Category: visual

“Many are heirlooms and are being sold at auction – often to foreign bidders – to pay for the renovation and upkeep of country homes. Cuts in government spending have raised concerns that treasure with heritage value will increasing[ly] be sold abroad as museums and galleries are unable to afford them.”

“The objects in question were bought by the Madrid museum in 1999, as part of a major collection of 181 ancient artefacts from the Etruscan period, Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and Spain, spanning the fifth century BC to the fifth century AD. The museum … paid $12m to the 82-year-old collector and entrepreneur José Luis Várez Fisa for the collection.”

“Apparently, it is a triumph for Turner that an art market bloated beyond sanity has decided his painting is worth something, and a marvellous day for Britain that a painting on view for decades at one of our free public museums will now be spirited away to LA.”

“It was always unlikely he would have taken time out of his day job to participate actively in the Lords,” but even so: “What if Foster had spent time campaigning as an advocate of the very highest standards of architecture, design and planning? What if he had affected legislation to ensure such standards were set out and followed?”

“More than any architectural form, a bridge lets us glimpse the society that caused it to be. We see the limits of what an era can build – the engineering chops – but also the values of the builders.”

“Over the past five years or so, the art scene there has taken off. The flight of industry has left factories just begging to be turned into studios and living spaces, at prices the most junior artist can afford. There’s a fine source for that emerging talent.”

“The case of Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev has been closely watched by human rights activists. The decision by a Moscow court could sidestep the possibility of an international outcry over imprisoning the two respected art-world figures, but is unlikely to stem concerns about the growing influence of the church and the specter of Soviet-style censorship returning.”

“The painting by local artist Yuill Damaso depicts South Africa’s first black president’s dead body on an operating table, undergoing an autopsy as prominent South African political figures look on. The work, which is on display in an upmarket Johannesburg shopping centre, has drawn outrage from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC).”

“A judge in Moscow could send two prominent art curators to jail tomorrow as a 14-month trial that has provoked fears of rising intolerance and attempts at censorship in Russia comes to an end.”

“Collectors are bulk-buying so many contemporary works that their various mansions are inadequate to house them all. But rather than leave extensive surpluses unseen in storage, they are choosing to share their hoards with the public. As the ultimate status symbol for the super-rich, the private museums even have a new label – ‘ego-seums’.”