Freddie Mercury Auction Planned, San Francisco Art Institute Files for Bankruptcy, and More: Morning Links for April 27, 2023

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The Headlines

THE END OF THE LINE. The beleaguered San Francisco Art Institute, which held its final graduation last year, has filed for bankruptcy, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The move will require the institution, which marked its sesquicentennial in 2021, to liquidate its assets. One big question mark: What will happen to the huge 1931 Diego Rivera mural on its grounds? It has been appraised at $50 million, but in 2021, when the school was looking at selling it to cover its debts, the city made it a landmark. (Last year, the SFAI received a $200,000 grant for its preservation.) It can only be moved with the approval of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city’s legislative body, according to the Chronicle. A supervisor who backed the landmark designation, Aaron Peskin, told the paper that he wants to find a way for it to be displayed in a public gallery.

SPEAKING OF INSOLVENCY: The Amsterdam building that Rembrandt called home for 19 years, until he sold it while bankrupt in 1669, is the Rembrandt House Museum these days, and it has reopened after renovations, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some rooms are set up to resemble their state when the master lived and worked there. It looks great. In other house-related news, Architectural Digest asked seven homeowners what it is like to live in their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed residences. The consensus: Pretty satisfying. “The house sort of tells you how to live,” one said. And the Manhattan apartment where architect Henry Cobb lived is on the market for about $3.5 million, Mansion Global reports. The duplex was designed by Cobb, a partner in a firm with I.M. Pei, and is located right by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Digest

And speaking of parting with prized assets: The Whitney Museum is looking at possibly selling its former Marcel Breuer–designed spot on the Upper East Side, Katya Kazakina reports. A museum spox said that it “is exploring options for the Breuer building.” The Frick Collection is set to wrap up its stay there next year. [Artnet News Pro]

The pioneering Miami dealer Barbara Gillman, who played a part in artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapping 11 area islands in 1983, and who toured Andy Warhol around town in 1980, died Sunday at 86. She also had a “brisket recipe so delicious it converted vegetarians,” Amanda Rosa reports. [Miami Herald]

Belongings that the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury left to a close friend will be sold at Sotheby’s in September, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. The material includes a £600,000 (about $748,000) James Tissot painting, works on paper, handwritten lyrics, clothes, and a great deal more. [The Associated Press]

Harlan Crow, the billionaire real-estate maven and Clarence Thomas superfan, was in the papers recently for, among other things, having a collection of Nazi memorabilia, including two paintings by Adolf Hitler. Two experts on the subject said that one of those works is likely fake. [Insider]

The government of Daegu, South Korea, is auditing the collection of the city art museum after a work attributed to artist and independence activist Kim Jin-man was determined to be a forgery. A report earlier this year suggested that other works at the museum may not be authentic. [The Korea Herald]

The press release for artist Alex Israel’s upcoming show at Gagosian’s Rome branch was generated by everyone’s favorite AI chatbot, ChatGPT. “Israel is known for his exploration of the visual culture of Los Angeles,” it reads in part, “and this exhibition continues this exploration with an exciting new approach.” [Press Release/Gagosian]

The Kicker

TROUBLE IN PARADISE. Earlier this month at the historic Croome estate in Worcestershire, England, a memorial to landscape architect Capability Brown and a statue by John Bacon that is more than 200 years old were vandalized with blue crayon marks, the New York Times reports. The culprit? No one has been identified, but on the day of the vandalism, crayons had been given to children in activity packets. The National Trust, which manages the property, said in a statement, “Disappointing as they are, incidents like this are very rare considering the millions of visitors who enjoy and respect the places in our care.” The Bacon has been cleaned, and the memorial is being cleaned. [NYT]