“À bout de souffle” (1960) dir.Jean-Luc Godard, GIF via Alsk00
- Olga Hirshhorn, art collector and widow of Joseph H. Hirshhorn (of Hirshhorn Museum fame), has passed away at the age of 95. [The New York Times]
- Frances Beatty, a collector/dealer who first entered the business with the thought “That’s like being a drug dealer—that’s awful,” is on a mission to archive and art-canonize the oeuvre of Ray Johnson, “the most famous unknown artist”. [Observer]
- I guess we have to stop using “hotel art” as a pejorative—in some cities, hotels have collections to rival museums, including dedicated curators. [TheStreet]
- “When your great-great-grandfather paints anything worth $78.1 million, then you can criticize. In the meantime, it is safe to say that the free market has spoken and Renoir did NOT suck at painting.” — Genevieve Renoir, who alleges she’s a descendant of the painter, responding to the Renoir-haters who’ve taken to social media and even protests to spread their criticism. She also has some choice emojis for those who offend her family’s honor. [artnet News]
- Coverage of protesters outfront the Boston Museum of Art picketing the museum for the display of its Renoirs. The interview with Max Geller, the founder of “renoir sucks at painting” instagram account is really entertaining. “Why do hate Renoir?” “I hate Renoir because he is the most overrated artist east, west, north and south of the river Seine. If you took his word for it, trees would be a collection of disgusting, green squiggly lines and eyeballs would be jet black as if they were colored by sharpies. In real life trees are beautiful; Renoir just sucks at painting.” Do you also hate the other French Impressionists: Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Gustave Caillebotte?” “No, and I resent the question.” There’s more where that came from. [NPR]
- Douglas Druick is stepping-down from his role as president of the Art Institute of Chicago. No successor has been named yet. [Chicago Tribune]
- Scotia Bank will no longer be the lead sponsor for Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s annual festival of light. This may spell trouble for the festival, which relies on its lead sponsorship funding to support the events of the . [CBC]
- This is a good read from Brendan Greaves about the challenges of assimilating “outsider” or “vernacular” art into the larger discourse. The market has been quick to accept it (though prices are unpredictable) but there’s a lack of dedicated institutional support to contextualize it. As an aside, how does one classify the work of Marlon Mullen? He’s an autistic painter at the Bay Area’s famed NIAD Art Center for artists with disabilities, but his work is informed by art publications—very much in dialog with the mainstream art world. And they’re great. [ARTnews]
- Girl Guides of Canada have produced guidelines for the inclusion of transgender members. [Girl Guides]
- Rhizome’s front page will be Joe Hamilton’s “Indirect Flights” through Sunday. We love it. Here’s some text about the piece. [Rhizome]
