“The extraordinary story of this treasure trove of previously unseen works by Picasso began at the start this year. On 14 January a letter arrived at the Picasso Administration, which represents the artist’s heirs. It contained 26 photographs of dubious quality purporting to be of works by Pablo Picasso and a request that they be authenticated.”
Category: visual
Museums Dip Their Digital Toes
“Privately, some directors and curators are anxious about unintended consequences. Many older visitors like their museums just as they are. There is something to be said, after all, about the museum as a gadget-free zone–a last bulwark against computerisation.”
Rise Of The Art Mega-Galleries
“The rise and rise of the mega-gallery–intent on creating a global brand–has never been more obvious than this week at Art Basel Miami Beach. The fair’s floorplan is something of a blueprint for the increasingly hierarchical market.”
Hungary To Sell Off Communist-Era Art To Raise Cash
“The paintings, photographs and sculptures, a legacy of Hungary’s communist era, are to be auctioned by the government to raise funds for those affected by October’s toxic sludge spillage.”
Thieves Make Off With Truck Full Of Art In Spain
“Thieves near Madrid, Spain, have stolen a truck with 28 works of art, including at least one Picasso, Spanish police say. Police estimate the value of the works stolen at 2.7 million euros ($3.6 million Cdn), but art experts estimated it was closer to five million euros ($6.6 million).”
Shock Of The Ho-Hum
“The most conventional of modernist conventions has been the need to shock and offend, doing so, as the lingo has it, by “transgressing boundaries.” But once all the boundaries have been blurred, what’s left?”
British Government To Display Its Art Publicly For The First Time
“Government Art Collection works are to be shown in a public gallery for the first time in its 113-year history. The collection has more than 13,500 works which usually hang in embassies and other governnment buildings.”
French Court Orders Calder Sculptures Returned to His Estate
“After an eight-year dispute the Court of Appeals in Paris has ordered the estate of Aimé Maeght, the Paris dealer who represented the sculptor Alexander Calder during his lifetime, to return seven sculptures to the artist’s estate.”
Long-Missing Degas Painting Will Return to France
“An Edgar Degas painting stolen nearly 30 years ago from a museum in France will be returned by the US government, which recovered the rare artwork shortly before it was to be sold at auction.”
Portrait Gallery’s Removal Of David Wojnarovicz Video Is Depressing Start To New Round Of Culture Wars
“This reflexive, culture war spat is so depressing, so sad, so illustrative of how the alleged defenders of Christianity do not understand it at all. And how even after all these years, these young men, tens of thousands of whom died in agony or alone, are still despised, ignored and feared by men like Donohue and Boehner.”