Category: visual

Does the Visual Artists Rights Act need to be revisited? “New law often has unintended consequences, and VARA, which was intended to resolve conflicts between artists and private collectors, has set off disputes between the rights of artists and those of building owners. Most of the artwork involved is owned by people who really aren’t collectors. They tend to be government officials or the buyers of buildings, who are not aware of the art law’s restrictions.”

“A prominent Russian human rights advocate and two other defendants went on trial Tuesday, accused of organizing a blasphemous exhibit. Their lawyers said the charges were so vague it was impossible to answer them.”

“A hoard of stolen paintings, including a work said to be by impressionist Paul Cezanne, has been recovered by police in Australia.” The paintings were stolen from an Australian art restorer in February, and he claimed that a Cezanne worth $50 million was among them. But the paintings were uninsured, and Cezanne experts said they had never heard of such a Cezanne.

“The owner and manager of a lower Manhattan art gallery were accused Tuesday of selling $7 million in forged paintings that were intricately detailed and almost indistinguishable from the originals.”

A missing Van Gogh painting could be in London, researchers say. “The descendents of Belgian doctor Amadeus Cavenaile say Van Gogh painted the portrait after the doctor treated him for syphilis in 1885. His family, some of whom live in the UK, believe the painting was either brought to London or buried in a garden in Antwerp during World War I. If the painting is found, it could net the owner up to £50 million.”

A prominent Scottish businessman has donated £5 million to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, with the money earmarked to build a new educational wing. The Kelvingrove is mounting a £28 million renovation, and Hunter’s new wing will be “dedicated to a series of inspirational Scots.”

“A major triptych by Francis Bacon is about to see the light after languishing for more than 30 years in the store of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Two Figures Lying on a Bed With Attendants (1968) was bought, having been shown in Europe in 1972, by the wife of the last shah of Iran. It became part of the collection of the Tehran museum, but it is thought to have been on display there only once in 30 years.” The paintings were discovered by the director of the Tate Britain museum while he was vacationing in Tehran, and an exchange of works was worked out to bring the Bacon works to London.

“One of the greatest English royal portraits of the 16th century is to be shown in public for the first time. Hans Eworth’s painting of Queen Mary I – completed shortly after her marriage to Philip II of Spain on July 25, 1554 – shows her wearing the famous Peregrina pearl, a present from her new husband. Centuries later the same jewel was given by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor.”

The opening of two new important venues for contemporary art in London within the space of a couple of weeks not only says something about the optimism of the art market, writes Richard Dorment, but “confirms the truth of the cliché that London has, for the moment, replaced New York as the centre of the art world.”

“Five years after the German government and states vowed to track down and give back cultural artifacts seized from Jews by the Nazis, only a few are back in the hands of the works’ rightful owners. The reasons for the lack of success are complex. When taken together, they make recovery extremely difficult. First and foremost, nearly 60 years after the war, the survivors with firsthand knowledge are passing away.”