CHICAGO and PHILADELPHIA – Chicago auction house Hindman has announced a merger with Philadelphia-based Freeman’s and the opening of a permanent saleroom in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The new firm, which consolidates two of America’s top regional firms, will henceforth operate under the name Freeman’s Hindman.
Smithsonian American Art Museum receives $2M gift from Frankenthaler Foundation
WASHINGTON, DC – On July 31, the Smithsonian American Art Museum announced a $2 million gift from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation that culminates a major campaign to support the museum’s fellowship program, considered the preeminent program for American art scholarship since being founded in 1970. The gift will establish an endowment to support the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Fellowship in modern and contemporary art and the professional development of fellows at the museum. It is the largest single gift to the campaign and the largest gift ever to the museum’s fellowship program.
Collection of renowned interior designer Robert Kime to sell at Dreweatts this fall
NEWBURY, U.K. – Dreweatts Donnington Priory will auction the personal collection of Robert Kime (1946-2022), the man known across the world as a titan of design and a polymath who was dubbed the ‘great assembler’ of beautiful things. Kime’s unique eye and aesthetic sensibility led him to become a leading interior design figure. The culmination of his lifetime of collecting will form a three-day auction at Dreweatts titled Robert Kime: The Personal Collection, which will take place on October 4-6 and will comprise more than 750 lots ranging in value from £30 to £100,000 ($38 to $127,700). It is expected to achieve in excess of £1.5 million (roughly $1.9 million).
Chrysler Museum of Art unveils bronze plaque acknowledging Indigenous Peoples
NORFOLK, Va. – The Chrysler Museum of Art recently unveiled a bronze plaque recognizing the Indigenous Peoples, the traditional stewards of Tsenacommacah, the land on which the museum is located. The plaque is placed in Huber Court. The acknowledgment affirms the Chrysler Museum’s commitment to honoring the Indigenous Peoples whose cultural heritage and artwork is currently held in its collection.
Chrysler Museum of Art returns Bakor monolith to Nigeria
NORFOLK, Va. – The Chrysler Museum of Art and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria (NCMM) have collaborated on the restitution of an original Bakor monolith from the village of Njemetop in Cross River State to Nigeria.
Artifacts looted during colonial period returned to Sri Lanka and Indonesia
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – Two Dutch museums have handed over hundreds of cultural artifacts back to Indonesia and Sri Lanka – from a richly decorated cannon to precious metals and jewelry – that were taken, often by force, in the colonial era. The government announced the planned restitution of 478 “cultural objects” on July 6. Some Western nations are returning looted artifacts and other objects as part of a reckoning with their often brutal colonial histories.
Europe’s great churches struggle to accommodate both worshippers and tourists
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – A recent Saturday evening Mass at Sagrada Familia parish had all the hallmarks of a neighborhood worship service, from prayers for ill and deceased members to name-day wishes for two congregants in the pews. But it also featured security checks to get in and curious tourists peering down to take photos of the worshippers from above. The regular Mass is held in the crypt of modernist architect Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece church, one of Europe’s most visited monuments. With tourism reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic records in Barcelona and across southern Europe, iconic sacred sites are struggling to accommodate the faithful who come to pray and the millions of visitors who often pay to view the art and architecture.
Bob Dylan’s 1914 Scottish Highlands estate lists for $3.9M
NETHY BRIDGE, Scotland – Bob Dylan, one of America’s greatest songwriters, rose to fame during the 1960s with hits such as Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin’. His songs captured the tumultuous spirit of the time and became anthems for the anti-war and civil rights movements. The winner of 10 Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Dylan has sold more than 145 million albums and performed more than 3,000 shows. Now 82, Dylan continues to tour, having recently wrapped up his European concert series. In addition to his musical career, Dylan has published nine books of paintings and drawings and his visual art has been exhibited at major galleries. For the last 17 years, he has owned a stately mansion known as Aultmore House in Nethy Bridge in the Cairngorm National Park in Scotland. Unable to visit it since the Covid-19 pandemic, Dylan has listed the property for sale, accepting offers in excess of £3,000,000, or $3.9 million.
Old World Auctions sale of antique maps navigated its way to $290K
RICHMOND, Va. – A spectacular wall map celebrating the New World – Henry Abraham Chatelain’s Carte Tres Curieuse de la Mer du Sud – and rare maps from 1622 and 1596 were among the top-selling items in Old World Auctions’ latest auction, which ran for two weeks and ended on June 21. Of the nearly 800 lots in the auction, 78% sold, and the event totaled $290,000.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument’s legality affirmed by appeals court
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On July 18, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the legality of an expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument made by President Obama in 2017, reversing a lower court decision that threw the monument’s boundaries into doubt. This federal court ruling joins a victorious ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in April that also declared the monument expansion lawful.