Category: visual

“Six medieval stained-glass windowpanes looted by the Red Army during World War II were returned to a German church Monday, where officials said they hoped to negotiate the return of other plundered artworks.”

“Yesterday in a downtown Toronto hotel ballroom, Heffel Fine Art held a two-part auction… and by the end of the last session, it had hammered down almost 175 lots valued at almost $18-million. This was the third-biggest sale by dollar in Canadian art auction history and a refutation to those who had been expecting the market here to slide as precipitously as has been happening in London, New York and Hong Kong.”

“The National Museum of American History — home to a broad mix of historical and pop-culture treasures from the Star-Spangled Banner to Julia Child’s kitchen — reopens tomorrow after an $85 million overhaul… A vigorous rethinking of how to tell the American story and display a selection of its more than 3 million objects, as well as renovation of the physical structure, required the museum to close for two years.”

“[J]ust months after the success of a ground-breaking sale at Sotheby’s that brought him nearly £100m, Hirst has described the art market as over-priced, and welcomed the prospect of selling his work at cheaper rates in the present climate of recession.”

Canada’s art auction houses are bracing for the worst in the wake of disappointing fall auction sales in the US and Europe. “Artprice predicts values will drop 40 per cent by year’s end.” But some have hope that the market for Canadian art will not fall as far or as hard.

“Less than a year after the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened a $56 million museum for contemporary art named for Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who is its largest benefactor, Mr. Broad has decided to build his own museum and is considering a site just down the street.”

“An intricate ceiling painting worth 18m euros [$23m] has been unveiled at the United Nations offices in Geneva. The coloured dome took Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo more than a year to produce, using 100 tons of paint with pigments from all over the world… However, the Spanish opposition party has criticised the country’s government for spending some public money on it.”

“The campaign to keep Titian’s masterpiece Diana and Actaeon on public display [in the UK] has been given a £10m boost. The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) announced it would donate the sum to The National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery. The two institutions are hoping to raise £50m to jointly buy the painting.”

“The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth will unveil preliminary plans today for a $70 million addition designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The plans call for a separate two-level building west of the original 1972 structure, a revered design by the late Louis Kahn. Final blueprints should be in hand by late 2009 or early 2010, with construction to begin shortly after and opening expected in 2012.”

“As anticipated, or dreaded, the Renzo Piano-designed facility is going to be built on the west lawn, directly in front of the existing building.” But he’s leaving 180 feet between them – and creating the sort of entrance Kahn wanted. “Kahn did not understand Texans’ desire to park as closely as possible to a door, so almost all of the Kimbell’s visitors enter by way of the parking lot and through what is ostensibly the garage door of the museum. Piano is going to fix that.”