More than 4,000 items were destroyed and only about 150 pieces survived in the blaze that broke out early Sunday morning. Abkhazia broke away from the Republic of Georgia during the post-Soviet civil war of 1992-93 and is propped up by Russia, which maintains thousands of troops there. - CNN
Architecture has been hit by a new sobriety. Tradition, apparently, is back. The reaction against ultramodern architecture arrived slowly at first, but accelerated with the financial crash of 2008, as the world economy and many political systems became increasingly unsteady. - Aeon
"Created between 1989 and 1996, Mary Miss's Greenwood Pond: Double Site is one of the very few environmental installations in the collection of any American museum." It has since deteriorated so badly that repairing it would cost $27 million, which the museum does not have. - The New York Times
The museum simply used me to avoid the scandal that would result if the public learned that many works said to be by Hopper and thus—if authentic—willed to the museum, were making their way not to the museum but to the market. - New Criterion
DMAC says dismantling is cheaper than repairing. Greenwood Pond: Double Site "is considered to be the first urban wetland project in the country. Its imminent demolition has angered landscape architecture advocates and upset Miss." - The New York Times
"The policy, announced on January 3, allowed Alaska Native visitors to self-identity at the museum’s ticket counter; no proof of tribal enrollment was required to receive complementary admission." A non-Native Anchorage resident claimed discrimination. - ARTnews
The trail of evidence sounds strong. "Italy’s art theft police that they believe that the painting reported stolen from the castle in Piedmont and the painting Mr. Sgarbi exhibited are one and the same." There's a former friend, a theft, a restorer ... and a torch. - The New York Times
Why did the Parliament Building need so much work? "Earlier attempts at restoration work had used different materials – sometimes even concrete – to patch up the stonework, which in part had been held together by wire, coat hangers and in one section a car aerial." - The Guardian (UK)
The board chair "said that in an effort to cut its legal costs, the institution would focus its case solely on its former executive director, Aaron De Groft, whom he said had been responsible for 'handpicking' the paintings." - The New York Times
"Divisions in the art world over the biennial’s choice of Iwona Blazwick, a British curator, to oversee the event had made it 'impossible' for the show to open as planned in September." Blazwick had been on the hiring committee, and her selection caused a furor. - The New York Times
Anecdotally, the increasing costs of fair stands and their associated shipping, travel and entertainment budgets were already taking quite a toll pre-pandemic, but inflation has made it more acute. - The Art Newspaper
The complaint, filed by the Paris-based NGO Lumière sur le Patrimoine, alleges that the Metropolitan Museum, the Worcester Museum in Massachusetts, and the Glencairn Museum just outside Philadelphia have six window panels that were stolen from Rouen cathedral roughly a century ago. - ARTnews
"After a demanding (2½-year) program that included a gasp-inducing repair of the two cracking, 500-year-old limewood panels, Getty senior conservator Ulrich Birkmaier and his team stabilized the paintings, while bringing the images back to something close to what they likely were … in the 16th century." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
This year’s efforts include responses to last year’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and repairing damage in Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing war. - Artnet
The Kunsthalle Bratislava, which has no permanent collection, was known for its politically progressive and inclusive focus, with particular support for the LGBTQ community. Slovakia's new culture minister, who's publicly hostile to LGBTQ issues, has decreed that the Kunsthalle will henceforth be managed by the Slovak National Gallery. - ARTnews
