The Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth Texas is returning a JMW Turner painting to heirs of the collector from whom it was stolen by the Nazis. This “puts a big hole in our collection. This was our only Turner and we don’t have a Constable either, so we’re missing both of these two great British landscapists. But this is one of those cases where the evidence was very strong that it was from a forced sale under the Nazi regime, and morally there was only one thing to do, which was to give it back.”
Tag: 06.06.06
Buildings Made Of Dreams
“Engineering Art is in part a dating agency between creatives and science, through events that Dr Miodownik organises at Tate Modern to get architects, artists and designers just to feel materials, to ‘innovate through their fingers’, learn their properties and get them ‘out there’ on buildings. Their obsession with novelty means that architects are as sensitive to trends as schoolkids.”
Report: Scenario Where Art Market Could Decline
“Contemporary art prices have quadrupled since 1995, according to index-maker Art Market Research. In recent years, they’ve been propelled by growth in the U.S. and emerging markets, where wealthy businessmen have started to buy their national art at international auctions.” But a new report says art prices could collapse if there’s a global economic slowdown.
UK Fans Can Copy CDs They’ve Bought
“UK music fans no longer face the threat of prosecution for copying their own CDs on to PCs or MP3 players, as long as the songs are only for personal use.” Thus says the British recording industry.
Zadie Smith Wins Orange
Zadie Smith has won this year’s Orange Price for fiction for her book “On Beauty.” “Her previous two novels, White Teeth and The Autograph Man, were shortlisted in 2001 and 2003 respectively but failed to win. Ali Smith’s The Accidental – nominated for last year’s Man Booker – and Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love were among the six books vying for the title.”