— Warhol Museum Curator Resigns: Dublin native Bartholomew Ryan has resigned from his post as curator of Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum after less than five months on the job. Ryan, who previously worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, did not give a reason for a departure, but did say that he plans to stay in Pittsburgh and to work as an independent curator. The Andy Warhol Museum has launched an international search for a new curator. [Washington Post]
— Cuban Artist “El Sexto” Set Free: The Cuban street artist Danilo Maldonado (a.k.a. El Sexto) has been set free after 10 months in jail for attempting to release two pigs — with Cuban leaders’ names painted on them — in a public park. Though he was never charged, the artist had been held since December 25 and accused of “disrespect toward government officials”; in Cuba, that’s worth up to three years in prison. Maldonado’s case received less press than the simultaneously detained artist Tania Bruguera’s, but Amnesty International recently took up his cause: “We are very happy to learn that in the end he is being freed,” said Amnesty International’s Robin Guittard. “He’s just an artist who tried to do an art show, to use his legitimate right to freedom of expression. That should never lead people to be sent to prison. That’s a very cold reminder of what’s the situation of freedom of expression today in Cuba.” The artist’s mother, Maria Victoria Machado, added: “A government that doesn’t let itself be criticized starts to lose credibility.” Meanwhile, Maldonado has already been recognized for his work, receiving the Human Rights Foundation’s Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent this past April. [WP, Artnet]
— Brugnara Sentenced to Seven Years: After a rollicking trial, art fraudster Luke Brugnara has been sentenced to seven years in prison. The former real estate mogul claimed he was starting an art museum, then refused to pay for the works he had gallerist Rose Long send him to furnish it, including a Joan Miró drawing, a George Luks painting, a series of Picasso etchings, 16 paintings attributed to Willem de Kooning (though their true authorship has since come into question) — and, perhaps most notably, a bronze cast of Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer,” which remains missing to this day. “I’m a victim. My family is the main victim,” Brugnara said, pointing at assistant U.S. attorney Robin Harris. “Look at her smiling. They wonder why I’m an asshole. They’re taking my tax dollars and using it against me.” (It’s worth noting that 471 days of that sentence were tacked on due to Brugnara’s “frequent tantrums and abusive tirades” in the courtroom.) [Courthouse News]
— Mystery Basquiat Turns Up in Nashville: An unsigned and undated work by Basquiat, still being touted as “authenticated as original,” is going up for sale for $2 million in Nashville. Seeing as the record for a Basquiat at auction is $48.8 million, this one could be a great deal — if it’s actually authentic. [NYO]
— Send African Art Home: An op-ed in the Guardian makes an urgent plea for major works of African art currently on view at European institutions, including the Nefertiti bust at the Neues Museum in Berlin, to be returned to their respective countries of origin. The authors suggest a curious solution: repatriate African art without a transfer of ownership, thus allowing Africa to benefit from its cultural patrimony (and to generate profits from tourism), without engaging in complex and lengthy restitution processes. [Guardian]
— Monuments Men Foundation Closes: Dallas-based Robert Edsel, who spent 14 years preserving the stories of 345 World War II soldiers known as the Monuments Men, who helped to save art from destruction, will close the foundation he started to promote their work. The foundation was closely involved with the “Monuments Men” film and book, which detailed how the group saved more than 5 million works from the Nazis. [Dallas Morning News]
— Ethiopian-born painter Julie Mehretu sold a painting to raise money for the forthcoming film “Difret,” produced by Angelina Jolie-Pitt, about a 14-year-old Ethiopian girl who is subjected to the longstanding tradition of marriage-by-abduction. The film premieres in New York on October 23. [Vogue]
— Marianne Boesky Gallery will now represent self-taught Alabama artist Thornton Dial, 87, whose work was recently acquired by the Met. [NYT]
— A young woman and man have been charged with stealing $6,000 in jewelry from the ICFA Gallery in Palm Beach, after leaving the woman’s name and phone number in the gallery guest book (along with several obscene drawings). [Sun Sentinel]
