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- The first day sales at Art Basel were stronger than last year, even if it’s no selling frenzy.
- An artist who made work criticizing Putin was gunned down in Poland.
- The Louvre museum is “at the end of its rope,” said its president.
The Headlines
IS BASEL BACK? As the aisles cleared yesterday evening from Art Basel’s VIP preview day, one could say that Basel was back. Not that it had ever left. But dealers at the fair told ARTnews that their first day of sales was stronger than last year’s. Swift deals closed at a steady pace, rather than frenzied one. Admittedly, that part of the fair was not back. Some dealers said that the day’s “even” rhythm, and the fact that many big-ticket works had not sold yet, was also a sign of a healthier, less-speculative market headed in the right direction. Many have worried that the trend toward more historic, modern, and established art is leaving contemporary artists in the dust, but by the sounds of it yesterday, dealers confirmed strong interest in the latter category, with broader sales made across their program. Could the auction enthusiasm for historic and ultra-established art be spreading over to other categories? It may be too early to tell, but so far, this year’s Swiss fair marks a moment of transition in a better direction.
ANTI-PUTIN ARTIST KILLED. An exiled Russian satirical artist and outspoken Putin opponent was shot and killed on Monday, in what has been described as an execution-style killing in Poland, reports the Telegraph. Police said two suspects from Belarus were arrested in the ongoing investigation. The 44-year-old victim went by Semyon Skrepetsky, but his real name was Robert Kuzovkov. He was well-known for publicly protesting against Putin and the war in Ukraine, as well as authoritarian-run Belarus and Ukrainian leaders. A few days before his murder, Skrepetsky carried a painting he made of Putin depicted as baby Jesus, held by a haloed Joseph Stalin outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.
The Digest
The Louvre museum is “at the end of its rope,” [a bout de souffle] said its president, Christophe Leribault, in arguments to a Senate cultural committee, for the full renovation of the museum and its aging infrastructure. [Le Monde]
Claire Valdez, the New York State assemblywoman, is also an artist and former art worker. Now, she’s running to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District, or to be New York’s “artist in Congress,” as she put it. [Hyperallergic]
Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum now has one of the most important collections of Arab textiles and cultural objects, thanks to a major acquisition of the Widad Kawar Collection of Arab Dress and Heritage Arts. [The Art Newspaper]
New York artist Gavin Snider says that popular TikTok star Devon Rodriguez has been copying his joyful Knicks paintings in watercolor, commissioned by the team. [Artnet News]
At Basel Social Club, Zurich gallery suns.works is staging a raffle to win a dollar bill on which Andy Warhol made a signed, abstract drawing of a Campbell soup can, for just $12 a pop, and to benefit charity and the fair. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
LET THEM EAT CAKE. Tonight, President Donald Trump will dine at the Palais de Versailles, the old haunt of French kings past turned museum, reports the Washington Post. French President Emmanuel Macron knew the US president had a penchant for all that is gold and for Versailles. He reportedly extended an invitation in the hopes of keeping Trump in town, and of projecting a united G-7 front. “I am a fan of beautiful places,” Trump said yesterday at the G-7 summit. “And Versailles is not gold leaf. Versailles is the real deal.” Trump has modeled his controversial renovation plans for the White House and other projects on Versailles. But Trump may have forgotten—or never learned—that Versailles is also a palatial reminder of what happened to the last French king who lived there, and shared a similarly myopic love for gold and grandeur. (You could say he lost his head over it.) On cue, left-wing French politicians have already shaken their fists at the prospect of wining and dining the mercurial American leader on French taxpayers’ bill, according to Le Figaro. In response, Macron said the event would remain “sobre,” or understated, though it is also intended to celebrate the US’s 250th anniversary. C’est la vie.
