Rothschild-owned Brueghel sells for $6.5M at Frieze London.
Hauser & Wirth sold a Jan Brueghel the Elder still life for around £5 million ($6.5 million) at the VIP opening of Frieze London on Wednesday. The painting, formerly owned by Baron Alphonse von Rothschild, last sold at Sotheby’s London in 2016 for £3.8 million. Other major sales included a $1.5 million Michaël Borremans at David Zwirner, an $800,000 Avery Singer at Hauser & Wirth, and a £500,000 Antony Gormley at Thaddaeus Ropac. Compared with last year, VIP bookings rose 24 percent from the Middle East and North Africa, 22 percent from South Asia, 22 percent from Southeast Asia, and 36 percent from Brazil, according to the fair. Galleries from India, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE also reported strong institutional interest.
The Philadelphia Museum of American Jewish History seeks Smithsonian membership.
The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia could become part of the Smithsonian Institution, following the creation of a congressional commission to study the transfer. The commission was established under 2024 legislation passed during the Biden administration. The museum, founded in 1976, is currently a Smithsonian affiliate, a status that allows it to borrow from the Smithsonian’s collections and use its resources. Its core collection traces Jewish history in America back to the 1600s, when the first permanent Jewish settlers arrived from Brazil. Adding a museum to the Smithsonian is typically a lengthy process. The network’s most recent additions, the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, were both in development for years before approval. Weitzman CEO Dan Tadmor told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that joining the Smithsonian would expand the museum’s educational reach, which already operates nationally. Philip Darivoff, a former chair of the museum who now leads the commission, said inclusion would signal that the study of Jewish American history and culture matters to the country.
The Met selects Danh Vo and Sandra Mujinga for its 2027 commissions.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has selected Danh Vo and Sandra Mujinga for its 2027 Fifth Avenue facade and Great Hall commissions. Vo, who is based in Berlin and Mexico City, will create new work for the four niches of the museum’s Beaux-Arts facade, on view from September 16, 2027, to June 13, 2028. His commission is the eighth in the facade series, following Wangechi Mutu, Carol Bove, Hew Locke, Nairy Baghramian, Lee Bul, Jeffrey Gibson, and this year’s artist, Liu Wei. It is the fourth funded through the Met’s multiyear partnership with Genesis Art Initiatives. Mujinga, who is based in Oslo, will present a site-specific installation in the Great Hall from November 4, 2027, to April 4, 2028. She follows Kent Monkman, Jacolby Satterwhite, and Tong Yang-Tze in that series. Her project will address visibility and the traces bodies leave behind. Met director Max Hollein said the two commissions will together frame visitors’ arrival at the museum.
Miami Beach approves a new Art Basel contract after 18 months of negotiations.
The City of Miami Beach has approved a new five-year contract with Art Basel that cuts the fair’s rent in half, to $500,000, after its parent company threatened to relocate the event to Las Vegas. The agreement, which runs through 2031, follows 18 months of contentious negotiations between the city and MCH Group, Art Basel’s Swiss parent company. In addition to the reduced rent, the deal provides credits for police and fire services and bars competing fairs from the Miami Beach Convention Center for 30 days before and after Art Basel. It also gives the fair veto power over events held in a designated “Art Basel zone” covering roughly one square mile. City tourism officials say the fair draws about 80,000 visitors and generates around $60 million for the local economy each year.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West shuts its doors after a man dies on the property.
Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s former home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, has closed to the public until further notice after a visitor died on the property. The man was identified as Rogério Renato Mateucci. According to the Scottsdale Fire Department, Mateucci was on a group walking tour at around 2 p.m. when he was struck by roofing material blown loose by strong winds. He died at the scene. Officials are treating the death as a weather-related accident, and no one else on the tour was injured. Joe Spector, CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, offered condolences to Mateucci’s family and said the foundation would not release further details out of respect for their privacy and to allow officials to complete their work. The foundation said Scottsdale police are aware of the incident. Wright built Taliesin West in 1937 and lived there until his death in 1959. The site covers 491 acres.
Attractive Distractions:
Buccellati turns Burano lace into gold and diamonds with its new Serenissima collection.
Troye Sivan’s design and fragrance brand Tsu Lange Yor is opening a pop-up in New York.
Morgenthal Frederics unveils its first collection from new creative directors John Juniper and Jeff Solorio.
Paris’ Rétromobile will make its American debut at the Javits Center this November.
