Category: visual

There remains the intriguing possibility that the bed still survives in Boxmeer—a silent witness to the story of Van Gogh in Arles.

Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle were found guilty last year of keeping 271 of Picasso’s drawings, collages and paintings in their garage for four decades. Now, appealing their conviction, Pierre told the court that “Mrs Jacqueline Picasso had problems with Claude Picasso” over the artist’s estate and stashed a bunch of paintings with the Le Guennecs, leaving one bag with the 271 works behind as a thank-you. (He didn’t mention this during his first trial because he was afraid, of course.) Claude’s attorney calls this “a staggering lie.”

“The earthquake, the most powerful to hit the country since 1980, has brought devastation to areas that were already damaged by the 6.2-magnitude earthquake of 24 August, which killed almost 300 people. No further deaths have been reported in the recent wave of seismic activity. The latest disaster follows a pair of tremors (5.4- and 5.9-magnitude) in quick succession on 26 October.”

“You can holler with delight here on Earth, especially if you were at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory last Thursday for its annual pumpkin carving contest. Although calling it a ‘carving competition’ seems off: It’s more like a science fair on steroids.”

“Where this will lead the art world, art history, the art market and — most important of all — art itself, is anyone’s guess. The formal study of the history of art, with its generally impecunious career prospects, may well remain a niche subject. But the digitalization of art means a lot more people across the world are looking at the stuff.”

“In the piece, Lacy, who is known for her work in performance and social practice, will teach Bowers, an artist whose politically minded practice is rooted firmly in drawing, how to be a performance artist. They will also live in the museum — in a pair of newly painted offices spaces that overlook the lobby.”

It was a negotiation that involved the highest levels of the French government. “The donation, announced Saturday at a ceremony at Élysée Palace, was the culmination of formal talks between officials at the highest levels of the French government and the couple, who are 80 years old and have been married for 60 years.”

So how did this painting, purporting to be a Frans Hals, fool top level experts? It’s making the art world worry about what other fakes might be out there and about a system that doesn’t seem to have done its job vetting. Is a bigger scandal looming?

The heirs of Greta Moll, the subject of a portrait by Matisse now valued at more than $30 million, claim that Moll was cheated out of the painting as a result of World War II and that the National Gallery acquired it illegitimately. The museum is responding that just about everything about the lawsuit is bogus.

For his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen has spent two decades crossing heritage breeds from different nations to create handsome, healthy, and (yes) cosmopolitan birds, which he shows in art galleries. For an upcoming show in Detroit, he’s taking things to the next level – the Planetary Community Chicken.