“Nigel Peverett, who worked at the museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings in the early 1970s, had remained a ‘frequent visitor’ until one day in April 1992, when he was caught.” He was prosecuted, hospitalized after a suicide attempt, and got a suspended sentence. Amazingly, he kept his employee pension. - The Independent (UK)
Russia will host a pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, the world’s most important art event — the latest sign of the country’s will to end its pariah status in global cultural and sporting life amid the war in Ukraine. - The New York Times
The move has prompted outrage from faculty and staff, including an open letter penned by art history and philosophy faculty members and signed by more than 2,000 community members that criticized the school’s decision as “short-sighted, wrong-headed, and grounded in some deeply disappointing principles of prioritization.” - Hyperallergic
The Martin House’s resurfacing as a museum—with its insides restored, and its carriage house and conservatory rebuilt to original specifications—is nothing short of a “civic miracle." - Artnet
The old Chicago Stock Exchange Building trading room — Adler & Sullivan’s gilded age space rescued from demolition 54 years ago — could be uprooted from its longtime Art Institute of Chicago home under preliminary expansion plans being considered by the museum. - Chicago Sun-Times
The 35,000-square-foot addition to the St. Petersburg institution, expected to begin construction this year and open in 2028, will increase exhibition space, add a dedicated learning center, and provide flexible environments for “experiential exhibitions that blend art and technology.” - Tampa Bay Times
Valentina Salerno, an actress and novelist with no formal training in art history, says she has reviewed numerous documents indicating that the sculpture, located in a Roman church, is the work of Michelangelo. She published her findings at a non-peer-reviewed website, though she says she’s willing to let scholars examine her research. - AP
“Announcing the clementines, artichokes and other goods on offer are cheerful, hand-painted signs in sun-bright lettering. Quotidian but also quintessential, the signs have become emblems of Naples’s vibrancy. … Pasquale De Stefano is, by consensus, the last living numeraio — or number painter — in Naples.” - The New York Times
The piece, installed outdoors at the LongHouse Reserve on the South Fork of eastern Long Island, is one of only five existing versions of Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome. The roof of the fiberglass structure caved in under the weight of the heavy snow which fell in late February. - Artnet
“Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, who took office in January” and killed the project shortly afterward, “announced Monday that the city would work with Kushner Real Estate Group on new plans for the Artwalk Towers development.” - Gothamist
The artwork, Vision of Zacharias in the Temple, has been in private hands since 1961, a year after art historians declared it not to be by Rembrandt. After two years of examination with state-of-the-art equipment, experts at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum have now reversed that earlier assessment. - AP
The museum opened the 30,000-square-foot space, called the Lume, in 2021 with a 150-projector installation emblazoning images of Van Gogh’s paintings across the walls and floor. - The Indianapolis Star (Yahoo!)
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is at risk of losing what could be a legacy-defining cultural project: a $1 billion-plus refurbishment of the Louvre, which would include moving the Mona Lisa, the museum’s most famous painting, to its own room and building a new entrance. - The New York Times
”At the edge of a Home Depot parking lot where federal immigration agents have violently detained vendors and others,” a utility pole “carries a band of color with a fluorescent sheath ... made up of 10,000 pony beads spelling a message in block letters: ‘FUCK ICE.’” - Los Angeles Public Press
That is to say, people’s sweat had gotten all over Michelangelo’s masterpiece, and now it’s being cleaned off while the sweat accumulates on a screen. - Associated Press
