A new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York scatters recreations of what these statues ACTUALLY looked like throughout its galleries: they're painted in garish colors with multiple patterns. - NPR
The Museum of Rescued Art is rescued from thieves, from looters, and occasionally from natural disasters, or time itself. "I think of this as a museum of wounded art, because the works exhibited here have been deprived of their contexts of discovery and belonging." - The New York Times
It's "not hitherto unknown biographical or psychological detail, but an understanding of general artistic process that serves to humanise Van Gogh, to make his image less cartoonish, less grandiose, less ridiculous and pathetic." - The Observer (UK)
"New excavation findings provide an exciting glimpse into how early churches built within the period known as Late Antiquity were carried out while revealing insights into one of the most sacred sites within Christianity." - Hyperallergic
Through dissection, of course. "By late 1510 he was in Pavia, a university city south of Milan. ... Pavia is cold in winter, ideal for the preservation of human remains, and many of his anatomical sketches derive from work completed through the winter of 1510-1511." - The Observer (UK)
The voluntary recognition of the union from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures comes less than two months after employees organized. Now for a first contract - which took LA's Museum of Contemporary Art a mere two years. - Hyperallergic
The BMA final vote was 89 to 29 in favor of joining the union, and the vote happened as workers at other Baltimore area cultural organizations - "the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Baltimore County Public Library and The Walters Art Museum have all begun organizing." - Baltimore Sun
The main scandal is about antisemitic art. "So many people worked for so much time on this, ... and by not addressing the accusations of antisemitism — both warranted and unwarranted — in a decisive and transparent manner, Documenta has let this debate eclipse everything else." - The New York Times
And the effort paid off: The Horniman's "values are woven through everything it now does, with a passionate team breathing life and meaning into every object, performance, plant and animal. In many ways it’s the perfect museum." - The Guardian (UK)
The ornate gold-and-lapis lazuli vessel, which houses vials said to contain blood that flowed from Jesus's body as he was crucified, was stolen on June 1 from Fécamp Abbey in Normandy. When the thief realized it couldn't be sold, he had it returned to famed Dutch art detective Arthur Brand. - BBC
"Experts at the National Galleries of Scotland made the find when the canvas was X-rayed before an exhibition. The hidden self-portrait was covered by layers of glue and cardboard on the back of an earlier work called Head of a Peasant Woman." - BBC
The new law comes within a suite of rules intended to give the police more power over protesters. "Anyone caught damaging a memorial in the U.K. could now face harsh penalties of up to 10 years in prison." A specialist in art law says it's a "political judgement." - Artnet
