Will Alsop (1947–2018)

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Will Alsop (1947–2018) | The British architect Will Alsop has died after a short illness. Alsop was known for his mischievous, colourful, and often controversial designs. He created the ‘Grand Bleu’ regional offices in Marseille (1994), and the Sharp Centre for Design in Toronto (2004); in 2000, he won the Stirling Prize for the much-praised Peckham Library in London. Many of his wilder schemes were scaled down or abandoned, especially his urban plans; in recent years he had sought to remodel Barnsley as a Tuscan hill-town, and floated the idea of flooding Bradford city centre.

Rockefeller sale at Christie’s breaks auction record | The auction of David and Peggy Rockefeller’s private collection, Christie’s has announced, finally totalled over $832 million. This sets a new record for the sale of a private collection at auction, almost doubling the total reached in 2009 by the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé ($483.8 million). Among the most expensive Rockefeller items were two oil paintings, Picasso’s Fillette à la corbeille fleurie (1905; $115 million) and Monet’s Nymphéas en fleur (c. 1914–1917; $84.7 million).

Rob Giampietro joins MoMA as Director of Design | The Museum of Modern Art has appointed Rob Giampietro as its new Director of Design. He will join a new ‘creative team’ assembled in time for the museum’s expanded opening next year, with the aim of expanding MoMA’s appeal and digital reach. Formerly a design manager at Google, Giampietro has also taught at Rhode Island School of Design since 2006.

Recommended reading | In the New York Review of Books, Jed Perl looks at an exhibition of Edward Gorey’s ‘otherworldly’ books and designs. Jennifer Piejko writes for GARAGE about the photographer Susan Meiselas, and her retrospective at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. In Le Monde, Roxana Azimi visits the Centre Pompidou-Metz to see an exhibition about modernist couples (French language article). And for Artribune, Niccolò Lucarelli talks to Giordano Bruno Guerri, director of Gabriele d’Annunzio’s ‘Vittoria degli italiani’ estate, ahead of the centenary celebrations of Italy’s victory in the First World War (Italian language article).