KLIGMAN SUES OVER POLLOCK FILM
New York artist Ruth Kligman who was Jackson Pollock's mistress and who survived the car crash that took the life of the Abstract Expressionist legend in 1956, has asked New York's federal court for an injunction barring Ed Harris' biopic Pollock from being shown, reports Deborah Mitchell in the Daily News. Kligman is suing for copyright infringement after refusing a $1,500 consulting fee for providing Harris with Love Affair, the screenplay adaptation to her 1974 book about her nine-month relationship with Pollock. The suit alleges that the production company has subsequently refused to provide her with copies of the script or film. Harris' directorial debut has been deemed the centerpiece at the 38th New York Film Festival.
SEATTLE MUSEUM FINED OVER MATISSE
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik has ruled that the Seattle Art Museum must pay a total of $143,000 in legal costs to the New York gallery Knoedler & Co. in the long-running case of the Henri MatisseOdalisque (1928) that turned out to be Nazi war loot. According to a report in the Seattle Times, the judge imposed the fine after noting that the museum showed "recklessness" in not presenting evidence of ownership of the painting in a timely fashion. The painting, looted by the Nazis from Paris dealer Paul Rosenberg during World War II, was sold by Knoedler in 1954 to Seattle collectors Prentice and Virginia Bloedel. The Bloedels willed the Matisse to the Seattle museum in 1991, but in 1997 the work was discovered to be Nazi war loot and returned to Rosenberg's heirs -- who sold it to casino mogul Steve Wynn for an undisclosed amount estimated to be approximately $2 million. The museum is suing Knoedler for $11 million in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 26, 2001.
PINAULT TO OPEN CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY IN PARIS
French luxury-goods tycoon François Pinault plans to build a gallery to house his contemporary art collection, reports Agence France-Presse. No architect has been named yet for the 320,000-square-foot Pinault Foundation, which is to be constructed at the old Renault works on Seguin Island in the river Seine in western Paris. Pinault's collection, one of the largest in private hands in Europe, features several hundred works by artists including Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. It is expected that Jeff Koons' Split Rocker will be used as a frontispiece to the foundation.
GEHRY REVS UP IN RUSSIA Guggenheim Bilbao architect Frank Gehry is joining 30 other motorcyclists this week to ride from St. Petersburg, Russia, to a village two and a half hours away to formalize the signing of the deal between the Guggenheim and Hermitage museums for the upcoming joint project set to bring "The Art of the Motorcycle" to the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Vegas, reports Variety. Among the riders in the Guggenheim motorcycle gang, a group that blossomed out of the museum's "The Art of the Motorcycle" exhibition, are Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Lauren Hutton.
NEW CURATOR AT NEW SCHOOL Kathleen Goncharov has resigned after 13 years as curator of the New School art collection, which now numbers over 1,100 works. She will pursue independent projects. Her successor is Stefano Basilico, who closed his SoHo gallery seven months ago. Basilico said the New School will continue collecting contemporary art, and also that he plans to launch a series of project-based shows using school spaces, since the school has no permanent gallery facility.
JOHN WESLEY AT P.S. 1 P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City presents "John Wesley: Paintings 1961-2000," the first U.S. retrospective of works by the quirky Californian painter, opening Sept. 17, 2000. Curated by P.S.1 Director Alanna Heiss, the exhibition features 50 paintings and many works on paper and is accompanied by a catalogue including new essays by Brian O'Doherty and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, an interview by Heiss, a chronology by Hannah Green and an anthology of other significant texts and color plates.
MONEY FOR ARTISTS
Attention, artists! The nonprofit organization Creative Capital begins accepting applications for grants in media arts and visual arts for 2000-2001 on Sept. 11. The foundation plans to support 15 projects in each of the two categories at levels ranging from $5,000-$20,000, and the deadline for receipt of application materials is Oct. 31. Check out Creative Capital's website for an application and for more info.
CONRAD MARCA-RELLI, 1913-2000 Conrad Marca-Relli, 87, Boston-born painter known for his large Abstract Expressionist collages, died Aug. 29 at his home in Parma, Italy. Among his many exhibitions were a survey at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice in 1999 and another in Darmstadt, Germany, this year.
EUAN UGLOW, 1932-2000 Euan Uglow, 68, painter known for his meticulous, formally structured style, died of cancer at his studio in South London on Aug. 31. His last completed work, Nuria, in response to a painting by Monet, is currently featured in the National Gallery's "Encounters: New Art from Old."
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