Spanish judge orders exhumation of Salvador Dalí’s remains

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Spanish judge orders exhumation of Salvador Dalí’s remains | A judge in Madrid has ordered the exhumation of Salvador Dalí’s remains in order to procure samples in a paternity suit, reports the BBC. Maria Pilar Abel Martínez, the plaintiff in the case, claims that the artist was her biological father, and hopes that DNA samples will prove her correct.

Julia Peyton-Jones joins Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac | Former Serpentine CEO Julia Peyton-Jones has joined Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac as Senior Global Director. ‘Julia Peyton-Jones is one of the most respected and admired figures in the art world with an unparalleled level of experience,’ the gallery announced in a statement. ‘It will be an honour and a joy to work together and develop exciting new projects.’

Bangkok to launch contemporary art biennale | Bangkok is to launch its first ever contemporary art biennale next year, reports the Art Newspaper. Set up by former Thai culture minister Apinan Poshyananda and businessman Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, the inaugural Bangkok Art Biennale will run from November 2018 to February 2019. The initiative will feature site-specific installations, created by more than 70 international and local artists, across the city’s many heritage sites.

Art Gallery of Ontario acquires 522 Diane Arbus photographs | The Art Gallery of Ontario has announced the acquisition of 522 prints of photographs by Diane Arbus, spanning the length of her career. Artforum reports that the acquisition includes several rarely seen works, as well as portraits of celebrities taken for magazines.

Recommended reading | The New York Times’s Robin Pogrebin reports on a worrying trend emerging in Manhattan, where small to mid-sized galleries and dealerships are being forced out of the market. In the Sunday Times (£), Waldemar Januszczak praises Tate Liverpool’s new Otto Dix and August Sander surveys, but warns that the shows are ‘gripped’ by the ‘reins of right-on-ness, not the reins of art’. Meanwhile in Harper’s, Zadie Smith reflects on the controversy surrounding Dana Schutz’s painting Open Casket and comes away troubled by the argument that it amounts to cultural appropriation.