Joseph Beuys's Nazi Ties Assailed, James Franco Takes Up Street Art, and More

Published: May 20, 2013

– Beuys Biography Alleges Nazi Ties: In his incendiary new biography of Joseph Beuys, the art historian Hans Peter Riegel suggests that the revered German artist's devotion to the occult beliefs and racial theories of Rudolf Steiner eventually shaped not only his politics but also his art, while many of his friends and patrons were long-time or former Nazis. Riegel, the previous author of a muckraking biography of Jorg Immendorff, claims that totalitarian tendencies and enduring belief in Steiner's loopier theories remained present in Beuys's politics and artistic production throughout his life, as well as a firm belief in Germans' superiority. Film director Oskar Roehler has supposedly expressed an interest in the biography, though Roehler himself says that "judging [Beuys] politically would be to whittle him down." [Spiegel]

– James Franco Paints Mural in Brooklyn: On Saturday artist-actor-icon James Franco was spotted on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, painting a large mural promoting his new film "This Is the End," an apocalyptic comedy in which the film's many stars play exaggerated versions of themselves. Franco rendered each of his co-stars in stylized portraits, including a zombie-like, Expressionist take on Jonah Hill, and a Munchian self-portrait evocative of the tortured pose in "The Scream." [Gawker]

– $15M Mystery Donation for Miami Museum: The Pérez Art Museum Miami— future home of the the Miami Art Museum, due to open in December during Art Basel Miami Beach— has received a gift of $12 million in cash and artworks whose value amounts to $3 million from an anonymous donor. "I can say almost nothing about it except that I’m thrilled," said Thom Collins, the museum's director. "We talked back and forth and ended up with this wonderful gift," added the chairman of the museum's board of trustees, Aaron Podhurst. "That’s all I can say. It’s a person who wants to do very good things in the community." [Miami Herald]

– Mobile Pompidou Halted: The Centre Pompidou's acclaimed mobile museum, which has been visited by over 200,000 inhabitants of art-deprived communities throughout France since it took to the open road in 2011, has been parked, permanently, due to lack of funding. The project, which cost €2.5 million to launch and required an additional €200,000 at every stop, was fueled by a combination of private and public funding that has now dried up. Pompidou director Alain Séban isn't giving up on the mobile approach, and plans to open pop-up Pompidou outposts, lasting three or four years, in communities in France and abroad. [Libération]

– Warhol Authentication Board and Foundation Too Close: An ongoing lawsuit filed in 2010 against the Andy Warhol Foundation by its insurer, the Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, suggests that the ties between the Foundation and the since-closed Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board were much closer than the two supposedly independent groups suggested. Now a countersuit filed by the Warhol Foundation is headed to trial, where lawyers for Philadelphia Indemnity plan to disclose "other, unspecified defenses." "This is simply another rehash of the same lies, distortions and half-truths that have been made in the past, all of which have been completely discredited and not a single one of which has ever been proven in court," said Joel Wachs, the president of the Warhol Foundation. [New York Review of Books, TAN]

– Art Stock Exchange Crashes: A plan to create what was intended to be a "stock exchange for art" dubbed SplitArt— whereby collectors could convert their holdings into certificates that would be traded online — has come to an end in liquidation in court in Luxembourg after its founders disagreed on the business's direction. "The majority wanted to build an IT platform and stock exchange to make money, but the minority saw the project as a way of creating a new transparent, liquid, efficient market," said a minority investor. [FT]

– Canada's National Gallery Goes Indigenous: The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) has opened what is billed as the largest exhibition to date of contemporary art by members of indigenous populations, "Sakahan" (Algonquin for "to light a fire"), which is also the largest show in the institution's 130-year history, with more than 80 artists contributing over 150 works. The institution plans to hold this international survey every five years. "It’s an exercise of empowerment [for artists] as well," said NGC director Marc Mayer. "You can’t do that once; you have to do it repeatedly so that there’s something to aspire to, to work toward, to be included in the pantheon of indigenous art every five years. I think we’re the right country to play host to that exercise, the ideal country, in fact." [Globe and Mail]

– Hirshhorn Bubble Could Burst Smithsonian's Slump: An internal report by the Smithsonian Institution leaked last week revealed the high costs of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's long-planned "Bloomburg Bubble" — an inflatable structure that would rise out of the building's roof — casting doubt on its completion. The pricey project could help cast off Washington, D.C.'s aura of aesthetic stagnancy and aesthetic conservatism, according to Pulitzer-winning critic Philip Kennicott. "Greenlighting the Bubble will require an act of faith, in the leadership that proposed it and the architecture firm that has designed it," he writes. "More important, it will require faith in the power of ideas and culture, in the proposition that art has something to say, that its voice needs to be heard in Washington, that there are alternatives to our dismal political culture already in circulation, waiting to be heard, transformative in their power." [WaPo]

– MOCA Delays Architecture Show: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has delayed the opening of "A New Sculpturalism," its exhibition as part of the Getty Museum's Pacific Standard Time initiative, until June 16 after its curator, Christopher Mount, suggested that the show might be canceled altogether. The exhibition was originally due to open June 2. [LAT]

– Art Classes for Detectives: Law enforcement departments all around the country have participated in "The Art of Perception," a seminar that uses close readings of artworks to train detectives so that they can read crime scenes more effectively. "You get so used to going to similar scenes," said Philadelphia detective Ken Flaville. "This is showing you that not everything is the same. You really have to step back and you really have to look at it and pick up things you haven’t seen before." [CBS Philly]

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Liz Diller on the Hirshhorn Bubble