California Confronts Courts With Proposed Art Law
California state lawmakers are pushing through legislation that will make art restitution easier for Holocaust survivors. In January, I wrote about a restitution case going through the American court system for over twenty years. The case centers around a Paris … More…
The British Museum Finally Sues
It’s been some time since I’ve written about the drama that began unfolding at the British Museum. last year. The last update I gave was in December when the museum’s deputy director resigned while an independent panel submitted a list of … More…
ARC Select 2024
This upcoming Thursday, Rehs Contemporary will be hosting the opening event for ARC Select. The exhibition will include works by eight of the finest artists working today, all of whom participated in the 16th Art Renewal Center Salon. The Art … More…
Titanic Movie Prop Stays Afloat
On March 24th, Heritage hosted the Treasures from Planet Hollywood sale, featuring approximately 1,600 pieces of Hollywood memorabilia. Some of the most popular lots were iconic movie props such as blasters from Star Wars, an axe from The Shining, and … More…
Still Missing: The Secret Tunnel Heist
Anyone born in the 1990s probably watched the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender as it first came out starting in 2005. For this demographic, anything involving tunnels may conjure the “Secret Tunnel song” from season 2, episode 2. This was certainly the … More…
Trafalgar Square’s New Resident
London’s Trafalgar Square has a plinth at each of its four corners. Three of them have statues, while one has nothing on top of it. It was originally meant to have an equestrian statue of King William IV, but not … More…
Still Missing: Caravaggio’s Missing Nativity
For the next entry in the Still Missing series, we’ve gone from Canada to Belgium to Britain, and now to Italy. In 2005, the FBI compiled a list of the most significant art thefts on record. One was the theft … More…
Climate Protestors Free To Go
A Dutch court has made an interesting ruling that may set a precedent for how prosecutors deal with climate protesters. On October 28, 2022, three Belgians staged a protest at the Mauritshuis in The Hague to draw attention to our current climate … More…
Gilot At The Picasso Museum
It is often said that seven women played significant roles throughout Pablo Picasso’s life. Probably one of the most well-known was Françoise Gilot. Last week, Paris’s Picasso Museum opened with a brand new rehang, with one of the galleries entirely … More…
Still Missing: Raphael’s Self-Portrait
Other than no one knowing where the stolen art is, the previous entries in the Still Missing series all have one thing in common. We don’t know who stole the paintings. This incident, however, is the exception. We know exactly … More…
Ukraine’s New Museum
Using museums to shape the public’s perception of the past and the present is far from a new idea. This is especially true when it comes to governments with authoritarian streaks. And we are seeing it again with Russia concerning … More…
Recent Sotheby’s Sale Draws Unwarranted Pessimism
I wasn’t originally going to write about the Modern & Contemporary evening sale held at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, March 6th. However, I felt compelled to do so after seeing an incredibly misleading headline from The Art Newspaper. According to their analysis, this … More…
“Slasher Mary”: Museum Protests Then & Now
With the dozens of climate protests at museums over the past several years, many are inclined to see activists’ vandalism of prominent artworks as a fairly modern concept. Last month, someone threw soup at a Monet while others taped photos over the protective … More…
British Mural Recreates 100-Year-Old Photo
Some see graffiti and street art as signs of community degradation. However, one place in Britain views it the opposite way. The city of Peterborough, in the east of England, is embarking on a “business improvement district campaign,” which includes … More…
Art Show At Mussolini’s House
A photography exhibition in northern Italy is drawing criticism over the location where it is being staged. Riccione, a seaside town right outside Rimini, is hosting a retrospective on Robert Capa, one of the most significant photographers of the twentieth century. … More…
Christie’s London Art Of The Surreal Sale
On Thursday, March 7, Christie’s hosted their annual Art of the Surreal sale. These sales are often relatively short and tend to do rather well. And this year was no exception. The expected star of the sale was the 1958 … More…