— Federal Judge Orders Trial in Knoedler Forgery Cases: Judge Paul G. Gardephe of Federal District Court in Manhattan has denied motions for summary judgment in two cases connected to the alleged sale of forged Abstract Expressionist paintings by the now-defunct Knoedler Gallery. Plaintiffs John Howard and Sotheby’s board chair Domenico De Sole andhis wife, Eleanore, claim that the gallery and its former director, Ann Freedman, knew of the paintings’ inauthenticity when they sold them the works. That these cases are now headed to trial is but the latest turn in the Knoedler scandal, which broke in 2011 and led to a spate of legal action, including the conviction of Long Island dealer Glafira Rosales on fraud and tax evasion charges in 2013. Four of the 10 suits brought against Knoedler and Freedman have been settled thus far. [TAN]
— Art Thief's Body Found in London Canal: Sebastiano Magnanini, an Italian carpenter living in South London who was involved in a high-profile art heist in Venice in 1993, has been found dead in London's picturesque Regent's Canal, where his body was spotted by a passerby, tied to a shopping cart. Magnanini was one of several men arrested and sentenced with aggravated theft for an audacious attempt to steal the 1732 altarpiece painting, "The Education of the Virgin" by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo from the Santa Maria della Fava church in Venice — so audacious, in fact, that the robbers even stopped at a local bar during the heist to rest from the strain of carrying the object from the church. Police are still investigating Magnanini's death but they believe that it is not related to art heist or organized crime. [Guardian, NYT]
— Staff and Students Quit RCA, Jeopardizing School's Future: The Royal College of Art in London has cancelled its incoming first-year class of Design Interactions students and is now in a "state of jeopardy," reports the Independent. The suspension is a result of a combination of factors: government funding cuts, student unrest, and, in particular, the departure of three senior staff members who have yet to be replaced. The news about these staff departures was broken in an internal newsletter issued in July, and though the school says it has now recuperated the funds they initially expected to lose from the absence of the course's tuition fees, the institution has not revealed how. [Independent, Telegraph]
— Dia Art Foundation Names New Deputy Director and Chief Curator: National Gallery associate curator James Meyer is set to join Dia as deputy director and chief curator in January 2016. At the National Gallery since 2010, Meyer has been working on a 2017 exhibition about the career of Virginia Dwan, the dealer and major patron of minimal, conceptual, and land art — all areas with historic connections to Dia. [ARTnews]
— Getty Acquires Palmyra Photographs: The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles has acquired 47 albumen prints taken by French naval officer Louis Vignes in 1864, a collection representing some of the earliest known photographs of the Levant — including the presently endangered Roman ruins of Palmyra. Meanwhile, an ancient near eastern gallery has opened at the Detroit Institute of Arts with a stone slab from Nimrud — a city attacked by ISIS in March — among the objects on display. [TAN, TAN]
— Basquiat Estate Orders Removal of Nude Photo: An attorney representing the Basquiat estate has demanded that Animal New York, an arts website, remove nude images of the artist appearing in an article about a 2014 exhibition of photographs taken by ex-girlfriend Paige Powell. The photos “disparage Mr. Basquiat and are prurient in nature," the attorney, James P. Cinque, claimed in an email. [Ratter, DNAinfo, Artforum]
— Luc Tuymans has reached a settlement in his copyright dispute with fellow photographer Katrijn Van Giel out of court. [TAN]
— The Wall Street Journal has a betting market–determined shortlist, via UK brokerage Ladbrokes, of six people expected to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Svetlana Alexievich, Haruki Murakami, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Philip Roth, Joyce Carole Oates, and Adonis. [WSJ]
— Upper West Side residents who are worried about the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History have set a townhall meeting date for October 6, to invite the public to discuss the institution's impending plans. [NYO]
