— Swiss Dealer Sues Calder Foundation: Swiss art dealer Patrick Cramer is suing the Calder Foundation for preventing the sale of “Eight Black Leaves” by claiming it is just a fragment of a work. Cramer attempted to sell the work, which was purchased by his father from Calder, at Christie’s last year but was unable to complete the sale when the foundation would not give him an inventory number. “Without an inventory number, ‘Eight Black Leaves’ is not marketable and a work produced by Calder cannot be catalogued or made available to the public for art education and research in accordance with the charitable and educational purpose of the foundation,” Cramer says in the lawsuit. [Courthouse News]
— New Orleans Banksy Theft Suspect Named: Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of 30-year-old L.A. resident Christopher Sensabaugh for the attempted theft of Banksy’s “Umbrella Girl” mural in New Orleans. Last month, Sensabaugh was seen attempting to hammer the mural out of a cinderblock wall. He claimed to be an art handler acting on behalf of the Tate. [NBC]
— Christie’s Delays Basquiat Auction: A suit filed by the Basquiat Estate has been successful in getting Christie’s to delay an online auction of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat that his sisters claim may not be authentic. “Our goal is to allow time for all parties involved to reach an equivalent level of confidence in the validity of these items, so that the sale may resume at a later date,” Christie’s posted on their website. Auction items owner Alexis Adler said in a statement that she was disheartened by the decision and that she “looks forward to bringing the Basquiat Estate to the same level of confidence that she and Christie’s share in the unassailable authenticity of these early and seminal works which she acquired from Jean-Michel.” [NYT]
—Monet Show Opens in Shanghai Mall: A Shanghai shopping mall is hosting China’s largest ever exhibition of Claude Monet paintings, which are on loan from the Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris. [AFP]
— Women Museum Directors Earn Less: A new study by the Association of Art Museum Directors has found that women head a quarter of North America’s largest art museums and receive a third less pay than their male colleagues. [NYT]
— Don’t Mess With David: Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini is threatening legal action against an American firearms company for creating an ad that depicts Michelangelo’s David holding a giant gun. [The Guardian]
— Three-person artist collective BGL will rep Canada at the 2015 Venice Biennale. [Art Daily]
— A new Stonehenge study says the Neolithic site might make music. [The Atlantic]
— “Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan Demme is selling off his extensive collection of Caribbean art. [NBC]
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