Hermitage increases security following St Petersburg metro attack

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Hermitage ramps up security following St Petersburg metro bombing | St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum is to strengthen security on its premises following the attack on the city’s metro system on 3 April, which killed 14 people. According to the Art Newspaper, the Hermitage has reached an agreement with Russia’s Rosgvardia national guard, which will restore state-funded security personnel to the museum for the first time since cuts were made to its budget in 2015. ‘Security measures in the museum have been greatly intensified, including complete checks on all visitors, which undoubtedly may cause some inconvenience to our guests’, the museum announced in an online statement. For more on museum security, see our previous coverage here.

Stolen Norman Rockwell painting recovered in Philadelphia | A painting by Norman Rockwell that was stolen from a New Jersey home in 1976 has been traced and returned to its owners following an FBI investigation. The painting – known as Lazybones or Boy Asleep with Hoe – appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1919, and was bought by the late Robert and Therese Grant in 1954. The family recently renewed attempts to track down the painting, and a public appeal was issued on the 40th anniversary of the theft. A local antiques dealer recognised the description and stepped forward with the work, which he had previously believed to be a copy. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the theft.

J. M. W. Turner’s Ehrenbreitstein to be auctioned at Sotheby’s | Turner’s 1835 painting Ehrenbreitstein is be auctioned at Sotheby’s, London, in July. Considered one of Turner’s finest landscapes, it is one of only six major paintings by the artist remaining in private hands. It is the first large Turner painting to come to auction since 2014, when Rome, from Mount Aventine sold for a record of £30.3m. Ehrenbreitstein is expected to fetch between £15m–£25m.

Okwui Enwezor wins 2017 International Folkwang Prize | Curator Okwui Enwezor has been awarded the Folkwang Museum’s prestigious International Folkwang Prize (German language article). Enwezor, who is currently artistic director at Munich’s Haus der Kunst, curated Documenta 11 in 2002 and the last edition of the Venice Biennale in 2015. The €25,000 prize has been awarded annually by the museum since 2010.

Richard Parry to direct Glasgow International | Following Sarah McCrory’s departure for London, Richard Parry has been appointed director of the Glasgow International festival. Parry has been curator-director of Blackpool’s Grundy Art Gallery since 2013, and has organised more than 20 exhibitions at the space. ‘Glasgow has a contemporary art scene to rival that of any city in the world’, Parry said in a statement. ‘I look forward to building on the program of my predecessors […] and working with artists based here and internationally to develop its next chapter’.

Leeds Art Gallery to reopen to the public in October | Leeds Art Gallery has announced that it is to reopen to the public in October 2017 following its closure for essential renovations in January last year. According to a statement from the gallery, the renovations uncovered a previously hidden barrel vaulted glazed roof over one of the first floor galleries. The space will be used to display Alison Wilding’s sculpture Arena, which was donated to Leeds by the Contemporary Art Society.

Arena (2000), Alison Wilding. Photo © Peter White, Gifted by Simmons & Simmons through the Contemporary Art Society