Galerie’s Weekly Art and Design Industry News Brief

Here are this week’s must-read news stories in the fields of art and design.

1. Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art Hire First Female Directors

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has named Anthea M. Hartig as its new director. She will be the first woman to hold the position in its 54-year history. The National Gallery of Art also hired its first female director this week. Kaywin Feldman, who currently lead the Minneapolis Institute of Art, will take over at the Washington institution in March.

Rendering of the Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts at the World Trade Center. Photo: REX Architecture

2. World Trade Center’s new performing arts complex receives $89 million grant

Currently under construction in New York, the Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts at the World Trade Center has been awarded an $89 million grant by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is expected to open in 2020.

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3. Jackson Hole, Wyoming to get its own art fair

The Jackson Hole Fine Art Fair will launch its inaugural edition next fall in Wyoming. The event will take place September 12–15, 2019 and will feature 55 galleries—a mix of local and national names—offering artworks that will likely range in price from $2,000 to $2 million.

4. Norton Museum of Art readies for grand reopening

The Norton Museum of Art announced that a 40-foot-long, 15-foot-tall tapestry by American artist Pae White, woven at a workshop in Belgium, is ready for installation in the museum’s striking, Foster + Partners–designed expansion. Reinstallation of all exhibition galleries and the integration of a commissioned work by artist Rob Wynne are also well underway as the museum prepares for its grand opening on February 9, 2019.

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One of the artworks on view in the Denver Art Museum’s “Stampede” exhibition. It was not damaged by the vandal. Photo: Denver Art Museum

5. Teenage vandal destroys rare works of animal art at the Denver Art Museum

A vandalism incident at the Denver Art Museum was carried out by an 18-year-old man who damaged 10 artworks last Sunday afternoon. The man, smashed sculptures including a 19th-century Qing dynasty Chinese vase and a Pre-Columbian Mayan vessel. They were all part of the exhibition “Stampede: Animals in Art,” comparing how animals have been depicted in art across different cultures over the centuries.