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The Headlines

BEARING WITNESS. Today, the acclaimed French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, together with the International Federation for Human Rights, filed a complaint with the French War Crimes Unit against “unknown perpetrators,” and denouncing the Israeli army’s bombing of civilian homes in Lebanon, according to a press release. On November 26, 2024, hours before a ceasefire, Cherri’s parents, Mahmoud Naim Cherri and Nadira Hayek, were killed when the Israeli military bombed their apartment in Beirut. The attack killed a total of seven people. Targeting a civilian home “could constitute a war crime under French criminal law and international humanitarian law,” reads the statement. “My sisters and I decided to legally pursue this case a year ago. It was an important but deeply difficult decision,” wrote Ali Cherri on Instagram. 

THE PRICE IS RIGHT. India’s art market is being bullish right now, as shown by a Raja Ravi Varma painting that sold on Wednesday for $17.9 million with fees, setting a new auction record for a South Asian painting, reports the Art Newspaper. Pharmaceuticals billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla bought the painting titled Yashoda and Krishna (1890s), topping its $12.9 million high estimate. The sale dethrones an MF Husain painting that sold for $13.7 million with fees at Christie’s New York last year. Calling the painting a national treasure, Poonawalla said in a statement that he plans to ensure the public will be able to view it “periodically.”

The Digest

A new open letter signed by 70 artists and curators participating in this year’s Venice Biennale calls for banning the US, Russia, and Israel from the global event. [Artnet News]