Category: visual

A collector is suing the Van Gogh Museum because the museum has declared a painting the man owns as a fake. “The owner intended to sell the painting two years ago as the star of an auction in the Gironde. But a news agency report quoting the museum’s belief that it was a fake forced its withdrawal. His belief in the painting’s authenticity has been supported by other analysts, including an Italian art laboratory and a Dutch-based French expert, Bernard Landais, who declared himself in no doubt that the painting was in Van Gogh’s hand.”

A California pathologist believes that artists’ physical ailments are often represented in the art they made. “Environmental poisons and drug use may have colored the creations of Michelangelo, Raphael and Vincent Van Gogh and left their impression on the work of Renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.”

The Royal Academy’s annual Secrets sale offers cards by famous artists at a low price. The identity of the artist remains unknown until each card is bought and the signature is revealed on the back. One fan camped for two weeks to lead the queue for the sale, which helps students with grants and bursaries. Illustrator Quentin Blake and Tracey Emin were among the artists to donate a record 2,700 cards, each sold for £35.”

Harvard has decided to sell a Mary Cassatt painting worth as much as $5 million. “Painted in 1906, the work was given to Harvard in 1922 by Ernest G. Stillman, a member of the class of 1907. The painting has rarely been on display. Money from the sale will go into the museums’ acquisitions fund and is most likely to be used to buy a work by the same artist.”

The museum is buying a nearby building. “The Walters, which opened in 1934, now fills three buildings and in recent years has been active on the renovation and refurbishing front. In 2001 it completed a $24 million renovation of its main building; last fall it finished remodeling its smaller signature palazzo -like building. “We had just reopened the original Walters building and in the last four years had installed 4,000 works. And then before we had a chance to put our feet up, this opportunity happened.”

Greece says it will start legal proceedings to get back art from the Getty Museum. “The Greek ministry of culture said Monday it is seeking the return of four antiquities, allegedly stolen before passing into the Getty’s collection. ‘Instructions have been given for the immediate launch of the legal process to reclaim the four ancient artifacts’.”

Italian officials are meeting with the director of the Metropolitan Museum today to discuss possible compromises over the issue of stolen art that may be in the Met’s collection. “At today’s meeting with the Met’s director, Philippe de Montebello, Italy is willing to negotiate on the fate of the more than 30 objects in question, said Maurizio Fiorilli, the ministry lawyer who is leading the Italian delegation. ‘It depends on the willingness of the Metropolitan’.”

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is prepared to return disputed antiquities to Italy in a compromise discussed at a meeting in Rome Tuesday between the Met’s director and Italian officials, Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said. The items include a 2,500-year-old wine pot, or krater, by the Greek artist Euphronios that Italian prosecutors say was robbed from a tomb outside Rome, and a 15-piece set of Hellenistic silver they say was looted at Morgantina in Sicily.”

“King Tut’s tally at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art reached 937,613 visitors, museum officials said Monday — the second-largest audience for any museum exhibition after the 1.25 million who saw the touring display from the Boy King’s tomb that came to the museum in 1978.”

Why do British architects have a difficult time building in the UK? “The big difference between working in Britain and Europe is that here, you are not really expected to debate ideas. Money and marketing are what matter most. We live in an events culture in the UK. Architecture, arts and media are all increasingly driven by events agendas. Ideas are only valid if they fit in with media schedules. Original thinking and debate have been overwhelmed. So we get a lot of slick and often thoughtless architecture put up at speed. It doesn’t matter much how it works, but how it looks, and whether or not it fits the latest fashion profile.”