Cecilie Hollberg to return as director of Galleria dell’Accademia

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Cecilie Hollberg to return as director of Galleria dell’Accademia | Cecilie Hollberg is returning to the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence as director, having had her contract terminated three months prematurely in August last year. The Italian culture minister at the time, Alberto Bonisoli, had announced a merger with the Uffizi that would remove the Accademia’s autonomy, a plan that will no longer go ahead. Dario Franceschini, who has returned as minister for culture, launched an international search yesterday for new candidates to direct 13 Italian museums. 

Smithsonian will no longer have permanent gallery at V&A East | The Smithsonian is no longer planning to establish a permanent London gallery at V&A East, which is expected to open in 2023, opting instead to present a two-year, co-curated exhibition at the new site. The terms of the partnership between the two institutions had already been altered in 2018, putting an end to earlier plans for the Smithsonian to inhabit a standalone building in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.

Adam M. Levine appointed director of Toledo Museum of Art | The Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in Ohio has named Adam. M. Levine as its next director. Levine, who currently heads the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida, worked at the TMA from 2013–18, originally joining as an Andrew W. Mellon fellow. He has held various roles at the museum, most recently as deputy director and curator of ancient art. Levine rejoins the museum on 1 May.

CAFAM Techne Triennial 2020 postponed due to outbreak of coronavirus | The CAFA Art Museum in Beijing has followed the Chinese government’s advice regarding the coronavirus outbreak and postponed the opening of this year’s CAFAM Techne Triennial, which was set to open on 20 February. The exhibition’s organisers have suspended their preparations and have not yet announced new dates. Numerous cultural sites and museums in China are currently closed in an attempt to contain the spread of the highly contagious virus.

Asheville Art Museum receives grant to digitise Black Mountain College Collection | The Asheville Art Museum has received a $163,694 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to digitise its Black Mountain College Collection, which includes some 3,000 archival documents, artworks and other material relating to the famous school in North Carolina, which counted Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg and Willem de Kooning among its teachers and students. The digitised collection will be made publicly available online.