– Qatar's Royal Collector's Unpaid Art Tab: Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani, the royal collector of Qatar who allegedly spent over $1.5 billion on art, has also allegedly wracked up a $60 million debt to auction houses all over the globe and is now being sued in London for failing to pay $19.7 million for a set of Greek coins he recently bought at auction in New York. "He bids, wins and then doesn’t pay," Jeffrey Gruder, lawyer for the plaintiff trio of coin dealers, said of the Sheikh. "One can only conclude that this is a person acting dishonorably and disreputably. He is bidding when he knows he’s not going to be able to pay... Perhaps in a perverse way he enjoys the process of bidding." The Sheikh's lawyer says that he has been "trying to pay" for nine months and that the dealers have no contract of sale to produce against him. [International Business Times]
– Corcoran's Fate Rests With its Board: The future of Washington, D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery, whose recent proposal to sell its longtime home and move outside the city is just the latest in a series of desperate financial fixes, is now in the hands of the 14 men and women on its board of trustees, led by chairman Harry F. Hopper III, a collector of contemporary art and a venture capitalist. "We don’t claim to have a granular playbook on how a new leader is supposed to execute a vision," Hopper said. "We have come up with a framework within which a visionary leader can allow the institution to flourish. Exactly what shape that takes is an organic process that will be led by the new leadership that we bring in." [WaPo]
– Texas Museums Double Down on Islamic Art: Texas museums are making a serious commitment to Islamic art. The Dallas Museum of Art has appointed Sabiha Al Khemir — the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha — as a new senior advisor, while the MFA Houston has inked an agreement with the al-Sabah Collection, one of the greatest groupings of Islamic art in the world, to borrow some 60 objects. "We have a very large Muslim community who are active supporters of the museum," said MFA Houston director Gary Tinterow. "We are thrilled to have the art and objects that reflects their culture." [NYT, Artforum]
– Money Launderers Caught With Banksy Stash: Two men serving seven years for money laundering in Southwark, England may have been dealing in more than just cash. Along with £800,000 found in their possession, police confiscated 49 urban works of art, the majority by Banksy. The artwork was valued at £422,300. The men — Charith Abeysinghege, 29, and Richard Wheatley, 45 — were originally sentenced last April. [Yellowcard]
– Capital Gains Uncertainty Means Top Lots at Auction: New York's auction season kicks off on Wednesday with a cache of paintings by Rothko, Picasso, and Monet estimated to sell for eight figures each. Why so many blockbuster lots? A significant number of American collectors have decided to part with their art now because they are worried that capital gains taxes on fine art could rise from their current 28 percent. "That concern is what accounts for more discretionary selling this fall," said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s contemporary art department chief. [NYT]
– Hotel Gallery to Close After Nine Years: Hotel, the contemporary art gallery in London, will close its doors after over nine years in business. Financial issues have made maintaining the space impossible, according to founders Darren Flook and Christabel Stewart. (The two were also founding participants of the Independent Fair in New York.) The gallery debuted in 2003 with a white neon sign by Peter Saville that read "Vacancies." It represents Richard Kern, Mike Bouchet, Alistair Frost, and others. [Artforum]
– Abu Dhabi Art Fair Enlists Starchitects: Three of the world's leading architects — Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, and Norman Foster — will participate in a panel at next week's Abu Dhabi Art Fair in which each discusses his respective long-delayed major museum project in the city: Gehry's Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Foster's Zayed National Museum. "It’s symbolic that these three architects are speaking together in the Saadiyat Cultural District as the museums they designed are being realised around them," said Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of the state-run Abu Dhabi tourism agency that operates the fair. [TAN]
– Fitzwilliam Raises Poussin Cash: A combination of public donations and funding from Heritage Lottery has raised the £4 million ($6.4 million) that Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum needed to acquire a £14 million ($22.5 million) painting by Nicolas Poussin, "Extreme Unction," which will go on display at the museum early next month. "Now this masterpiece will be available to all," said the museum's director David Scrase, "transforming our existing collections at the Fitzwilliam." (For the Fitzwilliam's video making the case for keeping "Extreme Unction," see you VIDEO OF THE DAY, below.) [BBC]
– Royal Academy Goes Down Under: For the first time in more than a half-century, London's Royal Academy will devote a major exhibition to Australian art. (Its 2012-13 season also includes Britain's first George Bellows retrospective and the surefire blockbuster "Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape.") "Australia," which will run September 21-December 8, 2013, will boast 180 works ranging from Aboriginal art and works by European settlers to contemporary art. [Telegraph]
– Jo Longhurst Wins Grange Prize: British photographer Jo Longhurst, 50, known for her striking portraits of gymnasts and dogs, has claimed the Grange Prize, a $50,000 Canadian award for international contemporary photography. Thanks to her win, she will also join the Art Gallery of Ontario's artist-in-residence program in Toronto. Previous winners of the award include Gauri Gill of India, Canadian photographer Kristan Horton, and Marco Antonio Cruz of Mexico. [Independent]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
The case for keeping Nicolas Poussin "Extreme Unction" at the Fitzwilliam Museum
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