The self-portrait of Gentileschi as St. Catherine of Alexandria, purchased by the UK’s National Gallery last year, is currently in a GP’s office in East Yorkshire; before that, it was at Glasgow Women’s Library. The painting is touring “as part of a scheme reminding people that the National Gallery’s collection belongs to the nation.” (How are they keeping it from getting stolen?) – The Telegraph (UK)
Category: visual
A Few Minutes Alone With “The Last Supper” – Surprisingly Affecting
Phil Kennicott: “I’m lucky to have been given a little extra time at “The Last Supper” and even, for a few minutes, time without other tourists, and the experience is deeply moving. I’m surprised by this because “The Last Supper” is famous for being but a shadow of what Leonardo put on the walls about the same time Columbus sailed for America… Yet there it is, glowing on the wall, far more precise in its communication than anything I expected during a two-week trip looking at art in Italy.” – Washington Post
Why Anti-Money-Laundering Legislation Has Art Dealers Worried
No, it’s not because they want to launder money. “While these requirements could have significant benefits in terms of helping to curtail money laundering by bringing greater oversight to an often opaque art market, the law could also burden dealers and auction houses with onerous administrative and reporting duties that will be especially challenging for smaller and mid-size galleries.” – Artsy
Now Up: “Bootleg” Copies Of Famous Art
And they’re going to be auctioned at Christie’s. “They’ll fool you from a distance. They won’t fool you close up.” – The New York Times
How Do You Move A 20-By-11-Foot, $30 Million Painting Across The Atlantic?
Very carefully, of course. As for how, specifically, you go about it, reporter Ted Loos looked in on the handlers and shippers of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s La Jeunesse de Bacchus (1884) as it made its way from Paris to New York. – The New York Times
Backlash After Turner Prize Accepts Sponsor Who Campaigned Against Marriage Equality
Britain’s highest-profile art prize is getting heavy criticism for taking as a lead sponsor the bus company Stagecoach: its chairman, Brian Souter, was a leading opponent of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples in the UK and fought repeal of a law which banned discussion of homosexuality in schools. – The Independent (UK)
U.S. Judge Rules Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Can Keep Pissarro Looted By Nazis
“The government-owned Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid acquired hundreds of artworks, including the Pissarro, from the [eponymous] baron in 1993 for $350 million. The U.S. court ruling comes almost 14 years after Claude Cassirer sued to recover the painting” — Rue Saint-Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie — “his grandmother was forced to sell for a pittance to avoid being sent to an extermination camp.” – Bloomberg
Rebuild Notre Dame? Yes – And There’s A Roadmap On How To Go About It
“First and foremost, Notre Dame’s World Heritage status calls for international principles of restoration to be integrated into the discussions on how to restore it. Decisions will have to be taken on how to consolidate its structural parts, restore the damaged surfaces, reconstruct the roof, the spire and the stained-glass windows. All these choices need to be made in accordance with the conservation principles promoted by the World Heritage Convention.” – The Art Newspaper
NYC’s Culture Pass Brought Library Users To Museums. Now The Museums Are Bringing Themselves To The Libraries
The municipal program, launched last summer, allows anyone in the five boroughs with a library card to reserve a limited number of free passes to various museums (including the biggies) in the city. Now, a second phase of the program will see those museums offering public programs at city branch libraries. – The Art Newspaper
Protesters Have Banana Eat-In At Poland’s National Museum After Culture Ministry Pulls Video Of Woman Eating Banana
“The 1973 video Consumer Art, by prominent artist Natalia LL, showing a young woman eating a banana with great pleasure, was removed from the National Museum in Warsaw last week after the new museum head, Jerzy Miziolek, was summoned to the Ministry of Culture.” And once word got around, scornful protesters did what we’d expect them to do. – Yahoo! (AP)