Category: visual

A new book has the European auction world in an uproar. “The book, published in France, has attracted attention because of the author’s ability to explain how fake paintings and furniture are produced. Experts say the methods are authentic.” – The Times (UK)

Rembrandt’s painting “Portrait of a Lady aged 62,” dated 1632, is to be auctioned this week in London. It is expected to easily beat the previous record sale for a Rembrandt, the £5.5 million for “Portrait of a Bearded Man in Red” in New York two years ago. – London Evening Standard

Hillary Clinton is a fitting successor to New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in more ways than her political acumen. She too is a champion of public architecture, and as First Lady has proven her commitment to preservation. “Our senator-elect may be the second-most-scrutinized human being ever to walk the face of the planet, but few have noticed her longstanding and still-evolving interest and expertise in the built environment.” – New York Magazine

Financially-distressed Irish celebrity chef Conrad Gallagher has been arrested on suspicion of stealing works of art from the hotel in which he leases his restaurant. – Ireland on Sunday

Seventeen paintings, including works by Renoir and Chagall, are discovered missing from a Japanese department store. The paintings were stolen in August. – Japan Times

For nearly a century Washington’s Corcoran Gallery has organized biennial exhibitions devoted to contemporary American painting. Even in recent years – when painting had long since ceased to be where the action was – the painting Biennials persisted. Now, after decades of floundering around, the Corcoran has stepped into the new millennium by confronting art as it really is. The result is a show focused on how painting, photography, video, computers and other electronic media have intersected and influenced one another. – Washington Post

“In the last three years alone, the Chinese government has closed at least 10 art exhibitions, offering in most cases no other excuse to exhibitors than an announcement that they failed to properly complete the official application process. The hitch is, the government has never really explained that process. An intriguing exhibition at the University of Chicago’s David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art takes a look at one such closing that occurred two years ago in Beijing.” – Chicago Tribune

Thanks to a donor’s gift, the LA County Museum of Art opens a new center to showcase Latin American art. “Belated as this development may appear in a region with a large Latin American community, LACMA is in the forefront as “one of the first major public institutions in the United States to be fully committed to Latin American art.” – Los Angeles Times

“Nowadays, museums build bigger buildings and erect huge impersonal additions to house uneven collections. Trustees, millionaires and board members pick architects; they help lay out loading docks. Museums are becoming architectural attractions in and of themselves. But is bigger better? Is more more?” – Artnet

Recent trends suggest there is an increasing convergence of commerce and culture, where “shops are becoming more like museums – places for visual and aesthetic display – while museums are becoming more like shops.” – The Independent (UK)