February 11, 2015: Gerhard Richter Painting Breaks Record Auction Price for Living European Artists, the Smithsonian to Close Freer Gallery for Renovations, and Museum Directors in Boston and Miami Step Down

Opening

In New York … “Moderno: Design for Living in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, 1940-1978,” featuring items on loan from R & Company, opens at Americas Society; “Ross Bleckner and Volker Eichelmann” opens at Sargent’s Daughters; “Peter Bonner: The White Turning” opens at William Holman Gallery.

Today’s Notable News

San Francisco’s Gallery 16 has confirmed the death of Rex Ray, born Michael Patterson, the SF-based artist whose multimedia practice bridged the space between fine art and graphic design. (via SFist)

Sales at last night’s Sotheby’s auction in London totaled over $188 million, with Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1986) pulling in $46.3 million and setting a record sale price for a work by a living European artist. (via ARTnews)

Anne Hawley, the director of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for the past 25 years, is leaving the institution at the end of this year. (via the New York Times)

Suzanne Weaver has stepped down from her position as interim director of Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art just five months after her appointment was announced. (via The Art Newspaper)

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, dedicated to the institution’s collection of Asian art, will close for renovations from January 2016 to summer 2017. (via the New York Times)

The Donald Judd-founded Chinati Foundation has met a $750,000 challenge grant by the Lannan Foundation, who will match the funds for Chinati’s construction of the only freestanding structure designed by Robert Irwin. (via Artforum)

Curator-centric NYC fair SPRING/BREAK Art Show will move from Nolita to Midtown this year, opening its fourth edition in an iconic post office on West 31st Street. (via New York Observer)

Best of Instagram

Via @momaps1: “EMA: I WANNA DESTROY: This Sunday the VW dome will be transformed into a changing 3D environment for @_ema_usa_’s performance. Watch as your experiences transform the projections around you in real time. Organized by @sashafrerejones for #BATANarts”

Good Reads

“Where is Rocky II? The 10-year desert hunt for Ed Ruscha’s missing boulder” (via The Guardian)

“Why the Art World Has Fallen for 90-Year-Old Etel Adnan” (via The Wall Street Journal)

“A Rare Night of Reversing the Tenement Museum’s No Photography Rule” (via Hyperallergic)

Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.