Category: visual

The site for the mosque is next to the City Theater, one of Tehran’s landmarks of modern architecture, and authorities were very concerned that the new building not overshadow its neighbor. So the architects designed a spare, low-rise building that sweeps up from the ground toward the focal point of worship. Now religious hardliners are refusing to recognize it as a mosque at all.

“The ICA LA joins a number of new downtown arts spaces. The Broad Museum, founded by collector Eli Broad, opened in 2015, and the Main Museum, spearheaded by downtown developer Tom Gilmore, followed in 2016. Other speculators have latched onto the art angle too. Plans for a recently announced, futuristic development by Danish architecture wunderkind Bjarke Ingels feature outdoor sculptures and gallery spaces alongside boutiques and upscale “artist lofts.” The Artist Loft Museum of Los Angeles, a pop-up just opened in a longtime artist’s studio, exists to acknowledge the artists who gave the Arts District its name but can no longer afford to live and work in the area.”

“No single seller has achieved critical mass, and the model that has gained the most traction is the third-party marketplace, which functions not as a threat to existing, trusted brands but as a facilitator for them. Rather than competing with bricks-and-mortar houses for quality consignments, they help market it to a wider clientele and provide sophisticated live-bidding technology.”

“With a sense of craft and care comparable to that of the artists whose work they tend, art-service professionals play a crucial role in making sure artworks get where they need to go, in preserved condition and suited to be seen in the proper light. … ARTnews visited art services in and around New York City to see how [the work gets done].”

“The stone piece, about 6 inches by 6 inches, fell nearly 60 feet after it broke off near a chapel on the right side of the [Basilica di Santa Croce], where it had been supporting a beam.”

“The judgment is a crushing blow to the French expert and dealer Jérôme Le Blay. The court ruled that his company Côté Art had not acted ‘in good faith’ in claiming to own the [two] works,” which were among the Matisse pieces stolen from a storage facility just after the 1989 death of the artist’s son Pierre.

The plaintiffs in the case include Thomas, Jaris and Peter Rockwell, the sons of Norman Rockwell, who object to the sale of two of their father’s works, Shuffleton’s Barber Shop (1950) and Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop (1940), which the artist gave to the museum. Both paintings are due to be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York American art sales on 13 November, and are estimated to make a combined $27m to $40m.

The country has more than 60,000 churches, and they contain “a treasure trove that includes masterpieces by Titian, Michelangelo and Caravaggio as well as statues and precious artifacts like chalices, candelabra and countless illuminated manuscripts.” Thieves know it, but the faithful, and tourists, want Italian churches to stay open to the public. Now what?

South African artist Nandipha Mntambo “started college studying forensic pathology. (As a 10-year-old, she and her family came home after dinner one evening to find their dogs had been killed by a stalker, and she said she believed that was where her interest in death began.) But she soon realized it was not the career for her.”