– Downton Abbey Star Enters the Equestrian Art World: For his next role, "Downton Abbey" star Dan Stevens will remain rooted in the early 20th century — but this time, he'll be in the art world. The actor, who plays middle-class lawyer Matthew Crawley in the PBS soap, will take a turn as a veteran of the Boer War in the forthcoming film "Summer in February." His character, Captain Gilbert Evans, falls in love with the wife of Alfred Munnings, the leading equestrian artist of the day. Based on a true story, the film will capture their turbulent love triangle. [Telegraph]
– Stolen Matisse Saved After Quarter-Century: The 1920 Henri Matisse painting "Le Jardin," a canvas valued at $1 million which was stolen from Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art during a 1987 heist, turned up in Essex last month when a Polish collector tried to sell it to local gallerist Charles Roberts. "I commend the museum for not giving in to ransom demands a quarter century ago," said Art Loss Register director Christopher Marinello, who brokered the work's return. "Stolen artwork has no real value in the legitimate marketplace, and will eventually resurface... it's just a matter of waiting it out." [BBC]
– Brooklyn Museum Stuck Storing Hundreds of Forgeries: A 229-piece art collection donated by Col. Michael Friedsam in 1932 was said to include works by El Greco, George Inness, and others. Unfortunately, they turned out to be fakes, forgeries, copies, or badly damaged. Now, the Brooklyn Museum has filed a petition in a Manhattan court to deaccession and sell the collection, which cannot be exhibited and would be too costly to store. The museum estimates it will have to spend upwards of $400,000 securing storage space for the works, and another $286,000 per year in rent and salaries to keep the artworks and maintain its Association of American Museums accreditation. [DNAinfo]
– Warhol Knocks Chinese Ink Painter From Top Spot at Auction: Andy Warhol has overtaken Chinese ink painter Zhang Daqian to become the world's biggest seller at auction. The Pop star brought in $380.3 million in 2012, also beating out Pablo Picasso. (The Cubist took second place with a total of $334.7 million, down from $366 million in 2011.) Coming in third is 80-year-old Gerhard Richter, the top living artist, who sold at total of $298.9 million at auction, a 48.8 percent increase from 2011. Daqian tumbled to fourth place with an auction total of $241.6 million. [Bloomberg]
– Gilbert & George Hit the Dance Floor: The Brazilian choreographer Jean Abreu has selected 25 works by British duo Gilbert & George made between 1996 and 1998 to serve as the backdrop for his new performance, "Blood," which opens in Colchester in May before making its way to London's Royal Opera House. "Never been asked before," the artists said of their first collaboration with a performing artist. [Guardian, ARTINFO UK]
– Reality TV Contestant Finds Container Full of Art: In a recent episode of A&E reality TV show "Storage Wars" contestant Joe P purchased a locker full of art for $1,500. When appraised by an expert from Artnet, the cache turned out to contain works by Brock Enright, James Gross Alvarez, and others worth a total of $17,950. "Manet, Monet, show me the money," Joe P concluded on camera. [YouTube]
– Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum Closes: Egypt's Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum — which has hosted projects, exhibitions, talks, and symposia at its space for seven years — is closing its doors due to the unstable political situation in the country. Founders Bassam El Baroni, Mona Marzouk, and Mahmoud Khaled called their decision a "strategical withdrawal" and said they would perhaps reestablish the forum in the future. [ArtReview]
– Shanghai Powers Through Contemporary Art Museum Makeover: It took just nine months and $65 million for the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee to convert the former Nanshi Power Plant into the Power Station of Art, China's first state-run contemporary art museum, which opened in October with the 2012 Shanghai Biennale and an exhibition of 119 works on loan from the Centre Pompidou. "It is a prestige object for the city, to have a museum that, at least in scale, can compete with Tate Modern in London or MoMA in New York," said Shanghai Biennale co-curator Jens Hoffmann, adding, "I doubt there is money for a collection at this point." [FT]
– Six Charged in Gundlach Art Theft: Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged six people in connection with the multimillion-dollar theft of paintings, wine, and jewelry from bond trader Jeffrey Gundlach's Santa Monica home in September. (If you recall, Gundlach offered a hefty $1.7-million reward for the stolen goods, which included artworks by Jasper Johns and Piet Mondrian.) Turns out they were hidden at the L.A. autoshop Al & Ed's Autosound. The thieves were allegedly in the process of selling the Mondrian when they were caught. [LAT]
– RIP Photography Dealer Bonni Benrubi: The proprietor of Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York died in November at age 59 following a two year-long battle with cancer. Since opening her eponymous gallery in 1987, Benrubi has represented international photographers including Massimo Vitali, Gillian Laub, and Matthew Pullsbury. The day before she died, she spent the afternoon giving a gallery tour to a group of underprivileged girls. [AiA]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
A random and strange video from the set of the upcoming "Winter in February"
ALSO ON ARTINFO:
VIDEO: Artist Aidan Salakhova on the Changing Roles for Women in Modern Russia
Four Decades After Lucy Lippard's "Six Years," Is Conceptual Art Still Relevant?
One-Line Reviews: Pithy Takes on Barnaby Furnas, Judy Fox, Charles Ray, and More
New York Dealer Couple Must Pay Collector $18 Million for Running Off With His Art
Nudes and Politics in Manit Sriwanichpoom's Latest Show "Obscene"
MoMA Acquires a Roving Landmine Detonator by Massoud Hassani
For more breaking art news throughout the day,
check ARTINFO's In the Air blog.