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The headlines
THE WAR IN UKRAINE. Finland said it is releasing confiscated artworks that were en route to Russian museums after appearing in exhibitions in Italy and Japan. Graham Bowley reports in New York Times . Last week, Finnish customs officials stopped the works from being transported and cited sanctions against Russia. Finland gave up the works, saying it was acting in collusion with European Union officials; The EU said it is updating its rules to exempt “cultural objects loaned out within the framework of formal cultural cooperation with Russia” from the exception. That’s good news for Russian museums, which loaned works to a blockbuster that just closed in Paris Louis Vuitton Foundation. However, at least two works from this exhibition are not currently being returned to their owners AFP reports: one belongs to a sanctioned Russian oligarch, Peter Aven, the other in a museum in Dnipro, Ukraine. Both will initially be held in France.
THE AUTHOR AND ART CRITIC ELEANOR MUNRO, whose classic book from 1979, Originals: American Women Artistsprofiled figures like Alice Nell, Believe Ringgoldand Helen Frankenthalerdied on April 1st at the age of 94, Neil Genzlinger reports in New York Times. In the 1950s Munro was an editor at ARTnewsand married his editor in 1960, Alfred M. Frankfurter, who died in 1965. Throughout her long career, Munro has written extensively on art, religion and more; Her other volumes include The Golden Encyclopedia of Art (1961) and On Glory Roads: A Pilgrim’s Book of Pilgrimage (1987). Her papers are in the Smithsonian‘s Archive of American Art.
The abstract
A BASQUIAT BONANZA. A show about artists Jean Michel Basquiat organized by his sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveauxjust opened saturday on the Starrett-Lehigh Building in New York, and the press is hot: the New York Timesthat wall street journal, Harper’s Bazaarand Fashion have stories.
MoMA PS1the director, Kate Fowlegot the profile treatment from Robin Pogrebin, and discussed how she worked to open up the Queens Museum to its local community. A Fascinating Tidbit: Former PS1 Chairs Agnes Gund said she would like to see the museum separate from MoMA and establish an independent identity. Gund is a board member of both institutions, but her plan seems to be nowhere in sight. [The New York Times]
That British School in Rome, an arts and humanities research center, has reportedly been accused by two dozen people of poor working conditions. The organization said it had completed a “comprehensive, independent and confidential” investigation; Its chairman said the organization is “now well positioned to expand the UK’s creative and academic presence in Italy”. [The Guardian]
An artist named jesus cees may be charged for painting a colorful mural in a listed chapel in rural Spain. Cees is unrepentant and not quite finished after four months of illicit work, but had to interrupt his efforts after falling off a ladder while painting the ceiling and breaking his wrists. [The Guardian]
“Lately, fashion houses and art galleries are looking for renowned writers for collaborations that will polish their brands.” Cody Delistraty reports. Valentino hired top writers to write stories and last year Gagosian started picture booksan imprint that brings authors and artists together. [Wall Street Journal]
writer Aileen Kwun looked at the history of Korean hanbok and found that such traditional clothing plays a role Nam June Parklast work. [The New York Times]
A correction: is friday breakfast incorrectly stated that “A Movement in All Directions: Legacies of the Great Migration” was about to open Art Museum Baltimore. The show was actually supposed to open on Mississippi Art Museum– and has now done so. It can be seen in Jackson through September 11th and arrives in Charm City on October 30th.
The kicker
JORDAN MOONEY, a legendary member of the London punk scene of the 1970s, died on April 3rd at the age of 66, Penelope Green reports in New York Times. Famous for their rubber outfits and towering hairstyles, and for their performances on stage sex guns Sets, for which Mooney was a kind of mascot sexthe clothing business started with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood where she worked. “I saw her as an English archetype,” she criticized Jon Savage said the newspaper. “Like a parody of a 1950s suburban housewife crossed with a dominatrix, the mirror image of Margaret Thatcher.” [The New York Times]