Category: visual

“Portraits have in the past been marginalised from accounts of 20th-century art.” But a new show at London’s National Portrait Gallery makes one realise quickly “the extent to which great painters throughout the century have wanted to explore the challenge of representation even when it was unfashionable.” – The Telegraph (UK)

New York’s Dia Center gets $50 million to help build a new facility, maintain its large-scale artwork and develop a national presence concentrating on art from the 1960s and ’70s. – New York Times

Earlier this year Canada’s National Gallery was offered a $100 million gift of 1,800 Chinese and neolithic antiquities from a collector, but the proposed gift was withdrawn after experts questioned the authenticity of some of the art. Now Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum has stepped up to accept the stash, despite the experts’ concerns. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

• BUT WHAT’S REAL IS CHOICE: “It is the largest single donation to a cultural institution in Canadian history. The collection features work dating from the Neolithic period of 3000 BC through to the T’ang Dynasty of 900 AD. The 1,800 pieces will be packed up in Ottawa and shipped to the ROM next week. The museum plans to mount an exhibition by next spring.” – Ottawa Citizen

A wooden ship — perhaps 1,500 years old — has been found in the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey. The cold water it has sat in has kept it “remarkably preserved. – Discovery

The controversial founders of the McMichael art collection in Ontario are to be returned to control of the troubled museum after the provincial government passed legislation to end the gallery’s ambitions to modernize its collection. Museum professionals across Canada have protested the move. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

A dealer is setting up a website to sell high quality digital print reproductions. “Among them will be paintings, watercolors, prints and photographs by artists ranging from Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast and Georges Seurat to Andy Warhol, Alex Katz and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The images are being licensed from museums, private collections, artists and the estates of Warhol, Man Ray and others. The point is to make high-quality works of art available at prices that beginning art buyers can afford – from $150 to $700.” – Washington Post

American art from the official residence of Richard C. Holbrooke, the United States representative at the U.N., is currently on public display. “It was made possible by Art in Embassies, a little-known and much beloved State Department program. Started in 1964, the program is based on a simple idea: artists, collectors and museums lend artworks, old and new, to United States embassies and residences as a way of introducing foreign guests to American culture.” – New York Times

The estate of an Arizona woman sold a collection of her paintings for $60, unaware that they were worth much more – $1 million. “The estate sought to overturn the sale, arguing that it was based upon a mutual mistake regarding the paintings’ value.” The judge says no. – CNN

In the midst of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation, a class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Sotheby’s and Christie’s customers alleging price-fixing and collusion among both companies’ top executives. – New York Times