Roundup: Panama Papers hit art world, Charlie Hebdo in controversy, L.A.'s dynamic architecture

The release of the Panama Papers has led to protests in Britain, above, where demonstrators held a pig with an image of Prime Minister David Cameron, who is connected to the scandal. The hacks have touched the art world, too.

April 11, 2016 9:40 AM PT

Art world names begin to pop up in Panama Papers revelations. A pair of European museums aim to show the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt. Charlie Hebdo punches down. And Donald Trump uses a Donald Judd sculpture as a coat rack. Plus: Alejandro Aravena’s emotional Pritzker speech, brutalism’s legacy and how L.A.’s domestic architecture is drawing the attention of critics from all over. Here’s the Roundup:

— The leaks of the Panama Papers are touching all corners of the art world. Jake Bernstein of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has a stunning, long read on how the Nahmad art dealing family may have used Panamanian shell companies to obscure their ownership of priceless works — including a painting by Amadeo Modigliani that may have been looted by the Nazis. Set some time aside for this. It is juicy. (Art Market Monitor)

— The scandal has also enveloped the art-loving daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, a secretive currency trader named Joe Lewis who bought the Ganz family collection at a famous 1997 auction that helped set the art market on fire, a Chinese auction house founder and a slew of other oligarchs and power brokers.

— A pair of museums in Bonn, Germany, and Bern, Switzerland, are teaming up to show the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt, the Munich recluse whose father was an art dealer for the Nazis.

— Charlie Hebdo ran an editorial linking all Muslims to the sort of violence that took place in Brussels recently. It has unleashed a tremendous amount of criticism — with some contending that the venerable satirical weekly is punching down instead of up.

— An exhibition of performance art at the Benaki Contemporary Art Museum in Athens has captivated Greek audiences at a time of great economic and political uncertainty.

— Long-lost Caravaggio may have been discovered in France.

— So much for artists and patrons playing well together: Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art has been canceled after a bitter dispute between artist Danh Vo and collector Bert Kreuk.

Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Long Island, N.Y., on Wednesday.

— ARTnews sums up Donald Trump’s lack of affection for the arts — from failing to preserve a series of Art Deco murals on the old Bonwit Teller building in Manhattan to dumping his overcoat on a Donald Judd. Vulgarian, indeed.

— The Guggenheim Museum cuts short a series based on loans to an El Paso, Texas, museum stating that it is not in the Guggenheim’s financial interest. The series was criticized by Times critic Christopher Knight last summer as an example of a museum using its collections to make money, rather than for the promotion of artistic scholarship.

— What L.A. really needs is another selfie-inducing piece of art.

— Want to know a painting’s resale value? There’s an app for that.

— The University of Kansas has acquired a library of radical zines. This looks like good browsing.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena poses for a photo at his studio in Santiago, Chile, in January, upon being named the recipient of the Pritzker Prize.

— Archinect has posted the full video of Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena’s Pritzker acceptance speech, and it’s quite moving. He not only thanks individual staff members by name, he thanks the workers who build his firm’s structures. (I covered his work and the work of other Chilean architects last year.)

— In related news: Aravena has made the plans of four of his firm’s social housing projects available to the public.

— An iconic library designed by Modernist architect Marcel Breuer in Atlanta (the architect of Met Breuer fame) is in jeopardy. (Weisslink)

— Speaking of which, brutalism’s legacy may be most influential in art.

— “Theming” — created themed architecture à la Disney — is building design’s new normal, writes Mark Eades. And my nightmare.

A view of architect Michael Maltzan's One Santa Fe complex in 2014. The downtown apartment building has drawn the attention of various national critics.

— Architecture critics Mark Lamster of the Dallas Morning News and Justin Davidson of New York Magazine, take a look at innovative domestic architecture in Los Angeles.

— “It maneuvers through the streets like a silent Hot Wheel on a plastic racetrack, occasionally smashing into someone or something.” How high-speed car chases became a Los Angeles thing. Great read from Mary Melton.

— And last but not least, behold the entrancing power of stock footage in “Koyaanistocksi.”

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.