May 2013

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Look back over five vibrant years of Apollo: browse every issue from January 2006 to the present day.

1. ‘Missing’ collection of Eileen Gray furniture has led to a dispute between Robin Symes and the family of Christo Michailidis

Robin Symes, partner of Christo Michailidis, is being investigated over a missing collection of Eileen Gray furniture by the family of Michailidis.
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The collection, thought to be worth £18 million, has allegedly been discretely sold off. The family of Mr. Michailidis claim that Mr. Symes sold the collection, ‘spiriting away the money’ before a court order was given to freeze his assets. Private investigators hired to gather evidence against Symes claim to have discovered information that suggests money laundering involving the Gray collection.

The group was considered one of the most impressive Gray collections in the world, and after the death of Symes a legal battle has developed between Symes and the Michailidis family to locate its whereabouts. London-based law firm, Bird and Bird, who represent the Michailidis family, claim to have obtained details of Symes’s bank accounts that suggest the sale of the furniture and subsequent attempts to hide the figures using a laundering scam.

In his attempt to explain the $10.3million amount found in his account Symes detailed the story of a Middle Eastern woman who had given him all of her jewellery to sell, later changing her mind, giving any profits in exchange for her anonymity. His defence was however quashed upon the translation of the mystery female’s Arabic name to English; ‘total rubbish’. Private investigators remain unsure as to the whereabouts of the Gray collection, with the most persistent indications suggesting a sale from Paris to the Middle East for the collection of a Qatar-based sheikh.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/13/antiques-art-business-robin-symes

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2. Stolen Warhol paintings and $1 million reward

A series of original Warhol sports prints has been stolen from the home of Richard Weisman â“ an award of $1 million has been offered.

A unique collection of original Warhol portraits has been stolen from the dining room of the Los Angeles home of Richard Weisman. The works were portraits of several famous sportspeople including boxer Muhammed Ali. Strangely, however, other valuable works, including other works by Warhol, were left untouched.

Detective Mark Sommer with the LA police department’s art theft unit described the crime as ‘very clean’ and that the thieves ‘for some reason⦠had an interest in this collection. Weismann has said that the theft of the works has left him and his family with a profound ‘personal loss’. He has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the portraits.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/13/andy-warhol-theft-reward

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3. Leibowitz update â“ agreement reached

Annie Leibowitz has reached an agreement with the company that loaned her $24 million. Art Capital Group has said that it will restructure the photographer’s finances and allow for a lawsuit to be settled between them. Leibowitz could however still be at risk of losing her homes and the rights to her photographs.

The photographs and Leibowitz’s properties remain collateral for the loan and legal experts have said that another deadline is imminent. As part of the settlement between the two parties Ms Leibowitz was able to buy back the rights to sell her homes and the copyrights to her work. It is possible that to pay back the loan she will have to sell some property or rights to her photographs.

Ms Leibowitz has said she is ‘appreciative to Art Capital for all they have done to resolve this matter and for their cooperation and continued support’.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/agreement-reached-on-annie-leibovitz-loan/

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4. Gagosian planning to open gallery in Paris

Gagosian is preparing to open a branch in Paris, according to dealers.

Bloomberg’s Scott Reyburn reports that dealers familiar with the Gagosian Gallery are talking about Gagosian’s plans to open a branch of the gallery in Paris. Dealers have said that the New York-based gallery has been negotiating to acquire premises in the eighth arrondissement of the French capital near the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23695

5. New Darwin Centre open at the Natural History Museum

Millions of plants and animal specimens are now on display at the Natural History Museum’s new £78 million Darwin Centre. The centre will allow visitors to see the museum’s scientists at work in glass-fronted laboratories; some will be fitted with intercom to allow visitors to quiz scientists as they work.

Prince William and Sir David Attenborough were present at the opening of the centre. The prince called the centre ‘the envy of the worldâ¦one that will further enhance the museum’s peerless reputation’. Sir David Attenborough also described how the centre ‘will enable all of us to explore the wonders of our world and investigate its secrets’ and ‘will inspire the next generation of naturalists and scientists through its combination of scientific expertise, specimens, public dialogue, film and interactive media’.

The centre will offer 1,040 square metres of laboratory space with the top three floors devoted to new galleries exhibiting some of the most precious and oldest objects of the collection, including specimens brought back by Charles Darwin from his Beagle voyage.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/14/darwin-centre-cocoon-opening

6. Bloomsbury Auctions and Dreweatts to join together and become one of the largest UK auctioneers

The alliance of the two organisations, Bloomsbury Auctions and Dreweatts, would see the creation of one of the largest UK auction houses with one of the highest levels of expertise. Bloomsbury Auctions has offices in London, New York, and Rome with Dreweatts owning five regional auction rooms in the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/artsales/6192422/Art-Market-News.htmlhttp://artforum.com/archive/id=23717

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7. Long Beach Museum of Art faces funding cuts

It has been announced that the Long Beach City Council is cutting the funding of its Museum of Art. The museum is set to receive less than half of the council funding it received last year.

The museum’s director, Ronald Nelson, has said that staff jobs will depend on the gifts given by donors. He called the cut in funds ‘punitive and rather short-sighted’. The cuts are unlikely to be overruled.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23716

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8. Threadneedle prize-winner announced

Sheila Wallis won the award for her self-portrait â“ the prize money that she achieved for her naked self-portrait will go towards a new studio.

Sheila Wallis, 36, born in Londonderry, described how she was left ‘gobsmacked’ upon hearing of her win. She said that she would like to spend the £25,000 on a new art studio and that she would like to begin showing her work in Northern Ireland.

Wallis spoke of the ‘deal of exposure’ that her work deals with and its ‘exposure of the existential human condition’.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23710

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8255987.stm

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9. New dean of academic affairs announced at the San Francisco Art Institute

The San Francisco Art Institute announced the appointment of Jeannene Przyblyski as its new dean of academic affairs.

Przyblyski has a PhD in Art History from UC Berkeley, and is described as an artist, historian, urban strategist, and instructor. After teaching at SFAI for many years, she joined the faculty of the Institute in 2005. Przyblysky has been the chair of the program in history and theory of contemporary art since its inception, in 2006, as part of SFAI’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23714

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10. Franklin Sirmans Appointed Chief Curator of Contemporary Art at LACMA

The Los Angeles County Museum has announced its new department head and curator of contemporary art; Frank Sirmans, a curator of modern and contemporary art at the Menil Collection in Houston, will assume his new position in January.

Sirmans, a graduate of Wesleyan University, was an editor at Flash Art and ArtAsiaPacific and at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York.

Sirmans will oversee a department at LACMA that focuses on works made since 1968. It is expected that he will use his writing skills to strengthen the museum’s publication program.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23755

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11. Lucy Mitchell-Innes Elected ADAA President

Lucy Mitchell-Innes has been voted president of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). Mitchell-Innes will be the first female president of the association. She is a director of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, a gallery with locations in both Madison Avenue and Chelsea that she co-founded with her husband, David Nash, in 1996.

Before founding the gallery, Mitchell-Innes was the worldwide head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s.

http://artforum.com/archive/id=23726

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12. Jerwood Drawing Prize 2009 announced

Mit Senoj, a.k.a. Tim Jones, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, has been named the first prize-winner, receiving £6,000 for his drawing The Drum. The artist has said his work explores ‘the psychological response to our inner science’ and ‘the distortion of the natural law of forms, the misappropriation of the familiar into the unimaginable’.

This year the prize received 2,300 entries considered by a distinguished panel of judges. Second prize was awarded to George Charman, who received £3,000 for his image Ruin 3. Two student awards were also given to Frances Stacey and Roxanne Goffin, both receiving £1,000.

Roger Malbert, senior curator, Hayward Touring, Southbank Centre, London and one of the 2009 exhibition selectors described how it was a ‘privilege’ to be asked to judge the submissions for this year, with a ‘resurgence of interest in drawing among contemporary artists’ giving a ‘new relevance’ to the prize.

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13. Record year for acquisitions to Tate Collection

At their annual press conference, Tate announced their most successful year on records for acquisitions. The total value of works acquired for the collection in 2008/9 is £96.7 million, with gifts and bequests worth in excess of £64 million also entering the collection.

Tate has said that 589 works were solely acquired by Tate this year and 1,126, including 421 Joseph Beuys posters, acquired as part of the Artist Rooms collection. This is the highest number of works to enter the collection in a single year in Tate’s history.

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