Category: visual

In Italy, politics trump curiosity, and the highly publicized search for Leonardo da Vinci’s The Battle of Anghiari ends – until, or rather unless, the government changes.

“The city did gain some of that hard-to-measure quality known as cultural cachet, with 80% of one group of respondents agreeing ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ that it ‘made me think more highly of L.A. as an arts/cultural destination.'” But museum attendance took a dive.

Beating out Christie’s for an actual presence in China, the art auction house has plans to establish itself inside a new free port in Beijing.

“Experts will present evidence next week claiming to have uncovered a long-lost painting by JMW Turner, bought for £3,700 but now valued by one insurance firm at £20m. Jonathan Weal, 54, who works for an art investment fund, spotted the seascape eight years ago in an auction at a Kent golf club.”

Octogenarian Cecilia Gim&ecaute;nez meant well when she tried to restore the damaged artwork Ecce Homo on the wall in her little parish church in Borja. But her disastrous handiwork became famous around the world, thanks to us Internet smart-alecks, and the church is making money from gawking tourists. So Gim&ecaute;nez wants a cut.

“For more than half a century, Magnum photographers showed us the importance of picturing the human condition alongside reporting the news. An unintended consequence of their success has been to reduce news stories to a strikingly similar set of images.”

“A mystery street artist with a sense of humor has turned parts of downtown L.A. into a guerrilla art installation. Eight neighborhood landmarks or areas have been marked with official-looking city placards that offer what appear to be background information about the location. One, for instance, says that a downtown dumpster was designed by Andy Warhol.”

“Architecture, the most public of endeavours, is practised by people who inhabit a smugly hermetic milieu which is cultish.”

“The mosaic, which once decorated the floor of a bath complex, … is an astonishing 1,600 square feet (149 square meters) – the size of a modest family home.” The work is said to be in “pristine” condition.