Confessions of a Genius Art Forger — In one of Germany's greatest art scandals, former hippie and talented artist Wolfgang Beltracchi forged dozens of paintings over a period of 35 years, earning millions and fooling top collectors and museums. In a SPIEGEL interview, he reveals how he did it and why he eventually got caught.
Photo Gallery. Background...
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on May 26, 2012 -
20 comments
Throughout 2011, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been producing
Connections, a series of short audiovisual pieces in which various staff members talk about their favorite parts of the Met's vast holdings. The last of the 100 videos was posted today.
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Dec 28, 2011 -
6 comments
In these difficult economic times, what's a museum to do? Is an art collection a financial asset or a trust to be held in perpetuity? These questions are being raised by
The National Academy in New York's recent sale (or "deaccessioning" in museum lingo) of two important paintings for $15 million to shore up its finances, first reported by Lee Rosenbaum's
ArtsJournal blog. The museum's director told
The New York Times that it was the only way for the 183-year-old academy, which runs a chronic operating deficit, to survive. The Association of Art Museum Directors
censured the Academy and called on its members to suspend any loans of art to the institution. New York lawyer Donn Zaretzky's
ArtLaw Blog has become ground zero for a fascinating debate involving art critics, museum directors, financial bloggers and others.
posted by up in the old hotel
on Jan 7, 2009 -
40 comments
In 2006 in the Fitzwilliam Museum three enormous porcelain vases from seventeenth or eighteenth century China were smashed by a museum visitor who fell down the stairs. This
presentation "follows the vases' progress from scattered fragments to their redisplay in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The site includes slideshows, film clips of the conservation process and a timelapse of one of the vases under reconstruction".
[more inside]
posted by paduasoy
on May 5, 2008 -
20 comments
DADA Hits the MOMA. DaDaism was an art movement that arose prior to the rubble of WW1 where the
artists led a creative revolution that shaped the course of modern art by combining different mediums to create a message of protest and hope.
The MOMA exhibit tells one story
(scroll to data and select full program - req flash 7) and the New Yorker
reaffirms the influence on art today. However, the real story is with
Richard Huelsenbeck, the ring leader and founder of the DaDa movement An
interview with him from December 1960 (45 mins mp3) explains the start - as one of the few German artists in protest to the war. My favourite part is where he tells of picking out the name DaDa from an encyclopedia at a cabaret.
posted by Funmonkey1
on Jul 19, 2006 -
23 comments
Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was responsible for the design of quite a few of
London’s public buildings (and to some extent, its
phonebooths). His home, now a
museum, is filled to the brim with architectural relics, sculptures, paintings, drawings, stained glass, and assorted curiosities. Almost unchanged since his death, it also contains the
gravesite of his wife’s beloved dog Fanny, a mummified rat, an
Egyptian sarcophagus, and an imaginary monk named Padre Giovanni. Best of all, on the first Tuesday of every month the museum has a candlelight tour which enhances the
spooky splendor of the rooms.
posted by annaramma
on Dec 15, 2005 -
18 comments
"Time passes, or rather doesn't pass. It is just there,
solid as a coffee mug on the
diner's counter. Time
hangs like the reek of old tobacco
in the hotel furniture". We all think we know
Edward Hopper's images, even if we've never
seen his paintings. Somehow
the solidity of the world -- even
the sky is like a wall -- is at odds with the
transience of the
people in it, however long they
sit and
stand and
wait. Hopper's people, like
Manet's
figures, often appear consumed by
the irreducible business of being.
Hopper, too,
would descend into his own silences, would delay himself in self-doubt...
(more inside)
posted by matteo
on May 25, 2004 -
19 comments
Insecula. As the
Wiki says:
Insecula: L'encyclopédie des arts et de l'architecture is a French language art website containing images and descriptions of thousands of works of art from major museums and collections in France and elsewhere, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Palace of Versailles, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MOMA.
But it's not just museums and art. It's got
Mayan ruins,
Manhattan and
Brooklyn, and of course lots of
Paris streets.
I can't believe plep hasn't posted this already...
posted by languagehat
on Apr 10, 2004 -
12 comments
Daniel Rozin makes
mirrors. But not the
boring ones we're used to -- he prefers to make his out of
wood,
trash and occassionally,
shiny balls. His works are a combination of artistic expression and computer vision, and have been on
display around the world. Check out the quicktime videos of his
mirrors in action and prepare your mind to be boggled.
[via cool/lame]
posted by krunk
on Oct 21, 2003 -
12 comments
The On-Line Picasso Project offers 6,893 works for your ogling pleasure, plus an obsessively documented chronological bio. I'm stunned.
(please read the user's manual, inside.)
posted by taz
on Oct 2, 2003 -
12 comments
Italy privatizes its culture. At least that's what will happen when a bill turning management of all of its museums sails through the Parliament this week. Critics of the Berlesconi-driven measure say that trying to turn culture into a profit center is foolish as there are only a few attractions that make any money now.
posted by MAYORBOB
on Dec 8, 2001 -
4 comments
If anyone is (or will be) in New York and have nothing else planned for this evening, may I suggest a trip to the
Brooklyn Museum of Art. BMA is
free on every first saturday of the month (from 5 PM - 11 PM). Today's theme for the evening entertainment revolves around their special exhibition,
Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage. There will be an outdoor dance party (at the BMA parking lot) starting at 9 PM featuring samples from 20 years of Hip-Hop music. You can also walk through their
current exhibitions, of which the
Robots and Space Toys seems promising.
posted by tamim
on Oct 7, 2000 -
5 comments
