Rachel Whiteread wins the Whitechapel Gallery’s Art Icon award

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Rachel Whiteread wins the Whitechapel Gallery’s Art Icon award | The Whitechapel Gallery today announced Rachel Whiteread as the winner of its 2019 Art Icon award (in partnership with Swarovski). Whiteread was chosen, according to the gallery’s director, Iwona Blazwick, for ‘her transformation of everyday habitats and domestic objects into […] richly metaphorical sculptures’, as well as for her monuments, among them the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial in Vienna. Previous winners of the award include Peter Doig, Joan Jonas and Richard Long.

Art dealer Mary Boone cites early-life trauma as reason for tax fraud | Lawyers for New York art dealer Mary Boone have asked the Federal District Court in Manhattan to take into account her unstable childhood and mental-health issues when sentencing her later this month. Boone pleaded guilty last September to filing false tax returns claiming around $1.6m in personal expenses as business deductions, for which she faces prison time.

US Supreme Court refuses Hungarian restitution case filed by Jewish heirs  | The Supreme Court stated on Monday that it would not hear the case for restitution made by the heirs of Jewish art collector Baron Mór Lipót Herzog. The family claims that 40 of Herzog’s works were confiscated by Hungary – at the time an ally of Nazi Germany – during the Second World War, and are now owned by three Hungarian museums and a university. The result upholds a previous appeals court ruling that Hungary is immune from being sued over the paintings in the US courts.

Five arts organisations shortlisted for Ampersand Foundation Award | A shortlist of five UK arts organisations was announced today for the inaugural Ampersand Foundation Award. The award grants £125,000 to the winning proposal for a project or exhibition from an institution in the Plus Tate network. This year’s shortlisted candidates are the Camden Arts Centre, Firstsite in Colchester, Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and the South London Gallery. The winner will be announced in March.