Category: visual

Universe, which has been on view in the lobby of Chicago’s Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) since 1974, is being packed up as the building’s latest owners prepare for a major renovation of the building as two previous owners (including Sears, which commissioned Universe and claims title to it) continue a years-long struggle.

Collector Douglas Latchford, 86, and scholar Emma Bunker, 87, together wrote three books that are core reference works in the field of golden-age Khmer art and have been invaluable consultants to the national museum in Phnom Penh as it assembled a collection in the aftermath of Cambodia’s late-20th-century calamities. But a current criminal case suggests that the pair also spent decades providing false ownership histories for looted art.

“Mikhail Novikov, a deputy director in charge of construction at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg has been placed under house arrest on charges of suspected fraud … connected to a larger case of over Rb100m in embezzled funds during major Russian Ministry of Culture restoration projects.”

Georgetown Heritage, a nonprofit organization formed to rethink the one-mile, nine-acre portion of the canal in Georgetown, has hired the architect of Manhattan’s High Line in hopes of creating an equally buzzy, reimagined urban park along the now-staid industrial strip of land. It’s part of a broader plan to once again make the historic neighborhood a leading destination in the city amid competition from other booming neighborhoods.

“In her short time here, the Fearless Girl has fueled powerful conversations about women in leadership and inspired so many. Now, she’ll be asserting herself and affirming her strength even after her temporary permit expires—a fitting path for a girl who refuses to quit.”

Christo had the most-visited art event. And in New York, “the Whitney Museum of American Art, which moved to its new Renzo Piano-designed home in downtown Manhattan in 2015, has put an end to the city’s traditional duopoly of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Whitney hosted five of the ten most-attended exhibitions in New York in 2016.”

Thomas Krens, the longtime director of the Guggenheim Foundation and the driving force behind the global expansion of the Guggenheim brand, now says “The world financial crisis and the Arab Spring has [sic]changed the equation radically … It may not be such a good idea these days to have an American museum … with a Jewish name in a country [that doesn’t recognise Israel] in such a prominent location, at such a big scale.”

“The much-loved 1785 painting, Mr and Mrs William Hallett (‘The Morning Walk’), received two scratches of about 1-metre and 65cm long in the incident, which happened on a busy Saturday afternoon.”

“The opposing forces were represented by two powerhouse teams of Chicago attorneys: former U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick M. Collins, and Tinos Diamantatos represented the British Museum; former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, Sam Adam Jr., and Robert A. Clifford argued for Greece. And each side produced an expert witness.”

“The coin, which police said was protected by bulletproof glass, carries a nominal value of C$1m and was produced by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. Known as the “Big Maple Leaf” and made of the purest bullion, only five have so far been produced, according to the mint’s website. One side features a maple leaf, the other a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.”