— Detroit Corporations Gift DIA $26.8M: Some of the city’s largest corporations have come to the aid of the Detroit Institute of Arts and pledged $26.8 million toward the $100 million “grand bargain” commitment to save the collection. The gift comes from Roger S. Penske and the Penske Corporation, Quicken Loans and the Rock Ventures Family of Companies, DTE Energy, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Meijer, Comerica Bank, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Consumers Energy, and Delta Air Lines Foundation. The newest pledge, combined with $26 million promised by Detroit’s big three automakers and $1 million and $13 million respectively from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and J. Paul Getty Trust, puts the DIA at nearly 75 percent of its fundraising goal. [NYT, WSJ]
— US Museums Aid Syrian Heritage Sites: Penn Museum’s Penn Cultural Heritage Center in Philadelphia is working with the Smithsonian Institute and the Syrian interim government’s Heritage Task Force to provide assistance to curators, heritage experts, and civilians still working at museums and sites of significance inside the war torn country. In June, a three-day training program offered information about securing museum collections during emergencies, provided packing supplies, and initiated dialogue surrounding emergency response specific to the Syrian crisis. Held in an undisclosed location outside of Syria and attended by around 20 people, the session served as a first step for a new project to document conditions in the area, report damage, and assess need for aid. [Art Daily]
— Imperial War Museum London Launches WWI Galleries: Imperial War Museum London will open its new, permanent First World War Galleries on July 19, coinciding with the centenary of World War I. The museum’s collections are considered the most comprehensive in the world with more than 1,300 objects such as weapons, uniforms, photographs, films, art, and ephemera. The galleries are part of a larger museum expansion that includes revisions to the Atrium, new exhibitions, public spaces, shops, and cafes. [Art Daily]
— Christie’s Breaks 2014 First Half Records: Christie’s record-breaking post-war and contemporary art auctions have pushed their sales totals past £2.69 billion for the first half of 2014. [Reuters UK]
— Call to Evaluate Russian Art Market Authentication: Following queries over the authenticity of Kazimir Malevich paintings on the Russian art market, Marina Molchanova, the curator and owner of Moscow’s Elysium Art Gallery, has called for an international council of experts to be formed in order to review how Russian avant garde artworks are authenticated. [Independent]
— Berkeley Art Museum Construction at Half Way Mark: Construction on the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will reach its halfway mark (it is scheduled to open in 2016) with a ceremony and block party Thursday. [SFGate]
— The Centre for International Light Art Unna, the world’s only light art museum, has announced its first annual International Light Art Award with a cash prize of $13,500 to the first place winner. [The Creator’s Project]
— Quartz gives a breakdown of the technological complexities and science behind Jeff Koons’s most recognizable works. [Quartz]
— Art historian and Harvard professor emeritus Seymour Slive, one of the foremost authorities on 17th-century Dutch painting, has died at 93. [Harvard Gazette]
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