Category: visual

For the first time, the Louvre has opened a gallery of African and Asian art. “Some have criticized the exhibit for being merely a political maneuver; others are skeptical that it truly will help the public understand African art. What’s interesting is that the controversy highlights the ambivalence with which the art world regards African and other non-Western art forms.” – Baltimore Sun

Old master paintings come to us with a history of consideration and validation. But what makes a piece of contemporary art a masterpiece? “To find out, ARTnews asked eight people, including art historians, museum directors, curators, and an artist, to discuss what they consider to be the greatest works of three pivotal artists of the last 50 years: Jasper Johns (b. 1930), Andy Warhol (1928-87), and Gerhard Richter (b. 1932). Each focused on one of the artists while sometimes commenting on the others.” – ARTnews

“Few cities in the world, let alone the UK, have public displays of old masters and cutting-edge local art to rival the works that can be seen on the walls of the Kelvingrove, or the Burrell collection in Glasgow. But unless a £10 million shortfall in funding can be found, masterpieces by the likes of Rembrandt, Botticelli and Turner – some worth far more than the grandiose buildings in which they are housed – will deteriorate beyond the point where they can be restored.” – The Scotsman

Australia’s art market has been robust in the past year. But the air seems to have suddenly gone out of the boom. “Trading in art – at least for the many anonymous auction suppliers – is much less attractive under a new regime that embraces a GST and an increased buyer’s premium.” – Australian Financial Review

Two ancient mirrors, dating back to the 1st century B.C., have been discovered in a burial site in Fukui, Japan. While the inscriptions are illegible, mirror-ologists believe the two pieces were imported from China and used for ritualistic purposes. – Daily Yomiuri (Japan)

Museums are not the first thing you think about Maine. But the state’s natural beauty has always attracted artists. And where there are artists there are museums. Seven good ones in fact. – New York Times

Shipwrecks are a rich source of history and our artistic past. There are thousands of wrecks in international waters that have yet to be found. “Archaeologists warn that with no international legal barriers, highly-sophisticated and well-funded multinational corporations seeking specific shipwrecks for the booty they may contain, will turn the high seas into the Wild West.” – The Art Newspaper

Andrew Crispo, a Manhattan art dealer who was “acquitted in a 1980s sex-torture case, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday for threatening to kidnap a lawyer’s daughter in an attempt to get money from a bankruptcy trustee.” – Yahoo! (Reuters)

As part of his job Thomas Foley, U.S. ambassador to Japan, gets a mansion to live in, a driver, full in-house staff…and his own private art collection. A beneficiary of JFK’s 1964 “Art in Embassies Program,” Foley is particularly fond of American Abstract Expressionist paintings…as you can tell by looking at his website. – Japan Times

Arthur Danto is a prominent philosopher as well as art critic for The Nation. “Philosophers, at least in theory, are seekers after truth. Truth, the poet says, is beauty. Thus it makes perfect sense that Danto, who philosophizes by day, should moonlight as one of America’s best-known art critics.” – Boston Globe