Category: visual

“Of some 100,000 objects that were taken from France and brought to the Third Reich, either through looting or forced sales, at least 60,000 were repatriated to France after the war. Of these, 2,000 items that could not be restituted due to a lack of ownership history or because they had not been looted were given in custody to French national museums like the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and Centre Georges-Pompidou.”

“No American contemporary art museum is more in need of additional gallery space, and none is better positioned to benefit from the kindness of strangers.”

“What if Hitler and his helpers had been successful in their aggressive striving for world power? A new exhibition in Berlin attempts to answer this question in part by looking at the devastating architectural consequences Hitler’s success would have had for the German capital.”

“In general, it seems that tall buildings are getting taller. During the recent condo boom, 400-foot towers became commonplace in many cities, including Philadelphia. Now, super-tall towers, as their champions call them, are going through the stratosphere.”

To dealer Larry Salander, “many contemporary art collectors are philistines. But if he could use his gallery to create a new market for old-master and Renaissance art, perhaps he could shift the paradigms of the international art trade. It was an intriguing idea, but it left him in ruin.”

On Monday, opponents of the move said that “a new township ordinance would allow more visitors and that a county-backed $50 million purchase-lease back arrangement would give the Barnes a massive infusion of cash. They also said the Barnes building is eligible for National Historic Landmark status, opening up a possible source of federal funding.”

“Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the two largest auction houses, have started to turn in unequal results as the U.S. enters a recession and financial markets continue to be volatile. Publicly traded Sotheby’s fell as low as $26.26 last week, a level not reached for about 20 months, before rebounding.”

“With art from Asia and Russia in demand, some in the art world are betting on Cuba to be the next hot corner of the market. Prices for Cuban art are climbing at galleries and auction houses, and major museums are adding to their Cuban collections.”

The star architect is to have a go at rehabbing the “sad, redundant Commonwealth Institute, a landmark of the Contemporary Style, as faded as the old Imperium it represents.”