Edward Church, Peter Hujar, Looted Art

Weekly Newsletter

Who is the antiquities dealer behind looted artifacts at dozens of museums across the United States?

I just came back from a dreamy residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Northern California. The place is special not just for the breathtaking views of the Marin Headlands but also for the kind people who run it. I’m grateful to Louisa Gloger, Holly Blake, MJ Brown, and others on Headlands’ team. Shoutout also to the amazing Bay Area artists, writers, activists, and other Hyperallergic readers I got to meet in the past few weeks.   

Meanwhile, our excellent editorial has been holding down the fort, putting out lots of must-reads. Check out Erin L. Thompson’s deep dive into the convicted antiquities dealer behind priceless objects held at dozens of museums across the United States, Ben Moser’s review of a new Frederic Edwin Church biography, Aaron Short’s report on the Aldrich’s inaugural decennial exhibition, Coco Fusco’s piece on the unknown fate of imprisoned Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and much more.

It’s good to be back in New York, despite the haze, ticks, and fear of eating a bad salad leaf. And it’s also good to be back with all of you.  

—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief

News

• The activism group Everyone Hates Elon mocked Kylie Jenner’s Meta glasses campaign with bus ads following a wave of public backlash over unresolved concerns about privacy, consent, and personal safety as surveillance technology rapidly evolves.
• Days after police arrested a man who had scaled and tagged a prominent Melbourne bridge with a cartoon bird dubbed “Pam the Bird,” thousands have called upon the city to preserve the graffiti artwork.
• Artists are memorializing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old man who was fatally shot by ICE on July 7, through portraits, illustrations, cartoons, and signs.
• The Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, reported a break-in that resulted in damage to a mural over the weekend. The involved party, which remains at large, broke into the building only a month after it reopened to the public following an extensive renovation.
• The High Museum of Art’s former Chief Operating Officer Brady Lum has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $600,000 from the nonprofit arts institution.
• The Manhattan DA said three antiquities are being repatriated to Mexico. One of them was previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• The Trump administration has significantly diminished the size of two national monuments in Utah that hold sacred lands and rich archaeological sites.
• A prominent international gallery in Cape Town is facing allegations of withholding artworks from and delaying payments to artists.
• Manhattan’s High Line Art is seeking public feedback on 62 proposals for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park’s plinth in 2029 and 2030.
• The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene discovered Legionella, the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the Guggenheim Museum’s cooling tower this week.
• After months of near radio silence, two suspects held in pre-trial detention have revealed more information about their role in facilitating the Louvre Museum jewelry heist that shocked the world last October.

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