Grand Palais and Museum of the Moving Image Get New Leaders, and More: Morning Links for August 25, 2023

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The Headlines

JOB POSTINGS. The Museum of the Moving Image in New York picked as its leader Aziz Isham, the director of the arts nonprofit Twenty Summers, the New York Times reports. Isham follows Carl Goodman in the role, and he wants to have the institution focus more on areas like video games and social media. ● Didier Fusillier has been tapped by the French government to lead the body that operates the Grand Palais (the home of Paris+ par Art Basel) and the Musée du Luxembourg, the Art Newspaper reports. A veteran arts administrator, Fusillier succeeds Chris Dercon, who departed the job to become managing director at the Fondation Cartier. ● TAN also reports that United Talent Agency has named Harrison Tenzer, formerly head of digital strategy for Sotheby’s, to run its fine art and artist space divisions in New York, where it will stage a pop-up next month. It currently has locations in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

ARCHAEOLOGY DEPARTMENT. Increased rain and flooding along the Silk Road in northwestern China in recent years has been damaging paintings made by followers of Buddhism in the Mogao Caves more than 1,500 years ago, All Things Considers reports. The nation “has invested considerably on restoration work of the cave paintings,” reporter Emily Feng notes. Over in Northern Peru, Reuters reports, researchers believe that a nearly 10-foot-tall polychrome wall discovered by farmers mid-harvest in 2020 dates back some four millennia. They think that it may have been part of a temple, and if that is the case, excavation work is likely to reveal a hearth at the site.

The Digest

Following a 2022 break-in during which works from its collection were smashed, the Dallas Museum of Art requested $36 million to upgrade its security system. Dallas officials are set to propose $11.5 million for that, as part of a bond package that will go before voters next year. [The Dallas Morning News]

As litigation continues against art adviser Lisa Schiff, who allegedly failed to pay clients, new documents are offering glimpses of her operations. An inventory of her holdings by an outside firm identified almost 900 pieces worth more than $3.1 million. Schiff has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing. [The Art Newspaper]

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is pressing collector Leon Black for more information on his $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein for tax and estate planning. A rep for Black said he has “cooperated extensively with the Committee, providing detailed information about the matters under review,” and paid all relevant taxes. [Artnet News]

KAWS, aka Brian Donnelly, will make his Canadian museum debut next month at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Featuring more than 70 artworks, the show is titled “Kaws: Family.” [HypeArt/Hypebeast]

Artist Tomashi Jackson has won the annual Rappaport Prize from the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, which honors an area artist with $50,000. Jackson will show with Night Gallery in Los Angeles later this year. [The Boston Globe]

Reporter Wendy Hurrell caught up with a U.K. husband and wife whose hobby is visiting outdoor art trails—those sculpture displays that dot various locales. They do around five trails a year, and so far have hit 44. [BBC News]

The Kicker

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. A master’s student in forensic art at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Barbora Veselá, has produced a detailed recreation of the face of Charles Edward Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, the New York Times reports. Her sources? Photos of the Young Chevalier’s death mask, accounts from his time, and other depictions him that are believed to be accurate. Did he deserve his handsome nickname? “I don’t think he’s bad looking,” Veselá told the Times. “I just think that beauty is very subjective, and we definitely have different beauty standards than they would have in the 18th century.” Click to decide for yourself. [NYT]