Category: visual

“On the morning of Aug. 21, 1911, Mona Lisa — arguably the world’s most famous pictures — was stolen from the Louvre. Who took her, how and why, is all part of the story told in two new books this spring.”

“In times of economic crisis, you can take your whole family here for free. We’re finding there are a lot of young kids, grandparents, a real cross-section. Everyone is coming.”

“The question for a museum of Australia was always what form it should take and when it should be built. Heritage museums, unlike art galleries, do not focus on a limited number of exceptional exhibits; rather their writ is to scoop up enough objects, such that together they present a mirror and a calendar to the society they are intended to reflect.”

“All around the world, major architectural projects are under threat. In November, construction stopped on the Russia Tower, a 600-meter-high Moscow building designed by the London firm Norman Foster & Partners. Meanwhile, another Norman Foster Moscow project, called Crystal Island, featuring a 450-meter-high, funnel-shaped skyscraper, has also been put on hold.”

“If they do not have to, fewer collectors are putting their holdings up for auction at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, where prices and profits have plummeted. But executives at both houses say business in their private-sale departments has more than doubled in recent months.”

“The scion of one of Michigan’s wealthiest families is launching an Internet-age competition for artists with $450,000 in prize money — including $250,000 for the winner — and an everyone-can-play vibe tailored to the age of online social networking.”

“Henry Varnum Poor, who died in 1970, is little known now, but he painted landscapes, portraits and murals in a loose, Picasso-like style; created ceramics that are in the collections of museums like the Art Institute of Chicago; and built a few houses for famous friends like Burgess Meredith and Maxwell Anderson.” The artist’s home “is slated to become a museum and artists’ residence,” but his son “still owns the contents … and he has begun selling major pieces or donating them to museums.”

“The venerable Royal Albert Hall has commissioned street artists to transform the blank walls of its loading bay with graffiti art for a unique one-day exhibition. LOAD will chronicle the venue’s rich 138-year history coving performances by legendary artists such as Jimi Hendrix, pictured, Pavarotti, Eric Clapton, The Killers and Frank Sinatra.”

“They may not have realized it, but the folks who snapped up as much as $4-million worth of limited-edition prints by artist Takashi Murakami two years ago at the special Louis Vuitton boutique inside his exhibition at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art apparently were getting nicely mounted handbags — minus the snaps and straps.” One man who’s sued Vuitton says that’s fraud.

“‘For the current economic climate, the results are good,’ said Natalia Kolodzei, executive director of the U.S.-based Kolodzei Art Foundation, which promotes Russian art. ‘If we saw such results a year and a half ago, it would have been a catastrophe,’ she said.”