that he was unaware that the artwork was a forgery. The court handed Seno a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months and a fine of €4,000. Seno is appealing the sentencing. The artwork in question was a yellow and orange variation of Study for Homage to the Square purportedly by Albers. Seno maintains that the artwork was handed down to him by his father, who acquired the work in 1986, and that he believed it to be authenticate. The artwork was viewed by Nicholas Fox Weber, executive director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, who ultimately found it to be a fake. Weber’s opinion of the work weighed heavy in the trial and the judge noted that Weber was “immediately” aware that the artwork was not authentic. The “technique of application of color” and the fact that “the artist’s signature on the painting, apparently referable to Albers, but unquestionably apocryphal to [Weber’s] expert eye” were cited in the judge’s ruling. Albers’ paintings are deceptive in nature and to an untrained eye would appear to be easy to recreate. “People think they are easy to forge as essentially they are three squares,” Weber told the Financial Times, “but in fact [forgeries] are quite recognizable,”

For the director of the Prado, Miguel Falomir, the pandemic has led to at least one positive: a re-evaluation of their collection. With that, the Madrid museum has announced that their permanent collection will be reorganised to better represent and showcase works by foreign and female artists.

While the rehang hasn’t come about by “the whims of curators or the director,” nor has it been the result of the pandemic, per se, Falomir said that the museum’s forced closures had given staff the unique opportunity to revisit and reimagine the collection. Instead the decision was based on the want to make the museum “far more inclusive” and better portray different time periods and schools.

Rejigging the collection will take time, but it is possible that by the summer, some of the changes will already be noticeable. It also seems that some galleries will remain as they are.

An exhibition currently on view at the Prado, called “Uninvited Guests” was noted by Falomir as part of the learning curve to move forward with the reconfiguring of the museum. The exhibition opened at the museum in October and was the first show after the museum reopened following initial COVID-19 lockdowns in Spain. Javier Solana, president of the Prado board of trustees, said the show reflected the “Prado’s determination to continue being a reference point for culture, even in difficult times.” He continued stating that the exhibition aimed “to offer a reflection on the way in which the structures of power defended and disseminated the role of women in society through the visual arts, from the reign of Isabel II to that of her grandson Alfonso XIII.”

However, the exhibition was the recipient of criticism from some art critics and artists who believed the exhibition clung to misogynistic narratives. Early on in the run of “Uninvited Guests,” an art historian even proved that one of the paintings initially included in the exhibition and attributed to Concepción Mejía de Salvador was actually created by a male artist, Adolfo Sánchez Megías.

In recognition of these faults, Falomir said the Prado was taking onboard feedback and “some of the lessons” learned from the exhibition in rethinking the collection.

“There are artistic phenomena and artists who have been totally excluded until now – not just women but aspects as important as social painting, which hadn’t found a place in the 19th-century collection … or painting from different parts of the world, such as the Philippines, whose art is finding itself more and more appreciated,” Falomir said. “It’s not just a question of gender – although women have certainly been excluded from the museum’s permanent collection and its exhibitions,” he continued. “There are also whole periods in the history of art and whole regions that have been excluded. Bit by bit, we’re going to have a more inclusive Prado when it comes to this.”

In addition to the rehang, the Prado has committed to continuing their work to better represent women within the institution. Falomir said the museum will continue to highlight female artists with exhibitions and acquire works by women for their permanent collection. The museum also hopes to increase visibility for female artists through a new research grant that will work through issues of gender in relation to the arts.