Category: visual

“A native of Rome, [Barbara] Jatta has worked at the Vatican since 1996, until this year within the Vatican Library, where she oversaw the library’s collection of rare prints.”

“One Gulf collector had paid £500,000 for one of the lamps while an Abu Dhabi buyer was said to have purchased a second. After lengthy negotiations they were officially returned to Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities in a ceremony in Cairo this month.”

The museum distributed 880 free passes grouped in 30-minute time slots between 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The tickets became available at 6:30 a.m., and by 6:34 the banners saying “unavailable” and “sold out” covered every time slot. The passes represented about 10 percent of the 8,700 distributed for the day.

“The point is, there really is no substitute for a professional photojournalist with years of training and field time. In an era when news is increasingly catered toward one’s specific taste, the facts can be elusive. But a good photojournalist can get us closer to the truth. It’s their job.”

“Launched in 2015, an intrepid team of researchers, registrars and art sleuths embarked upon the uninspiringly titled Civic Art Baseline Inventory. But the scope of the project is exciting, as the team tirelessly searches the county’s unassuming institutions and public spaces, spreading out over hundreds of L.A. County sites in 88 municipalities across 4,000 square miles, looking for inspiring art that has been commissioned or donated over the 166-year history of Los Angeles.”

“What makes these pictures so different from all of the other pictures of death that we see? The poses are almost classical, frozen, or rehearsed as if from theater, ballet, painting, or mannequin display. If I told you these were fake, you might believe me.”

“A Trump presidency is anxiety-inducing not because of any direct financial impact, but because of its potential impact on the world economy, and therefore on New York philanthropy and tourism. Perhaps more significantly, a culture war between scapegoated elite liberal and humanities institutions and a populist presidency seems likely. This climate may in turn affect both their overall appeal to the narrowing band of philanthropists and put at risk the fiscal privileges they enjoy under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code.”

Joan Banach was Motherwell’s personal assistant for the last decade of his life (he died in 1991) and was employed by his Dedalus Foundation until 2008. That year she was fired and accused of stealing artworks of his; she responded by filing a suit claiming she was dismissed because she was a woman.

“The court of appeal in Aix-en-Provence upheld the suspended two-year prison sentence of Pierre Le Guennec, 77, Picasso’s electrician, [and his wife, Danielle,] who hid 271 works stolen from the artist for over four decades.”