The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has acquired the monumental bronze sculpture Rumors of War, Kehinde Wileys response to the Confederate statues common to the southern United States. The 27ft-high work depicts a young African-American man in urban streetwear astride a horse on a stone pedestal. Currently on view in Times Square in New York, the statue is due to be installed permanently at the entrance to the VMFA on Arthur Ashe Boulevard on 10 December. The museum declined to specify how much it paid for the work, which it purchased through Sean Kelly Gallery in New York.
An 800-year-old figure of Christ that once belonged to the monks of St Marys Abbey in York has been purchased by the museum that now stands beside the abbeys ruins. Having survived the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the 16cm-high gilt copper sculpture from Limoges, France, went unrecorded for almost a century between 1826 and 1920, when it entered a private German collection. There it remained until its recent sale at auction to a dealer for €8,500. York Museums Trust subsequently bought the figure with support from the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, returning it to York after nearly 200 years.
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired a near-identical twin of Agnolo Bronzinos Madonna and Child with Saints, held by the National Gallery in London. The purchase for an undisclosed price represents “the single most important addition to our 16th-century paintings collection”, according to the museums director, Timothy Potts. Previously attributed to Andrea del Sarto, the Gettys more colourful version has long been in private hands and has no known exhibition history. From 2015 to 2019 it belonged to the Chilean billionaire Álvaro Saieh and his wife Ana Guzmán, the founders of the Alana Collection of Italian Renaissance art.
The Contemporary Art Society acquired 11 photographic portraits from Zanele Muholis Faces and Phases series (2006-) from Stevenson Gallery at Frieze London last month, on behalf of Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Since 2016, the UK charitys Collections Fund has bought works from the fair for a selected member museum. Muholis ongoing portrait series depicts members of South Africas LGBTRead More – Source
