Category: visual

“A woman who kissed a £1.37m painting, leaving a lipstick stain, has been ordered to pay 1,500 euros (£1,074) in damages to its owner by a French judge.”

“For five years, Andrew McAllister has spent weekends in search of the graffiti by the man McAllister would come to regard only as ‘the unknown writer.’ He eventually uncovered more than 40 pieces. But they weren’t easy to find.”

“The Smithsonian Collection for the Home includes dining and bedroom sets, chandeliers, sinks and even fireplace accessories modeled after pieces and designs held by the world’s largest museum and research complex.”

“Although the relatively strong results brought a flood of relief to the auction houses, the fear is still palpable. Had buyers been scared off by the rocky financial markets, these companies would be facing losses of millions of dollars and warehouses of scorched art. There is certain to be more caution the next time around.”

“The Virginia Supreme Court said yesterday that Randolph College can’t auction off four paintings from its beloved art collection — at least not for six months. What happens after that, nobody knows.”

Art historians were stunned when a member of the Vanderbilt family approached Sotheby’s a few months ago instructing the firm to put a JMW Turner on the market. “Bamborough Castle, as Turner called it using the spelling of the 1830s, had not been seen in public since 1889.”

The fall auction season in New York came to a close last night with a “lackluster finale” at Phillips, de Pury & Company’s Chelsea location. “Lower-priced works by the youngest and hippest artists fared well, while more established names with far higher prices sold often barely or not at all.”

“This is a crack that runs through the world’s most popular museum of modern art. Just as Hirst’s diamond-studded skull symbolises the pinnacle of vanity of the contemporary art bubble, the crack symbolises its imminent collapse.”

“An installation at the New Museum intended to chart the dollar amounts given to cultural projects in 2006 by a variety of entities, including corporations such as Ikea and Target, is raising questions about the accuracy of the information used.”

Chicago’s Field Museum has gotten approval from the city Parks Board to raise its admission fees. Fees for senior and student entrance will jump more than 66%.