Three paintings stolen from Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Three paintings stolen from Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford | Three paintings were stolen from Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford during a break-in on Saturday at around 11pm. The thieves took A Rocky Coast, With Soldiers Studying a Plan (late 1640s) by Salvator Rosa, A Boy Drinking (c. 1580) by Annibale Carracci and Van Dyck’s A Soldier on Horseback (c. 1616). The Thames Valley police have opened an investigation and are appealing to the public for any information or CCTV footage from the surrounding area. The gallery has closed until further notice. 

National Gallery postpones Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition indefinitely | The National Gallery in London has temporarily postponed an exhibition dedicated to Artemisia Gentileschi, scheduled to open on 4 April, due to coronavirus. The museum’s director Gabriele Finaldi has described the decision as ‘unprecedented’. No new dates have yet been given for the exhibition. Christie’s has shut almost all its offices in Europe and the US indefinitely, excluding London, and has postponed auctions scheduled for March and April. Phillips has closed all its offices and postponed all sales until mid-May. 

Arts Council England announces plans to support artists and freelancers | Arts Council England has released a statement announcing that its first priority over the coming three months will be supporting artists and freelancers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The measures taken will include redirecting grant programmes toward individuals who have lost out on earnings and to encourage the organisations it supports to honour their contracts with artists and freelancers. 

Genesis P-Orridge (1950–2020) | The English musician and artist Genesis P-Orridge has died aged 70. Born Neil Megson in Manchester in 1950, Genesis P-Orridge founded the music and performance art collective COUM Transmissions which held the highly controversial Prostitution exhibition, featuring erotic photography and costumed performers, at the ICA in London in 1976. It was at this exhibition that Genesis debuted the band Throbbing Gristle, of which they were lead vocalist, which disbanded in 1981 and regrouped for six years in 2004. The band established the genre of industrial music.

Anicka Yi receives Tate Modern’s Hyundai Commission for Turbine Hall | The New York City-based artist Anicka Yi has been selected for Tate Modern’s Hyundai Commission, a major commission to produce a new work to fill the museum’s Turbine Hall. The work, which is currently unknown, will go on view in October.

Lead image: used under Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 2.0; original image cropped)