The week in art news: LA fires devastate livelihoods, photographer Oliviero Toscani dies, galleries expand to Milan, and more…

Los Angeles fires continue to devastate lives and impact city’s art scene. The wind-fueled wildfires have killed dozens, destroyed homes and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents. Dozens, if not hundreds of artists, studios and galleries have been affected, and the institutions that are still standing have had to evacuate, including the Getty Center this past weekend, as the city faces unprecedented destruction. Whether Frieze LA will go ahead in February is still uncertain. For now, most are concerned with ongoing evacuation orders and ensuring people’s safety.

Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani dies aged 82. Toscani was known for his provocative and often controversial fashion campaigns. He worked with Benetton from 1982 to 2000 to draw attention to issues including racism, capital punishment, the AIDS crisis and anorexia, helping transform the company into a global brand. Born in Milan, Toscani ​​studied photography at the Zurich University of Arts, inspired by his father, who was a famous photojournalist for the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Throughout his career, he worked for leading fashion magazines including Vogue and GQ and helped to launch the career of model Monica Bellucci. Toscani died in Tuscany on Monday.

The Italian job: Thaddaeus Ropac announces its expansion to Milan. The Austrian gallery – which already has roots in London, Paris, Salzburg and Seoul – will open its seventh location in the neoclassical Palazzo Belgioioso, just a short walk from the iconic Duomo di Milan. With Ben Brown Fine Arts also announcing plans to open a Milan gallery this year, adding to their Hong Kong and London spaces, could Milan be the next international gallery hotspot?

Doubting Thomas: Munich’s Galerie Thomas under investigation. The blue-chip gallery, which filed for bankruptcy in July last year, is being investigated by the Munich public prosecutor’s office for suspicions of fraud, breach of trust and delaying insolvency proceedings, according to Handelsblatt. The gallery, founded in 1964, specialises in German expressionism, Bauhaus, European modernism, and contemporary art. So far, owner and director Raimund Thomas and his daughter and co-director Silke Thomas have made no comments to German reporters, and Raimund’s current whereabouts are unknown.

UPDATE: Sally Mann photographs reportedly seized from Texas museum. Following the ongoing controversy around Sally Mann’s “inappropriate depictions of children” on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the artist’s works have reportedly been removed. Three of the works that were reportedly seized depict Mann’s three children nude and are publicly viewable online, including on the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Guggenheim Museum’s websites. A spokesperson for the Texas museum confirmed that an inquiry was made into the works in the show, which is due to remain on until 2nd February. “These have been widely published and exhibited for more than 30 years in leading cultural institutions across the country and around the world,” the spokesperson said to Hyperallergic. The museum declined to comment further.

What a Turner-round: Surprise as new JMW Turner discovery could fetch $500,000 at auction. The Turner watercolour, previously falsely attributed to John Ruskin, will be auctioned at Christie’s New York auction next month. The painting of a Venetian lagoon was identified as being by the 19th-century English Romantic painter after its owner submitted it for appraisal at the auction house. The work’s current owner is a descendant of the engineer Haddon C. Adams, a known Ruskin enthusiast. When Adams bought the work around 1930, it had been correctly attributed to Turner but was misidentified later, according to The Art Newspaper. Turner’s watercolours have previously reached over $1M at auction. The Approach to Venice or Venice from the Lagoon (c. 1840) will appear in Christie’s Old Master and British Drawings sale in New York on 4th February. Any takers?

Germany approves new plan for restituting Nazi-looted art. Germany’s Federal Cabinet has approved a process where claimants can seek arbitration for the recovery of looted art without the consent of the current owners. The country’s minister of state for culture, Claudia Roth, announced in a statement that the decision was the result of “intensive and constructive” cooperation between Germany’s federal and local governments as well as the Central Council of Jews and the Jewish Claims Conference. Currently, in Germany, both the current owner of any artwork and a party claiming to be the proper owner have to consent to arbitration. Now, claimant victims of Nazi-looting can appeal directly to the new arbitration court, without requiring the consent of the owners. According to Artnet, critics of the new plan fear that the process could exclude “entire groups of victims” and limit the right of restitution for others.

Local council draws the line at Mr. Doodle’s new plans to cover Kent home in his ‘art’. Officials from Dungeness have objected to plans from Mr. Doodle (real name Sam Cox) – the artist best known for covering his Tenterden mansion in his Keith Haring-style drawings – to cover a new building in his doodles. The house was designed by Guy Hollaway and features a rusting metal façade laser-cut with Cox’s work. Earlier this month, Kent Online reported that Lydd Town Council objected to the metal façade, claiming it would “not be in keeping with the historical value of Dungeness” and could “impact the environmental value of the area”. The Folkestone and Hythe District Council will decide the fate of the home later this month.

Ryan Gander unveils first permanent public artwork in South London. Gander’s six new bronze sculptures have just been installed in Elephant and Castle. The works were made in collaboration with local primary schoolchildren, featuring lifesize statues of them wearing an array of masks, hats and eccentric costumes. In a comment for The Art Newspaper, Gander notes the importance of making art for the public. “A lot of public art is authoritarian; it’s a celebration of power and not for the public. For me, the excitement and the challenge was to trick the audience into approaching these figurative bronzes without that horrible stigma. It was trying to defy expectation.”