ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

National Academy Museum Buildings Hit Market at $120 Million

ArtfixDaily / April 18th, 2016

Historic and stately buildings that house the National Academy Museum and School along Fifth Avenue have come to market with an asking price of $120 million. In March, the museum stated the property would be sold to create an unrestricted endowment, enabling it to eliminate debt. The sale would ...

T Magazine: New Headquarters of Google and Apple Recall Hippie Communes

New York Times / April 4th, 2016

In a new T Magazine feature, writer Nikal Saval takes a look at how and why the recently revealed plans for the new campuses of Google, in Mountain View, Calif., designed by Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick, and Apple, in Cupertino, from Sir Norman Foster, look lifted ...

Zaha Hadid, World-Renowned Architect, Remembered

Guardian / March 31st, 2016

Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, known for such innovative and curvaceous designs as the London Olympic aquatic centre, died early Thursday morning at age 65. She had a heart attack while being treated at a Miami hospital for bronchitis. Hadid was the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker ...

Tomb of Jesus to Undergo Restoration

Times of Israel / March 24th, 2016

The site in Jerusalem where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected will be fully restored, church officials announced on Wednesday. Renovations of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will begin around May 1. A team of Greek restorers will complete the project by ...

Frank Lloyd Wright Sturges House Withdrawn From Auction, Its Contents Snapped Up

ArtfixDaily / February 23rd, 2016

Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) withdrew the George D. Sturges Residence, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939, from its February 21 sale of Modern Art & Design. The cantilevered redwood-and-brick residence, the only Californian example of Wright's Usonian housing, carried a ...

Chicago Group's Legal Action Disrupts Lucas Museum Plans

Chicago Tribune / February 7th, 2016

A spring groundbreaking for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, planned to open on Chicago's prime lakefront property, may not happen. U.S. District Judge John Darrah ruled Thursday that the state's public trust doctrine may been infringed upon, allowing a lawsuit by the preservation ...

Venice Considers Selling Art to Shore Up Finances

Dow Jones Business News / January 4th, 2016

Reminiscent of the scenario faced by Detroit, Venice is considering drastic measures to save the sinking city from debt. Again, art is on the line. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro is tossing around the idea of selling masterpieces in Venice's public museums, which include works by Gustav Klimt and Marc ...

2015 in Review: Art Crime

The Creators Project / December 26th, 2015

Sensational stories of art crimes were plenteous in 2015. The Creators Project has put together a list of some of the biggest headlines, ranging from ISIS destroying the ancient buildings and artifacts of Palmyra to the brazen Ukranian ultranationalists who seek an exorbitant "finder's fee" for ...

Turner Prize Goes to...Architects

BBC / December 7th, 2015

Britain's top award for contemporary visual art, the prestigious Turner Prize, has on-and-off-again stirred controversy for 31 years. This year the annual prize ventured even further with the question, "But is it art?" Assemble, a 15-person architecture and design collective, won on Monday for ...

Over Half a Million Visitors Flocked to Venice Biennale in 2015; Next Year: Detroit Re-imagined at Architecture Pavilion

ArtfixDaily / November 24th, 2015

On November 22, 2015, the 56th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta and curated by Okwui Enwezor, closed its gates. Open to the public for about 7 months, the exhibition wrapped after hosting 501,502 visitors (475,000 in ...

MoMA Files Plans for Expansion of American Folk Art Museum Site

CurbedNY / November 17th, 2015

After the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) acquired its neighboring site housing the American Folk Art Museum for $32.1 million in 2011, the Tod Williams Billie Tsien-designed building was razed at 45 West 53rd Street. Plans were filed for the expansion and Diller Scofidio + Renfro is the firm ...

$45M Paves Way for 'Totally Immersive' Arts Museum in Mississippi

Meridian Star / October 5th, 2015

Officials broke ground Saturday on a $45-million, 58,500 sq. foot facility devoted to Mississippi artists in film, literature, music, arts, dance, theater and visual arts to be named the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience. An opening date in November 2017, ...

Islamic State Blows Up Arch of Triumph, a Roman-Era 'Jewel' of Palmyra

Reuters / October 4th, 2015

Islamic militants have blown up the Arch of Triumph, one of the jewels in the architectural crown of Roman-era buildings in Palmyra. Syrian antiquities officials confirmed the destruction on Sunday. The arch follows ISIS-led attacks on 2,000-year-old temples and other ...

Award-Winning Architect Zaha Hadid Cuts Short Live BBC Interview

Guardian / September 24th, 2015

A live BBC radio interview on Thursday ended abruptly when Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid walked out on presenter Sarah Montague over a series of questions. With the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal awarded to her just this week, Hadid angrily ...

Nazi Gold Train Finders Claim 'Priceless' Amber Room Could Be Inside

Daily Mail / September 23rd, 2015

Two treasure hunters who say research led them to the site in Poland where a Nazi train supposedly laden with unknown documents and valuables is buried in a tunnel have a new claim. The pair says the long-lost Amber Room stolen from the Russian czars could be on board the ...

Revised Plan for George Lucas Museum Is Smaller, Greener

Star Tribune / September 13th, 2015

Much-maligned plans for a massive, spaceship-like museum built to house filmmaker George Lucas's art and memorabilia collection have been revised. The new design was revealed in federal court Thursday as part of proceedings for a nonprofit group's lawsuit to halt the construction of ...

On the Market: Landscape Architect Lockwood de Forest's Santa Barbara Home

ArtfixDaily / September 9th, 2015

Lockwood de Forest III (1896-1949) was an astute painter of poetic landscapes like his father, the renowned artist-designer Lockwood de Forest Jr. (1850-1932). Yet the younger de Forest (known professionally at Lockwood de Forest Jr.) chose instead to design landscapes, ...

On the Market: Historic Julia Morgan-Designed Residence

ArtfixDaily / September 3rd, 2015

An early and fine example of architect Julia Morgan's residences in the First Bay Tradition is on the market in Vallejo, Calif. Designed by Morgan (1872-1957) in an eclectic Beaux-Arts chalet-style with neoclassical and Arts & Crafts features, the magnificent home was completed ...

First House Designed by Gaudi to Open as Museum

Art Newspaper / August 31st, 2015

Casa Vicens, the first house designed by famed Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, will be renovated and made into a museum. The 1888 residence, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is scheduled to open for public visiting hours in the fall of 2016, reports the Art Newspaper. Gaudi's ...

ISIS Beheads Antiquities Scholar Who Protected Location of Artifacts

Guardian / August 19th, 2015

Islamic State militants publicly beheaded a leading scholar of antiquities in the Syrian city of Palmyra on Tuesday. Khaled al-Asaad, 82, refused to tell the militants the whereabouts of ancient artifacts moved for safekeeping. After a month-long detainment, he was murdered and his body hung ...