New Banksy Discovered, Censorship Clouds Hong Kong Cultural Hub, WWII-Looted Japanese Art Found in Attic, and More: Morning Links for March 18, 2024

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THE HEADLINES

BELIEVED BANKSY DISCOVERY. Experts say evidence very strongly suggests a large new Banksy mural appeared overnight on Sunday near Finsbury Park in London. Just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day, the mural celebrates nature, with sprayed green paint on a building wall, applied so that it seems to replace the missing foliage on a bare tree standing in front of the mural, which has been zealously trimmed down to its lower branches. A woman holding a pressure hose and covered in green paint looks up at the work from below. While awaiting the artist’s authentication, locals are already bracing, mostly happily, for the so-called “Banksy-effect” in their neighborhood.

HONG KONG EXODUS. Art Basel Hong Kong opens later this month, but a cloud of concern over Beijing-backed censorship of local artists is overshadowing the city’s status as an international art hub. An exhibition opening in Brussels today highlights the practices of several artists who say they are not safe or free to express themselves in Hong Kong, forcing them to emigrate. Artists are reportedly leaving the territory amid calls for a boycott over the government censorship, which many fear will increase after a new national security law is implemented this year. Favorable taxes have nevertheless continued to boost Hong Kong’s art market and institutional presence, according to writer Amy Hawkins, who also noticed the M+ museum website replaced an image of Ai Weiwei’s artwork about Tiananmen Square with a museum logo.

THE DIGEST

The FBI has recovered 22 looted Japanese treasures discovered in an attic in Massachusetts. The stash of Asian art, including 18th and 19th century painted scrolls, a 19th century map of Okinawa, and ceramics, was kept in the home of a deceased WWII veteran, who is believed to have nabbed the objects around the time of the Battle of Okinawa. [ Heritage Daily]

Patrick Moore, director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will step down from his position on May 31. During his time as director, the institution proposed a “Pop District” initiative that proved controversial among museum staff, according to reports. [ARTnews]

The artists Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuta have won commissions for the prestigious Fourth Plinth installation in Trafalgar Square, London. Self’s work will be exhibited in 2026, and Ursuta’s will be unveiled two years later. [The Art Newspaper]

The Russian secret service has reportedly been investigating the homes and studios of at least 30 artists. Among them, were members of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, the art activist projects Party of the Dead, and Yav Art Group, as well as conceptual artist Anatoly Osmolovsky. [Artnet News]

A new private, contemporary art museum called Fortress House will open in Gibraltar in the fall of 2025. It will also operate as an art center, and is backed by tech entrepreneur Mark Hain, according to reports. [Financial Times]

Local residents and politicians are battling over how to revitalize Ontario Place, a historic, modernist landscape off the Toronto waterfront. The confrontation took center stage after Ontario’s provincial government passed an earlier initiative to rebuild the island, overriding its protections as a heritage site. [The Art Newspaper]

The Denver Art Museum will return 11 antiquities to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, which are tied to indicted dealer Douglas Latchford or his collaborator Emma C. Bunker. [The Denver Post]

THE KICKER

ON THE CASE. Tour guide by day, art sleuth by night, Christine Cluley is shedding light on the mysterious identity of the ‘Franconian Master’ who created the early 16th century Lamentation Altarpiece . It’s a question which has stumped scholars for decades. Cluley (yes, that’s her real name) nevertheless has one edge over her better-trained colleagues: She has been looking at two of the “wing” panels by the anonymous German artist for some 14 years, while working as an “experience interpreter,” or guide, at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, UK. All three panels from the piece will go on view this Thursday in the institution for the first time in 30 years. “Christine’s research into the history of the work has established much more about its provenance, and that points to particular names,” Compton Verney curator Jane Simpkiss told The Guardian. Among the new findings, is greater evidence all three panels belong with its centerpiece, and the names of two artists who may have made it: Hans Baldung and Wolf Traut.