The National Institute of Anthropology and History, a division of the Mexico government dedicated to the preservation of cultural artifacts, has filed a legal claim over 33 pre-Columbian objects set to be auctioned at Christie’s on February 9 in Paris.

According to a report published on Tuesday by Spanish outlet El País, the organization argues that the works, which originate from Mexico, should be repatriated to the country. The government group filed its claim in Mexico, and it has also called on the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Relations to take action to recover the objects.

“It was determined that the auction catalog includes pieces that correspond to cultures originating in Mexico, which is why they are part of the nation’s heritage,” said the Institute in a statement obtained by El País.

Representatives for Christie’s did not respond to requests for comment.

The pieces scheduled to be sold include sculptures, … Read the rest

When art historian, curator, and artist David C. Driskell died last summer from complications related to Covid-19, his loss reverberated throughout the art world. A mentor and supporter of generations of Black artists, curators, and scholars, Driskell organized the landmark exhibition “Two Centuries of Black American Art,” which staked a claim for the importance and influence of art-making by Black people in this country. Black art was not something that had just sprung up during the civil rights movement, he argued. Instead, it was a tradition with roots that extended back to the very founding of this country, with artists like Robert S. Duncanson, Joshua Johnson, and Edmonia Lewis represented alongside more recent talents like Norman Lewis, Charles White, and Alma Thomas.

That it opened in 1976 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as part of programming celebrating the country’s bicentennial, further underscores how daring it all was. … Read the rest

Richard L. Feigen, an eclectic and influential art dealer whose galleries spanned Chicago, New York, London and Los Angeles—with clients around the world— has died at 90 from complications related to a recent battle with Covid-19, a representative for Feigen’s gallery said.

A collector since childhood, Feigen at various times showed work by a wide range of artists who had not yet gained a following in the U.S. He gave Francis Bacon his first solo show in the United States. He also put on exhibitions of work by Jean Dubuffet, Max Beckmann, Bridget Riley, and Allen Jones.

His greatest impact was as an Old Masters dealer where he often described himself as “a collector in dealer’s clothes.” He had the prescience to acquire artworks that were later greatly valued by the art market—a Turner painting, The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius Restored, from his collection sold at Sotheby’s for … Read the rest

It is not every day that a 19th-century landscape painter is the subject of national news, but that was the case last week, when a work by Robert S. Duncanson on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum was presented to the Biden administration by Congress as an inaugural gift. Duncanson is not a household name—or, at least, not an artist as well-known as some of his contemporaries, including William Louis Sonntag and Worthington Whitteredge. (When the New York Times covered the gift, for example, it did not name Duncanson, only referring to him as a “Black artist.”) But during his day, Duncanson achieved fame, both in the U.S. and Europe, and blazed a trail for future generations of Black artists. To survey Duncanson’s achievements, below is a guide to his life and art.

In 19th-century Ohio, Duncanson’s landscapes brought him unparalleled success.

These days, Duncanson’s idyllic landscapes, filled … Read the rest