Category: visual

Some of the world’s most important paintings may be lost to the nation because there are no funds available to keep them here following the purchase of two works by Titian for £100m.

“London-based billionaire Lily Safra is the buyer of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture that fetched a record 65 million pounds (then $103.4 million) at an auction in London on Feb. 3, said two dealers with knowledge of the matter who declined to be named.”

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the culture minister halted the export “on the grounds that the drawing is of outstanding significance for the study of Raphael’s work.” Purchased at Christie’s in December, the chalk study was bound for the U.S. but will stay in the U.K. if a buyer is found there.

“Renowned Indian artist MF Husain, under attack from hardline Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality. … It is not clear whether he will accept the honour.”

“A laser technique best known for its use to remove unwanted tattoos from the skin is finding a second life in preserving great sculptures, paintings and other works of art … The technique, called laser ablation, involves removing material from a solid surface by vaporizing the material with a laser beam.”

A brother and sister sued the auction house after their painting, identified by Christie’s as “from the school of Titian” and sold for 8,000 pounds, was later identified as the real thing and “put up for sale by rival auctioneers Sotheby’s for a guide price of $4- $6 million.”

“In an effort to safeguard the original record copies of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the National Archives has decided to ban all photography in the Rotunda, where the historical documents are displayed.” The ink is looking pretty faded by now.

“The appointment of Vittorio Sgarbi, the celebrity art critic and polemicist, as curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale and supervisor of acquisitions at Rome’s new MaXXi museum of 21st-century art is dividing the Italian art world, thanks to his well known antipathy to contemporary art.”

“Among the recognizable Disney characters headed for the microscope are Snow White, Pinocchio and at least one character from the movie ‘Fantasia.’ Some of the cels already examined by the Getty show that paint is starting to come away from parts of the plastic, while others show signs of warping and yellowing….”

“Lord Rogers, the architect of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and Lord Palumbo, the property developer and art collector, felt so strongly about the inadequacies of the winning design, they submitted a ‘minority report’ setting out their case to the US state department in Washington, which commissioned the building.”