The Met Plans Harlem Renaissance Show, ‘Art Worlds’ Sociologist Howard S. Becker Dies at 95, and More: Morning Links for August 23, 2023

To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.

The Headlines

MARK YOUR CALENDAR. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will stage a show about the Harlem Renaissance in February, with loans from historically Black universities like Howard and Fisk. Denise Murrell, a Met curator at large, is organizing the exhibition. Murrell co-curated the acclaimed shows “The Black Model from Géricault to Matisse” at the Musée d’Orsay (2019) and “Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today” (2018) at Columbia University‘s Wallach Art Gallery. Among the artists in the show are Aaron Douglas, Archibald Motley, Jr., and Augusta Savage. “Becoming painters of modern life within their own communities was key to what the Harlem artists were attempting,” Murrell told the New York Times. Titled “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” it will run February 24 to July 28.

FINISH LINES. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art said that it has surpassed its goal of raising $750 million for its not-uncontroversial Peter Zumthor–designed new building, the Los Angeles Times reports. Construction on the structure is now than 65 percent complete, and is slated to be finished later in 2024. As of March, the Times notes, fundraising was 98 percent of the way there; among the donors who gave large sums are trustee Steve Tisch, who donated $20 million or more, the paper notes. The new structure will be known as the David Geffen Galleries; that mega collector gave $150 million.

The Digest

The sociologist Howard S. Becker, whose 1982 book Art Worlds examines how artworks, from blockbuster films to paintings, are made and interpreted through networks of people, died Wednesday at 95. Becker, who also studied deviance and drug culture, said his work focused on “how people do things together.” [The New York Times]

The Los Angeles art center Self Help Graphics & Art, long a vital catalyst for Chicanx and Latinx art, has named a new director, Jennifer Cuevas, a communications consultant who has worked with the Vincent Price Art Museum and other organizations. Cuevas succeeds Betty Avila, Self Help’s leader since 2018. [De Los/Los Angeles Times]

Works from the long-troubled Ace Gallery—investigated by Catherine G. Wagley in ARTnews in 2022—will be offered next month at 360bid.sale in what is being billed as “its momentous final auction of remaining original works.” Artists represented in the sale include Dennis Hopper, Jannis Kounellis, and Mary Corse. [Press Release/360 Asset Advisors]

The market for high-end collectible cars appears to be softening. The auctions at the recent Monterey Car Week in California saw a 68 percent sell-through rate, down from 78 percent last year. The average lot price was off, too. Hannah Elliott reports that “buyers complained about too many cars.” [Bloomberg]

The artist list for 11th edition of the Sequences Biennial in beautiful Reykjavík, Iceland, has been released, and it includes Agnes Denes, Benjamin Patterson, and Daiga Grantina. The event will run October 13 through 22. [e-flux].

Artist Marina Rheingantz, who is based in São Paulo, and whose work leaps across painting, tapestry, and other mediums, has joined the powerhouse White Cube gallery. She will have a show at its Mason’s Yard branch in London in October. [Press Release/White Cube]

The Kicker

FINISH STRONG. On his reliably zesty Instagram account, restaurateur Keith McNally (the creator of New York institutions like Balthazar, Pastis, and—RIP!—Lucky Strike) delivered a paean to the museum gift shop. After a couple hours in the Met’s galleries, he wrote, “I’m dying to visit the Met’s Art Gift Shop and buy a truckload of postcards. It’s like being served a delicious dessert after a rather heavy three-course meal.” Hear, hear. [@keithmcnallynyc/Instagram]