US collector rejects National Gallery’s offer for Pontormo painting

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

US collector rejects National Gallery’s matching offer to buy Pontormo painting | Hedge-fund manager J. Tomilson Hill, who purchased Pontormo’s Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap in 2015, has rejected the matching offer from London’s National Gallery. The Art Newspaper has previously reported that Hill’s reluctance to accept the offer for the painting – currently under a temporary export bar – is due to the fall in sterling in recent months. For more on this story, see our previous coverage.

MoMA rehangs collection to highlight countries affected by US visa ban | New York’s Museum of Modern Art has rehung parts of its permanent collection to give prominence to works by artists from countries included by the Trump administration’s proposed travel ban. According to the New York Times, the museum has replaced works by Picasso, Matisse, and Picabia with images by artists including Iranian video artist Tala Madani and the late, Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid. The museum says it intends to make further changes in the coming weeks.

Anish Kapoor awarded $1 million Genesis Prize | Anish Kapoor has been named laureate of this year’s Genesis Prize, an award granted by the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency, and the Genesis Prize Foundation that recognises commitment to Israel and to Judaism. On receiving the award, Kapoor spoke out against what he described as ‘abhorrent government policies’ targeted at refugees, and pledged the $1 million prize money he received to helping people fleeing war or persecution. ‘I am an artist, not a politician, and I feel I must speak out against indifference for the suffering of others,’ Kapoor said.

Colby College Museum of Art receives $100 million gift | The Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, has received a gift equivalent to $100 million from arts patrons Peter and Paula Lunder. The donation adds some 1,100 works of art to the museum’s collection, including pieces by Whistler, Van Gogh, Claes Oldenburg, and Maya Lin.

Recommended reading | With a deficit of some $40 million, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is facing significant financial challenges that have recently forced it to postpone a major expansion project. The New York Times’s Robin Pogrebin reports on the Met’s difficulties, speaking to figures including director Thomas P Campbell. ‘My colleagues have every right to feel upset,’ Campbell tells him. ‘At the same time, one has to step back and look at the success of the institution.’ Meanwhile in the Observer, Rowan Moore speaks to architect Santiago Calatrava about his plans for a major new development in southeast London and the various controversies that have dogged his practice over the years. Elsewhere, the Washington Post’s Tom Rachman reports from the Verbier Art Summit, which he describes as ‘a Davos meeting for artists, collectors, critics and museum directors’.