900 works lost in Amatrice earthquake recovered

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Italian cultural heritage taskforce recovers some 900 works lost in Amatrice earthquake | Italy’s Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (cultural heritage protection taskforce) reports that it has recovered around 900 works of art that were believed lost in the wake of a devastating earthquake that shook the Amatrice region earlier this year. Fabrizio Parrulli, the commander of the taskforce, says that the works are being stored in Rieti, where they will be restored before being returned to their original homes. According to the Guardian, the items recovered include ‘a painting from 1700 depicting a local saint, San Giuseppe of Leonessa, rare reliquaries, a 19th-century silver-gilt tabernacle, terracotta stations of the cross and a wooden Madonna’. The taskforce, which was established earlier this year in a ‘landmark agreement’ between Italy and UNESCO, was preparing to leave for Palmyra when the earthquake struck in August.

Mayor Gallery sues over Agnes Martin catalogue raisonné | London’s Mayor Gallery has filed a lawsuit against the Agnes Martin authentication committee after the latter party omitted 13 works the former sold to clients from the artist’s catalogue raisonné. According to The Art Newspaper, the gallery claims the authentication board acted wrongly in neglecting to recognise the works in question, an omission which means that major auction houses will refuse to sell them as the artist’s work. The Mayor has promised to return more than $7 million to clients, and is seeking that sum in damages. Gallery director James Mayor says that his approaches to the committee in order to make them reconsider have been rebuffed without reason. The authentication committee’s lawyer, however, has stated that he ‘failed to see a legal claim’ in Mayor’s lawsuit.

Nathalie Bondil given second term as director of Montreal’s Musée des beaux-arts | Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal director Nathalie Bondil has been called to serve a second term at the head of the institution in an appointment that will see her directorship extended until 2021. Bondil, who replaced Guy Cogeval as director of the institution in 2007, has presided over a period of unprecedented growth for the museum. Since she took over, the MBAM has added more than 8,000 works of art to its collection, and has become Canada’s most visited museum, with visitor numbers more than doubled (French language article).

Emmanuel Perrotin to open Tokyo space in 2017 | French dealer Emmanuel Perrotin is to open a new gallery in Tokyo’s Roppongi neighbourhood, designed by Hong Kong architect André Fu. Perrotin’s Japanese venture complements his other Asian spaces in Hong Kong, which opened in 2012, and Seoul, which launched last year. In addition to these, his portfolio includes four galleries in Paris’s Marais district and a large space in New York that is scheduled to open next spring.