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The Headlines
THE MAESTRO’S COLLECTION. Art from the collection of the late French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez will be offered at Artcurial in Paris on June 8, the auction house announced. Boulez—who famously declared that “all the art of the past must be destroyed”—held work by a variety of modernist greats. A 1957 pencil portrait of another composer-conductor, Igor Stravinsky, by Alberto Giacometti, carries a €30,000 (about $31,800) low estimate, while an abstract painting by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva from 1983 is tagged at €80,000 ($84,700). Other artists he held include Philip Guston and Zao Wou-Ki. It “was essential for him to live surrounded by the works of his painter and sculptor friends, as well as those of the great inspirational figures of 20th-century modernity,” Artcurial’s Bruno Jaubert said in a statement. In 2008, Boulez curated an exhibition at the Louvre in Paris as part of a series of programs devoted to his work.
HONG KONG DISPATCH. With the opening of Art Basel Hong Kong a month away, and the city’s strict social distancing measures lifted, its “rich are ready to party again as VIP events multiply,” Bloomberg declares. Goodbye, online viewing rooms and virtual activities. One attendee at a recent Sotheby’s event told the outlet, “You’re definitely buying more when you show up in person.” Meanwhile, ArtAsiaPacific reports that the ifva film and video festival, which opens next week, canceled planned screenings of two selections because their directors declined requests by the Hong Kong government to delete scenes related to the 2019 protests. And the South China Morning Post has a report on a sitcom that the art collective Boloho is screening at Hanart TZ Gallery.
The Digest
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is establishing a center for art from Africa and its diaspora, Robin Pogrebin reports. It will be named for financier Ira Brind, a trustee who has donated art and funds for the project. “The missing continent from within our curatorial structure was Africa,” the PMA’s director, Sasha Suda, said. [The New York Times]
The Dallas Museum of Art said that it has upgraded its security systems, following a June incident that saw a man break in and damage several artworks. While declining to disclose the exact cost of the improvements, the DMA’s deputy director, Tamara Wootton Forsyth, put it in “the high five figures.” [The Dallas Morning News]
Officials in Ukraine have installed “impact resistant” panels over the Banksy artworks that appeared on buildings outside of Kyiv late last year. In December, police said that they had thwarted an attempt to steal one of the pieces. [The Washington Post]
On Thursday, Hwang Dal-sung, the president of Seoul’s Keumsan Gallery, won a second term as head of the Galleries Association of Korea by a single vote, edging out Do Hyung-teh, Gallery Hyundai’s president, 69 to 68. The industry group has about 160 member galleries. [The Korea Herald]
Mel C, aka Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls, is reportedly dating an art dealer: Cassius Colman, who cofounded London’s Nelly Duff gallery, which specializes in street and tattoo art. [The Sun]
ARTISTS IN PROFILE.Willie Cole is in the New York Times, Rose B. Simpson is in Vogue, and Kay Smith, who turns 100 next week, is in the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Kicker
THE SPACE RACE. In a new GQ profile by writer Daniel Riley, superstar artist Jeff Koons discussed his newest works, his plan to send tiny sculptures to the moon (“it’s very, very expensive to send anything to the moon”), and a great deal more—and he posed for some unforgettable portraits by Bryce Anderson. A special bonus: Willem Dafoe recalls meeting Koons in the late 1970s (“the same guy as he is now”). Discussing his career and ambition, Koons offered a metaphor. If in the beginning “you’re able to kill a hare, and you bring it home for yourself to eat,” he told the magazine, “at a certain point you’re going to want to hunt for mammoth.” Koons is 68, but you get the sense that he is just getting started. [GQ]