The Week in Art: 7 April 2025
More tariffs, more on Trump's attack on culture, as well as Getty, Tate, Turner and a new exhibition exploring the lives of the 'sick-adjacent'.
Last Week’s Week in Review, This Week:
Trump’s tariffs:
While much of the art trade is protected from Trump’s tariffs announced on 2 April, including antiques, original works of art and collectors’ pieces, much is also exempt. Large markets, including Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and China are to be severely affected, while other countries are subject to even higher rates: India (26 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Japan (24 percent), and the European Union (20 percent).
Art professionals fear this is just the start. Like the financial market, the art trade is also a two-way street. Over the coming months we are likely to see counter measures introduced by affected (read nearly all) countries, with alliances being formed by unlikely partners (Japan, China and South Korea held their ‘first economic dialogue in five years’ on 30 March) in response to the Trump administration’s antagonism.
Trump’s attack on culture:
This week, key cultural figures have retaliated in response to the Trump administration’s cuts to agencies’ funding. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit alongside 20 other attorneys general in response to the attack on the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which distributed $180 million in funding across the US. James slammed the executive order, calling it ‘another attack on vulnerable communities, small businesses, and our children’s education’. She restated the importance of agencies like the IMLS, saying they ‘support workers nationwide, provide funding to help minority-owned businesses, and make sure our libraries and museums stay open so children can engage in lifelong learning.’
Kevin Young, the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, affectionately known as the ‘Blacksonian’ has stepped down, according to The Washington Post. Meanwhile, the secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch III, declared in an internal memo that the institution would continue to run ‘free of partisanship’, despite Trump’s efforts. The cultural cornerstone was attacked in 27 March’s executive order for its ‘race-centred’ and ‘anti-American’ ideology, and was singled out for cuts. Bunch is joined by the The American Historical Association (AHA) and 22 other organisations in resisting the executive order, which in ‘classifying collective historical scholarship as “toxic indoctrination” or “discriminatory equity ideology” dismisses the knowledge generated by the deep research of generations of historians. It violates the training, expertise, and purposes of historians as well as their responsibility to public audiences.’
Another cultural institution, World Monuments Fund (WMF) is in the firing line, as part of the White House’s ‘America First’ agenda. The Trump administration recently scrapped USAid, celebrating a $60billion saving in international spending. WMF runs restoration projects in majority Global South countries, and has ‘lost seven grants totaling more than $800,000’.
Click here for last week’s Week in Art.
Getty to Upgrade their Natural Disaster Defences:
As you may have noticed, there was a series of rather large fires in Los Angeles in January. As celebrities lamented the destruction of their mansions (normal people lost their homes too), art lovers watched on as fires edged closer and closer to The Getty Center, west of Beverly Hills. Scorching its grounds, the flames did not reach the building itself. At the time, the museum was quick to advertise its anti-fire engineering, saying that it was prepared for wildfires, though this confidence wasn’t shared by most. It is then to little surprise that the trust announced this week its decision to sell $500 million in bonds to upgrade its firefighting infrastructure, foreshadowing more disasters stemming from the climate emergency.
Though it may sometimes feel like it, not all the news is coming out of the US. Here are some stories from this side of the Atlantic.
Tate Modern Acquires Joan Mitchell:
Some lighter news, then. Miami-based philanthropists Jorge M and Darlene Pérez have made a major donation to Tate modern: Joan Mitchell’s 20-foot triptych Iva (1973). The painting is now being exhibited next to Rothko’s Seagram Murals and is part of a bundle from the Pérezes including works by Yinka Shonibare, El Anatsui and Malick Sidibé, as well as a research grant for curation.
Turner for Sale in Vienna:
A version of J.M.W. Turner’s Venice, Seen from the Canale della Giudecca is up for sale at a Viennese gallery for $41 million. Painted in 1845, its provenance was only confirmed in October 2024. The asking price is close to the record set for the artist: Rome (from Mount Aventine) sold at Sotheby’s in London for $47.6 million in 2014, confirming the still-buoyant nature of the Old Master market.
Leeds exhibition - Sick (A Note from 40 Sandilands Road and Other Stories):
A new installation in Leeds explores being a ‘sick-adjacent’ carer. Sarah Roberts’ Sick (A Note from 40 Sandilands Road and Other Stories) explores the lives of carers who live in close proximity to the ill and the medical world, tapping into national sentiment surrounding Labour’s plans to cut PIP as well as the ballooning of health issues experienced by the population from Covid 19. The exhibition runs at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery in Leeds until 19 July and is free to enter.
