da Vinci's NFT?

What happens to the value of an NFT when the artwork it is based on is ousted as a fake? This is the question on the minds of many following the sale of an NFT of the allegedly forged La Bella Principessa (1495-96), originally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Last seen publicly at auction in 1998, La Principesssa was verified as a da Vinci original by authenticator Martin Kemp in 2010. However, admissions by art forger Shaun Greenhalgh, who claimed credit for the work, have brought the work’s credibility into question. Such issues with authenticity may have a serious impact on the value of the 500 million-pixel NFT created of the work that sold for $104,000 in April of 2022. 

Closures in California

The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has officially closed its doors. The organization has spent the last two years (since they first announced their imminent closure) attempting to find solutions to their financial woes, which included a potential deal with the University of San Francisco to purchase the school, as well as a controversial proposed plan to sell the school’s famed Diego Rivera mural, but to no avail. Instead, SFAI will continue to exist as a nonprofit organization to protect its legacy and continue stewarding the Rivera mural. In similar news, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara will also close on August 28, due to years of financial hardship that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic

“Christie’s Ventures” Into Tech Startups

Christie’s plans to further explore the intersection of art and technology with a new investment fund for startups. The new division, called “Christie’s Ventures” will be led by Devang Thakkar and will offer both financial support and guidance to its portfolio companies. In addition, its initial focus will be on categories of web3 innovation, art-related financial products, and technologies for viewing art. The first company they plan to fund is LayerZero Labs, which helps consumers transfer assets across different blockchains and will also allow cross-chain developers to build decentralized applications that work across different blockchains. 

“Quality, Not Provenance”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has officially acquired 84 works of Indian art from the collection of artist Howard Hodgkin, who passed away in 2017. Hodgkin’s collection is widely regarded as an important one that spans multiple centuries and various mediums, but it has also come under scrutiny for its provenance. The Ashmolean in Oxford, England reportedly declined to acquire the collection in 2021 after curators could only establish a clear provenance for about 40 percent of the works in it. In the same report, Dogkin’s partner commented that the artist prioritized “quality, not provenance” when acquiring the works from international dealers. The Met has declined to comment on the alleged provenance issues but is currently planning to exhibit the works with additional loans from the collection in 2024.

A Whole New World

The Getty Museum and Apple teamed up for an unlikely collaboration: to bring William Blake’s The Ghost of a Flea figure to life in an Apple store. Five to six animated three-dimensional recreations of Blake's figures gyrated and flew, life size at one moment and larger at another, around the Apple store's mirror-ceilinged auditorium, courtesy of Tin Nugyen and his artist partner Ed Cutting. The project, found in the app store and called United Visions, is an exciting collaboration of technology and art.
 

Stolen Indian Idols turn up in the US?

It has been reported that artifacts from different temples in India, all stolen in 1971, have been traced to Bonhams and Christie's. Waiting to see what happens next ... link.

Ghost of Van Gogh

A Vincent Van Gogh painting, Head of a Peasant Woman, of the National Galleries of Scotland was recently x-rayed revealing a likely self-portrait of Van Gogh on its reverse. Experts believe the self-portrait was painted in the summer of 1887, two years before Head of a Peasant Woman. This was not unusual for Van Gogh, as he would often use the opposite side of canvases to save money. However, the mounting and obstruction of the self-portrait was likely not done by Van Gogh, but by an exhibitionist in Amsterdam, after Van Gogh’s sister-in-law lent it out in 1905. The National Galleries of Scotland is determining whether it is possible to unmount the self-portrait from its cardboard backing safely to preserve both sides of the canvas. 

Check the Label to Protect Indigenous Art

Despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and crafts being a $250 million business, a new draft report from the Productivity Commission says that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists aren’t actually seeing the vast majority of this money. As it turns out, two-in-three “indigenous-style” souvenirs found through the country are actually inauthentic and with no connection to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In response, the commission is calling for new legislation and a mandatory labeling system to help combat what has been referred to as the rampant “cultural theft” of indigenous art. The new proposed legislation would give traditional owners the right to control their cultural assets, place conditions on them, and protect them from misappropriation, including through legal action. 

Pompeii Goes Digital

The archaeological site plans to launch its contemporary art program Pompeii Commitment: Archaeological Matters with two key projects this autumn. The first will be a printed volume that will include contributions from over 60 artists inspired by the site. The second project embraces the digital sphere with a new annual online program referred to as Digital Fellowships, where international participants will be able to access archaeological resources and materials as well as a team of professionals from the site in order to carry out their research. The inaugural project will be a two-part work by Albanian artist Anri Sala entitled Side A (published in September) and Side A Too (published in October); it focuses on the remains of two victims found during 2017 excavations at Civita Giuliana and links this discovery with the recovery of a double flute found during earlier excavations.

DeGroft’s History with “Lost” Art

The Observer reported in late July that former director of the Orlando Museum of Art, Aaron De Groft, who has come under fire for the seized Basquiat collection scandal, has a history of discovering lost art. In addition to the questionable authenticity of the Basquiats, De Groft was also connected to the discovery and attributions of works at his former institutions, such as the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William and Mary College in Virginia. These works included attributions to artists including Paul Cezanne and Titian, which either could not be authenticated or were disputed by experts. 

Stop in the Name of Art Law! 

After blocking the sale of an Artemisia Gentileschi painting at the Vienna auction house Dorothem, Italy has returned the painting to the city of Bari. Why? Because according to one of Italy’s experts, the painting should never have left the country in the first place! Now, Italian law enforcement is investigating the painting’s private owners for intentionally concealing information about the work's real value, provenance, and the identity of its painter, in order to receive an export license from the culture ministry's export office in Genoa.