Masterpiece London joins MCH Group – and plans international expansion

Masterpiece London goes global | MCH Group has acquired a 67.5 per cent of the shares in Masterpiece London, the fine art and antiques fair that has been staged in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital every summer since 2010. The international exhibition and events company, which includes the Art Basel fairs among its holdings, has recently expanded its global portfolio, acquiring a stake in Art Düsseldorf earlier this year and a majority stake in the India Art Fair in 2016. Masterpiece has signalled its intention to announce other international venues in coming months, with editions of the fair to ‘be staged at further locations in the USA, Asia and the Middle East over the next few years’.

Vincent Scully (1920–2017) | The architectural historian Vincent Scully has died at the age of 97. Scully, who taught at Yale for more than six decades, was a highly influential activist and critic, advocating for architecture on a human scale and promoting the historic preservation movement in the United States. His published work was a testament to the breadth of his scholarly interests; the subjects of his books ranged from ancient Greek architecture to Palladio, Louis Kahn, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The V&A opens in China | The V&A opens its first international gallery tomorrow (2 December) as part of the new Design Society cultural hub in Shenzhen, China. The first exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, is a site-specific installation featuring more than 250 objects from the V&A’s collections.

Instagram goes mad for the Mona Lisa | The Musée du Louvre was the ‘most Instagrammed museum’ in the world in 2017, according to a list released by the social media platform this week. The top 10 largely consists of historical institutions in the US and UK – the exception being the ‘Museum of Ice Cream’ in Los Angeles, a pop-up venture that has become the selfie-centre of choice for Californians this year…