French Galleries Demand Art Basel Paris Compensate Early Closure

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The Headlines

THANKS FOR ASKING. A group of French galleries under the umbrella organization Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art (CPGA) have sent a letter of complaint to Art Basel Paris organizers for closing two days early in October due to a planned protest and for failing to consult them, reports Monopol. When Art Basel Paris announced they would close for the weekend of October 24 and 25, the last public days of the fair, they said it was in the interest of safety for all, given the protests planned for Saturday. However, a letter from the CPGA to the fair director, Karim Crippa, claims exhibiting galleries “had not been consulted” about the decision, and questioned the need to close on Sunday, calling it “far less justified.” Indeed, the exhibit “Cézanne et nous” was open Sunday, located on the opposite side of the Grand Palais venue, which also hosts the fair. CPGA members account for over one quarter of exhibitors, many of whom are smaller-scale galleries that rely on weekend sales more than their larger, multinational counterparts. The letter further described the fair’s handling of the early closure as “a sign of disrespect, indeed, of contempt,” and demanded “appropriate compensation” for the loss of business.

MARSEILLE MUSEUM MARCH. Workers at the Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem) in Marseille, France, said they will strike tomorrow to protest the return of the institution’s president today, Pierre-Olivier Costa, reports Le Figaro. Costa was suspended for several months while a government investigation was looking into accusations against him of sexual and moral harassment, as well as putting the southern French city’s only national museum “at risk.” However, Costa announced his return to AFP on Sunday, explaining that government officials had never questioned him, and given that his four-month suspension had expired, “that also means they don’t have much, or have nothing to hold against me.”

MARSEILLE MUSEUM MARCH. Workers at the Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem) in Marseille, France, said they will strike tomorrow to protest the return of the institution’s president today, Pierre-Olivier Costa, reports Le Figaro. Costa was suspended for several months while a government investigation has been looking into accusations against him of sexual and moral harassment, as well as putting the southern French city’s only national museum “at risk.” However, Costa announced his return to AFP on Sunday, explaining that government officials had never questioned him, and given that his four-month suspension had expired, “that also means they don’t have much, or have nothing to hold against me.”

The Digest

The District of Columbia and the state of Virginia filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to stop President Donald Trumpfrom building a “flagrantly unlawful” 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. [NPR]

The European Commission is planning to lower the threat of money laundering and terrorist financing in the art market from “high” to “moderate,” despite a rash of museum thefts across Europe, due to “limited EU evidence” connecting the two. [The Financial Times]

Lawyers for US Representative Joice Beatty (D-Ohio) claim they have records demonstrating the current administration wants to close and renovate the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to hide the institution’s financial decline and mismanagement since President Donald Trump took it over. [The New York Times]

The Spanish artist Miquel Navarro, who was known for uniting architecture andsculpture, has died at 81. [Ara]

Northern California’s Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, dedicated to designers Ray and Charles Eames, unveiled plans for a new museum on Birkenstock’s former campus in Novato, while facing scrutiny for financial ties to billionaire Airbnb cofounder and Trump official Joe Gebbia. [The San Francisco Standard]

The Kicker

HEAR ME OUT. The Republic of Austria, Vienna’s Albertina Museum, and the Leopold Museum Foundation filed a response Friday to amicus briefs submitted by two US senators, in which they further explain their claim that the updated Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act violates the US Constitution and the Tenth Amendment, reports ARTnews. The three parties are defendants in a suit brought by Timothy Reif, a descendant of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish performer and collector killed in a Nazi camp in 1941. Reif is seeking the return of several artworks by Egon Schiele that he says were seized by Nazis. But the defendants dispute that account, as well as the constitutionality of the HEAR Act, which bolsters Reif’s claim. The new filing counters new briefs submitted last month by the Department of Justice and Senators Richard Blumenthal and John Cornyn, which defended the HEAR Act. “This was an opportunity for my clients [the three defendants, Austria, and the Vienna institutions] to respond and explain why they respectfully disagree…,” said William L. Charron, their attorney, speaking to ARTnews.