Art Industry News: Did a Baptist Minister Steal Art From Edward Hopper’s Estate? + Other Stories

NEED-TO-READ

What’s Up With Moscow’s New Museum? – The highly anticipated GES-2 House of Culture, backed by Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, was to be an international art hub. The war and an opinionated backer with close ties to Russian president Putin has stalled all of that. (

Why Art Feels Different Today – In a wide-ranging interview with Maya Perry, Artnet News’s own critic Ben Davis talks about his new book, , and the major shifts in art of the last few years. ()

How Did One Guy Get All These Hoppers? – The Whitney Museum has a new exhibition on Edward Hopper’s New York, informed by a loan of memorabilia from the family of a Baptist minister from Hopper’s hometown. But Gail Levin, a former Whitney curator and editor of the artist’s catalogue raisonné, thinks the minister took advantage of Hopper’s elderly family members, accessing their home and acquiring art to which he was not entitled, and selling off artworks anonymously. She has gone so far as to publish a fictionalized account detailing how she believes the scheme happened. The Whitney has found “no basis” for the claims. (New York Times)

Housing Activists Target NYC Art Center – The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, a $500 million arts center in New York named after the billionaire Trump donor, is scheduled to open in 2023. Activists are calling for more affordable housing instead. (Hyperallergic)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Ed Ruscha in NYC – Next September, the Museum of Modern Art will stage a major career-spanning retrospective dedicated to the Pop artist, who has never had a solo show at the institution, organized by curator Christophe Cherix. It will include Ruscha’s only single-room installation, Chocolate Room (1970). (TAN)

Art to Support Parkinson’s Charity – Sculptures inspired by the brain made by artists including Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk will be sold to raise money for the U.K.-based charity on November 9 at Christie’s London. Prior to the sale, the 12 works will be displayed at Koppel X in Piccadilly, and accompanied by workshops open to the public. ()

Catskills Art Space Debuts New Look – Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, the renovated Catskill Art Space in New York’s Sullivan County is rebranding with major loans of art, including pieces by James Turrell and Sol LeWitt are on view. (NYT)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Anna May Wong to Grace US Currency – The late actress, considered to be Hollywood’s first Chinese American film star, will have her visage on quarters entering circulation in the next week. An activist and prolific actress, Wong is the first Asian American to appear on US currency. (NPR)