Time and time again, presidents have wrestled with or in some cases openly fought back to challenge the ways they were being pictured. They sought control. By that standard, Mr. Trump’s mug shot is no outlier. Not all presidential portraits look like the ones hanging in our museums. - New York Times
"The huge loopholes in the management and security of cultural objects in the British Museum exposed by this scandal have led to the collapse of a long-standing and widely circulated claim that 'foreign cultural objects are better protected in the British Museum'," the editorial reads. - BBC
"Authorities are reportedly on the brink of charging seven suspects in the September 2019 theft of Maurizio Cattelan's America, a functional solid gold toilet sculpture installed at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, U.K. The piece, which weighs 55 pounds, is said to be worth $6 million." - Artnet
In some ways, more culture writing circulates than ever before, but with fewer resources invested in any individual piece of writing. What you get is a great sense of redundancy and thinness. - Artnet
Two separate developments are driving the trend: the advent of computer-controlled robots which can drill ornate designs quickly, precisely, and relatively cheaply; and the impetus to return to traditional building materials which are less carbon-intensive than steel, cement, and curtain-wall glass. - Slate
"Ittai Gradel, (the) antiquities dealer who uncovered the suspected thefts of items such as gold jewellery, semiprecious stones and ancient glassware, said he had been told hundreds of missing objects had never been properly cataloged by the museum, making it difficult to prove they belonged to its collections." - The Guardian
There's a struggle in Sweden over control of her foundation, and recent discoveries suggest that one of her fellow mystics painted some of the canvases in the big Guggenheim exhibition — and that, possibly, all the abstract work attributed to her was painted by a group. - The New York Times
Around 50 more claims have been made, some worth as much as $1 million. Claimants named include Mira Dimotrova, senior director of Stephen Friedman gallery; David Schrader, head of private sales at Sotheby’s; Maya McLaughlin Art Advisory; and Frestonian Gallery. - Artnet
Sure, maybe it feels necessary for survival, but the corporate branding at work is gross at best, and more commonly, smacks of "art-washing" by desperate corporations who need a PR win. - The Guardian (UK)
Players who succeed at solving the game's levels are "rewarded by a dozen or so pieces scrolling together to create one of the impressionist master’s full works." - Washington Post
Oops: There are "reports of theft every single day from various museums, cultural institutions, churches around the world. What surprised us was the fact that it was the British Museum, one of the most important museums in the world and a benchmark in security." - The Observer (UK)
"Some of it is – and more will be – sited below ground. There is no single clear reason for this, though factors include the exigent climate, respect for that polite skyline, and the key part that open space plays as amenity, in the city as in the overwhelmingly forested country." - Apollo
This week, Ittai Gradel, a Dutch antiquities dealer, said he had told the British Museum about the thefts two years ago and claimed that his allegations had gone unheeded. Fischer previously claimed that he took Gradel’s allegations “seriously.” In a statement issued on Friday, Fischer changed his tune. - ARTnews
No announcement has been made, and the current president remains eligible for a second contract term. Nevertheless, several Italian newspapers report that author/broadcaster Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a lifelong friend of the new culture minister with no management experience, is the leading candidate. - Artnet
