16. A Jasper Johns quantum-survey opens in two cities<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"installation](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/web-JASPER_JOHNS_INSTALL_030.jpg?w=734\")
<\/p>\nView of the exhibition “Jasper Johns: Mind\/Mirror,” 2021\u201322, at the Whitney Museum. Photo<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Photo Ron Amstutz<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nTaking \u201cMind\/Mirror\u201d as both a title and a prompt, a momentous and highly ambitious two-part survey of work by Jasper Johns opened simultaneously at the Whitney Museum in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The probing and prismatic exhibition (which continues into February) features galleries in different locations that sometimes echo one another and other times take up different aspects of a common theme. The two curators involved\u2014Scott Rothkopf at the Whitney and Carlos Basualdo in Philadelphia\u2014clearly\u00a0had a lot to talk about<\/a>\u00a0when organizing a show with such scope. And all the work by Johns\u2014who at the age of 91 ranks as one of our most important living artists\u2014clearly has a lot to say. \u2014Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n15. An Indianapolis museum’s job listing leads to a national outrage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Newfields-director-Charles-Venable.-Photo-courtesy-of-Newfields.-e1518033104383-922x1024-1.jpg?w=540\")
<\/p>\nCharles Venable.Photo<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Courtesy Newfields<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nThe Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields did not find favor when it posted a job listing\u2014for a new director no less\u2014that included within its description a stated aim to \u201cattract a broader and more diverse audience while maintaining the Museum\u2019s traditional, core, white art audience.\u201d The museum quickly reversed course, issuing a statement that read: \u201cOur audience\u2014and most museums\u2019 audiences\u2014have historically been, and currently are, too homogeneous, and we are committed to changing that and intentionally diversifying our audiences. We deeply regret that in our job description, in our attempt to focus on building and diversifying our core audience, our wording was divisive rather than inclusive.\u201d But tempers were not calmed, and shortly thereafter, Charles Venable, the museum\u2019s president,\u00a0resigned<\/a>.\u00a0\u2014Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n14. Fran\u00e7ois Pinault\u2019s long-awaited Paris museum arrives<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP21140151742570.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nParis’s Bourse de Commerce, now home to Francois Pinault’s art collection.Photo<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nMega-collector Fran\u00e7ois Pinault has been trying to open a museum in his home base of Paris for two decades. His dream was at last realized this year when the Bourse de Commerce, a massive private art space set in a former stock exchange in Paris,\u00a0finally began welcoming visitors<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>A<\/span>fter\u00a0<\/span>years of anticipation and\u00a0<\/span>a $195 million upgrade from Tadao\u00a0<\/span>Ando<\/span>,<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0Bourse de Commerce\u00a0<\/span>now\u00a0<\/span>provides a luxurious home for the\u00a0<\/span>Kering<\/span>\u00a0founder\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>blue-chip\u00a0<\/span>collection<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>he exceptional quality of what\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>on view<\/span>\u00a0is hard to ignore<\/span>. When the museum opened after two Covid-induced delays, there was a David Hammons survey\u2014a highly unusual presentation for an artist whose work is rarely ever seen in bulk. Alongside it\u00a0<\/span>were<\/span>\u00a0works by Cindy Sherman,\u00a0<\/span>Ser<\/span>\u00a0Serpas, Urs Fischer, and more. Its inaugural presentations offered proof that the Bourse de Commerce was not just a major entry to Paris\u2019s already-rich museum scene, but also to the international scene at large.<\/span><\/span> \u2014Alex Greenberger<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n13. Cuban artists speak out against human rights abuses<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP21193018598073.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nAnti-government protesters marching in Havana this summer.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>AP Photo\/Ismael Francisco<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nThroughout 2021, Cuban artists led vocal protests against human rights abuses and censorship in their country\u2014and periodically faced the threat of imprisonment because of it. As many took to the streets, artists such as Luis Manuel Otero Alc\u00e1ntara were detained for extended periods of time. A groundswell of activism exploded around the Havana Biennial, with more than 400 cultural workers from around the world, including Tania Bruguera, Teresita Fernandez, and Walid Raad, signing an open letter renouncing the human rights abuses committed by the Cuban government in the past year. Bruguera, a frequent target of police scrutiny in Havana, was a vocal proponent of the boycott campaign that spread across social media under #NoALaBienalDeLaHabana. Artists Julie Mehretu, Theaster Gates, and Marina Abramovi\u0107, as well as curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, were some of the high-profile figures to publicly lend their support to the boycott. As of November, several participants had heeded their calls and pulled out of the exhibition.<\/span><\/span>\u2014Tessa Solomon<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n12. Klaus Biesenbach makes a surprise departure from MOCA Los Angeles<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"Klaus](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/web-AP19082172770888.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nThe Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has weathered many storms in the new millennium, having seen a string of directors from New York come and go. When Klaus Biesenbach was appointed in 2018, after running MoMA PS1 for over a decade, many believed he might actually be in it for the long haul. But during his short tenure, he lost two major curators\u2014Mia Locks, whom he had recruited to be senior curator, and Bryan Barcena, who left for the commercial gallery Regen Projects\u2014as well as the museum\u2019s director of human resources, Carlos Viramontes. Earlier this year, Biesenbach was named artistic director, essentially demoting him as the museum began a search for an executive director who would oversee the institution\u2019s daily management and operations as well as long-term staff-related initiatives. The board eventually appointed Johanna Burton, who made her name at the New Museum in New York before being named executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, in 2019. The joy seemed palpable. It lasted all but a week, when Biesenbach made the announcement that he would be leaving the institution to run two Berlin institutions, the Neue Nationalgalerie and the forthcoming Museum of the 20th Century. The job change was reportedly even a surprise to MOCA\u2019s board, which had undertaken measures to keep him at the museum. Burton soon became the institution\u2019s full director and started in November.\u00a0\u2014Maximil\u00edano Dur\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n11. A controversial Robert E. Lee monument finally comes down<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"Crews](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP21252827060593.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nCrews removing a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>AP Photo\/Steve Helber<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nAmid<\/span>Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, activists called for monuments honoring racist<\/span>\u00a0figures to<\/span>\u00a0come down,\u00a0<\/span>in particular monuments<\/span>\u00a0to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general and slave owner. In 2021, many of these monuments\u00a0<\/span>finally\u00a0<\/span>were hauled away. The largest among them was a statue of Lee riding a horse<\/span>\u00a0that, for years, had stood atop<\/span>\u00a0a pedestal in Richmond, Virginia. Despite two lawsuits attempting to prevent its removal, the statue\u00a0<\/span>was removed<\/span>\u00a0this September. On the day the monument came down<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Ralph Northam<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>g<\/span>overnor of Virginia<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0said<\/span>, \u201cOur public memorials are symbols of who we are and what we value. When we honor\u00a0<\/span>leaders<\/span>\u00a0who fought to preserve a system that enslaved human beings, we are honoring a lost cause that has\u00a0<\/span>burdened Virginia for too many years.\u201d<\/span>Long anticipated by many, the monument\u2019s removal stood as proof that last year\u2019s activism had borne fruit.\u00a0\u2014Shanti Escalante-De Mattei<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n10. The art market returns to in-person events<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"auction](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webSOTHEBYS2021_1118_194118-9874_ALIVECOVERAGE.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nSotheby’s Macklowe Collection sale.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Courtesy Sotheby’s\/Photo Julian Cassady<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nAfter a nearly two-year hiatus as a result of the pandemic, international art fairs and top auction houses resumed hosting in-person events. For the fairs, doing so was not one without road bumps. This fall, the world\u2019s largest fair, Art Basel, returned to the Swiss city, as did the Armory Show in New York. With timed entries for crowd control and coronavirus-related restrictions still in place, the mood at the fairs was more subdued than in years past. The big three auction houses\u2014Christie\u2019s, Sotheby\u2019s, and Phillips\u2014were more successful, however, luring audiences back to salesrooms across New York, Europe, and Hong Kong headquarters. Bringing a jolt back to the auction sector was the return of blockbuster single-owner sales, such as one of the collection of Linda and Harry Macklowe at Sotheby\u2019s, which was watched by hundreds and generated a staggering $676 million. Not since the start of the pandemic had such spirited bidding and such grand prices been seen.\u00a0\u2014Angelica Villa<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n9. UNESCO recommends the return of the Parthenon Marbles<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"Placards](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP21171635154942.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nPlacards outside the British Museum during a protest calling on the museum to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Vuk Valcic\/SOPA Images\/Sipa USA via AP Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nIn October, a\u00a0<\/span>UNESCO<\/span>\u00a0Advisory Board concluded its annual meeting in Paris with the recommendation that the British government reconsider the ownership status of the famed Parthenon Marbles held in the collection of\u00a0<\/span>London\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>British Museum. It was a landmark\u00a0<\/span>chapter<\/span>\u00a0in one of the longest-running restitution controversies in history<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0The British government has contested that the s<\/span><\/span>culpted relief panels and\u00a0<\/span>friezes<\/span><\/span>\u00a0were taken from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador during the Ottoman occupation of Greece, in 1801<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/span>illegitimate<\/span>\u00a0means.\u00a0<\/span>Greece, in response, maintain<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0that this\u00a0<\/span>was\u00a0<\/span>a straightforward case of looting. The\u00a0<\/span>U.K. government has since rejected the committee\u2019s call to investigate the circumstances of the marbles\u2019 arrival in England<\/span>, indefinitely\u00a0<\/span>prolonging<\/span>\u00a0the case<\/span>\u2014<\/span>but\u00a0<\/span>UNESCO\u2019s statement remains\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a victory for Greece, which has lobbied the issue to be heard by the committee since 1984.<\/span><\/span> \u2014Tessa Solomon<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n8. Lee Kun-hee’s rich collection heads to South Korea’s museums<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP21202275112257.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nKim Whanki, Women and Jars<\/em>, ca. 1950s, during an exhibition of Lee Kun-hee’s collection at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in Seoul.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>AP Photo\/Ahn Young-joon<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nIn a year that was tough for museums around the world, it was nice to see some institutions triumph. In April, what might have been the auction of the century instead became, in the words of the director of the National Museum of Korea and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, \u201cthe donation of the century.\u201d The MMCA is just one of several Korean museums to be named that month as recipients of 23,000 artworks from the collection of Samsung\u2019s late chairman, Lee Kun-hee, whose family was facing an inheritance tax bill of over 12 trillion won ($10.4 billion) after his death in 2020. When pieces from the collection, which has been valued at $20 billion,\u00a0went on view<\/a>\u00a0over the summer, the showstoppers were pieces by the likes of Renoir, Gauguin, and Pissarro, but it is also rich in work by Korean artists from throughout history, including Yoo Youngkuk, Lee Jungseop, and Kim Whanki.\u00a0\u2014Sarah Douglas<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n7. Black women take the lead at U.S. museum boards<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"photos](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/BlackWomenLeaders.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\nLeft to right: Denise Gardner, Seena Hodges, and Suzanne McFayden.<\/div>\nPhoto<\/span>\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span>Courtesy Art Institute of Chicago\/DESIRE\u00c9 BENTON OF THE DASH COLLECTIVE\/KARA MARIE TROMBETTA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\nIn April, Denise Gardner made headlines\u2014and history\u2014when she was elected to be the next chair of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has long been a trustee. When she took office in November, she became the first woman and the first African American to ever lead the institution. Her appointment was soon followed by a wave of news about museum boards, which have ofte\u00ad\u00adn been particularly slow to change. In September, Seena Hodges became president of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Suzanne McFayden became chair of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, and Constance Rice became chair of the Seattle Art Museum. The election of these four Black women hopefully signals that other major museums in this country will soon follow suit.\u00a0\u2014Maximil\u00edano Dur\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n6. The Louvre gets its first-ever female director<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n![\"Laurence](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/webAP17264549188544.jpg?w=800\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nTaking \u201cMind\/Mirror\u201d as both a title and a prompt, a momentous and highly ambitious two-part survey of work by Jasper Johns opened simultaneously at the Whitney Museum in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The probing and prismatic exhibition (which continues into February) features galleries in different locations that sometimes echo one another and other times take up different aspects of a common theme. The two curators involved\u2014Scott Rothkopf at the Whitney and Carlos Basualdo in Philadelphia\u2014clearly\u00a0had a lot to talk about<\/a>\u00a0when organizing a show with such scope. And all the work by Johns\u2014who at the age of 91 ranks as one of our most important living artists\u2014clearly has a lot to say. \u2014Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields did not find favor when it posted a job listing\u2014for a new director no less\u2014that included within its description a stated aim to \u201cattract a broader and more diverse audience while maintaining the Museum\u2019s traditional, core, white art audience.\u201d The museum quickly reversed course, issuing a statement that read: \u201cOur audience\u2014and most museums\u2019 audiences\u2014have historically been, and currently are, too homogeneous, and we are committed to changing that and intentionally diversifying our audiences. We deeply regret that in our job description, in our attempt to focus on building and diversifying our core audience, our wording was divisive rather than inclusive.\u201d But tempers were not calmed, and shortly thereafter, Charles Venable, the museum\u2019s president,\u00a0resigned<\/a>.\u00a0\u2014Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n Mega-collector Fran\u00e7ois Pinault has been trying to open a museum in his home base of Paris for two decades. His dream was at last realized this year when the Bourse de Commerce, a massive private art space set in a former stock exchange in Paris,\u00a0finally began welcoming visitors<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>A<\/span>fter\u00a0<\/span>years of anticipation and\u00a0<\/span>a $195 million upgrade from Tadao\u00a0<\/span>Ando<\/span>,<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0Bourse de Commerce\u00a0<\/span>now\u00a0<\/span>provides a luxurious home for the\u00a0<\/span>Kering<\/span>\u00a0founder\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>blue-chip\u00a0<\/span>collection<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>he exceptional quality of what\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>on view<\/span>\u00a0is hard to ignore<\/span>. When the museum opened after two Covid-induced delays, there was a David Hammons survey\u2014a highly unusual presentation for an artist whose work is rarely ever seen in bulk. Alongside it\u00a0<\/span>were<\/span>\u00a0works by Cindy Sherman,\u00a0<\/span>Ser<\/span>\u00a0Serpas, Urs Fischer, and more. Its inaugural presentations offered proof that the Bourse de Commerce was not just a major entry to Paris\u2019s already-rich museum scene, but also to the international scene at large.<\/span><\/span> \u2014Alex Greenberger<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n Throughout 2021, Cuban artists led vocal protests against human rights abuses and censorship in their country\u2014and periodically faced the threat of imprisonment because of it. As many took to the streets, artists such as Luis Manuel Otero Alc\u00e1ntara were detained for extended periods of time. A groundswell of activism exploded around the Havana Biennial, with more than 400 cultural workers from around the world, including Tania Bruguera, Teresita Fernandez, and Walid Raad, signing an open letter renouncing the human rights abuses committed by the Cuban government in the past year. Bruguera, a frequent target of police scrutiny in Havana, was a vocal proponent of the boycott campaign that spread across social media under #NoALaBienalDeLaHabana. Artists Julie Mehretu, Theaster Gates, and Marina Abramovi\u0107, as well as curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, were some of the high-profile figures to publicly lend their support to the boycott. As of November, several participants had heeded their calls and pulled out of the exhibition.<\/span><\/span>\u2014Tessa Solomon<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has weathered many storms in the new millennium, having seen a string of directors from New York come and go. When Klaus Biesenbach was appointed in 2018, after running MoMA PS1 for over a decade, many believed he might actually be in it for the long haul. But during his short tenure, he lost two major curators\u2014Mia Locks, whom he had recruited to be senior curator, and Bryan Barcena, who left for the commercial gallery Regen Projects\u2014as well as the museum\u2019s director of human resources, Carlos Viramontes. Earlier this year, Biesenbach was named artistic director, essentially demoting him as the museum began a search for an executive director who would oversee the institution\u2019s daily management and operations as well as long-term staff-related initiatives. The board eventually appointed Johanna Burton, who made her name at the New Museum in New York before being named executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, in 2019. The joy seemed palpable. It lasted all but a week, when Biesenbach made the announcement that he would be leaving the institution to run two Berlin institutions, the Neue Nationalgalerie and the forthcoming Museum of the 20th Century. The job change was reportedly even a surprise to MOCA\u2019s board, which had undertaken measures to keep him at the museum. Burton soon became the institution\u2019s full director and started in November.\u00a0\u2014Maximil\u00edano Dur\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n Amid<\/span>Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, activists called for monuments honoring racist<\/span>\u00a0figures to<\/span>\u00a0come down,\u00a0<\/span>in particular monuments<\/span>\u00a0to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general and slave owner. In 2021, many of these monuments\u00a0<\/span>finally\u00a0<\/span>were hauled away. The largest among them was a statue of Lee riding a horse<\/span>\u00a0that, for years, had stood atop<\/span>\u00a0a pedestal in Richmond, Virginia. Despite two lawsuits attempting to prevent its removal, the statue\u00a0<\/span>was removed<\/span>\u00a0this September. On the day the monument came down<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Ralph Northam<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>g<\/span>overnor of Virginia<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0said<\/span>, \u201cOur public memorials are symbols of who we are and what we value. When we honor\u00a0<\/span>leaders<\/span>\u00a0who fought to preserve a system that enslaved human beings, we are honoring a lost cause that has\u00a0<\/span>burdened Virginia for too many years.\u201d<\/span>Long anticipated by many, the monument\u2019s removal stood as proof that last year\u2019s activism had borne fruit.\u00a0\u2014Shanti Escalante-De Mattei<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n After a nearly two-year hiatus as a result of the pandemic, international art fairs and top auction houses resumed hosting in-person events. For the fairs, doing so was not one without road bumps. This fall, the world\u2019s largest fair, Art Basel, returned to the Swiss city, as did the Armory Show in New York. With timed entries for crowd control and coronavirus-related restrictions still in place, the mood at the fairs was more subdued than in years past. The big three auction houses\u2014Christie\u2019s, Sotheby\u2019s, and Phillips\u2014were more successful, however, luring audiences back to salesrooms across New York, Europe, and Hong Kong headquarters. Bringing a jolt back to the auction sector was the return of blockbuster single-owner sales, such as one of the collection of Linda and Harry Macklowe at Sotheby\u2019s, which was watched by hundreds and generated a staggering $676 million. Not since the start of the pandemic had such spirited bidding and such grand prices been seen.\u00a0\u2014Angelica Villa<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n In October, a\u00a0<\/span>UNESCO<\/span>\u00a0Advisory Board concluded its annual meeting in Paris with the recommendation that the British government reconsider the ownership status of the famed Parthenon Marbles held in the collection of\u00a0<\/span>London\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>British Museum. It was a landmark\u00a0<\/span>chapter<\/span>\u00a0in one of the longest-running restitution controversies in history<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0The British government has contested that the s<\/span><\/span>culpted relief panels and\u00a0<\/span>friezes<\/span><\/span>\u00a0were taken from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador during the Ottoman occupation of Greece, in 1801<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/span>illegitimate<\/span>\u00a0means.\u00a0<\/span>Greece, in response, maintain<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0that this\u00a0<\/span>was\u00a0<\/span>a straightforward case of looting. The\u00a0<\/span>U.K. government has since rejected the committee\u2019s call to investigate the circumstances of the marbles\u2019 arrival in England<\/span>, indefinitely\u00a0<\/span>prolonging<\/span>\u00a0the case<\/span>\u2014<\/span>but\u00a0<\/span>UNESCO\u2019s statement remains\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a victory for Greece, which has lobbied the issue to be heard by the committee since 1984.<\/span><\/span> \u2014Tessa Solomon<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n In a year that was tough for museums around the world, it was nice to see some institutions triumph. In April, what might have been the auction of the century instead became, in the words of the director of the National Museum of Korea and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, \u201cthe donation of the century.\u201d The MMCA is just one of several Korean museums to be named that month as recipients of 23,000 artworks from the collection of Samsung\u2019s late chairman, Lee Kun-hee, whose family was facing an inheritance tax bill of over 12 trillion won ($10.4 billion) after his death in 2020. When pieces from the collection, which has been valued at $20 billion,\u00a0went on view<\/a>\u00a0over the summer, the showstoppers were pieces by the likes of Renoir, Gauguin, and Pissarro, but it is also rich in work by Korean artists from throughout history, including Yoo Youngkuk, Lee Jungseop, and Kim Whanki.\u00a0\u2014Sarah Douglas<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n In April, Denise Gardner made headlines\u2014and history\u2014when she was elected to be the next chair of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has long been a trustee. When she took office in November, she became the first woman and the first African American to ever lead the institution. Her appointment was soon followed by a wave of news about museum boards, which have ofte\u00ad\u00adn been particularly slow to change. In September, Seena Hodges became president of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Suzanne McFayden became chair of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, and Constance Rice became chair of the Seattle Art Museum. The election of these four Black women hopefully signals that other major museums in this country will soon follow suit.\u00a0\u2014Maximil\u00edano Dur\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n15. An Indianapolis museum’s job listing leads to a national outrage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n14. Fran\u00e7ois Pinault\u2019s long-awaited Paris museum arrives<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n13. Cuban artists speak out against human rights abuses<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n12. Klaus Biesenbach makes a surprise departure from MOCA Los Angeles<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n11. A controversial Robert E. Lee monument finally comes down<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n10. The art market returns to in-person events<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n9. UNESCO recommends the return of the Parthenon Marbles<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n8. Lee Kun-hee’s rich collection heads to South Korea’s museums<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n7. Black women take the lead at U.S. museum boards<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n6. The Louvre gets its first-ever female director<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n