Blog

From the outside, New York’s Berry-Hill Gallery looks prosperous. “But two weeks ago, Berry-Hill filed for bankruptcy in federal court, listing more than 100 creditors, debts ranging as high as $50 million and assets of $50 million to $100 million. And its directors, James and Frederick D. Hill, are at the center of a scandal that has been the focus of whispers in the art world since an ill-fated auction at Christie’s in May.”

The Yakut Gallery – 100-square metres large – is “located in an early 20th-century factory behind the Kursky train station in the centre of Moscow. To reach it, visitors must first pass by scowling Soviet-style guards and then walk down a decrepit path, past dilapidated buildings, to get to the cylindrical red-brick gallery, which was built as a natural-gas cistern 100 years ago. This stands in sharp contrast to most Moscow galleries, which are located in upmarket neighbourhoods. None of this seems to bother art collectors in Moscow. In fact, they seem to positively enjoy the poverty of the area.”

Plans have been announced for a massive new “$550 million Great Egyptian Museum, to be established near the Pyramids near Cairo. It will be among the world’s largest museums, and is by far the biggest to be built from scratch. The venture is expected to attract up to five million visitors a year, slightly more than the British Museum in London, which is the world leader. There will be some 100,000 Egyptian artefacts on show (compared with the British Museum’s 80,000 displayed objects, covering all major cultures).”

The Tate paid a lawyer for return of two stolen Turner paintings two years ago after previously denying it had paid the money. “Now the museum is admitting that it paid a German lawyer who claimed to be in contact with holders of the paintings, but it says the 3.1 million pounds was given in return for ‘information.’ However, it admits the possibility the money was passed on to thieves as ‘an unavoidable and inevitable consequence of recovery operations of this nature’.”