03/01/2010

Modern Art Collector Ernst Beyeler Dies

"Ernst Beyeler, 88, whose early eye for undervalued Picassos and Impressionists helped him assemble one of Europe's most famous art collections, died Feb. 25 at his home near Basel, Switzerland." - Washington Post

US Museums See Rise In Attendance (But There's A Catch)

"When times get tough, Americans apparently take respite in museums." - WSJ

Has Titian Purchase Damaged The UK's Ability To "Save" Other Art?

"A lack of funding - thanks to 100m being spent on 'saving' two Titians - is going to deprive the British public of several more outstanding works." - UK Independent

Tattoo Removal Technique Being Used For Art Restoration

"A laser technique best known for its use to remove unwanted tattoos from the skin is finding a second life in preserving great sculptures, paintings and other works of art, according to an article in the American Chemical Society's monthly journal, Accounts of Chemical Research." - Science Daily

Colossal Head Of King Tut's Grandad Discovered At Luxor

"A multi-national team of Egyptian and European archaeologists excavating at the site of Amenhotep III’s enormous funerary temple in the Kom El-Hettan area of Luxor’s West Bank have uncovered the 3,000-year-old head of a massive statue of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh, the king of Egyptian kings, whom DNA testing has recently proven was Tutankhamun’s grandfather." - UK Independent

National Archives Bans Photography In The Rotunda

"In an effort to safeguard the original record copies of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the National Archives has decided to ban all photography in the Rotunda, where the historical documents are displayed." - NPR

Blackbaud Offers Nonprofits Free Web Seminar Series On Rapid Response Fund Raising

"Blackbaud, Inc. is offering a free web seminar series to help nonprofits build strategies for mobilizing, soliciting, and stewarding supporters during and after times of disaster. Blackbaud nonprofit experts and partners developed the seminars based on their work with nonprofits that are involved in Haiti relief efforts. The free series, entitled Lessons Learned from Haiti, includes five seminars that will kick-off on March 11 and will continue through May." - PR Web

Getty, Disney To Study Deterioration Of Animation Cels

"Snow White and the seven dwarfs -- along with other classic Disney characters-- are heading to the Getty. The Getty Conservation Institute said Wednesday that it is partnering with a division of Disney to study the deterioration that can occur in plastics -- specifically, the kind used in animation cels." - LA Times

02/16/2010

Controversial Auction Sells Warhols from Polaroid’s Collection

“More than 1,200 works from Polaroid’s corporate collection, chronicling decades of artistic experimentation by Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and others who pushed the aesthetic boundaries of the instant-film process, will be hammered away by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota. Many non-Polaroid photos are also being sold.” - Bloomberg

The Art Haiti Lost in the Earthquake

“The earthquake that killed so many also demolished the island's galleries and destroyed thousands of paintings.” – UK Guardian

London’s National Gallery Staff Strikes

“Up to 100 staff members at the National Gallery in central London have gone on strike in a dispute over pay.” – BBC News

New Threat to Shipping Art: Air Travel Security

“The Transportation Security Administration has mandated that beginning on Aug. 1, all items shipped as cargo on commercial passenger airplanes — estimates are that as much as 20 percent of art shipped around the world travels this way — will have to go through airline security screening.” – NY Times

Judge Orders the Return of Getty Bronze

“A judge in Italy has ordered the confiscation of the famed Statue of the Victorious Youth, which is also known as the Getty Bronze. The artwork, which dates from 300 B.C. to 100 B.C., is currently in the collection at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.” – LA Times

The New Art Investors (Celebrity Musicians)

"As the music business became more lucrative, so artists such as Madonna, Sir Elton John, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno and his ex-band mate Bryan Ferry invest much of their accumulated wealth in both modern and classical art.” - UK Guardian

02/09/2010

Money Trouble at the Met

“New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art shed 14 percent of its staff in the year ending in June amid a record operating deficit. At least 250 employees were fired or took buyouts as the museum reported that its investments declined by more than $600 million, or 24 percent.” - Bloomberg

Giacometti Sculpture Sets All-Time Auction Record

“A 1960 Alberto Giacometti sculpture sold for £65 million ($104.3 million) at Sotheby's, setting a record price for a work of art at auction and signaling a potential resurgence in the art market.” - WSJ

SFMoMA Raises $250 Million

“The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art announced Thursday that it had raised more than $250 million to expand the museum and double its endowment. The museum is building a new wing to show the collection of Gap founders Donald and Doris Fisher.” - WSJ

Iran Cuts Ties With British Museum

“Iran said it will cut ties with the British Museum on Monday because of the museum's failure to lend Tehran an ancient Babylonian artifact described as the world's earliest bill of rights.” – Washington Post

Dell Purchases Magnum Photo Library

“Billionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm, MSD Capital LP, has acquired about 185,000 vintage photographic prints from the Magnum Photos agency in what is thought to be among the largest photo transactions in history.”

- Bloomberg

1/28/2010

Leonardo da Vinci's bones to be dug up by Italian scientists

“Scientists seeking permission to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci plan to reconstruct his face to discover whether his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is a disguised self-portrait.

Talks about the exhumation with French cultural officials and the owners of the chateau have resulted in an agreement in principle, according to the Italian team, and the project could receive formal permission this summer.” – UK Times Online

Art Museum Directors Make Superbowl Trash-Talking Bet with Art Loan for the Winner

"Indianapolis Museum of Art Director Max Anderson is putting a lot on the line when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts. He's betting John Bullard, director of the New Orleans Museum of Art, that the Colts will color the Saints blue come February 7th.

The winner gets to borrow a masterpiece from the loser's collection for three months, starting in July." - NBC

Recovery after annus horribilis

“Despite the recovery in US museums’ endowments as the stock markets rose towards the end of 2009, museum directors are continuing to cut or freeze their budgets, The Art Newspaper has established in a survey of 25 leading institutions.” – The Art Newspaper

Also: Check out a quick analysis of the balance sheets here. Very Cool.

Shepard Fairey to face criminal investigation in Associated Press case

“Alvin K. Hellerstein, a federal district judge, reportedly made the revelation today as part of a hearing where lawyers for Fairey and the AP were present. A spokesman for the AP said in a statement issued this evening that the news organization has received a grand jury subpoena related to Fairey's misconduct during the case.” – LA Times Culture Monster Blog

When a Grecian Urn Takes a Step Onto the Cosmic Banana Peel

A great article on the accidental destruction of art…

“On Friday, a woman taking a class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art stumbled into ‘The Actor,’ a work by Picasso dating to 1904 or 1905. The canvas was ripped in the lower right-hand corner.” - NY Times

Hitler’s Vermeer, Pride of Vienna Museum, Faces Nazi-Era Claim

“Hermann Goering coveted it. Adolf Hitler purchased it. Now the heirs of the man who sold it to him want the Vermeer painting back from a museum in Vienna.” – Bloomberg

01/11/2010

Behind the smile Mona Lisa may have been suffering from high cholesterol

“An Italian medical expert says he has found evidence of a range of afflictions in some of the world’s greatest works of art. Vito Franco, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Palermo, claims that there are clear signs of diseases, from bone malformations to kidney stones, that cast certain icons of perfection in a very different light.” – UK Times Online

Art Clokey, Animator Who Created Gumby, Dies at 88

“Art Clokey, the animator who half a century ago created Gumby, that most pliant of pop-cultural figures, died on Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif. He was 88.” – NY Times

Here's the first episode of Gumby, in memorium:

William Blake etchings secured by Tate

“Eight etchings by William Blake have been acquired for the nation after the Tate gallery raised £441,000. The ‘powerful’ etchings, depicting the artist and writer's bleak visions, were discovered in the 1970s inside a train timetable at a secondhand book sale…” - BBC

Check out a slideshow of the etchings HERE

Computer method 'spots art fakes'

“A simple method to distinguish artistic fakes and imitations has been demonstrated by researchers. The approach, known as "sparse coding", builds a virtual library of an artist's works and breaks them down into the simplest possible visual elements.” – BBC

Director of J. Paul Getty Museum Abruptly resigns

“Michael Brand, who has served four years as the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, will step down from his role at the end of the month. The news was announced today by James N. Wood, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust.” - LA Times