Category: visual

There were new finds of art from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica, as well as discoveries of art tens of thousands of years old in Indonesia and South Africa. Two stolen paintings were discovered in odd places: a de Kooning in a New Mexico bedroom and a Degas in the baggage compartment of a bus. And then there were the Michelangelo bronzes identified by their abs. — Artsy

When Denise Murrell noticed that art historians’ discussions of Édouard Manet’s painting Olympia always mentioned the model for the naked white courtesan and never mentioned the model for the black servant, she set out on what would become a career-long mission. — The New York Times

Sure, the purchaser of Girl with Balloon Love Is in the Bin claims to be happy with the unexpectedly altered work for which they paid $1.4 million. But, as certain observers point out, the shredding was arguably a crime, and if he were prosecuted, he would have to be publicly identified. — The New York Observer

“On 29 October, for only the fifth time in the church’s thousand-year history — but the second since 2000 — water penetrated its main body, covering the inlaid marble floor in front of the altar of the Madonna Nicopeia” as the city was flooded. San Marco’s chief administrator said that the historic building “aged 20 years in one day.” — The Art Newspaper

The ability to interpret data and analyze and communicate ideas about that data through design–has never been more important. 2018 brought a wealth of remarkable visualization work to the fore, and much of it changed our perception of the world around us. – Fast Company

Victoria Eugenia Henao, widow of Pablo Escobar of the Medellín drug cartel (yes, Millennials, he was even worse than El Chapo), says that Salvador Dalí’s The Dance accomplished something that even the hippos couldn’t: it kept her and her family safe more than once. — The New York Times

The official residence, known as Los Pinos, had been off-limits to the public ever since it was built in the 1930s, but new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has opened it to the public. (He will live elsewhere.) But now that regular people can visit, the mansion’s art collection, including works by Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo, is nowhere to be seen. — The Art Newspaper

As the director of what is currently the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag says, “The [Dutch] ‘G’ is a very strange sound for people from abroad.” Not to mention that most of them don’t understand the word gemeente (municipal). The new name will be Kunstmuseum Den Haag. — The Art Newspaper

A photographer in Durham, NC, in the early 1900s used a camera that allowed multiple, distinct pictures on one plate-glass negative. And the results are surprising. “Mangum’s glass plate negatives tell a nuanced account of this history, one that affords more agency to people of color than the average textbook. One example of this disruption is the photographic evidence that Mangum did not discriminate in the way he had his sitters pose for the camera. These poses can be seen across all clients, each experiencing a typical session.” – NPR