| Is Damien Hirst a Serial Plagiarist?
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Damien Hirst has been accused of a lot of things in his day — from peeing in the sinks of posh Soho clubs in his early years to, of late, making "ugly, ugly, ugly" paintings — and one of the more persistent allegations has been that the bad-boy YBA is a little too quick to steal other artists' ideas. Now this complaint has been vociferously resurrected by Charles Thomson, co-founder of the Stuckist movement, who is accusing Hirst of plagiarizing at least 15 of his most famous works, including his medicine cabinets, spin paintings, diamond-encrusted skull, and pickled shark. |
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| In Financial Jeopardy, the Seattle Art Museum Seeks a $10 Million Loan
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Though corporate America appears to have weathered the worst of the housing-market collapse, the nonprofit sector is continuing to suffer from the weak economy. The latest organization to face considerable danger is the Seattle Art Museum, which has filed a motion in county court asking for approval of a plan to borrow $10 million from its $96 million endowment in order to avoid having to default on a loan that financed its 2007 downtown expansion. |
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| ADVISORY-Lloyd Webber art exhibition story withdrawn
(Reuters) |
Reuters - Please be advised that Friday's London story saying composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's private art collection is to go on show this month is wrong. The exhibition has already taken place. The following story has been withdrawn. |
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| A Con Artist, a Secret Affair, and Drunken Debauchery Enliven New York's Corot Mystery
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - In a turn to a story that seems to have been tailor-made to relieve the late summer news doldrums, the courier who claimed to have lost a $1.35 million Corot painting while on a drunken bender at a New York hotel now appears to have been in the employ of a serial scam artist. The improbable imbroglio received its latest twist when it was revealed that Tom Doyle, the co-owner of the missing artwork, is really Thomas Doyle, a convicted crook who just got out of prison for, you guessed it, art theft, according to the New York Times. |
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| Spruced Up, Van Gogh's "Bedroom" Returns to View
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Vincent van Gogh spent much of his adult life alternately browbeating and charming his brother Theo into sending him money, since he was unable to generate much income selling his art. Theo unfailingly complied, but Vincent nevertheless lived a life of rather serious poverty. Thankfully, society treats the artist’s paintings a bit better than it did the artist who made them, as evidenced by the Van Gogh MuseumÂs announcement that, after six months of labor, his 1888 masterpiece, "The Bedroom," has been restored. |
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| Rare Degas sculpture exhibit opens in Bulgaria
(AFP) |
 AFP - A rare exhibit of 74 bronze sculptures by French painter Edgar Degas opened Thursday at Sofia's National Art Gallery, the first ever in Bulgaria of the Impressionist artist's work.
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| Restoration ends of Van Gogh's 'Bedroom'
(AP) |
AP - Vincent van Gogh must have been horrified when he returned from the hospital to his studio in Arles early in 1889 to find one of his favorite paintings damaged by moisture. |
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| California Bill Could Alter the Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - A bill was approved by California lawmakers on Monday that allows for the extension of the amount of time during which citizens in that state can sue museums, galleries, and auction houses for the recovery of stolen works of art — an important step in creating decisive legislation to deal with the myriad difficult-to-try, emotionally fraught cases concerning the restitution of Nazi-looted art. |
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| Riding Market Surge, Saffronart Offers $6.5 Million Modern and Contemporary Indian Art Auction
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Looking to improve on its $6.7 million haul at its June auction of Modern and Contemporary Indian art, fledgling Mumbai–based auction house Saffronart has announced that it hopes to net $6.5–$8.7 million at its September edition of the auction. Set for September 8 and 9, the 90-lot sale includes work by 43 artists, including the big-name masters — like S. H. Raza and N. S. Harsha — that have proven to be the auction house’s bread and butter in recent sales. |
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| Zimbabwean Artist to Stand Trial for Massacre Paintings
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Zimbabwean painter Owen Maseko will go to trial later this month in his native country for exhibiting realistic depictions of massacres that took place three decades ago under the regime of Robert Mugabe, who served as prime minister at the time. The artworks — some small, others wall-engulfing murals — depict images of political events that, according to government authorities, are prohibited under current law. |
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| From Black Light to Blackout, How a Drunk Man Lost a $1.4 Million Corot Painting
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Here’s a story, sad but true, about a man who took a coy-looking female to a hotel, then got drunk and lost her. Unfortunately for this man, an art courier named James Carl Haggarty, his lady friend was highly two-dimensional. In fact, she was contained within a painting — none other than "Portrait of a Girl," a 19th-century work by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot with an estimated value of $1.4 million, which Haggarty was taking to show to a potential buyer. In a lawsuit filed against Haggarty by Kristyn Trudgeon, the majority owner of the portrait, she states that Haggarty woke up to find that he "did not have the painting and could not recall its whereabouts, citing that he had too much to drink the previous evening." Whoops. |
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| Billionaire Carlos Slim Readies $750 Million Mexico City Museum
(ARTINFO) |
ARTINFO - Mexico City’s burgeoning art scene will welcome a new private museum in November, when billionaire collector Carlos Slim inaugurates a new branch of his Soumaya museum. The $750-million project — that’s 50 percent more than SFMOMA plans to spend on its recently announced expansion, for those keeping track at home — has been designed by Slim’s son-in-law Fernando Romero and is already under construction in western Mexico City, according to Reuters. |
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