“A New York woman who sued her sales agent over the disappearance of a $1.4 million Corot painting decided to drop her complaint after concluding a convicted art thief in a mug shot was the artwork’s co-owner, her lawyer said.”
Category: visual
Mexico City’s Eli Broad? Carlos Slim to Open Museum
“Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, will soon open a new museum in one of the poshest areas of his native Mexico to house his collection of artwork by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, considered the biggest outside France.”
Ancien Régime Angry Over Murakami Show at Versailles
“Cultural traditionalists in France are upset that the famed chateau will play host to an installation of [Takashi] Murakami’s work … Known for his brightly colored pop creations that pull from the worlds of anime, manga and cartoons, Murakami is a decidedly odd fit for the Baroque castle.”
Controversy: Cape Town Museum Director Takes Down The Gainesboroughs, Puts Up African Art (Oh My)
“For the first time I thought it wasn’t really appropriate because it’s a kind of colonial English collection and there are many of those around the world in the English colonies. It wasn’t really showcasing any aspect of South African culture that was unique to the history of this period. It was a conscious decision to show contemporary work in those spaces.”
The Problem With Architecture Exhibitions
“[They] fixate on trying to represent buildings that are missing. Photographs, drawings and pretentious wall texts only highlight the fact that yours is a second-hand experience.” But this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale “is much more about what should happen inside buildings, the pure experience of space.”
How Our Sense Of Memorials Is Changing
“We’ve stopped putting great men on pedestals and started commemorating their victims. In the process we are are losing a sense that human history involved leadership and struggle and, yes, sacrifice.”
California Passes Stolen Art Bill
“California lawmakers gave final approval Monday night to a bill that would extend the time in which people can sue museums to try to recover what they believe are stolen works of art.”
Zaha Hadid Designs First Project for Her Native Iraq
“Authorities at Baghdad’s Central Bank have confirmed that the award-winning architect has been picked to design a new headquarters for the institution. Hadid’s new design will replace the bank’s previous home,” which was destroyed by suicide bombers in June.
This Particular Roadside Attraction Gets Repeatedly Humiliated
A California beachfront town “thought it was honoring surfers when it spent $120,000 to erect a 16-foot tall statue of one riding a wave.” No such luck: the sculpture has been variously dressed up like a clown, put in a tutu, devoured by a giant papier-mâché shark.
Expert In L’Affaire Ansel Adams Recants
“I made a mistake,” said [Robert C.] Moeller, a former curator of European decorative arts and sculpture at the Boston museum, who was part of the team that in July announced the discovery of what it called Adams’s “lost negatives.”