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THE HEADLINES
WARHOL SETTLEMENT. The Andy Warhol Foundation and photographer Lynn Goldsmith have agreed to a settlement over a landmark copyright dispute. Last year the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the celebrity photographer in a controversial decision that said a Warhol silkscreen of the rockstar Prince, reprinted in a Condé Nast magazine, was not “fair use” under copyright law. Both parties announced their settlement on Friday to a New York federal court, and said Warhol’s estate would pay Goldsmith over $21,000, including $11,000 in court costs, according to a joint filing.
SCULPTURE PARK EXAMINES SLAVERY. A new sculpture park dedicated to the story of the 10 million people enslaved in America will open March 27, in Montgomery, Alabama. Developed by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, the new, 17-acre Freedom Monument Sculpture Park follows a path along the Alabama River. It is interwoven with artworks like Simone Leigh’s 16-foot Brick House , 170-year-old cabins that housed slaves, historical exhibits, and it culminates with a monument nearly four stories high, inscribed with the names of 122,000 formerly enslaved people. Stevenson said the need to build the park developed after he experienced disappointing visits to former plantations centered on the lives of the slave-owners, while marginalizing those of slaves. With this new sculpture park, he hopes visitors will have a “really honest experience with the history of slavery,” reports The Los Angeles Times.
THE DIGEST
A new Actionist private art museum opens this week in Vienna, celebrating the 1960’s and 70’s radical performance works of artists such as Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. The Museum of Vienna Actionism (WAM) will display 100 works for its opening, including photographs of performances, some paintings and sketches. [France 24]
Collector Jitendra V. Singh, who managed to assemble the entire “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” series by Edo 19th century Japanese printmaker Hokusai, is selling the full set at Christie’s, for an estimated $3 million to $5 million. [The New York Times]
The UK’s National Trust announced several seeds have sprouted from the beloved Sycamore Gap tree, felled in what police believe was an act of vandalism. The world-famous tree was cut down in September, and only a stump now remains where it once stood, framed by two undulating knolls near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland National Park. [Heritage Daily]
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has listed Margaret Thatcher as a “contemporary villain,” and “unpopular public figure,” among others, such as Adolf Hitler, and Osama bin Laden. The comparison was made in a display label for a show about British humor, but Thatcher fans didn’t find much to laugh about. [The Times]
The iconic ruby slippers Judy Garland wore when she played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz will be exhibited in a world tour, before being auctioned in December. The slippers were recovered after being stolen nearly 20 years ago, because thieves believed they were made of real rubies. [Euronews]
THE KICKER
OWN IT. Phillip Ilhenacho, director of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), currently under construction in Nigeria’s Benin City, recently spoke with The Art World: What If …?! about the country’s creative potential. In his talk, Ilhenacho also revealed an innovative concept for the museum’s funding model, designed to cover the bulk of its costs through a “campus” of commercial and non-profit spaces around the museum, all located on 20-acres of land MOWAA owns. Ilhenacho developed the idea after canvasing international art institutions for advice on offsetting their dependence on philanthropic handouts. Ilhenacho also addressed the misconception that “all” of the Benin Bronzes outside Nigeria were initially slated to be exhibited in the new museum, a notion that caused tension with the king of Benin, Ewuare II, who has been recognized as their owner. Ilhenacho said MOWAA never planned to showcase all the bronzes, and will feature ancient to contemporary artworks. Nigeria ”has incredible objects that are languishing in storerooms… and that deserve a place in the sun,” said Ilhenacho.
