ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Ancient Egyptian Tomb With Artifacts Rediscovered Near Luxor

CNN / September 10th, 2017

Egyptian authorities unveiled a previously undiscovered ancient tomb belonging to a goldsmith and his wife near Luxor in southern Egypt on Saturday, reports CNN. The tomb, at the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis, contains "mummies, sarcophagi, statuettes, pots and other artifacts," according to ...

Berkshire Museum Ends Smithsonian Partnership Following Art Sale Controversy

Berkshire Eagle / September 6th, 2017

The Berkshire Eagle reports that the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass., will cut ties with the Smithsonian in a mutual decision stemming from the controversy over its plan to deaccession artworks. Berkshire Museum was a Smithsonian affiliate since 2013, allowing for reciprocal admissions ...

'Fake' Painting Is Authenticated as Long Lost Work by Australia's Father of Impressionism

Guardian / September 4th, 2017

An Australian couple bought a "fake" painting for £7500 ($10,000) that is now thought to be by one of Australia’s greatest artists and worth well over $300,000. Joe and Rosanna Natoli won the painting, which is titled Rejection, with an online bid in 2013 from an English ...

400 Viking Artifacts Stolen from Museum in Norway

Newsmax / August 21st, 2017

Some 400 objects of Viking origin were stolen from a museum in Norway sometime between Aug. 11 and 13. The pieces were due to be transferred to a more secure location on Aug. 14. "If the stolen objects are not returned, this is by far the most terrible event in the 200 years of Norwegian museum ...

A Peek at Rare 1854 Solar Eclipse Images, and a Full Look at the Friedman Collection of Photography

ArtfixDaily / August 17th, 2017

The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns the only surviving images of the solar eclipse that occurred on May 26, 1854—the first total eclipse of the sun visible in North America since the invention of photography. The images are out of public view, but are shown above and available online. Currently ...

After $3.5 Million Renovation, JMW Turner's Picturesque Cottage Opens to Visitors

Guardian / August 16th, 2017

In 1813 England’s great landscape painter JMW Turner built a small villa, Sandycombe Lodge, on a large plot near the Thames at Twickenham. Here, the painter became an architect, guided by the hand of his friend John Soane, notes the home's website. Now, a $3.5 million renovation has made ...

Stolen De Kooning Painting Returned to Museum After 3 Decades

Tucson / August 15th, 2017

A Willem de Kooning painting that had been stolen more than 31 years ago from the University of Arizona Museum of Art has been found and returned. A Silver Spring, New Mexico, antiques and furniture dealer discovered the work in an estate sale. Dealer David Van Auker says he bought the work ...

Leonardo DiCaprio to Play Da Vinci in Film Adaptation of Walter Isaacson Book

Deadline / August 14th, 2017

Paramount won a seven-figure bidding battle against Universal for the film rights to the latest Walter Isaacson book Leonardo da Vinci, reported Deadline. The Hollywood biopic will star none other than Leonardo DiCaprio. Legend has it that the star's pregnant mother was looking at a da ...

ARTFIXdaily Closed for Maintenance, Aug. 7-11

ArtfixDaily / August 6th, 2017

ARTFIXdaily will be closed from August 7 to 11. E-newsletter service will resume on August 14. Browse the ArtWire for latest news posted by our ArtGuild members. The image shown here is from the traveling exhibition on the great 20th century photographer Walker Evans, which is coming to ...

Antiquities Dealers Arrested in Hobby Lobby Probe

PBS / August 1st, 2017

On Sunday, Israeli authorities arrested 5 Palestinian antiquities dealers in Jerusalem. Officials contend that the dealers are connected to the illegal sales of antiquities to Hobby Lobby, the U.S. arts and crafts supply chain that has been acquiring thousands of ancient objects. Israeli ...

Met Museum Hands Over Two Ancient Objects to Authorities

AD / August 3rd, 2017

Last week, the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave up a large painted terracotta vase that had been illegally excavated from an ancient burial ground in Italy to the district attorney. The ancient Greek vessel, a krater, shows Dionysus, god of the grape harvest, riding in a cart. In a second ...

Thieves Steal Neil Armstrong's Solid Gold Cartier-Made Lunar Lander Model

Smithsonian / August 1st, 2017

On Friday, thieves targeted the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, the hometown of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. Missing is a five-inch tall solid-gold replica of the Lunar Excursion Module, along with award medals and presentation coins in the same ...

Instagram Drives Sales in Vintage Watch Market

New York Times / August 1st, 2017

Facebook's Instagram, with its 700 million users worldwide, is the popular image-centric platform that is now catapulting sales of vintage watches, reports the New York Times. In one recent case, Hodinkee posted a photo of a 1969 Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona Reference 6241 on Instagram. Amidst a ...

ARTFIXdaily Closed for Maintenance, July 24-28

ArtfixDaily / July 23rd, 2017

ARTFIXdaily will be closed from July 24 to 28, and the subscriber e-newsletter service will resume on July 31. ArtGuild members may continue to add press releases and events. View the ArtWire for the latest news from our members. The images are from the Fine Arts Museums of San ...

3 Stolen Francis Bacon Paintings Recovered by Police in Spain

Daily Star / July 20th, 2017

Spanish police announced the recovery of three of five stolen paintings by Francis Bacon on Thursday. Five Bacon paintings valued at more than 25 million euros ($29 million) along with a safe with jewels and coins were taken from a Madrid residence in July 2015. The works were stolen from a ...

New York Man Believes He Owns a Missing Michelangelo

AP / July 20th, 2017

A man in New York state thinks he has a painting by Michelangelo that hung for years in his living room. Martin Kober has moved the painting to secure storage while he works on getting the 9-by-25-inch (48-by-64-centimeter) painting of Jesus with the Virgin Mary authenticated.  ...

Antiquities Dealer Sues Wall Street Journal Over Article on ISIS Link

Courthouse News Service / July 18th, 2017

An antiquities dealer has sued the Wall Street Journal over an article linking his family-run art gallery to ISIS, reports Courthouse New Service. It is the second major lawsuit instigated by the gallery this year. Hicham Aboutaam, head of the Manhattan-based Electrum, the agent ...

Asian Art Museum Clinches Guinness World Record for Largest Human Flower Art

ArtfixDaily / July 17th, 2017

A Guinness World Record was set Saturday when the Asian Art Museum organized 2,405 people at San Francisco's Civic Center to form a huge green and pink lotus flower together.  Dubbed Lotus Live, the event created the largest recorded human flower art and was meant to mark the 50th ...

$600 Million Historical Art Collection Heads to a Contemporary Art Museum

New York Times / July 17th, 2017

Near Turin, Italy, a private art collection with notable works spanning the 13th-to-20th centuries, and valued at $600 million, will radically transform a contemporary art museum, reports the New York Times. In a statement, the Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte, Castello di ...

Berkshire Museum to Sell $50 Million in Art to Fund "Reinvention Plan"

Berkshire Museum / July 16th, 2017

On Wednesday, July 12, 2017, the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts announced a $60 million "reinvention plan" that includes deaccessiong two artworks by Norman Rockwell, among 40 pieces from its 40,000-object permanent collection slated to be sold at auction. The plan is for a ...