Chicago Art Institute Pushes Out The Chicago Art Institute unveils a major addition designed by Renzo Piano. "The Art Institute will present the design in conjunction with the formal groundbreaking for the new $258 million building, which is to rise in the northeast quadrant of the museum's site, at the corner of Monroe Street and Columbus Drive. The addition will increase the institute's size by one third and is to be completed in the spring of 2009." The New York Times 06/01/05

Help Wanted: Museum Director Eighteen American museums are looking for directors. "As this leadership shift takes place in the museum world, we can expect big changes in how collecting institutions operate. After several years of controversy over what the mission of museums should be and, in some cases, even outright ethical scandal, there's good reason to hope that trustees will actively seek out directors who make institutional integrity their first priority." Bloomberg 05/31/05

de Montebello: Why Museums Matter Why should the public care about museums? Met director Phillipe de Montebello takes a whack at an answer: "The fact is, in the rooms of our museums are preserved things that are far more than just pretty pictures. These works of art, embodying and expressing with graphic force the deepest aspirations of a time and place, are direct, primary evidence for the study and understanding of mankind." OpinionJournal 05/31/05

What The Barnes Will Mean For Philly The Barnes move to Philadelphia is a coup for the city. Pew Trusts president Rebecca Rimmel: "We had two primary objectives: to make sure the foundation was on secure financial footing and to make sure the art and the education programs were accessible. We could have just given money to solve the first problem, but that would have done nothing for the second…. This is a public asset, something to make Philadelphia even more paramount in art." Los Angeles Times 05/31/05

Record Prices For Canadian Art Record auction prices for Canadian art fuel a brisk market for the resale of Canadian paintings. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/31/05

Are Stadiums The New Museums? "Few famous architects had sullied their hands with stadiums before Herzog and de Meuron did so in Basle (for the club they support, FC Basle) and Munich. They are still building Beijing’s Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Games. All this signals a new era: stadiums are becoming keynote urban buildings, as cathedrals were in the Middle Ages and opera houses more recently. When Norman Foster’s new Wembley opens in 2006, it will be his first stadium in more than 40 years in architecture." Financial Times 05/29/05

The Electric Brush An electronic brush promises to give artists more control of their digital work. "Unlike other painting programs that allow artists to pick up colors from a limited computer palette, I/O Brush lets people paint with colors and textures that might come from, for instance, a piece of fruit, a favorite shirt, a memento from a trip, a teddy bear or garden flowers. The brush contains a microphone, a miniature video camera, and sensors and is wired to a computer that runs a touch screen. An artist picks up "ink" from her environment by lightly brushing over the desired object." Discovery 05/27/05

Ediface Complex "Almost all political leaders find themselves using architects for political purposes. It is a relationship that appeals to egotists of every description. That is why there are photographs of Hitler and Mussolini, Tony Blair and François Mitterrand and the first President Bush - as well as countless mayors and archbishops, chief executives and billionaire robber barons - each bowed over their own, equally elaborate architectural models looking just as narcissistically transfixed as the beatific Saddam beaming over his mosque." The Observer (UK) 05/29/05

Questions About A Tasmanian Collection Although the Tasmanian Government will add $4 million to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's annual budget over the next four years, the institution is in danger of becoming a target for dodgy donations according to well-placed art experts." Case in point: a donated collection of Chinese artifacts that may not be what they seem... The Age (Melbourne) 05/31/05

Mourning The Corcoran's Gehry (What Might Have Been) Las week the Corcoran Gallery In Washington announced it wouldn't go ahead with a planned expansion by Frank Gehry. Benjamin Forgey is disappointed. "Gehry's Corcoran joins the short, unhappy list of highly significant modern buildings designed for Washington but not built: Eliel and Eero Saarinen's competition-winning 1939 design for a Smithsonian Gallery of Art on the Mall; and Frank Lloyd Wright's Crystal Heights, the stunning mixed-use project he designed in 1940 for the spot where the Hilton Washington stands today. Both of these potential modernist masterpieces were staunchly opposed by the city's architectural establishment. By contrast, Gehry's building won widespread approval. Not that it helped." Washington Post 05/29/05

The Small Museum Squeeze So many museums seem to be building new buildings or expanding. But smaller museums are having a tougher time. ''While there is a sense that things are getting better, small museums are certainly seeing no evidence of that. Fund-raising is not increasing. The numbers of school districts able to afford tours is diminishing. The economy does not seem to be turning around for us." Boston Globe 05/29/05

Court Rules British Musuem Can't Return Nazi Loot The British Museum wants to return drawings looted by the Nazis. But a British court has ruled that an act of the British parliament prohibits such returns. So might parliament change the law? Not likely... The Guardian (UK) 05/29/05

Pollock... Or Not? Two years ago a trove of paintings said to be by Jackson Pollock was discovered. "In the two weeks since the news of the works' existence - delivered with the help of a Web site and a flurry of press releases - an intense and at times personal battle over who really painted them has been shaping up within a small, once unified group of the world's leading Pollock experts." The New York Times 05/29/05

Crumbling Buildings Endanger Smithsonian Treasures A new report says artifacts in the Smithsonian Museum are endangered because of facilities that are in bad disrepair. For example: "A leak at the National Air and Space Museum caused rust on the wing of the first plane to hit Mach 2. Plaster walls are weeping in the Renwick Gallery. Some buildings and exhibits on the Mall and at the National Zoo have closed because of disrepair, and more leaks threaten the Smithsonian's historic collections and irreplaceable objects, the report says. Cost to fix and maintain the deteriorating facilities over the next nine years? At least $2.3 billion, the Smithsonian estimates -- almost 13 times its current facilities budget." Washington Post 05/27/05

Washington State To Pursue Art Collectors Last week the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that "millions of dollars in purchases by Washington art collectors have gone untaxed, and that an effort to collect that revenue was impeded by upper management and then suspended late last year." This week a flurry of state investigations has been announced, and state tax collectors says they'll start actively trying to collect the taxes owed. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 05/27/05

Royal Academy Expels Artist For the first time in 200 years, the Royal Academy of Art has expelled a member. "Professor Brendan Neiland resigned as Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools last July amid allegations regarding missing funds from academy accounts. The professor is the first artist to be stripped of his membership since James Barry was ejected in 1799. " BBC 05/27/05

Art Across The Green Line "When the Berlin wall came down, the Greek Cypriots relabelled Nicosia the 'last divided city in Europe'. The Green Line, marking the point at which Turkish troops stopped their advance after the 1974 invasion, cuts the capital neatly in half as it zigzags from west to east across the island... Although Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 and Green Line checkpoints have been open for the past two years, the lack of a formal peace settlement means that the 'dead zone' is still a heavily charged feature of the island's landscape. Leaps of Faith, an international art exhibition in public spaces on and around the Green Line, is an ambitious attempt to challenge political clichés about the division of Cyprus and at the same time reinforce the newfound relationships between the Greek and Turkish communities." Financial Times (UK) 05/26/05

UK Arts Prize In A Big Hole "A disused Welsh coal mine which reopened as a working museum has won a prestigious UK arts award. Big Pit, in Blaenavon, south Wales, beat three other shortlisted attractions to scoop the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize. The museum, also known as the National Mining Museum of Wales, opened in 1983 - three years after closing as a working coal mine. Ex-miners work as guides, taking visitors on tours underground. Big Pit was nominated for the Gulbenkian Prize following a £7.1m refurbishment programme, completed in February 2004." BBC 05/26/05

Walker COO Resigns Abruptly Weeks after opening a major expansion, Minneapolis's Walker Art Center has accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer, who oversaw the year-long construction project. "[Ann] Bitter's surprise departure comes at an awkward moment in the Walker's development. Its addition by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has received rave reviews, but the building's experimental architecture and mid-construction design changes forced the museum to cut costs by leaving the offices unfinished. Completing the offices and an adjacent sculpture garden are expected to cost up to $5 million more." Minneapolis Star Tribune 05/27/05

Preserving What Legacy? Nicolai Ouroussoff is unimpressed by New York's preservation board decision to save two brownstones next to the Whitney Museum. "Essentially, for the sake of preserving a humdrum brownstone facade on Madison Avenue, the commission embraced a substitute design for the museum that transforms a generously proportioned public entrance into a more confining experience. The architect, Renzo Piano, drafted the alternative - which would save that brownstone, while demolishing another - when the museum realized that the addition was in danger of being voted down by the commission. Aside from weakening a promising design, the commission's stubbornness proves that it is unable to distinguish between preserving the city's architectural legacy and embalming it." The New York Times 05/26/05

Fundraising For Joshua The Tate gets a £400,000 grant towards purchase of an important Joshua Reynolds painting. "It is the centrepiece of a forthcoming exhibition of his work at Tate Britain. The Tate has until July to raise the extra £3.2m needed to save the work from being sold, possibly abroad." BBC 05/25/05

Is The Canadian Art Market Ready For Its Close-Up? "The major anticipation over this spring's auctions of high-end Canadian fine art is less about the sale of a specific work (or three) and more about whether the market will continue to show the unprecedented buoyancy it's had in the last nine or 10 years. Over the next seven days, the three major auction houses -- Vancouver's Heffel Fine Arts tonight, Toronto-based Sotheby's (in association with Ritchie's) on Monday and Joyner Waddington's of Toronto next Tuesday and Wednesday -- are putting almost 1,000 lots, worth a total estimated at CAN$12.5 to CAN$16-million, under the hammer... In a sense, this spring's auctions will be a test of the maturity of the market." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/25/05

Art Under The Microscope Princeton University has unveiled a new exhibit of the kind of art rarely seen by average museumgoers. "The 55 pieces in the exhibit are all the products of scientific research, or works of art that incorporate the ideas or tools of science... The art includes a neon image of a virus infecting human cells; multicolored, magnified ants; an image of colliding galaxies; and a close-up of the genitalia of a spider. There's even a line drawing of Albert Einstein in a bustier." Wired 05/25/05

A New Tone For The Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale's new director has big changes planned in an attempt to bring some order to the event. "Bringing a touch of rigorous business thinking to proceedings, he has announced a programme for the next three years, starting with next month's edition of the festival, which he hopes will present "a clearer picture of where we are, and how we got there" to the world. This year's 51st Biennale, directed by two Spanish curators, María de Corral and Rosa Martínez, (the first co-curatorship, and the first women to do the job), is already much slimmed down in terms of artists involved: just 91 contenders will bring their work to the city." Financial Times 05/24/05

Whitney Expansion Plan Approved New York's Landmarks Commission has approved a modified expansion plan for the Whitney Museum. "The vote, which was unanimous, was a mixed victory of sorts for the architect, Renzo Piano. After heated arguments from preservationists in previous hearings, he submitted an alternative plan halving the size of a proposed new entrance for the museum so he could spare the brownstone and win the commission's approval." The New York Times 05/25/05

Art Theft Is Less Lucrative Art theft pays less these days. "Changes to legislation, together with police crackdowns,have spelled an end to the days when a stolen work of art could command a high price, a conference in London heard. In response, the black market has itself grown more sophisticated." The Independent (UK) 05/24/05

American Textile Museum To Sell Its Home, Reduce Hours The American Textile History Museum in Lowell Mass. is reducing hours and selling its building. "The museum, which draws about 50,000 visitors a year and has an annual budget of $2.2 million, originally opened as the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum in North Andover in 1960. It spent about $8 million to renovate a former manufacturing building in Lowell and, after being renamed, opened in the 160,000-square-foot space on Dutton Street. But it didn't raise enough for the move to offset the increased costs. That has forced the museum to draw regularly from its endowment, which has plummeted from $7 million in 1999 to its current $2.8 million." Boston Globe 05/24/05

Cincinnati Museum Plans Big Changes The Cincinnati Art Museum wants to make its biggest renovation and expansion in its 119 years. The museum hasn't raised any money yet, and doesn't have an architect chosen, but "envisions more galleries to show off rare collections. More gathering spaces for more than 270,000 visitors a year. High-tech, multimedia educational facilities. A modern library open to the public. And a virtual museum that is as accessible as the real thing." Cincinnati Enquirer 05/24/05

Corcoran Director Resigns, Museum Quits Gehry Expansion Plan "David C. Levy resigned yesterday as president and director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Corcoran's board of trustees, meanwhile, suspended the museum's efforts to build a new wing designed by architect Frank Gehry, for which fundraising largely has stalled." Washington Post 05/24/05

Whitney Has Plan B For Expansion The Whitney may have an alternate plan to propose for its extension, as the museum goes into hearings with New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission. "The original design would require razing the two brownstones that are closest to the Breuer building. The current entrance would be maintained for school groups; the rest of the public would enter through a new 32-foot entrance that would lead through a passageway into a public piazza." The New York Times 05/24/05

Portrait Of An Art Thief Forget that romantic image of the art thief as a cunning, live-by-his-wits rogue. Other misconceptions: "There is a massive amount of fraud involving art and antiquities. It is perpetrated not by opportunist thieves but by organised criminals. There is nothing 'gentlemanly' or 'white-collar' about it - these are dangerous individuals." The Guardian (UK) 05/23/05

Sheikh Defrauds Qatar Cousin Through Inflated Art Sales Sheikh Saud Al-Thani apparently defrauded the Qatar government for millions of dollars by using "vastly inflated invoices issued by Islamic art dealer Oliver Hoare." The Art Newspaper 05/23/05

UNESCO Fixes Up Its Showplace Embarrassing, really, that the UN agency responsible for preserving world culture should have let its own shoplace headquarters crumble. Now a long-overdue restoration. "In recent years, large mesh nets have been hung from the façade of UNESCO's main building to catch falling chunks of concrete. Roofs leaked and water damage plagued the basement where archives are stored. The neglected state of the UNESCO complex seems particularly paradoxical given the agency's role as a guardian of the world's cultural heritage. Since 2000, UNESCO has embarked on a campaign to add Modernist monuments to its World Heritage List, which obligates U.N. member states to care for sites in their territories." Los Angeles Times 05/23/05

Will Corcoran Cancel Gehry Expansion? "The Corcoran Gallery of Art's chairman said Thursday that the 136-year-old institution is in such serious financial straits that it should suspend efforts to build its much-heralded new wing, for which architect Frank Gehry has already completed a design, and replace its longtime director." Washington Post 05/20/05

A Battle For The Soul Of The Barnes Over a difficult three years, the future of the Barnes Collection was debated and hammered out until finally an agreement to move the museum to Philadelphia was worked out. So how did the deal come together? Patricia Horn charts the scene behind the scenes... Philadelphia Inquirer 05/22/05

Austrian Art Loans Canceled A dispute between the Albertina Museum and the Austrian government has led to the cancellation of hundreds of loans worldwide. These include "the cancellation of the Schiele exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, following the dropping of the Dürer show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Loans of individual works have also been withdrawn from other venues, including major shows in Paris, Berlin and Ottawa. So far over 400 promised loans have been banned from leaving Austria." The Art Newspaper 05/22/05

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Tut? King Tut is back, and back with him is a familiar argument about just how much museums should rely on flavor-of-the-month blockbuster exhibitions. "The profit-and-loss potential of blockbuster exhibitions is grounds for increasing debate in a museum world straining to reconcile traditional scholarly ideals with new fiscal realities and populist imperatives." Los Angeles Times 05/22/05

Have We Lost The Taste For Imperial Art? 18th-century British artist Joshua Reynolds is widely regarded as one of the masters of his era. But in the last several decades, his work has fallen out of favor with the art-buying public. "Now I have come to think that what turns us away from Reynolds is not that he portrayed Britain badly but too well - perhaps we shun him as an ugly man avoids mirrors. We like to look at Stubbs, Wright and Hogarth because they show us a past that was scientific, modernising, creative; Reynolds shows us something else. He portrays a British history we are less eager to own up to. He portrays the rulers of an empire." The Guardian (UK) 05/21/05

Whatever Happened To Heroes and Wisecracks? Comic books have come a long way from the days when Superman first crash-landed on Earth. But today's generation of comic artists seem almost unnaturally obsessed with brutal imagery and dark themes. Gone are the innocence and humor of the original comic book heroes, replaced by ultra-violence and misery, and the new culture of "violence without consequence" has reached new levels in recent films inspired by comic book art. "Increasingly pop culture defines heroism in terms of violence and domination. Where does that leave us? Is the audience so sophisticated that good and evil no longer hold meaning?" Denver Post 05/22/05

The Strange Success Of American Gothic Grant Wood's famous representation of American farm life is one of those works of art so pervasive that it's become a pop icon. But what is it about the stoic visages of that famous Iowa farm couple that has so captivated a nation that is increasingly uninterested in such unglamorous items as farms or the Midwest? The answer is complicated, stemming as it does from the painting's origins, when no one from jaded New York critics to the very Iowa farmers represented in the work could decide for sure whether the artist was making fun of his subjects, or venerating them. Boston Globe 05/21/05

Washington State Collectors Skate On Taxes Wealthy art collectors in Washington state weren't paying taxes on the art they bought out of state. But when an enterprising revenue agent began going after them to collect the taxes, her investigations were shut down. Why? Seems a little pressure applied in the right places can buy a little special treatment... Seattle Post-Intelligencer 05/20/05

Getty Curator Indicted In Italy A Getty curator has been indicted in Italy on charges of plundering antiquities. "Marion True, 56, curator for antiquities at the museum and director of the Getty Villa, is accused of criminal conspiracy to receive stolen goods and illicit receipt of archeological items. It is also alleged that True in effect laundered goods that were purchased by a private collection and then sold to the Getty in paper transactions that created phony documentation." Los Angeles Times 05/20/05

MoMA Buys Land For Expansion Barley into its big new home, the Museum of Modern Art has bought the land immediately west of its location for future expansion. "The museum is thinking of constructing a project on the new land, but notes that the air rights over the space far exceed the gallery needs of the museum. Therefore, he says the likely outcome will be additional galleries with space above for commercial use." The Art Newspaper 05/20/05

Banksy Strikes Again (This Time It's The British Museum) A rock was hung on a wall in the British Musuem. It had a caveman-like picture of a man pushing a shopping cart. "The rock was put there by art prankster Banksy, who has previously put works in galleries in London and New York. A British Museum spokeswoman said they were 'seeing the lighter side of it'. She said it went unnoticed for one or two days but Banksy said three days." BBC 05/19/05

Manhattan's International Freedom Center - A Lot Of Politics A new museum in lower Manhattan that will house the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center is desitgned by the Norwegian firm Snohetta. The design is "strangely seductive: with some fine-tuning, it could even become a fascinating work. It is already closer to the standard set by Santiago Calatrava's soaring glass-and-steel transportation hub than that of the site's troubled Freedom Tower, for example. But ultimately, the museum is more about politics than architecture - a theme-park view of American ideals in an alluring wrapper." The New York Times 05/20/05

• So What, Exactly, Is A "Freedom Center"? "Relying on varied exhibits and multimedia presentations, the Freedom Center will foster "conversations on freedom" in a building to be shared in an odd-couple arrangement with the Drawing Center, an ostensibly more hip organization in SoHo devoted to contemporary works on paper." The New York Times 05/20/05

If It Bleeds... It Gets A Museum What's with this boom in museums devoted to conflict and/or atrocities? "This mania for memorial museums is a sign of a society with an unhealthy obsession. These new museums indicate a desire to elevate the worst aspects of mankind's history as a way to understand humanity today. Our pessimism-tinted spectacles distort how we interpret the past. These museums tend to downplay historical exhibits, since the aim is to make yesterday's conflicts relevant to today." spiked-culture 05/19/05

Who Buys This...Stuff? Auction season in Manhattan is a two-week spending spree of paddle-waving rich people and art dealers in Prada suits, all of them vying for highbrow booty at Christie's and its archrival, Sotheby's. The regulars were asking questions like "How much will the Hopper fetch?" and "Which house will gross more?" But if you'd never visited Planet Expensive Art, you didn't care about that, not after you spotted those Friedmans. After that, all you could wonder is: How does an artist peddle his doody, not to mention his doodle? And here's another stumper: Who would buy it? Washington Post 05/19/05

Klimt Paintings Dispute Goes To Arbitration In Austria A dispute about ownership of six Gustav Klimt paintings looted by Nazis was settled out of court Wednesday when both sides agreed to put the matter before a three-member arbitration panel in Austria. "They'll decide two questions. How did Austria gain title to the paintings? And have the conditions for restitution under the 1998 law been met?" The New York Times 05/19/05

Seattle Art Museum Loses Curator, Faces Expansion Pressures The Seattle Art Museum lost its chief curator last week (Lisa Corrin leaves in October to be director at Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Mass). With SAM working on major expansion with a space-doubling addition and a big new sculpture park, the timing isn't great... Seattle Weekly 05/18/05

Surrealist Paintings Tied Up In Mexican Court Three dozen paintings by esteemed surrealist Remedios Varo are in legal limbo in Mexico. "The dispute centers on who owns 39 paintings first lent and then given to Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art in 1999 by Walter Gruen, an Austrian and also a World War II refugee who was Varo's supporter and lover the last 11 years of the artist's life. Varo's niece Beatriz Varo Jimenez of Valencia, Spain, has contended in a Mexico City family court that she is Varo's rightful heir and that Gruen had no right to give the works to the museum. The niece won a crucial judicial round in March. But Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts is claiming that the works are state patrimony and is appealing the verdict." Los Angeles Times 05/18/05

Where's The Accountability? A few decades back, a museum that sold off some of its more valuable artworks to raise cash would find itself thrust into a firestorm of criticism, and most museums actually found it necessary to be accountable to the public that streamed through their doors. No more. Today, museums and libraries seem to feel free to divest themselves of whatever treasures are necessary to fund their latest flights of fancy, and Michael Kimmelman is tired of it. "It's time for transparency. Increasingly, we demand it from government, the media and Wall Street, in response to dwindling public faith. The same should apply to libraries and museums, which also regularly test our trust." The New York Times 05/18/05

An American In Venice Ed Ruscha is representing the United States at this year's Venice Biennale. "One thing this Venice Biennale thing has done is to make me focus on being an American. You can't help it. They make the rules and they have these nationalistic entries from each country. That does focus you on your origins. So I am feeling the fact that I am an American in Venice. I feel good about that. I take it from a particularly American perspective." Los Angeles Times 05/17/05

Virginia Museum Gets $100 Million Present The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has received a gift of $100 million in art and cash from collectors James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin. "The McGlothlin assembly includes works by American artists from the 19th and 20th century: George Bellows, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Childe Hassam and Martin Johnson Heade. The art ranges from oil paintings, pastels and watercolors to sculptures, and it forms "one of the most important American art collections still in private hands," Brand said. The art is valued at $70 million." Washington Post 05/17/05

A Sacramento Parthenon? A California developer wants to build a 29-story office tower in Sacramento. "The building would be topped by a replica of the Parthenon, the temple of Athena -- the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom -- set atop the Acropolis in Athens." Sacramento Business Journal 05/17/05

Light Out - How To Fix Your Flavin "Collectors and museums are investing in Dan Flavin's work like never before. So where exactly do they go when the bulbs in his installations blow? US companies such as General Electric and Mercury stopped producing the bulbs Flavin himself used for his works shortly after his death in 1996." The Art Newspaper 05/13/05

Is The Art Market Finally Slowing Down? "Since May 2003, combined sales at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips doubled from $109 million (about £60 million) to $220 million last November. But last week they rose to just $225 million. Like a giant pot-bellied pig, the market is lying on its back, enjoying its excesses, but with little room left to expand." The Telegraph (UK) 05/16/05

Scottish Parliament Warns National Gallery About Spending A Scottish parliamentary committee has warned the National Gallery after it was disclosed that the museum had used money allocated for buying art to cover running expenses. "The committee launched hearings this spring after it emerged that in 2002-3 and 2003-4, first £400,000 and then another £1.15 million was diverted from the galleries’ acquisitions fund for buying new art to running costs. Without it, the galleries would have run up a combined deficit of over £1 million." The Scotsman 05/16/05

Hermitage Plans Major Expansion The Hermitage is planning a huge expansion that will create the largest galleries for 19th Century art in the world. "In recent years, the world's greatest museums have been expanding and reinventing themselves in response to mass tourism and a heightened interest in the visual arts. We have seen the creation of the Grand Louvre, the Tate Modern conversion of Bankside power station and a vast new building for MOMA in New York. Now it is the turn of the Hermitage." The Telegraph (UK) 05/16/05

The Greatest Painting In Britain (Uh-huh) What is Britons' favorite painting? The National Gallery aims to find out in a poll. "Following on from the BBC's attempts to celebrate the greatest Briton as well as discover our most beloved book, the gallery is launching a public poll to highlight The Greatest Painting in Britain. And just as with Great Britons and The Big Read, this exercise will end up telling us far more about who we think we are than the quality of our aesthetic sensibility." The Guardian (UK) 05/16/05

A Conceptual Art Day Camp In The Shadow Of New York "On Saturday, with the help of the Public Art Fund, the artist Allison Smith and more than 100 other artists commandeered [New York's] Governors Island to create a kind of conceptual art version of day camp. Or maybe a Dadaist's dream of a craft fair. Or else a mini-Woodstock in which music was replaced by artists taking the stage in mock-military style to declare that they were fighting for causes like "sequined religious figures," "the right to sing sentimental songs in full," "the right to be scared" or more straightforward causes like financial support for AIDS research and ending overfishing of the oceans." The New York Times 05/16/05

Saving Buildings Of The Soviet Avant Garde Important historical buildings are being threatened in Moscow. Preservationists are "concerned about the legacy of the Soviet avant-garde, the buildings designed in the 15 or so years following the 1917 October revolution, perhaps the most fertile period in Russian architectural history. These buildings range from the expressionistic forms of architects like Konstantin Melnikov to the machine-inspired, functionalist structures of the Constructivists. They are stunning for their eclecticism, yet they were united by an unfaltering optimism. The goal was to overthrow centuries of cultural history and to replace that past with an architectural order that would embody the values of a new, modern society." New York Times Magazine 05/15/05

Rolf To Paint Queen Queen Elizabeth has agreed to have her portrait painted by TV painter/entertainer Rolf Harris. "She will have a formal sitting with the Australian entertainer for a Rolf on Art special for BBC One. Harris said he was "thrilled to bits". When the BBC put the idea to Buckingham Palace, they were told the Queen would be delighted to take part." BBC 05/16/05

Turkish Dam Theatens Historical Sites Turkey plans to go ahead with a controversial dam that theatens to submerge important historical sites. "If the dam goes ahead the whole town will be submerged with the exception of the citadel, perched on top of the cliffs. Among the losses will be the Sultan Suleiman Mosque, the minaret of which is one of the most outstanding examples of early 15th-century Ayyubid architecture; the cylindrical tomb of Zeynel Bey, a rare example of Central Asian style architecture in Anatolia; and the tomb of the holy Imam Abdullah, grandson of Cafer-i Tayyar, uncle of the prophet Mohammed, a shrine visited by about 30,000 Shia pilgrims each year." The Art Newspaper 05/13/05

Brits Drop Stolen Art Database "The British government has quietly dropped plans for a database of stolen art and antiquities, although this was a key element in helping to enforce a new law. The Dealing in Cultural Objects Act came into force at the beginning of 2004, and the government then advised dealers that consulting the projected database should be part of the “due diligence” process, to help establish that they were not knowingly handling tainted objects." The Art Newspaper 05/13/05

Art Auctions: The New Generation "Even before last week's sales of contemporary art at Christie's and Sotheby's in New York, the catalogs for those events indicated that art made during the last four decades has become attractive to potential buyers. And the sale results confirm the emergence of a cohort of youngish collectors eager to buy recent art at prices that continue to rise, sometimes to levels that astonish dealers. Concomitantly, interest in art that has yet to prove its historical staying power appears to be driving the market." Philadelphia Inquirer 05/15/05

• Good Night For A Hot House A 1983 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold at auction for $1.5 million this week, leading the way to a more than satisfactory $23.6 million night for the newly trendy boutique auction house of Phillips, de Pury & Company. Located in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, Phillips has emerged as one of the city's art hot spots of the moment, drawing a decidedly image-conscious crowd to bid on the trendiest of contemporary art. The New York Times 05/14/05

Can Architecture And Naïveté Point The Way Forward For Palestinians? Architect Doug Suisman doesn't really know much about Mideast politics, and doesn't pretend to know how Israelis and Palestinians can ever be made to live in peace side by side. But Suisman's idealistic design for a post-war Palestine, commissioned by the Rand Corporation, is raising eyebrows in geopolitical circles for its breadth of vision and pie-in-the-sky hopes for a thoroughly modern state. "Rand, where the analysis is meant to be astringent, not romantic, has now bet heavily on naïveté. It has presented Mr. Suisman's idea of Palestine to the White House, the European Union, the World Bank and others, as well as to the Palestinians and Israelis. The idea has captured the attention, and imagination, of at least some Palestinian policymakers." The New York Times 05/15/05

32 Pollocks Unearthed In New York "A trove of 32 previously unknown works by abstract art icon Jackson Pollock has been discovered by a family friend, who said Friday he would like them to tour internationally and be studied by art historians. Alex Matter, a filmmaker who knew Pollock from childhood, said the collection was among the possessions of his late parents, who were long associated with Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner. About two years ago Matter stumbled upon the artworks, wrapped in brown paper since 1958 and stored for almost three decades in a warehouse in East Hampton, Long Island." Washington Post (Reuters) 05/14/05

Chimp Art Comes Up For Sale Congo was a chimpanzee who painted. Picasso owned one of his works, as did Miro. "Now, for the first time, three Congos have come on to the open market and will be auctioned alongside works by Renoir, Andy Warhol and the Chapman Brothers at Bonhams in London this month. The pictures, created with tempera on paper, are from the artist's most productive period in the late 1950s. They are estimated to be worth between £600 and £800 for the three, but such has been the interest already that they may well fetch much more." The Guardian (UK) 05/12/05

Public's Taste In Art - More Ikea Than Museum? UK researchers say that public taste in art has gone through a dramatic change. It appears that the public is more interested in designer art than that found in museums. "Indeed, it appears, the popularity of famous artists makes them less appealing because people want their homes to look individual and do not want the same picture as their neighbours. When talking to people, Alison Kidd found being "fresh" and "individual" was more important than fame or quality. BBC 05/12/05

Belgium - Crossroads Of Stolen Art? "Belgium is known to be a key transit point of stolen art in Europe. And its bad reputation for tackling the problem has yet again been slammed in 'La Collection egoiste' (The Egoist’s Collection), by Liberation journalist Vincent Noce. Noce highlights just how active the 'art mafia' is in the country, French-language daily La Libre Belgique reported on Thursday." Expatica 05/12/05

Ready. Aim. Art! How should a museum mark the occasion when it's about to shut its doors for renovation? The Art Gallery of Ontario thinks it knows: "Leading with an elite squad of eight paintball marks-people, the Argentinean-born artist [Fabian Marcaccio] is coating part of the east and west walls of the AGO's George Weston Hall tonight for 30 minutes starting at 9:15 p.m. with an impressionistic palette of blues, whites and magentas. The instant painting ends at 9:45 p.m. But it will still be drying and fading when the space closes permanently to make way for architect Frank Gehry's massive reconstruction of the entire gallery." The public is invited, and the whole gooey spectacle will be accompanied by an original score for trumpets and percussion. Toronto Star 05/12/05

Cleveland Museum To Make The City Its Gallery The Cleveland Museum of Art's decision to close many of its galleries over the next three years as it readies for a major expansion is a risky one, but the museum is hoping to stay visible in the city through a program of neighborhood events. "While the museum plans to hold off-site programs, concerts and performances through the fall and winter, it has no specific information yet on where those events will take place." The $258 million expansion will require the entire museum to be closed for almost two years. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 05/12/05

Tate Modern And London's Artworld Dominance What has Tate Modern meant to London in its five years? "Today London is acknowledged to be the centre of the art world, a role that once belonged to Paris and then New York. No other city comes near us for the number and quality of its exhibitions, contemporary art galleries, and important young artists. Maybe all that isn't entirely due to the existence of Tate Modern, but a lot of it is." The Telegraph (UK) 05/11/05

King Tut In The Scanner Thanks to computer scanning technology, we've now got a pretty good idea what King Tut looked like. "Three teams of scientists have created the first facial reconstructions of King Tutankhamun based on CT scans of his mummy. The images are strikingly similar both to each other and to ancient portraits of the boy pharaoh, including his depiction on the famed golden mask he wore into the crypt." Wired 05/11/05

Alberta Museum Gets $150 Million Overhaul Alberta's provincial music is to get a $150 million update and a new name in honor of the Canadian province's 100th anniversary. "The money, to be spent over the next five years, will be used to update and renew the museum, which will also be christened with a new name – the Royal Alberta Museum – when the Queen visits Alberta later this month." CBC 05/11/05

The Art Of Giving Up Stuff A Corcoran student stands outside the gallery with nothing. It's a performance piece: "The piece began in January when Melissa Ichiuji started giving up things: coffee, television, soda and medication, followed in February by fast food and alcohol. As the seasons changed, she gave up cosmetics and chocolate, meat and magazines. Since the beginning of May, she's had: no newspapers, no music, no mirrors, no cell phone, no e-mail, no driving, no sex, no books, no family or friends or running water. No appliances, no speech, no clocks, no shoes, no food, no shelter. The idea is to let go of things that matter to the woman as a meditation on what matters most to the artist and, by extension, the audience." Washington Post 05/11/05

WTC Memorial Being Compromised It's official - plans for anything having to do with whatever replaces the World Trade Center are a big compromised mess. "Bit by bit, elements of Michael Arad's original design for the World Trade Center Memorial have been whittled away, whether because of logistical realities at ground zero (the memorial will be built above PATH train tracks), client demands (the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is calling the shots), the many other interests involved (the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site; victims' families; downtown residents) or the assorted architectural cooks (three other firms)." The New York Times 05/10/05

Warhol Portrait Of Liz Sells For $12 Mil An Andy Warhol portrait of Elizabeth Taylor has been sold in New York for $12.6 million. "The painting, which was made from a publicity photo in the year Taylor starred in the Cleopatra, just exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $9-12m. The portrait had been owned by the same person since 1965 and was bought by English diamond mogul Laurence Graff." BBC 05/11/05

Met Museum Injures Its Credibility With Uncritical Costume Show "Every year, in one way or another, museums test the public's faith in their integrity. Now comes the Met with its current Chanel-sponsored Chanel show, a fawning trifle that resembles a fancy showroom. Sparsely outfitted with white cube display boxes and a bare minimum of meaningful text, this absurdly uncritical exhibition puts Coco's designs alongside work by the current monarch of the House of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld." The New York Times 05/11/05

• Met Museum Shills For Chanel? "Substantially financed by the fashion house, "Chanel" is tainted by the same sort of self-interested sponsorship that brought notoriety to "Armani" at the Guggenheim Museum in 2000 and "Sensation," the 1999 Brooklyn Museum showcase for Charles Saatchi's collection. We expect better from the Met, an institution always admired as a guardian of professional standards." The New York Times 05/08/05

Billionaire Cancels Plans For Paris Museum "François Pinault, a billionaire who is France's wealthiest art lover, announced Monday that he was abandoning plans to build a $195 million contemporary art museum on the outskirts of Paris and would instead present part of his vast collection in the Palazzo Grassi, an elegant exhibition space on the Grand Canal in Venice that he recently acquired." The New York Times 05/10/05

Renaissance Painters "Corrected" Portrait Features If you could afford to have your portrait painted, wouldn't you want the artist to "correct" some of your imperfections? "Renaissance artists acted like plastic surgeons by changing the shape of noses, chins and jaws in their portraits, new forensic technology has revealed." Discovery 05/09/05

Dia Plans A Move The forward-thinking Dia Foundation plans to move from its current two spaces to a new location a few blocks north. The new neighborhood is primed to be New York's next hot location, at the entrance of a new park. "Plans call for possibly demolishing the existing structure, an old meatpacking facility now in disrepair, and building a simple two-story museum with 45,000 square feet of gallery space on two floors." The New York Times 05/09/05

A Stark Memorial Stands In Berlin Berlin's new "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, designed by Peter Eisenman, is the apotheosis of soul-searching. A vast grid of 2,711 concrete pillars whose jostling forms seem to be sinking into the earth, it is able to convey the scope of the Holocaust's horrors without stooping to sentimentality - showing how abstraction can be the most powerful tool for conveying the complexities of human emotion."
The New York Times 05/09/05

The Assimilating Of Public Art There was a time when public art in American cities stood out, trying to make a statement. Those days seem long gone. These days public art is so woven into the landscape that you sometimes don't even realize it's there. Seattle Times 05/08/05

Diana's Memorial Fountain Reopens (Again) "For the third time in just 10 months, it was being opened to the public. There was no royal presence this time, and no speeches, just a cluster of anxious park officials keeping an eye open for downpours, the wrong kind of leaves, paddling infants, tourists dropping litter and roaming stray dogs. They were desperate that this time it was all going to work and that there would not have to be yet another unscheduled closure." The Observer (UK) 05/08/05

Rem's New House Of Music Rem Koolhaas has built a new concert hall in Portugal. It's a building that challenges the concert hall norms. "Koolhaas keeps his concert hall at arm's length. Its pleasures — derived from the architect's wry brand of invention when it comes to form-making, structure and circulation — are no less impressive for their unmistakable detachment. To sit in its auditorium, a hard-edged, hangar-like space, is to consider the question of whether music can sound lovely or fully resolved in a space that works so hard to avoid appearing that way architecturally." Los Angeles Times 05/08/05

The Selling Of Jeff Koons Jeff Koons turned 50 this year. Though hye disappeared for a while in the 90s due to some personal problems, in recent years his work has been selling for millions of dollars. "How did an artist who sold his works for relatively modest prices two decades ago reach such peaks? Collectors, dealers, curators, and auction specialists who spoke with ARTnews say that Koons has masterminded his fame and fortune through a combination of charm, guile, and a talent for creating expensive art that inspires critical debate." ARTnews 05/05

Tate Modern - More Than A Museum, A Tourist Attraction "Tate Modern is five years old next week. By any terms, it is a success. In fact, it often feels swamped by its own popularity. Since it opened in May 2000, almost 22 million visitors will have passed through its doors, double the number originally estimated. They thought they had a museum. Instead, they have a tourist attraction." The Guardian (UK) 05/05/05

Daniel Libeskind is to Architect as Wolfgang Puck is to Chef Architect Daniel Libeskind has been whisked into San Francisco to drum up interest in his design for the city's new Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the PR process may be more interesting than the eventual result. "The Contemporary Jewish Museum is about something else: the way that building designs evolve in an era when so-called starchitects are public figures. An institution hiring an architect of Libeskind's stature acquires a recognizable look; in this case, buildings that from some angles appear to have been carved by bolts of lightning... But in today's world of powerful computers and constant travel, the gap has never been greater between how noted architects are perceived -- and the design work they actually do." San Francisco Chronicle 05/05/05

Freedom Tower Gets Political Support, But May Lose Its Look In what could be viewed as either an attempt to restore public confidence in New York's massive Ground Zero reconstruction project, or the continuing erosion of said confidence, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki have publicly endorsed the security-based redesign of the proposed Freedom Tower. "People involved in the rebuilding processs say that the tower, unveiled 18 months ago as the product of a contentious collaboration between two world-famous architects, is likely to lose its signature twisting form, along with its distinctive spire - a conscious reflection and reply to the Statue of Liberty's upraised arm in New York harbor. Mr. Pataki, his aides and others stressed, however, that the Freedom Tower would not be reduced to an unsightly, fortress-like bunker, and that it would be built on the same general location planners had long ago settled on." The New York Times 05/05/05

Brancusi Sculpture Breaks Auction Record "A sculpture by Romanian Constantin Brancusi has broken the world auction record for a sculpture by fetching $27,456,000. Brancusi's Bird in Space, a marble piece depicting a bird soaring into the sky, was sold by Christie's New York to an anonymous buyer on Wednesday. The previous record was for another work by Brancusi called Danaide, which was sold for $18.1m in May 2002." BBC 05/05/05

• Just Like That, Auction Season Back On Track The Brancusi sale was only the main highlight of a stunning night of art sales at Christie's in New York, as the auction season appeared to come to life on the back of a single event. The auction went a long way towards restoring the confidence of art insiders, who had blanched after a disappointing showing at Sotheby's the previous night. "Compare the results: Christie's sale totaled $142.8 million, far above its low estimate of $111.2 million but not quite reaching its high estimate, $149.6 million. Of the 59 lots offered, only 7 failed to sell. Sotheby's sale totaled $91.2 million, after a low estimate of $127.3 million, with 20 of the 65 lots unsold." The New York Times 05/05/05

Another Arrest In Munch Theft Police have nabbed a fourth suspect in the brazen theft of Edvard Munch's classic painting, The Scream, arresting the man at his job in suburban Oslo. The paintings stolen from the city's Munch Museum have yet to be recovered, and media speculation has raised the possibility that the works were burned. Police officials deny that this is the case, and insist that they are still hopeful that the art can be recovered. CBC 05/04/05

Saving Chinese Artifacts (A Complicated Job) "Chinese officials have asked the United States government to share responsibility for the depletion of Chinese artifacts in the country by imposing restrictions on the import to the U.S. of all cultural property over 95 years old. They argue that huge demand in the United States for China's rich cultural heritage is the root cause for increased looting and smuggling of artifacts and works of art. China is not the first country to ask the United States to impose import restrictions on antiquities. The controversy surrounding China's request stems from the fact that the list of items presented to U.S. customs authorities as imports to be prohibited is far more sweeping than current restrictions on export of cultural items from the country." InterPressServiceNews (Africa) 05/04/05

The Arab-American Story (Really?) A new Arab American Museum is opening in Michigan. "Using high points of Arab culture as the foundation for the new museum makes perfect sense. Still, the narrative ends abruptly, without addressing the gradual disintegration of Arab intellectual and military dominance. At some point, curators ought to plunge into the contentious historical debate over the decline of Arab influence. That skirmish--pitting those who emphasize the deleterious effects of Ottoman and European colonialism against those who stress factors internal to Arab culture and Islam--sheds important light on the forces that have driven Arabs to come to America." OpinionJournal 05/05/05

Textile Museum On The Outs "After years of losing money, the American Textile History Museum may have to sell its 160,000-square-foot home, move out of the city famous for the industrial machinery displayed within its brick walls, or close its doors entirely." Boston Globe 05/04/05

The Most Beautiful Mummy Ever? A superbly preserved 2,300-year-old mummy bearing a golden mask and covered in brilliantly colored images of gods and goddesses has been discovered south of Cairo. It is being described as one of the most beautiful mummies ever found. San Francisco Chronicle (AP) 05/04/05

Oooh, Shiny! But What The Hell Is It? Ever since Minneapolis's Walker Art Center opened its sparkling new addition last month, denizens of the Twin Cities have been staring at the gleaming silver box that forms the bulk of the space, and wondering what exactly it is supposed to look like. Perhaps a spare head from your old Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots game? Or maybe a next-generation lunchbox? To the outdoorsy crowd, the dang thing doesn't look unlike the world's most challenging climbing wall. The Walker isn't offering any officials, but thankfully, one newspaper was smart enough to put the decision in the hands of the people. City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 05/04/05

Is That Art Ironically Amateurish, Or Just Amateurish? Increasingly, contemporary art festivals seem as much about the inevitable scandal generated by a headline-grabbing artist as they are about advancing art itself. But as artists turn increasingly to deliberately amateurish techniques to grab headlines and elicit an emotional reaction from viewers, they must remember to back up their irony with substance, says Susan Mansfield. Without some obviously solid thought behind it, ironic art can become nothing more than shoddy work. The Scotsman (UK) 05/04/05

Commerce + Art = Architecture Learning architecture in a university setting can be quite different than practicing it professionally, especially when actual clients get involved and start imposing their real-world wishes on an architect's vision. "Typically, architecture students' projects are assessed by architects - although the students may consult with engineers and construction companies - not by developers, with their concerns about costs, loading docks and maintenance." But the Yale School of Architecture is bringing the two sides together in an effort to better educate its students about the realities of the business. The New York Times 05/04/05

Eakins Biography Gets Down 'n Dirty An exhaustive new biograophy of 19th-century Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins contains enough bombshells to keep the art world arguing for some time. Author Henry Adams has crafted a portrait of "a severely troubled individual with a catalog of psychoses, including a castration complex, sexual inadequacy and trauma, and a propensity to drink more milk than perhaps is healthy." And as if that weren't enough, Adams is also taking some pointed shots at the Eakins scholars who came before him, accusing them of ignoring the seedier side of the artist's life. Philadelphia Inquirer 05/03/05

Art Chicago Bests Its Two Rivals "The Art Fair Wars have come and gone, and though there was something for everyone to enjoy this past weekend, the consensus in the art community is that the winner is: Art Chicago in the Park, hands down... perhaps the near-death of Art Chicago was exactly what it needed to come back to itself. Painting and drawing dominated the show, and about two dozen international galleries showed up. There were especially strong showings from Spain and Korea; one of the better booths was Spanish Galeria de Arte la Ribera, with big paintings of moody interiors by Rosa Martinez-Artero. Less space seemed to make for a friendlier neighborhood feeling." Chicago Sun-Times 05/03/05

Italian Police Recover Stolen Art Italian police have recovered seven stolen art works, including one by Picasso. "Among the 20th Century works retrieved were a sculpture by Italian Arnaldo Pomodoro and a piece by British modern artists Gilbert and George. Police have arrested one man in Nice, France, who they suspect of trafficking the art to Italy." BBC 05/02/05

Incompetence, Politics Plague Ground Zero "The master plan for ground zero is unraveling, which is not necessarily bad news. But what are the odds that planners will see this as an opportunity to save it? The discovery that the Freedom Tower will have to be redesigned to address concerns raised by security experts has once again sent architects scurrying to patch up one of the most muddled developments in the city's recent memory... These are not simply errors in judgment. They are byproducts of the mix of secrecy, self-interest and paranoia that have enveloped the site from the outset - a climate that favors political expediency and empty symbolic gestures over thoughtful urban planning discussions." The New York Times 05/02/05

Will Sydney Opera House Lose Heritage Listing? On the eve of major renovations to the Sydney Opera House, fears are raised that the work might endanger the building's listing on the World Heritage List. "In the first major change to the appearance of the building, a 45m verandah – or loggia – is to be built along the western wall facing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The plans include the opening of nine large windows in the wall alongside the Drama Theatre, Studio and Playhouse to give theatre patrons million-dollar views of the harbour." The Australian 05/01/05

Seattle Thieves Hold "Repo" Show To Return Stolen Art Beginning last summer a group of thieves began stealing art off the walls of Seattle galleries. The group thinks it's making some sort of "statement" about art, though what that is is anyone's guess. Friday the group gathered the art up at a gallery, and calling it the "Repo" Show, invited artists to retrieve their work. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/29/05

• Police Look In To Stolen Art "Show" Seattle Police show up at an event held to return stolen art to local artists. The art had been stolen out of galleries over the past year. "To add to the confusion, the Philistine Group deliberately mislabeled all the art on the outer wrapping." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/30/05

The Art-Collecting Sheikh Lands In Jail Sheikh Saud Al-Thani of Qatar went on an eight-year shopping spree that made the 38-year-old the biggest art buyer in the world. He bought more than $1 billion worth of art before he was done. But now? He's under arrest, accused of mis-spending public money... The Telegraph (UK) 05/01/05

The Science Of Architecture, The Architecture Of Science Scientists tend to be far more focused on their work than on where they're doing it, but a new generation of labs is embracing the idea that architecture can make for a more productive working environment. "[The new labs] are fun to work in and provocative purely as architecture," but also take the very specific needs of the scientists who will work within them into account. Boston Globe 05/01/05

All Hail Tate Modern! Perhaps no museum has done so much for the popularity of contemporary art as London's Tate Modern. Open for only five years, the museum has racked up an astonishing 22 million visitors, far outdistancing its peers on the international art scene. "Of course, not charging for admission helps, but it has offered more than sensational architecture. And as a result, the Tate has changed the way that Britain sees art, and the way the world sees Britain." The Observer (UK) 05/01/05

Do Art Auctions Sell Women Short? It's an unpleasant fact that artwork by women consistently sells for less money than the work of men, particularly at contemporary art auctions. So are the auctions and those who participate in them biased? The truth is far more complicated, but not terribly comforting... The New York Times 05/01/05