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The Headlines
‘NO ONE WAS LIKE VERMEER,’ the great Jonathan Richman sings, which of course is true, but that has not kept people from minting forgeries. Two, as it happens, are included in an October show that the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is readying, the Art Newspaper reports. However, the exhibition actually centers on the NGA’s four works that are by, or attributed to, the Dutch master, which specialists were able to examine during the pandemic shutdown. There have been some revelations, but do not be alarmed: The two full Vermeers remain full Vermeers. In addition, one “attributed to” Vermeer, Girl with a Red Hat (1666–67), is now confirmed as a full Vermeer, Martin Bailey writes. The NGA is planning to reveal its findings about the other, Girl with a Flute (1665–75), right before the exhibition opens: a curatorial cliffhanger!
NEW POSTINGS. In the United Kingdom, Tate has named as its managing director Carmel Allen, who is currently CEO of Tate Commerce, Planet Attractions reports. Allen has previously worked as a creative director for various brands and at Condé Nast and the Guardian Media Group. Her new role encompasses publishing, retail, licensing, and more. And in the Lone Star State, Dallas Contemporary has named Lucia Simek director of external affairs, a newly created position, according to the Dallas Morning News. She’s coming from the Nasher Sculpture Center, where she is currently senior manager of communications and international programs.
The Digest
Graffiti artist Dmitry Vrubel, who created a famed mural on the Berlin Wall in 1990 that has the late Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker kissing, has died at 62. [ArtReview]
Kiki de Montparnasse, the artist, cabaret performer, and Man Ray muse who posed for his iconic (and record-setting) photograph Le Violon d’Ingres (1924), is the subject of a new biography by Mark Braude, who argues that she treated “her life as an ongoing work of art.” [The Associated Press]
The new Taipei Performing Arts Center, designed by OMA with a budget of $223 million, has finally opened, more than a decade after construction began. The very dramatic building has been described by the firm (quite aptly) as “a planet docking against the cube.” [CNN]
Architect Michael Chen, a cofounder of Design Advocates, which does pro bono work for community projects, has a Paul Mpagi Sepuya photograph above his couch, and loves the Noguchi Museum in Queens. “It’s a museum that is basically a garden,” he said. “What a wonderful idea.” Hear, hear! [Curbed]
This New York City home features a Jean Prouvé chair, sculpture by Max Simon, a 1930s Hermès lamp, and a dining room table that is also—wait for it—a Ping-Pong table, by Sean Woolsey Studio. [Architectural Digest]
The Kicker
A DOGE IN HIS PALACE. Pour yourself another cup of coffee (or another beverage of your choice). Artist Anish Kapoor got the profile treatment from Rebecca Mead in the New Yorker, and it is a rich, long read. One peg for the story is the superstar’s inaugural show at the grand space he acquired for his foundation in Venice, which opened during the Biennale. “The truth of the matter is that I sell a good bit of work each year, and that allows me to keep going with ambition, and to do stupid things like buy a bloody palazzo,” Kapoor said. [The New Yorker]