The week in art news: James Franco’s new art show, Sting sells design collection, Christie’s sues Italian investor and more…

Zoé Whitley steps down as director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery. After five years in charge, Whitley will leave the position in March 2025 and plans to return to her career curating and writing independently. In response to the decision, Whitley stated that she is “proud” to have played a role in the programming of “one of London’s leading contemporary art incubators,” specifically its “truly inspiring Social Practice approach.” So who will step up to the plate? Chisenhale will begin its search for a new director early next year.

Lorraine O’Grady, conceptual artist, dies aged 90. O’Grady influenced a generation of younger artists and shone a light on Black women’s perspectives through her collage, photography, performance, video and installations. The artist and writer had an eclectic career, working as a research economist, literary translator and rock critic for The Village Voice and Rolling Stone before she began making art in her 40s. She died at her home in Manhattan last Friday.

If the shoe fits: Dorothy’s red ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold for a record-breaking $28M at auction. The iconic shoes worn by Judy Garland went on sale on Saturday and were estimated to fetch $3M, but bidding far exceeded that within seconds. According to a statement from Heritage Auctions, the shoes are now the most valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever auctioned, beating the record previously held by the white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the windy subway grate scene from The Seven Year Itch, which sold at auction for $5.52M in 2011.

Franco-ly, we’ve had enough: James Franco unveils his new art show, ‘Hollywood is Hell’, at Galerie Gmurzynska in Zurich this month. The actor joins the ranks of celebrity art dabblers like Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone, and Pierce Brosnan. According to the press release, Franco’s exhibition includes “a never-before-seen series of 28 wall-hanging assemblages and objets d’art.” Just what the world needs right now: a millionaire in the throes of a midlife crisis producing Rauschenberg knock-offs.

Every Sale You Make: Sting to flog his design collection. The Police frontman and his wife, Trudie Styler, are auctioning off ten pieces from their classic design collection at Bonhams Modern Decorative Art and Design sale on Thursday 19th December. It’s an ambitious decluttering, as the entire sale is estimated to fetch more than $3M, according to the auction house. The lots include a selection of 20th-century furnishings that hail from the couple’s penthouse on New York’s Upper West Side, which they sold for $50M in 2017.

Sotheby’s is at it again. The company has made over 100 staff members redundant in a major cost-cutting endeavor after a decline in global auction sales. The New York auction sales last month totaled $533M, less than half the $1.2B from last year, prompting “​​a review of the house’s global operations and staffing”, according to Artnet. The staff cuts didn’t come as a surprise – senior staff members were warned of the slashes around two weeks ago, according to The Art Newspaper. These cuts follow the termination of around 50 jobs at Sotheby’s London in May this year.

Melon felon: Christie’s is suing an Italian property investor for refusing to pay for Chardin painting Cut Melon (1760). The masterpiece was sold to Nanni Bassani Antivari for $28M in June. The auction house took Antivari to court in Paris on Monday, demanding he cough up the full price plus interest and penalty fees, amounting to $28.7M in total. Immediately after Cut Melon sold, Christie’s announced that the sale beat several records, including “a world record for a Chardin,” “the most expensive 18th-century work of art ever sold in France,” and “the most expensive Old Master painting ever sold in France.” Awkward…

The bug is back: Louise Bourgeois’ mammoth spider returns to Tate Modern. The artist’s giant spider sculpture Maman (1999) is due to be reinstalled in spring 2025 to mark the museum’s 25th anniversary. The sculpture stands ten metres high and will be housed in the Turbine Hall for the first time in 25 years. Bourgeois’ piece will kick off the Bankside gallery’s anniversary weekend (9th – 12th May) that will include a new sculpture trail around the building, made up of recent additions to Tate’s collection, along with some of the “most iconic works from Tate Modern’s history”, according to a gallery statement.

Art is the best medicine: study finds that consuming arts and culture is good for health and wellbeing. The first major UK research to quantify the impact of the arts and heritage has concluded that engaging with arts – such as plays, musicals and ballet, and particularly participation in music – improves quality of life, increases productivity and creates financial ‘dividends’. The study was undertaken for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and was a collaboration between Frontier Economics and the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health, based at University College London. So should we bin our SSRIs and head to the theatre instead?