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News From Around the Art World: July 21, 2020

Murals on the walls of the Uptown Post Office in Chicago on June 22. The W.P.A.-era murals, painted on ceramic tiles by artist Henry Varnum Poor, celebrate the accomplishments of architect Louis Sullivan and poet Carl Sandburg. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

 

How will Chicago artists make it through the pandemic? 85 years ago the Feds had an answer. Could it work again?

Indeed, 85 years ago this spring, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, with more than 20 percent of Chicagoans out of work, President Roosevelt did something unprecedented. By signing an executive order creating the WPA — one of several federal programs established during the 1930s that provided regular salaries to artists — he was promoting the role of the federal government as arts patron. He was suggesting the government should play a part in directing the cultural identity of the nation itself. And by the late 1930s, about 75,000 Chicagoans — and 12,000 more in the surrounding suburbs — were working for the WPA.

By Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune

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Coming Home, purportedly by Gertrude Abercrombie, sold at auction for $93,750 last year.

 

Experts weigh in on alleged art forgery ring in Michigan

Art historians explain why the work of lesser known artists with rising markets, like George Copeland Ault and Gertrude Abercrombie, might become the target of a fakes scheme

By Ruth Lopez, The Art Newspaper

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A mural based on the phrase “Beyond Human Dreams of Loveliness” stretches 150 feet along an outside wall at Harry S Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave. in Uptown. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

 

Street artist Left Handed Wave’s Uptown mural ties together neighborhood’s past, present

‘Beyond Human Dreams of Loveliness’ at Truman College spells out that phrase, each letter inspired by a place — past or present — central to Uptown and the surrounding area.

By Clare Proctor, Chicago Sun Times

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TEFAF's spring 2018 edition in New York. KIRSTEN CHILSTROM

TEFAF Cancels Fall New York Fair as Pandemic’s Far-Reaching Impact Becomes Clear

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to make it difficult for large events to be held throughout the remainder of 2020, another top art fair has been canceled, marking the second event of its kind to be called off this week alone. The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) said in a statement that it will not host its New York edition, which had been postponed from May until the end of October.

By Maximiliano Duron, artnews

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