Trompe L’Oeil: Optical Illusions In Art
In certain genres or styles, some painters wish to express their talents through deception. Almost as if to say, “I’m so good I made you look twice.” Most often, this takes the form of painting something so realistic that the … More…
Assange Or Art?
Julian Assange has been one of the most controversial figures of the twenty-first century. As the founder of WikiLeaks, he received praise for his journalism concerning American military involvement in the Middle East. However, he later came under fire for his … More…
More Art At The Airport
Last year, the Italian government, in an attempt to promote the country’s art and culture to incoming tourists, set up a display case in the middle of Terminal 1 at Fiumicino Airport, just outside of Rome. There, travelers could view a … More…
Italy Gifts Replica Of Destroyed Statue To Iraq
Iraq recently received a gift from Italy, replacing an ancient artifact destroyed in 2015. Restoration expert Nicola Salvioli led a team to re-create a ninth-century BCE Assyrian statue from the ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq. Dubbed The Bull of … More…
Street Art Digitization In The UK
A British arts charity has announced that it will add several thousand pieces of street art to its public art database. The charity Art UK, founded in 2003, works to provide online access to every public art collection in Britain. The … More…
Queen’s Painting Heads To Auction
Royals involved in the arts is far from a new concept. For centuries, royalty and nobility served as the primary patrons for visual artists. More recently, however, many crowned heads have dabbled in their own creative pursuits. King Charles III … More…
An Update On The Frankenthaler Foundation
In November 2023, some drama within the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation was made public through a lawsuit brought by one of its former board members. And now, we have one of the first updates in the story since it broke. Not only … More…
The Bouvier Affair: Sotheby’s Cleared In Lawsuit
The final act of the decade-long Bouvier Affair has come to an end. The series of legal actions by Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev against the Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier ended in December 2023. However, there was still the matter … More…
Long-Lost Klimt Up For Auction
Portrait of Fräulein Lieser is a 1917 painting by Gustav Klimt. Specialists have considered it lost for almost a hundred years. So it certainly came as a surprise when a Vienna auction house announced it would be crossing the block later … More…
Unicorn: Scottish Museum’s Upcoming Exhibition
Nowadays, when people think of unicorns, they think of them in the context of children, like little kids playing with unicorn dolls or watching My Little Pony. But a museum in the Scottish city of Perth is ready to tell the … More…
Alexander Hamilton’s Pistols
Once part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, Alexander Hamilton‘s pocket pistols recently made waves crossing the auction block. The winning bid reached a substantial $650K ($819K w/p). Christie’s listed the estimate as by request, but reports have stated … More…
Cathedral Caper: French Stained Glass In America
A French cultural organization is trying to force several American museums to return stained glass window panels stolen from Rouen Cathedral. Philippe Machicote is president of the association Lumière sur le Patrimoine, or Spotlight on Heritage, and has actively tried … More…
The Orlando Basquiats: OMA Drops Charges
The situation at the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) has progressed again. Last time we checked in, disgraced former director Aaron de Groft countersued OMA for wrongful termination, defamation, and breach of contract. This was in response to OMA’s lawsuit against … More…
A Magical Tutu
Recently, the spotlight shone on the three-tiered white tutu worn by Sarah Jessica Parker‘s iconic Sex and the City character, Carrie Bradshaw, in the show’s opening credits. This legendary piece of fashion history went under the hammer at a recent auction, … More…
Christie’s NY 19th Century American Sale
On Thursday, January 18th, Christie‘s kicked things off with their first sale of note for 2024. Their 19th Century American & Western sale featured one hundred lots and ended up a good way to start the year. Of course, the … More…
Sotheby’s New York “A Scholar Collects” Sale
On Wednesday, January 31st, both Christie’s and Sotheby’s hosted a series of sales centered on Old Masters. While these sales mostly did not perform as well as expected, the one exception was the first sale of the day, entitled A … More…