This Week's Top Stories: Chinese Billionaires Sell Off Bluechip Art, and Picasso's Son and Heir Has Died

Market

Shanghai Museum Founders Plan Surprise Art Sale

The billionaire founders of Shanghai’s Long Museum will sell an estimated $150m worth of art at Sotheby’s. Between 50 and 60 bluechip works by artists including Modigliani, Magritte, and Yayoi Kusama are due to be sold by the power couple Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian. (ARTnews)

NFT Marketplace OpenSea to Disable Royalty Enforcement Tool

OpenSea will disable its royalty enforcement tool, Operator Filter, on August 31. The tool, introduced in November 2022, allowed creators to blacklist NFT marketplaces that did not enforce royalties. (Cointelegraph)

Legal

Filings in Lisa Schiff Lawsuit Reveal Hundreds of Missing Artworks

New evidence in two lawsuits against art adviser Lisa Schiff reveals around 40 unreported claims and hundreds of missing artworks, worth more than $3m. Schiff faces accusations of fraud, breach of contract, and operating a "Ponzi scheme". (The Art Newspaper)

Judge Rules AI-generated Art Cannot Be Copyrighted

A US district court judge has ruled that art created by AI cannot be protected by US copyright law due to a lack of “human authorship”. (Hypebeast)

Shows

KAWS to Make Canadian Museum Debut

The 'KAWS: FAMILY' exhibition, featuring over 70 artworks, will make its Canadian debut at Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario. The show, which includes larger-than-life sculptures, augmented reality installations, is due to open on September 27. (Hypebeast)

Exhibition Honours Zaha Hadid in Architect’s First US Museum Building

Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Center marks the 20th anniversary it home, which was Zaha Hadid’s first US museum building, with an international group show in her honor. (e-flux)

More

Claude Picasso, Longstanding Manager of his Father’s Estate, Has Died

Claude Picasso, who has died aged 76, had to take legal action to be recognised as an heir of his father’s estate. A photographer in his own right, he will be best known for managing the Picasso estate for almost four decades. (ARTnews)

British Museum Director Makes First Comment as Police Investigate Thefts

Embattled director Hartwig Fischer insisted the British Museum took allegations of thefts seriously when they first emerged in 2021 but declined to comment on the number of antiquities unaccounted for or the sacking of a senior curator. Fischer himself resigned two days later day. (The Independent)

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