The Art Institute of Chicago has rebuffed an attempt by New York investigators to seize an Egon Schiele drawing in its collection, asserting in a strongly-worded 132-page court filing that the investigators have produced no evidence that the artwork was looted by the Nazis as they claim. The drawing, “Russian War Prisoner,” was purchased by […]
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Books Bound in Human Skin: An Ethical Quandary at the Library
The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is the place to inspect some of the most exquisite rare books on the market. But at this year’s event in early April, some browsers may have been unprepared for a small, grayish item on view: a book bound in human skin. The book, which measures about 3 […]
Read MoreKeith Haring’s Legacy Is at the Mall, Not the Museum
Toward the end of “Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring,” Brad Gooch’s exhaustive new biography, he quotes from a journal entry Haring made after visiting the Museum of Modern Art in 1988 expressing his “sense of injustice” that contemporaries of his “were represented upstairs in the galleries, while he was confined to the […]
Read MoreFaith Ringgold Perfectly Captured the Pitch of America’s Madness
Faith Ringgold, who died Saturday at 93, was an artist of protean inventiveness. Painter, sculptor, weaver, performer, writer and social justice activist, she made work in which the personal and political were tightly bonded. And much of that work gained popularity among audiences that didn’t necessarily frequent galleries and museums. This was particularly true of […]
Read MoreWhat to See, Eat and Do in New Haven, Conn.
The 75-foot-long brontosaurus at the newly reopened Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Conn., is the same dinosaur that the natural history museum has had on display since 1931. Yet it looks different. A fresh pose. New front ribs. The head is repositioned at a more inquisitive angle. The museum’s four-year renovation not only refreshed […]
Read MoreThe O.J. Simpson White Bronco Is Now a Museum Piece. In Tennessee.
Tyler Starrett was on vacation with his family in Pigeon Forge, about 35 miles from Knoxville in eastern Tennessee, when they learned on Thursday that O.J. Simpson had died. So they changed plans. They had heard that one of the key artifacts of the Simpson case happened to be on display nearby at the Alcatraz […]
Read MoreDowntown Los Angeles Places Another Big Bet on the Arts
For decades the effort to revitalize downtown Los Angeles has been tied to arts projects, from the construction of the midcentury modern Music Center in 1964 to the addition of Frank Gehry’s soaring stainless steel Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. But the pandemic was tough on downtowns and cultural institutions around the country, and […]
Read MoreThe Gang That Preyed on America’s Small Museums
The first burglary was in 1999 at Keystone College in Factoryville, Pa. One of the gang, authorities said, sneaked onto the campus, smashed some glass display cases and walked off with memorabilia, including a baseball jersey once worn by Christy Mathewson, the legendary pitcher. The Everhart Museum in Scranton was next, six years later. An […]
Read MoreBerlin Was a Beacon of Artistic Freedom. Gaza Changed Everything.
When the musician Laurie Anderson was beginning her career in the early 1970s, an avant-garde artist who wanted to work at scale had to go abroad — to one place in particular. “I got my start in Germany, because of state-supported art,” recalled Anderson, who exhibited at its national museums and performed with its symphony […]
Read MoreHer Art Is at Odds With Museums, and Museums Can’t Get Enough
Inside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, little pieces of Antarctica were melting: cross-sections of an ice core from the continent’s Newall Glacier, each one about the size of a beverage coaster and encased in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag. The artist Gala Porras-Kim watched approvingly during a visit in March, pointing out the air […]
Read MoreWhen the Rubin Museum Was Divine
A brick-and-mortar presence can be, often is, a crucial part of an art museum’s allure. The Guggenheim’s mother ship interior is such a thrill that it prepares you to love whatever’s on view. The interiors of the Frick and the Morgan are intimate enough to make you feel proprietarily, and fabulously, at home. The Rubin […]
Read MoreWhen the Rubin Museum Was Divine
A brick-and-mortar presence can be, often is, a crucial part of an art museum’s allure. The Guggenheim’s mother ship interior is such a thrill that it prepares you to love whatever’s on view. The interiors of the Frick and the Morgan are intimate enough to make you feel proprietarily, and fabulously, at home. The Rubin […]
Read MoreNew PBS Documentary Brings Elon Musk (and His 3-Year-Old) to the MoMA
The future looked bright despite the rain on Tuesday evening at the Museum of Modern Art, where guests — including Elon Musk and Seth Meyers — gathered for a screening of a new PBS documentary series, “A Brief History of the Future.” Mr. Musk, flanked by security, came with a preschooler in tow, his 3-year-old […]
Read MoreWhen Latin America Became the Seat of Modernity
Lina Bo Bardi, the great Italian-Brazilian architect, liked to say we all invent architecture just by climbing a stair, crossing a room, opening a door or sitting down in a chair. All of “these little gestures,” she said, along with the objects they involve, are richly endowed with meaning and memory. Design is life. Life […]
Read MoreOnce Upon a Time, the World of Picture Books Came to Life
On a crisp Saturday morning that screamed for adventure, a former tin can factory in North Kansas City, Mo. thrummed with the sound of young people climbing, sliding, spinning, jumping, exploring and reading. Yes, reading. If you think this is a silent activity, you haven’t spent time in a first grade classroom. And if you […]
Read MoreDaniel A. Moore, Founder of an African American Museum, Dies at 88
Daniel A. Moore Sr., who created a pioneering African American history museum in Atlanta when such initiatives were rare, died on March 4 in Decatur, Ga. He was 88. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his son Dan Moore Jr. Mr. Moore started his eclectic collection of artifacts in 1978 and in 1984 […]
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