Art Market Closure, Rembrandt Attribution, and Political Protest Highlight Art News

Munich auction house Neumeister will cease operations on October 31, as reported by Brita Sachs in FAZ. Managing director Katrin Stoll cited private reasons, including unsuccessful negotiations and her children pursuing different careers, leading to no viable path forward. The property was sold during the dissolution of the ownership group. Founded in 1958 by Rudolf Neumeister, the house is significant in the art trade, with Stoll recognized for provenance research and addressing the Nazi-era history of predecessor Weinmüller. A final summer auction will proceed. In the Guardian, Dalya Alberge reports that a portrait in a British collection, long dismissed as a workshop copy, may be an authentic Rembrandt. Two versions of 'Old Man with Gold Chain' from the 1630s were reunited at the Art Institute of Chicago. Rembrandt expert Gary Schwartz argued that brushwork quality and historical practice suggest Rembrandt created the replica, with X-ray and infrared analysis revealing underdrawing differences pointing to the master's hand. He disputed art historian Wilhelm Bode's earlier assessment as an unwarranted 'clever reproduction.' Sir Francis Newman, whose great-grandfather acquired the painting in 1898 as a Rembrandt, called it 'an eternal mystery' and stated it would go to a museum if confirmed. In Washington, D.C., artist collective The Secret Handshake installed a golden toilet near the Lincoln Memorial to protest U.S. President Donald Trump, as reported by Die Zeit via AFP. Titled 'A Throne for a King,' the piece criticizes Trump's extravagant building projects, with a plaque referencing his focus on redesigning the Lincoln Bathroom. A group member told the Washington Post they aimed to create 'a kind of breathing space from the darkness.' Passants took photos on the toilet, following an earlier installation depicting Trump dancing with Jeffrey Epstein. Critics accuse Trump of authoritarian behavior, with artists using ironic symbolism to highlight power critiques and societal tensions. In other news, Monopol magazine's April issue features Marina Abramović discussing her Berlin exhibition on 'the original energy of humans,' distinguishing nudity from pornography and framing eroticism as a form of knowledge and transcendence. The issue also profiles Lee Ufan, who views painting as an existential act connecting brushstrokes to breath and the universe. Artist Yadegar Asisi described his panoramas as experiential spaces requiring physical presence, emphasizing drawing as a learnable craft and a tool for perceiving and appropriating the world, while reflecting on Iran's political situation and societal depression.