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- A Canadian tourist was killed, and others injured in a shooting atop Mexico’s ancient Teotihuacán Pyramid of the Moon.
- The grandson of Diego Rivera, Juan Rafael Coronel Rivera, has gifted over 150,000 items to Mexico’s Museo Anahuacalli.
- A papyrus fragment of Homer’s Iliad was found inside an ancient Egyptian mummy, marking the first discovery of its kind.
The Headlines
TRAGEDY IN TEOTIHUACÁN. A Canadian woman was killed in a shooting Monday atop the ancient Teotihuacán Pyramid of the Moon, just outside Mexico City, reports the New York Times. In addition to the slain tourist, several other visitors from the United States, Brazil, and Colombia, including two children, were wounded when a man opened fire at the popular UNESCO World Heritage Site. He then killed himself. “What happened today in Teotihuacán pains us deeply,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on social media. The incident has raised security concerns ahead of this summer’s World Cup, when the ancient site will also play host to an immersive night show, according to the BBC.
ALL IN THE FAMILY. Diego Rivera’s grandson, Juan Rafael Coronel Rivera, has donated 157,300 objects from his personal collection to the Museo Anahuacalli in Mexico City, which Rivera the elder had envisioned as part of a “city of the arts,” reports the Art Newspaper. The trove of items doesn’t contain paintings by Rivera, or his wife Frida Kahlo , but it significantly expands the institution’s holdings with photographs, prints, ceramics, textiles, and documents, as well as letters from both artists’ personal libraries, as well as pre-Hispanic art, which forms the bulk of the museum’s displays. During his lifetime, Diego Rivera himself set up a trust with the Banco de México to keep the Museo Anahuacalli and the Museo Frida Kahlo (aka the Casa Azul) open to the public. Rivera “conceived this museum not only as an exhibition space but as a place where collecting would be a form of knowledge,” said the museum’s director, Teresa Moya.
The Digest
In a first, archaeologists have found a papyrus fragment of Homer’s Iliad preserved inside the gut of a Roman-era Egyptian mummy, located in present-day Al-Bahnasa, Egypt. [Independent]
For the first time in 97 years, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La femme aux lilas (Portrait de Nini Lopez) will head to auction at Christie’s on May 18, with an estimate of $25 million to $35 million. [ARTnews]
Metal detectorists in France are “erasing history” by removing objects from their archaeological context, according to French authorities; meanwhile, in England, they are seen as contributing to it. [Le Monde]
Diane Keaton’s personal belongings, including her unmistakable wardrobe, Hollywood ephemera, and art collection, are on their way to auction at Bonhams. [Artnet News]
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo “invited herself” to the Chateau de Versailles in the filming of her music video for the song “Drop Dead,” commented French media. [Le Figaro]
Mikala Tai has been appointed curator of the 10th TarraWarra Biennial, which will open in July 2027. [ArtAsiaPacific]
The Kicker
WHERE WERE YOU? Through a selection of his personal photos, snapped at gallery dinners that served up platters of pig heads, or requisite nude performances, not to mention a real “Cocaine Buffet,” courtesy of Rob Pruitt, Jerry Saltz is taking readers through New York City’s bacchanal and scrappy art scene of the 1990’s, for New York Magazine’s “The Yesteryear Issue.” Full of nostalgia—despite its flaws, such as the lack of celebrated women artists, with the notable exception of a young Tracey Emin, as well as a storied Elizabeth Peyton show at the Chelsea Hotel—Saltz’s observations can also offer wisdom for today’s art world. The scale of the ’90s New York scene remained small, for instance, something that would spark concern today. But not that long ago, it facilitated buzzy gatherings around impactful exhibitions and art happenings. Before social media and mega international events and amid a recession that was “leveling the playing field,” per Saltz, the scene thrived by attracting an eclectic and curious world that shared a passion for art and was willing to try just about anything. Despite its drawbacks, Saltz’s depiction is enough to make you wish you were there, or at least, to feel proud to have been around for a sliver of it. As Saltz put it: “It was the greatest period of my life.”
