LA Museums Jointly Acquire Collection, “Friends” Memorabilia Heads to Auction, a Spotlight on Sister Mary Corita, and More: Morning Links for August 27, 2024

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THE HEADLINES

HERE COMES THE NUN. As Katy Hessel writes in her Guardian column, the Hollywood-based nun, artist, and teacher Sister Mary Corita (aka Corita Kent) “tackled the brutalities and violence of the Vietnam war – and the racist response to the Watts Uprising in LA.” If Sister Corita was alive today, Hessel asks, what would she think? “She lived and worked through the 1960s, also a time of immense political change and drastic historical events,” she writes. “She used her art and ideas to help make sense of it. As she said to a group of students in 1967: ‘Sometimes you can take the whole of the world in, and sometimes you need a small piece to take in. I think that is really what a work of art is: it is a small piece that you can ingest, that gives you an idea of the richness of the whole.’” Corita Kent’s art “reflected the idea of the small and big picture.” Screen-printing was her weapon of choice. “One of her more powerful examples is Stop the Bombing, a 1967 print emblazoned in red, blue and white (perhaps a nod to the US flag), protesting against the brutalities and violence of the Vietnam war. In the handwriting around it is a moving statement: ‘There is a bullet in my brain, behind my eyes, so that all I see is pain, I am in Vietnam …’” Compelling stuff.

HERE COMES THE NUN. As Katy Hessel writes in her Guardian column, the Hollywood-based nun, artist, and teacher Sister Mary Corita (aka Corita Kent) “tackled the brutalities and violence of the Vietnam war – and the racist response to the Watts Uprising in LA.” If Sister Corita was alive today, Hessel asks, what would she think? “She lived and worked through the 1960s, also a time of immense political change and drastic historical events,” she writes. “She used her art and ideas to help make sense of it. As she said to a group of students in 1967: ‘Sometimes you can take the whole of the world in, and sometimes you need a small piece to take in. I think that is really what a work of art is: it is a small piece that you can ingest, that gives you an idea of the richness of the whole.’” Corita Kent’s art “reflected the idea of the small and big picture.” Screen-printing was her weapon of choice. “One of her more powerful examples is Stop the Bombing, a 1967 print emblazoned in red, blue and white (perhaps a nod to the US flag), protesting against the brutalities and violence of the Vietnam war. In the handwriting around it is a moving statement: ‘There is a bullet in my brain, behind my eyes, so that all I see is pain, I am in Vietnam …’” Compelling stuff.

THE DIGEST

Three Los Angeles museums—the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art—have agreed to jointly acquire some 350 works from LA collectors Jarl and Pamela Mohn. [ARTnews]

The London Museum Docklands has unveiled two new commissions by London-based British Nigerian artist Caroline Chinakwe for its collection. The works mark the first major additions to the museum’s permanent display in its Sugar and Slavery Gallery since it opened in 2007. It is one of the only spaces in the UK dedicated to the story of Britain’s place in colonialism and the story of enslaved Africans. [London Post]

Hauser & Wirth has teamed up with charity Hospital Rooms for the “Digital Art School” exhibition, which is supporting mental health services across the UK. The show at the gallery’s Mayfair branch runs until September 10 and includes two fundraising auctions. [The Art Newspaper]

The Daily Mail has peered inside the UK’s “darkest” exhibition in “Britain’s creepiest” museum, the True Crime Museum in Hastings. Visitors can expect to see child killer Rose West’s knickers and the acid barrels used by another serial killer – John George Haigh – to dissolve his victims. Fun. [Daily Mail]

New York artist and musician Patti Smith is fighting to save a public garden in her home city from demolition. She calls the spot a “creative refuge” but developers want to raze it to the ground to make way for affordable housing for OAPs. [Page Six]

THE KICKER

(MORE) BLOOD, GUTS, AND GORE FOR BREAKFAST. If the story about the True Crime Museum wasn’t exciting enough, how about The Sun reporting on an urban explorer who stumbled across an abandoned horror museum frozen in time? Chloe Urbex, as she’s known online, said she found the abandoned site in the UK “super eerie” and was convinced someone was watching her as she nosed around the joint. “When I first entered, I just saw a mannequin staring right back at me,” Urbex said. “The most terrifying part was going down the dark corridors on my own.” Inside, she found old posters with one advertising a ghost hunt. Another photo she posted online shows an old “wanted for murder” poster seeking the infamous murderer Jack the Ripper. Blood-stained walls, a strange altar, weird beds, a pentagram carved into a door…  [The Sun]