News from Around the Art World: January 15, 2018
Obama Foundation takes the wraps off revised—and taller—design for Presidential Center
The Obama Foundation has released an updated plan for its Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park after listening to community concerns for the better part of eight months. The revisions—which include a taller, redesigned main tower—come just days after the center’s controversial above-ground-parking structure on the neighboring Midway Plaisance was scrapped in favor of an entirely underground garage.
While members of the public were first shown early renderings in May and participated in numerous open and private meetings with the Obama Foundation since that time, Wednesday’s announcement represents the first comprehensive redesign for the innovative combination museum and community center.
By Jay Koziarz, Curbed Chicago
Another Frank Lloyd Wright sells at a discount
A Glencoe house that is one of a cluster of seven designed by Frank Lloyd Wright sold for less than its seller paid for it a dozen years earlier. Built in 1914 as part of the Ravine Bluffs subdivision, the house on Meadow Road sold for $752,000 on Jan. 5. The seller bought the house in 2005 for $790,000.
Listing agent Elise Rinaldi of @properties said the lower price was "no different than any other house in my market, the North Shore." In recent months, Crain's has reported on several homes in Lake Forest, Kenilworth and other North Shore towns that have sold for below prices from 15 years ago and more.
By Dennis Rodkin, Crain's Chicago Business
How to Teach Art to Kids, According to Mark Rothko
If you’ve ever seen Mark Rothko’s paintings—large canvases filled with fields of atmospheric color—and thought, “a child could do this,” you’ve paid the Abstract Expressionist a compliment.
Rothko greatly admired children’s art, praising the freshness, authenticity, and emotional intensity of their creations. And he knew children’s art well, working as an art teacher for over 20 years at the Brooklyn Jewish Center. To his students—kindergarteners through 8th graders—Rothko wasn’t an avant-garde visionary or burgeoning art star, he was “Rothkie.” “A big bear of a man, the friendliest, nicest, warmest member of the entire school,” his former student Martin Lukashok once recalled.
By Sarah Gottesman, Artsy Editorial
NADA Names 2018 Winners of International Gallery Prize
The New Art Dealers Alliance has given its International Gallery Prize to Parallel Oaxaca in Mexico and Stereo in Warsaw. The prize awards galleries from outside the United States space at NADA New York, where they receive sponsored booths.
By Alex Greenberger, ARTnews
The Authenticity of Modigliani Paintings Questioned Once Again
ROME — The tormented artist Amedeo Modigliani is beloved both by art aficionados and forgers. Now, an art expert has written a report, leaked by the Italian news media, for state prosecutors that says a third of the works in a popular Modigliani exhibition last year in Genoa, Italy, are fakes.
The expert, Isabella Quattrocchi, said that seven drawings and eight oil paintings by Modigliani, as well as six oil paintings attributed to his friend and sometime collaborator, Moise Kisling, were not authentic. The art works were lent by private collectors and museums in Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Argentina and the United States.
By Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times