Grant Wood (1891-1942)

The Cuban Surrealist accounted for various gems in this art collection assembled by an American couple who lived in France from the 1950s.

In the 1950s, the American couple John and Alice Pole-Woods moved to Paris, where they met another exile, Cuban painter Wifredo Lam. Their shared tastes led to a lasting friendship.

Traditional and ritual objects will evoke British Colombia’s indigenous peoples at this sale, where a witch and a beaver will cross paths.

Found in Chan Chan, one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in South America, the sculpture depicts a litter bearer of a ruler and has a flat oval face painted red, almond-shaped eyes and a trapezoidal cap. It is thought to be between 850 and 1,470 years old and is in a very good state of conservation. (Heritage Daily)

Acquired from Wifredo Lam by American collectors in the 1950s, the painting tripled its estimate selling for €258,000 on Sept. 11 in Blois at Pousse-Cornet. The Pole-Woods and the Cuban painter - exiled between Paris and Italy - frequented the same circles. Their friendship gave rise to a rich correspondence.

The MacArthur Fellowship has been awarded to those who have shown “exceptional creativity.” The award comes with a no-strings attached grant of $800,000 over 5 years. Among the winners is artist Paul Chan, conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, artist and filmaker Sky Hopkina, and artist, architect Amanda Wlison. 

The Yvelines Department, west of Paris, of which Versailles is the main commune or city, has announced the payment of the grant. The palace will receive €5M a year over the next three years, having reported losses of €70M due to a lack of visitors this past year – going from €8.2 to 2 million.

The Milwaukee-based Ruth Foundation for the Arts was established this year with the enormous bequest from Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, who died in 2020. The Foundation plans to give away $17-20M a year, having already spread $1.25M between 78 arts nonprofits, surprising many since none of them had applied for grants. (NYT)

The bank has announced the 2022 winners of its program launched in 2010: 19 projects from around the world will benefit from the $1 million committed by the institution. In France, it chose Notre-Dame de Paris, which will soon rediscover its statues and its marquetry floor, damaged by the devastating fire of 2019.

To support independent, non-profit US arts journals hard hit by the pandemic, the charitable foundation announced 15 September that 9 publications would benefit from a 20k grant: Arts.Black, BOMB, the Brooklyn Rail, Bmore, Burnaway, Glasstire, the Maine Arts Journal, the New Art Examiner and X-TRA.