Category: visual

New software will soon make it possible for investigators to instantly check whether a piece of art in front of them is stolen. “With Derdack’s software, investigators can take a photo of a suspicious painting with a cellphone or a personal digital assistant, send it wirelessly by GPRS or UMTS networks to international databases of stolen art and make a match – within seconds.”

Romania has a new museum of contemporary art in a giant palace built by dictator Nikolai Ceausescu. “The building is monstrous, a megalomaniacal blend of baroque, neo-Gothic and modernism, sprawling over the middle of Bucharest. Its cruel facade is lined with row upon row of windows: Romanians call them “the big eye of Ceausescu”. The critic Ami Barik, meanwhile, describes the Palace as “architectural pornography … meant to exhibit the organs of power in colossal erection”. Twenty per cent of the city, including some of its oldest churches, was torn down to make way for it. Workers died in near-forced labour conditions; others are said to have been killed to protect its secrets. No wonder Bucharest’s inhabitants view the House/Palace with a respect tinged with bitterness.”

Britons flocked to UK museums this year – “6 million more people passed through their doors, bringing the overall increase since admission charges were ditched for important national collections to 75%. Yesterday, the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, called the figures “incredible”, and promised that free admission would continue to be a cornerstone of government policy. However, the Art Fund charity warned that the spectacular increase may prove “a hollow victory” without proper compensation for museums that formerly charged or adequate funds for museums that never charged but have lost out badly in recent spending rounds.”

The decision to allow the Barnes Collection to move to Philadelphia is just the beginning of a long process. And are the Barnes’ projections realistic? “The Barnes has budgeted $150 million to build a 120,000- to 150,000-square-foot building, to move into it, and to create an endowment.” Some experts question the plan: “All of the numbers are perfectly reasonable, but all are at the optimistic end of the scale of reasonable. Together in combination, the overall outcome is unreasonable. So the Barnes must either raise more than $150 million up front, or scale back its plans. That would require some tough, tough choices.”

A new exhibition puts 17 Rembrandts together for the first time. “Loans have come from museums and private collections in the United States and abroad, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the apostles, Rembrandt painted hermits and a number of the evangelists.”

“A Canadian family scored a major legal victory yesterday when a judge in the Czech Republic agreed that they should gain possession of a valuable art collection — believed to be worth millions of dollars — assembled by their Jewish grandfather, then later confiscated by the Nazis and the Communists… [T]he decision, which will be issued in writing late next month, will likely be appealed. That appeal could take more than a year, with the case possibly going as far as the Czech Republic’s Supreme Court. As a result, it might be as late as 2008 before the collection ends up on Canadian soil, if ever.”

“The Dallas Museum of Art has suffered growing pains. Back-to-back expansions of the downtown building, the last ending in 1993, left more space than art to fill it. Recently, it’s had the opposite problem. The contemporary collection has snowballed since director John R. ‘Jack’ Lane’s arrival in 1999, but the Contemporary Art Galleries weren’t designed for the kind of big works being done today, many of which include films or videos with noisy soundtracks.” But now, with a major renovation just completed, DMA may finally have a space that fits its collection.

Norwegian police have questioned their first suspect in the theft of two Much paintings last summer. “The man was released without charge on Thursday, but is still considered a suspect, police said.”

Collector Charles Saatchi is mulling a £6.25 million offer for the massive tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde which he commissioned from artist Damien Hirst in 1991 for £50,000. The shark, one of the early works of the movement known as BritArt, “propelled Hirst to fame after it was first shown in 1992.”

“Officials at the Museum for African Art, located in Long Island City, expect to break ground on a new $50-million, three-story building in Harlem early next year. The move will return the 21-year-old museum to its Manhattan roots after a two-year absence and help bolster Harlem’s appeal as a cultural destination…”