– Bush Unleashes Cat Portraits: Former U.S. president George W. Bush is getting in on the art world's cat trend. His most recent feats at the easel include two portraits of his daughter Barbara Bush's feline companion Eleanor and a painting of his own adopted cat Bob — so named "so I can remember how to spell it when I got older." Appearing on "The Tonight Show" to discuss the latest breakthroughs in his artistic practice, Bush even presented host Jay Leno with a portrait. Recalling his first meeting with his art teacher, the two-term president said he presented her with this challenge: "There's a Rembrandt trapped in this body. Your job is to find it." [Vogue, AP]
– Gaga Gears Up For Miami: Recently sent Lady Gaga casting call emails have made it fairly clear that Mother Monster is planning a performance during Art Basel in Miami Beach. Jeff Koons will undoubtedly be there. [Miami Herald]
– Puma Chairman Founds Museum: The former chairman of Puma sportswear, Jochen Zeitz, is creating a museum in Cape Town to house his contemporary African art collection. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is due to open in 2016, but until then works from the collection will be on view at the temporary Zeitz MOCAA Pavilion. An exhibition of the work of Swazi artist Nandipha Mntambo opens November 23. [TAN]
– Nazi Law Could Complicate Gurlitt Loot's Return: The 1938 law under whose auspices the Nazis were able to seize thousands of artworks before and during World War II — including many by the modernists they deemed "degenerate artists — is still on the books in Germany, making the return of works found in Cornelius Gurlitt's Munich apartment a very complicated affair. [NYT]
– Bulgaria Demands Stalin's Car Back From Illinois Museum: A custom 1937 Packard Super 12 with steel-armored wheels and bulletproof glass that belonged to Joseph Stalin now sits parked in the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Roscoe, Illinois, after the institution's owner, Wayne Lensing, bought it on eBay. But now the Bulgarian government, who claim it was stolen from outside a museum in Sofia in 1992, is demanding the Soviet ruler's ride be returned. [ABC7 Chicago]
– Auctions Send Sotheby's Stock Soaring: Around the time of its big sales, auction house Sotheby's stock tends to spike, though the fluctuation "is more an indicator of what the 1 percent is doing than anything else," according to short-seller Jim Chanos. [Reuters]
– The Vatican has unveiled a revamped Catacombs museum and a virtual tour system of Rome’s underbelly. [NYT]
– Birmingham University in the U.K. recently returned a Maori skeleton found in storeroom to a delegation from New Zealand. [TAN]
– The International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York has named Mark Lubell as executive director. [press release]
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