How the Los Angeles Fires Have Affected the Art World

Though the fires are still burning, we’re starting to get an understanding of just how devastating the damage is for Los Angeles. In the arts-and-culture community, dozens of people, if not hundreds, have lost their homes, and in some cases decades’ worth of artwork—artists lost their studios and personal holdings, while collectors lost their entire troves.

Via Vanity Fair

‘One of the Most Impactful Art Losses Ever’: Insurers Start to Assess LA Wildfire Damage

As fires raged across Los Angeles this week, due to the ongoing Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires, numerous artists, collectors, and arts professionals have reported losing their homes and art collections in the affected areas. While it is still too early to truly assess the damage, art insurers and conservators told ARTnews that they expect it to be extensive.

“This is going to be substantial and possibly one of the most impactful art losses ever in America,” Simon de Burgh Codrington, fine arts insurance specialist and managing director at Risk Strategies, told ARTnews in a phone interview. The devastating losses, de Burgh Codrington added, are expected “to be much more impactful than Sandy was to the art world.”

Via ARTnews

Mary Miss Installation at Des Moines Art Center Set for Removal Following Legal Battle

The Des Moines Art Center in Iowa has reached a settlement with Mary Miss more than nine months after the groundbreaking land artist filed a lawsuit to stop the institution from demolishing an installation the museum said has become too costly to repair.

In a surprise move, the DMAC and Miss agreed in court to release the details of settlement agreement, which are often kept secret. A copy of the settlement agreement provided by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which had been aiding the artist in her efforts, shows Miss will be compensated $900,000 to drop her claims against the museum.

Via Artnet

Art Collector Says He Lost Warhols and Harings to L.A. Fire

As the flames grew closer and closer to his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and his teenage daughter pleaded with him over the phone to evacuate, Ron Rivlin decided to flee, taking three Andy Warhols with him, all that he could carry.

“I grabbed those, and as I was leaving, I saw the fire ahead of me on the hill,” Rivlin said.

Via NYT

Image: Ron Rivlin, an art collector, lost almost everything in his house in the Pacific Palisades fire. Credit: Tag Christof for The New York Times