Category: visual

A new museum in Paris is home to the world’s largest collection of Monets. “The elegant building, now called the Marmottan-Claude Monet Museum, is one of Paris’ best-kept secrets.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

British police are “failing to take the theft of fine arts and antiques seriously, undermining a Government initiative to make it harder for criminals to sell stolen property, according to a leading figure in the arts market.” – The Telegraph (UK)

The Guggenheim Museum and the Phillips Collection are making deals to open outposts on the Las Vegas Strip. “The first exhibition of twenty-five pictures including Van Gogh’s ‘Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles’ and El Greco’s ‘The Repentant St.Peter’ is set to open in September, with more to follow.” – The Art Newspaper

A group of New York artists working in London talk about the differences between the two cities. “They’re impressed by the apparent importance attached to contemporary art in Britain. Stories about artists make the front page of newspapers; television documentaries about art are informative and well made. No matter how crude its terms, Britain, and specifically London, engages in a national debate about art. This does not happen to the same extent in America and New York.” – London Evening Standard

There’s a battle raging for control of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. “People on powerful committees are there because they have a contribution to make, and there is usually an ego commensurate with that capacity to contribute. When such people’s views are bypassed, or worse, not sought in the first place, there is usually trouble.” – Sydney Morning Herald

The board of Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum defends the $1.5 million salaries it pays to two of its board members for their services to the museum. The museum has been criticized for paying the two for services which are usually voluntary. – Dallas Morning News

Sotheby’s earnings decline 5 percent, though revenue was up in the second quarter. “Sotheby’s shares have declined by more than a third this year as Internet spending and legal fees from the price-fixing investigation and related lawsuits cut into earnings.” – New York Times

The American Association of Museums, comprised of 3,000 museums and 11,400 museum professionals and trustees, will adopt new ethical guidelines for how museums deal with art borrowed from private collections. Following in the wake of the Brooklyn Museum scandal in which it was discovered that Charles Saatchi, the exhibit’s largest donor, was also its single largest financial backer, the question of curatorial ethics has loomed large at arts organizations around America. – New York Times

The hypothetical question of where the Elgin Marbles would go if they were returned to Greece has incited a debate over the proper context for items of beauty. Do we have a responsibility to make sure works of art remain in the place that gives them artistic life? “It’s our loss if we find reasons not to worship beauty and condemn ourselves to a life of aesthetic squalor.” – The Guardian