Robert Venturi (1925–2018)

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Robert Venturi (1925–2018) | The American architect and theorist Robert Venturi has died at the age of 93. Venturi was known for his critical stance against modernism, outlined in his celebrated postmodernist manifesto Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, published in 1966. Born in Philadelphia, in 1959 he returned to his hometown to teach at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met his wife and professional partner Denise Scott Brown. Together they ran the Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates firm, whose many commissions include the Seattle Art Museum (1991), the National Gallery in London’s Sainsbury Wing (1991) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego (1996). In 1991 Venturi was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.  

Vera List Center for Art and Politics receives $5m gift | The Vera List Center for Art and Politics, a research centre and public forum that was established at the New School in New York in 1992, has received a donation of $5m from the art dealer Jane Lombard. The gift will in part contribute towards the centre’s $25,000 biennial prize for socially oriented art, that will now be renamed the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice.

Arthur Mitchell (1934-2018) | The dancer and choreographer Arthur Mitchell has died at the age of 84. In the mid ’50s Mitchell broke new ground as one of the first black dancers with the New York City Ballet. Mitchell co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1968, with the aim of improving access to dance for the poor and predominantly black local community. 

Spanish government to spend €30m to expand Prado over next four years | The Spanish government this week approved €30m of funding to go towards a major expansion of the Prado Museum in Madrid over the next four years, reports El Pais (Spanish-language article). A further €10m will be raised by the museum for project, which is being carried out by architects Norman Foster and Carlos Rubio.