François Hollande announces creation of global fund for protection of cultural heritage

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

François Hollande calls for global fund to safeguard cultural heritage | Speaking from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last night, French President François Hollande announced the creation of a global fund designed to safeguard endangered sites of cultural heritage. ‘The ambition is to raise $100 million,’ the President elaborated, explaining that the fund will ‘finance the protection of works of art and monuments’ and will ‘assure the restoration and reconstruction of places of memory and will train specialists, archaeologists, conservators and historians.’ (French language article.)

Tate acquires Joan Carlile portrait | The Tate gallery has announced a round of new acquisitions in its annual report, including a landmark portrait by 17th-century British painter Joan Carlile that now represents the oldest work by a female artist in the museum’s collection – one which was long assumed to be the work of a man. The Carlile portrait, which depicts an unidentified woman, was painted between 1650–55. The Art Newspaper reports that it was last sold at auction in 2014, when art historian Bendor Grosvenor bought it as an ‘English School’ work at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury for £4,200. According to Grosvenor himself, Tate then acquired the freshly attributed work from him for £35,000. Other acquisitions made this year include Derek Jarman’s video Blue and William Stott of Oldham’s The Ferry. 

Todd Palmer appointed executive director of Chicago Architecture Biennale | Todd Palmer, director of Chicago’s National Public Housing Museum, has been appointed executive director of the 2017 edition of the city’s architecture biennale. The announcement is one of several recent changes relating to the event, as Chicago mayor and biennale chairman Rahm Emanuel brings the opening date forward to 14 September 2017 to coincide with Expo Chicago. Additionally, husband-and-wife architecture team Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee have been named as the event’s new artistic directors.

Gallery of Everything opens with Jarvis Cocker show in London | The Gallery of Everything, a commercial space devoted to the work of self-taught artists, has opened in London with a show curated by former Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker. The space, an offshoot of the non-profit Museum of Everything, aims to ‘communicate an alternative history of art’ and will channel all revenue raised back into its parent organisation’s non-commercial activities.