To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.
News
The Smithsonian has joined forces with Berlin’s museums to create “an international network of provenance researchers” that will focus on Asian art. [The Art Newspaper]
William and Lavina Lim, a noted collecting couple in Hong Kong, have made a substantial donation of 90 works to their hometown’s forthcoming M+ museum. [South China Morning Post]
Avant-garde composer Harold Budd has died of Covid-19 at age 84. [Artforum]
Two French politicians are lobbying to have the Musée d’Orsay renamed to include Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former president who helped establish the institution. [The Art Newspaper]
Related Articles
In other Musée d’Orsay–related news, here’s a look at Rosa Bonheur’s work, which will be shown at the Paris institution in 2022. [Smithsonian Magazine]
Art & Artists
Michael J. Lewis reviews the newly reopened Rothko Chapel in Houston after its $30 million restoration. He writes, “The physical fabric of a building is normally the focus of a restoration, but here it was something intangible—the total sensory immersion that Rothko intended.” [The Wall Street Journal]
For an essay reflecting on 2020, critic Salamishah Tillet writes, “Black artists didn’t wait around for institutional change. They are making it happen.” [The New York Times]
Meet Harumichi Shibasaki, who has become a social media sensation and has drawn comparisons to Bob Ross. [CNN]
Critic Sebastian Smee’s latest column is titled “This is the painting I’d take home, if I could,” about Berthe Morisot’s Young Woman Watering a Shrub (1876). [The Washington Post]
Art Market
The Andy Warhol Foundation is selling the artist’s holiday-themed artwork on eBay for charity. [Architectural Digest]
The last known work by French baroque painter Georges de la Tour in private hands set a record when it sold for $5.2 million in Germany this week. [Art Market Monitor]
Sellers of Old Master works talk about their pivot to online sales as a result of the pandemic. [The Art Newspaper]
Earlier this year, ARTnews looked at why the Old Masters category is on the rise with collectors. [ARTnews]
Misc.
Curbed bids adieu to New York institutions that have closed as a result of the pandemic, including gallery Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and art world hangout Lucky Strike. [Curbed]
Columnist Carolina A. Miranda has a list of five things that are more interesting than the monolith. [Los Angeles Times]
In case you missed it, here’s an essay by Kyle Chayka that looks at the monolith mania and how it became an Instagram trap. [ARTnews]