Category: visual

“The J. Paul Getty Trust failed Thursday to derail a lawsuit by the Armenian Orthodox Church that accuses the museum of harboring stolen illuminated medieval manuscripts – 755-year-old works that are masterpieces and, to the church, spiritually and historically sacred.”

“German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau calls the group a “nice family of counterfeiters”, and most media outlets, from the local newspaper Badische Zeitung to the popular weekly magazine Der Spiegel, have been calling Beltracchi a filou, or rogue.”

Litzlberg on the Attersee was returned to Georges Jorisch, 83, by Salzburg’s Museum of Modern Arts in July.

“After years of debate, two rejected sites and immeasurable frustration, plans for the Museum of the American Revolution are finally under way, with the announcement Tuesday that the architect chosen to design the museum is – again – Robert A.M. Stern.”

“While there are no classical pieces of earth-shattering importance–a fair amount of Libya’s classical heritage made its way to Italian and other European museums during the Italian occupation–there are vibrant, dynamic mosaics of daily life from the ancient cities of Leptis Magna and Sabratha.”

“The Louvre’s latest attempt to conserve a masterpiece by the artist, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1508, has yet again sparked a wave of debate about cleaning paintings, even if they are dirty and discoloured.”

“Working to force some disclosures as well as recover money, the foundation of the late abstract painter Sam Francis is the lead plaintiff in class-action lawsuits filed Tuesday against nine galleries in Northern and Southern California.”

“Saadiyat Island Cultural District in Abu Dhabi suffered a setback … [when] the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) said that all three of its high-profile museums – the Zayed National Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi – would not meet their original deadlines.”

The ancient Italian city “is home to a unique concentration of Christian mosaics from the fifth and sixth centuries … But Ravenna has also become the international center for contemporary mosaic, where artists from all over the world now come to study, exchange ideas and techniques, and showcase their works.”

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has commissioned from Antony Hegarty, lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons, a new work called Swanlights, described as a “meditation on light, nature, and femininity.” The piece will include lightworks by artist Chris Levine and arrangements of Hegarty’s songs for a 60-piece orchestra.