The Headlines
CONTROVERSIAL SALE. The Phillips Collection, the art museum located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, plans to auction major works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby’s New York on November 20, sparking controversy. The Washington Post reports that director Jonathan Binstock says the proceeds will largely support commissions from living artists, but the decision has stirred intense opposition among longtime supporters and museum members. The artworks, originally acquired by founders Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, are expected to bring in substantial sums: the O’Keeffe painting is valued at $6 million to $8 million, the Seurat drawing at $3 million to $5 million, and the Dove painting at $1.2 million to $1.8 million. Chief curator emerita Eliza Rathbone criticized the decision, arguing that selling such carefully selected pieces undermines the vision of the museum’s founders. After more than 18 months of mostly private debate, tensions peaked last week. A last-minute agreement between museum leadership and opponents will allow this round of sales to proceed but will impose tighter limits on future deaccessioning. Previously, only works listed in the 1999 catalogue “The Eye of Duncan Phillips” were protected; the list only covered a small part of the collection. Under the new policy, all works included in the more comprehensive 1985 “Summary Catalogue” are shielded from sale, except under special circumstances. Liza Phillips, the founders’ granddaughter, expressed deep disappointment, saying the pieces are central to the museum’s identity and should remain public.
CATHOLIC RECONCILIATION. The Vatican has returned 62 artifacts from its Anima Mundi ethnographic collection to Indigenous peoples in Canada, according to the Associated Press. The move marks a significant step in the Catholic Church’s ongoing effort to confront its historical role in suppressing Indigenous cultures. Pope Leo XIV formally transferred the items, including notable pieces such as an Inuit kayak, along with related documentation to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops said the artifacts will be delivered to the appropriate Indigenous communities “as soon as possible,” calling the gesture a meaningful sign of respect, dialogue, and reconciliation. The collection is scheduled to arrive in Montreal on December 6 before being moved to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa. Museum officials will coordinate the process to ensure each artifact is reunited with its originating community. For about a century, the items had been housed in the Vatican’s ethnographic museum, assembled largely from objects sent by missionaries for a 1925 Vatican exhibition. The return comes amid broader debates about the restitution of cultural heritage acquired during colonial eras. Although the Vatican maintains the artifacts were originally given as “gifts,” many historians and Indigenous advocates question the authenticity of such donations, noting the profound power imbalances within Catholic missions and Canada’s forced assimilation policies, described as “cultural genocide” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The Digest
The Portland Art Museum (PAM) will unveil its $116 million expansion and renovation on November 20, a project more than a decade in the making. The centerpiece of the campus transformation is the new Mark Rothko Pavilion. [The Art Newspaper]
The New York Times highlighted six pieces hitting the auction block in New York this week that “could predict the market.” [New York Times]
In rural England, Jenna Burlingham Gallery is pioneering a new type of immersive gallery space that “is reimagining the white cube as a country home.” [Artnet News]
Archaeologists have discovered Australia’s oldest known crocodile eggshells, offering new insight into the elusive lives of ancient mekosuchine crocodiles that once ruled the continent’s interior. The findings suggest these long-extinct reptiles occupied unexpected ecological niches from stalking prey on land to perhaps even ambushing victims by dropping from trees. [Science Daily]
The Kicker
HIGH ART. Perched more than 7,500 feet above sea level, Italy’s newest and most remote cultural site comes into view long before it can be reached, the Guardian reports. A bright red form set against a high ridge in Valbondione along the Alta Via delle Orobie, it resembles a warning marker that gradually resolves into something more reassuring: a wind-battered mountain shelter. Exposed to avalanches and abrupt shifts in weather, the structure is accessible only after a six-to-eight-hour hike across scree, moss, and lingering snow. The Frattini Bivouac, however, contains no artworks. Unstaffed and unticketed, it offers nine sleeping platforms, a wooden bench, and a skylight that frames a strip of sky, its sole “exhibit.” There are no labels or displays, only altitude, weather, silence, and the amplified sounds of breath, boots, and rain. Designed by Turin’s Studio EX with the Italian Alpine Club, the bivouac completes the “Thinking Like a Mountain” project, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea‘s two-year effort to relocate culture into the natural world.
