Art Industry News: Experts Debunk the Theory That Leonardo da Vinci Had a Rare Eye Condition + Other Stories

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know on this Thursday, November 28.
Happy Thanksgiving!

NEED-TO-READ

Theory About Leonardo da Vinci’s
Sight Defect Is Debunked – Experts have rejected the theory that
Leonardo da Vinci had a squint in a new
study. The study also refutes the
claim that Rembrandt shared the rare eye condition known as
exotropia, a type of eye
misalignment in which one eye turns outward. “Rembrandt Harmenszoon
van Rijn and Leonardo da Vinci probably had straight eyes,” the
researchers concluded in a letter published in the journal JAMA
Ophthalmology. The artists may have had a dominant eye but their
artistic genius did not depend on being able to see the world from
a unique angle. (CNN)

Collector Gordon Sondland Denies
Sexual Impropriety – The art collecting
hotel magnate and US diplomat, who is a key witness in President
Trump’s impeachment
hearings, faces allegations of sexual impropriety.
Sondland, who is major museum
patron, has denied three women’s claims. One of them, Jana Solis,
worked in hotel risk management. She alleges that in 2008 Sondland
invited her to his Portland home to evaluate his art collection. On
the visit, she says he took off his pants in a pool house and
suggested they could “have some fun.” The magazine editor Nicole
Vogel said that in 2003 Sondland made indecent proposals when she
was seeking investment in a new magazine about Seattle’s arts,
culture, and food scene. Sondland says the timing of the
allegations has been coordinated “for political purposes.”
(ProPublica)

A Cambridge College Will Return its
Looted Benin Bronze – Jesus
College in Cambridge will return a bronze cockerel, which was
looted by the British army in the 19th century, to Nigeria. The
sculpture, which was
donated to the college in 1905, was removed from display in
2016 after students protested. The master of the college, Sonita Alleyne, backed the restitution
recommendation made by its working party on the legacy of slavery.
The Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor describes the decision as a
“huge step.” He is a member
of the Benin Dialogue Group, which includes European and African
institutions. Ehikhamenor
also called on museums, especially ones in Britain, to follow the
college’s example “without any excuses or delays.”
(Guardian)

ART MARKET

Why David Zwirner Is So Upbeat
About the Art Market in Hong Kong – The gallerist was surprised and relieved at the
commercial success of a Carol Bove solo show in Hong Kong
despite the violent
anti-government protests. The
show sold out within days, with top pieces going for $1 million.
“The art market is very much alive and well,” Zwirner
says. (ARTnews)

Antiquities Dealer Is Charged With
Trafficking Looted Artifacts – The Thailand-based, British, dealer Douglas
Latchford has been charged by US authorities with the illicit trade
in Cambodian antiquities. Over five decades, numerous antiquities
passed through Latchford’s hands that are now in museums and
private collections in the US and Europe. In 2013, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art returned three pieces of looted art to Cambodia that
had been either donated or partially donated by Latchford.
(Press
release)
(NYT) (Arca)

COMINGS & GOINGS

The Performa Prize Is Awarded – The artists Nairy Baghramian and Maria Hassabi
have won the McLaren Award at New York’s performance art biennial,
Performa. They took the prize for their work,
Entre Deux Actes (Ménage à
Quatre), a presentation
of Hassabi’s slow
choreography against the backdrop of Baghramian’s sculptures. The $5,000 prize is
funded by the streetwear brand Supreme. (ARTnews)

New President of Monuments Men Foundation – Anna Bottinelli has been named the new
president of the Monuments Men Foundation, which focuses on
locating and returning artwork and cultural heritage that was
looted during World War II. Bottinelli has been with the foundation
since 2014, most recently as director of research and a trustee.
(Artfix
Daily)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Museum Buys a YSL Sunflower Jacket for €382,000 –
Melbourne’s National Gallery of
Victoria has purchased a jacket by the designer Yves Saint Laurent
for €382,000 ($420,855) at Christie’s Paris. The embroidered piece
inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which was part
of YSL’s spring/summer collection in 1988, soared past its upper
estimate of €120,000 ($132,029). (Guardian)

See Yayoi Kusama’s Balloon Take Flight at Macy’s Thanksgiving
Parade – Yayoi Kusama’s balloon
artwork for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has joined the fleet of
fun and fancy balloons in this year’s celebrations. The
30-foot-long balloon, which is titled LOVE FLIES UP TO THE SKY, takes the form of a polkadot sun from
Kusama’s “My Eternal Soul” paintings. (Artnet
News)

The post Art Industry News: Experts Debunk the Theory That
Leonardo da Vinci Had a Rare Eye Condition + Other Stories
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