— Basquiat Estate Sues Christie’s: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s sisters, Jeanine Basquiat Heriveaux and Lisane Basquiat, who run his estate, are suing Christie’s for $1 million after the auction house did not consult them to authenticate more than three dozen works. The estate alleges that the house insinuates in its materials that the works have been authenticated when, in fact, they may be fakes. “Christie’s attempts to deceive and mislead the public into believing that the Estate authorized the reproduction of the artwork in the Catalog and that therefore the Catalog Items are authentic,” the suit states. [NYT]
— D.C. Arts Funding May Go Up: The Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art may stand to benefit from federal appropriation requests released Tuesday that would increase the arts institutions funding in the 2015 fiscal year budget. The Smithsonian nabbed a $45 million increase from 2014, bringing its total proposed budget to $850 million, while the National Gallery got a $7 million increase for a $140 million budget. Other federally funded groups such as the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Arts saw no such increases. [WP]
— Italy Promises Pompeii Progress: After recent news that significant portions of Pompeii are crumbling, Italy has promised to “unblock” two million euros for restoration efforts at the site outside of Milan. Amid outrage over the conditions, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said that the EU “can be sure that Italy is taking care of Pompeii, both in terms of emergency measures and in the long term.” Even with these promises, it remains to be seen if action can be taken quickly within Italy’s slow-moving bureaucracy. [AFP, TAN]
— Artprice Releases 2013 Market Report: Artprice’s 2013 report shows an accelerating art market with Warhol and Picasso nabbing the top two spots for most sold artists by volume. [Artprice, Art Market Monitor, Art Market Monitor]
— Biennials vs. Art Fairs: Jori Finkel talks to one of this year’s Whitney Biennial curators, Michelle Grabner, among others, about how biennials are attempting to distance themselves from art fairs. [TAN]
— RIP Robert Ashley: Composer Robert Ashley, whose work is in this year’s Whitney Biennial, has passed away at the age of 83. [Artforum]
— Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum has acquired two Steve McQueen works for its collection. [Art Daily]
— The British Museum was the most visited destination in Britain last year, with a 20 percent increase in attendance. [Telegraph]
— Online art seller Art.com is being sued for allegedly hacking into another site’s servers and stealing consumer info. [Mercury News]
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