Category: visual

“Westminster council is not opposed to the regeneration at Waterloo ‘provided that it is designed with sensitivity. But there is an obsession with building tall buildings, without proper regard to the impacts of such buildings on our heritage.'”

“The historical remnants of Egypt’s Jewish history–around two dozen synagogues and a handful of cemeteries and Jewish schools around the country–range from being in well-preserved and reasonable condition to ‘disastrous.'”

“What might seem a rather obscure gesture of returning a pair of bronze animal heads takes on outsized significance as a kind of restitution of historical justice, a long-awaited righting of wrongs to the Chinese nation.”

“He’s known as a dapper dresser, sporting an assortment of check-patterned garments during a recent interview, along with the suspenders that have been his sartorial signature since his first career as an attorney with a practice focused on Native American concerns.”

“There has never been such extensive research into van Gogh’s paintings and drawings.”

“Some of the stunning architecture of ‘Lutyens’ Delhi’, nearly 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of government buildings, parks and homes named after the British architect who masterminded their design, faces a new threat: a scheme by local authorities to relax planning restrictions to allow high-rise constructions.”

Rafi Segal’s design was chosen by an enthusiastic jury over competitors that included several international starchitects. Then a Jerusalem municipal attorney threatened to block the entire building process because he disagreed with Segal’s opinions about West Bank settlements. Suddenly, accusations of plagiarism arose and the jury was re-writing the rules and reopening the design competition.

“It is one of the most famous paintings in the Prado – but since the end of 2008, The Colossus has been attributed to a follower of Goya, not the master himself. Now, a study from a professor at the University of Zaragoza argues that the work may be by Goya after all.”

“A streak of subversive humour runs through the work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tino Sehgal, Laure Prouvost and David Shrigley – all nominated for this year’s £40,000 art prize.”

“The vote, to grant the VAG a 99-year lease for two-thirds of a block of city-owned land, means the gallery can now aggressively pursue the funding it needs – estimated at $350-million – to make the project happen.”