— Kate Middleton's Photography Praised: A series of images uploaded to the new website of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — Prince William and Kate Middleton— features a series of exquisite landscape photographs the latter made during an official tour they took of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, including Yann Arthus-Bertrand-style aerial photos, and black-and-white images evocative of Ansel Adams. Even more impressive, St James's Palace confirmed that the camera used was not a professional rig, but a pocket-side point-and-shoot. [Guardian]
— Hopper's Minister Suspected of Theft: Gail Levin, a leading Edward Hopper specialist, has accused longtime Hopper family friend, the late Reverend Arthayer R. Sanborn— whose extensive collection of the American artist's works are on view in the Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack, New York — of coming into the works in less-than-legitimate ways. "I gave my youth to Edward Hopper scholarship, and I don’t want to see this perversion of the truth," said Levin, who penned Hopper's catalogue raisonné. "How did he get hundreds of drawings? He had the key to the family home in Nyack." [NYT]
— British Hill To Receive Nipple: As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign spearheaded by the charity Cancerkin, the light artist Bruce Munro will create a large glowing dome for the top of Long Knoll in Wiltshire, effectively turning the rounded hill into a massive Land art breast. The installation, "Beacon on the Hill," will consist of 2,730 plastic bottles lit with pink and blue LEDs, and will take a team of five one week to assemble beginning this weekend. "This hill and surrounding countryside has long been my 'canvas'," Munro says. "I lost a dear friend very young to breast cancer. By illuminating the night sky for a brief moment, I hope to send the message 'you are not alone'." [Guardian]
— David Hockney Does Opera: The British landscape painter is the 15th artist to take over Vienna's largest canvas: the stage of its opera house, the Staatsoper. An opera veteran who has already worked with Milan's La Scala and New York's Metropolitan Opera, Hockney used his trusty iPad to create the preliminary sketches that eventually resulted in the 1,894-square-foot painting "Wien Musik." The first artist to take over the Staatsoper's stage was Kara Walker in 1998. [AFP]
— 18 Months to Restore Vandalized Rothko: The Tate Modern's Mark Rothko conservation specialists said that it might take as long as one year and a half to undo the damage inflicted upon Rothko's "Black On Maroon" (1958) by rogue Yellowist Vladimir Umanets last month, a much longer estimate than originally hoped for. "There was a lot of speculation about the scrawl being made a marker pen, but it wasn’t. The damage was made with ink which has made a deeper mark," a museum spokesperson said. "Initial examination indicates that the painting will need an extended period of conservation treatment to address the damage." [Telegraph]
— Imelda Marcos's Assistant Accused of Art Theft: Vilma Bautista, the former secretary of Imelda Marcos, and two of her nephews have been accused of trying to sell a trove of artworks that were taken from the New York home of former Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos in 1985, including Claude Monet's "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas" (1899), which they successfully sold in 2010 for $32 million despite the buyer's reservations about its provenance. "The integrity of the international art market must be protected," said Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. "This indictment sheds light on what happened to major works of art missing for more than 25 years." [NYT]
— Donated Dali Brings Goodwill Good Money: An etching by Surrealist Salvador Dali, "Reflections" from his "Cycles of Life" series, which was dropped off at a Goodwill donation center in Washington state earlier this month, has sold for $21,005in an online auction, with the money going to fund 12 scholarship programs to provide job training for people with disabilities. "We saw the Dali on the news and thought it would be a great way to add to our collection while supporting a great cause," the anonymous East Coast collector who snapped up the work said. "We donate to Goodwill all the time and are very happy that our purchase is helping those in need." [CNN]
— Dealer Solves Portrait Mystery: The art historical detective work of Bendor Grosvenor has paid off; thanks to the employee of London dealer Philip Mould, the U.K.'s National Portrait Gallery has re-identified an 18th-century portrait said to be by the "circle of Anton Raphael Mengs" as Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807). "I’m delighted to report that the [gallery] has finally agreed to re-identify its portrait [as] Prince Henry Benedict Stuart," Grosvenor said, "Cardinal York (or Henry IX as he is known to Jacobites)." [TAN]
— Eisenhower's Son Blasts Memorial Design: President Dwight D. Eisenhower's son John S.D. Eisenhower has penned a letter addressed to Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission's vice chairman, taking issue with Frank Gehry's disputed design for the Washington, D.C. monument. "We as a family cannot support the Eisenhower Memorial as it is currently designed — in concept, scope, or scale," he writes. "We request that lawmakers withhold funding from the project in its current form and stand back from approving the current design." [Washington Post]
— Broad Museum Adds Another Major Outdoor Sculpture: The recently opened Broad Museum at Michigan State University has acquired and installed Jonathan Prince's massive outdoor sculpture "Vestigial Block" (2011) which was bequeathed to the museum by collectors Julie and Edward J. Minskoff. The newly installed block of stainless and oxidized steel has been installed outside the Zaha Hadid-designed institution alongside its other signature outdoor sculptures by Roxy Paine and Steve Miller. [Press Release]
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