Art news daily: 20 August | Apollo Magazine

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

MoMA agrees new employment contract with union workers | The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the MoMA Local 2110, a union representing around 260 employees at the museum, have reached an agreement over a new five-year employment contract, ARTnews reports. The agreement follows two protests by the union this summer, with the most recent taking place earlier this month. The new contract offers pay increases based on the amount of time employees have spent at the museum; it also safeguards existing health care benefits and improves paid family leave.

Leipzig gallery drops painter over anti-immigrant Facebook posts | Galerie Kleindienst has ceased to represent the painter Axel Krause, Artnet News reports. The gallery dropped the artist after he expressed on Facebook anti-immigrant opinions and support for Germany’s right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland party.

Charles Blackman (1928–2018) | The Australian painter Charles Blackman, part of the ‘Antipodeans’ group in Melbourne in the 1950s and ’60s, has died at the age of 90. For an account of his life and work, read Stephanie Convery’s obituary for The Guardian.

Recommended reading | In the New Yorker, Alex Katz speaks to Calvin Tomkins about the influences on his work – from an ancient bust of Queen Nefertiti to Frank O’Hara. In Frieze, Rachel Wetzler ponders Jordan Peterson’s penchant for Soviet-era Socialist Realist paintings. In Artforum, Adrian Piper pays tribute to Aretha Franklin.