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- François Pinault will install a permanent exhibition of 106 works from his collection at Palazzo Grassi, one of his two museums in Venice.
- The Louvre’s security coordinator said the museum is accelerating a “culture of safety and security.”
- An inspection has uncovered that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool liner failed in at least 85 places, far more than previously was known, due to a rushed renovation job.
The Headlines
THE SHOW MUST GO ON. Kering founder and Christie’s owner François Pinault plans to install a permanent exhibition of 106 works from his collection in Palazzo Grassi, one of his two museums in Venice, he told Le Monde. In the interview, he also discussed why he collects and what sparks his attention. “My collection is eminently subjective and very often built on instinct, passion, or even anger in the face of the violence of the present,” he said. He also explained that after years of temporary exhibitions, which give a more fleeting sense of his collection, numbering over 10,000 artworks, a permanent display would allow visitors to fully experience more of the works that have deeply marked him over the years. “A permanent display makes it possible to set works from different periods and generations side by side and to show how … certain questions endure. It is in no way a matter of freezing the collection or offering a definitive reading of it,” he added.
LOUVRE’S TOP COP. Olivier Goupil, a former police commissioner who is now in charge of security at the Louvre in Paris, gave an update to Le Figaro on the beleaguered museum’s current systems and how he is accelerating a “culture of safety and security” at the institution. This ranges from new cameras and detective devices on artworks, to new security checks at entrances. “Everything is urgent, but everything is moving forward,” he said.
The Digest
An inspection report commissioned in August uncovered that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool liner failed in at least 85 places, far more than previously was known, due to a rushed renovation job and the use of improper materials, with no mention of any harm done by vandalism. [The Washington Post]
Artists say they feel silenced by new laws in Turkey prohibiting the depiction of LGBTQI+ symbols in art and culture, including the rainbow. [Taz Newspaper]
Artists are in a pinch after learning that a key material used in sculpture-making, called Hydrocal plaster, will no longer be produced by its main supplier, the USG Corporation in Blaine County, Oklahoma. [The New York Times]
A previously unknown Canaletto pen and ink drawing dated to 1746 to 1755, depicting an overgrown arcade in ruins, has surfaced and is heading to auction at Mallams in the UK on October 21, for a high estimate of $79,000. [Artnet News]
Mexico’s military is putting plans on hold for a massive military museum complex that was proposed for Mexico City, and within part of the beloved Bosque de Chapultepec park. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
SEEING RED. Writing for the Financial Times, reporter Melanie Gerlis visits several red-voting “flyover” states, taking the pulse of what she says are buzzing arts scenes that have attracted a rising cohort of creative talent and market pros. They have recently been joined by the Ostillo Art Foundation in Austin, Texas, a nonprofit backed by collector René Campos that opened last month and is free. Nearby in Houston, “market activity is stepping up,” writes Gerlis, who spoke to Michael Slenske, director of the young Untitled Art: Houston fair, about the city’s philanthropic culture and growing number of established artists moving in, like Rick Lowe, Mark Flood, and JooYoung Choi. Slenske said Houston has “a rising tide of [cultural] ambition.” This tracks with feedback from Atlanta, where Kelly Freeman of fair producer Art Market Production says: “If you want to be part of the community, there are so many people excited to talk to you. It’s not exclusionary, it’s ‘come on in and learn.’”