– Gurlitt Finally Speaks: Munich art hoarder Cornelius Gurlitt has finally spoken out to tell his side of the story in an interview with Der Spiegel and it’s a doozy. Gurlitt claims he hasn’t watched TV since 1963, he’s never been on the internet, and he has a daily ritual of admiring and talking to his favorite artworks — works on paper he keeps in a small suitcase. "There is nothing I have loved more in my life than my pictures," he said. Gurlitt also told the German newspaper that he knew quite a bit about the provenance of the hundreds of works in the collection, but he is not sharing that information with the authorities who are still trying to determine the rightful ownership of the cache. [NYT, Der Spiegel]
– MC Hammer Stumps for Lucas Museum: In an email sent to the Presidio Trust— which is currently picking between three proposals for cultural institutions for San Francisco's Crissy Field — Ron Conway, an investor in "Star Wars" director George Lucas's proposal for a $1-billion museum of visual storytelling, shared messages of support from tech giants including Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and others, as well as football legend Joe Montana and parachute pants popularizer MC Hammer. The Trust's board is due to review the three final proposals in a meeting on Tuesday. [San Francisco Chronicle]
– Art Crime Spikes in U.K.: Senior law enforcement officials in the U.K. say that with some £300 million worth of art being stolen every year in Britain, art theft has now become the country's second-most lucrative illegal trade — after drug trafficking — prompting authorities to launch a new interdepartmental art theft task force today under the guidance of the Association of Chief Police Officers along with help from the National Crime Agency and English Heritage. "What we're seeing is that the value of items is increasing but also the level of violence that they are prepared to use is increasing, which is obviously a major concern to law enforcement," said detective superintendent Adrian Green. "It's robbing our communities of their heritage but it's also putting millions of pounds into the pockets of criminals." [BBC]
– Sobbing at Sotheby’s: "Meyer — renowned in the art world for his poise on the auction block — steps behind a wall and into a side gallery where privately, quietly, he wipes a few tears from his cheeks." Tobias Meyer, head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, is having a rough time staying competitive with Christie’s. [Newsweek]
– Koch’s Art Hits the Block: Former New York mayor Ed Koch’s art collection, trove of letters, and Frank Lloyd Wright dining room set are up for auction. [NY Daily News]
– Fossil Fight!: A handful of fossil purists and paleontologists are none too pleased with the San Diego Natural History Museum for deciding to sell off fossils, stones, and bones from its collection at a New York auction this Tuesday. [UT San Diego]
– "Art is a way to clean up your dirty wealth," Michael Wolff declares while speculating on the likely under-reported commingling between organized crime and the high-end art market. [USA Today]
– Tate Britain unveils the fruits of a major £45-million renovation tomorrow, which included building a new spiral staircase into its rotunda and restoring Rex Whistler's famous 1926-28 mural, "The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats." [BBC]
– Emin Faki, 20, has been charged with reckless endangerment for driving his BWM down the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [AP]
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