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MoMA Offers Voluntary Buyouts to Staffers
New York Times / May 3rd, 2016
Following the Met's announcement recently of possible layoffs to balance a $10 million deficit, the Museum of Modern Art says it will offer buyout packages to senior staff. Those with over nine years at the museum, age 55 and over, will be eligible. “The museum is in a transitional stage in ...
New York Attorney General Goes After Unpaid Taxes on Art
New York Times / May 3rd, 2016
The New York attorney general made a $7 million settlement on Tuesday with real estate developer and art collector Aby Rosen "for failing to pay taxes on $80 million in artwork that he had bought or commissioned since 2002," reports the New York Times. A crack down on the use of resale ...
FBI Again Searches Home of Suspect in Gardner Museum Heist
FOX / May 2nd, 2016
The FBI is for a third time conducting a search of the Manchester, Conn., property of elderly mobster Robert Gentile, according to The Boston Globe. A convicted felon, Gentile has long been suspected of knowing details about the 1990 heist of a half-billion dollars worth of art from Boston's ...
Cape Cod's Cahoon Museum to Reopen After $3 Million Expansion
Cape Cod Times / May 2nd, 2016
After a $3 million conservation and renovation of its original 1775 Georgian Colonial building plus a 3,600-foot expansion, Cape Cod's Cahoon Museum of American Art is ready to showcase its collection and better serve patrons. The museum in Cotuit, Mass., displays the work of renowned ...
How 'Enhanced Hammer' Deals Impact Auction House Economics
Bloomberg / April 26th, 2016
In a race for top-tier consignments, the world's biggest auction houses have offered sellers sweet deals that have chipped away at commissions on some of the priciest offerngs. Hammer prices have skyrocketed in the last five years for blue-chip art, but the auction house's cut is increasingly ...
Italian Authorities Seize Nazi-looted Artworks From Private Homes
Reuters / April 24th, 2016
Three late 15th century paintings missing since they were looted by Nazi troops from a Tuscan villa over 70 years ago have been recovered and two people have been accused of receiving stolen goods. The works, of religious themes, seized in two private homes in Milan last July, were described by ...
Met Museum to Restructure as Deficit Looms
WSJ / April 21st, 2016
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has about 2,200 employees, an operating budget of about $300 million, a $2.8 billion endowment, and attracts around $6.3 million visitors per year. Despite the numbers, museum officials say the Met is facing a deficit of $9 million to $10 million, and ...
Hiscox Releases New Report on Online Art Market
Hiscox / April 20th, 2016
Insurer Hiscox has released a new online art trade report for 2016, and it includes a ranking of online art market players. Hiscox's Robert Read blogs: Millenials love tech, social media and art and given the enormous spending power that they are going to have the art market needs to adapt ...
Chicago Mayor Defends $1.2 Billion Lucas Museum Plan
Chicago Tribune / April 19th, 2016
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended his latest plan to bring movie mogul George Lucas' museum to the lakefront, a day after revealing that it would require borrowing nearly $1.2 billion, extending five taxes beyond their expiration dates and securing the approval of a ...
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 ...
Knoedler Gallery's Beleaguered Ex-Director Ann Freedman Speaks Her Mind
The Art Newspaper / April 18th, 2016
Ann Freedman, the former head of the now-defunct Knoedler Gallery, spoke to the Art Newspaper in an exclusive interview. Freedman has maintained her innocence ever since the Knoedler scandal broke in 2009, closing the once esteemed Manhattan gallery. A string of lawsuits ensued over $70 ...
Supreme Court Upholds Book-Scanning Ruling In Google's Favor
Reuters / April 18th, 2016
(Reuters) The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge by a group of authors who contend that Google's massive effort to scan millions of books for an online library violates copyright law. The Authors Guild and several individual writers have argued that the project, known as ...
Ukraine Recovers Four Paintings Stolen From Dutch Museum
BBC / April 17th, 2016
Four paintings out of 24 artworks stolen from a Dutch museum more than ten years ago have been recovered in Ukraine. The works were "in the possession of criminal groups", Ukraine's foreign minister said, as reported by the BBC. The four recovered paintings, from the 16th-17th centuries, are ...
Senate Votes to Ban Art and Antiquities Imports From Syria
New York Times / April 14th, 2016
After months of delay and debate, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to prohibit the import of all art and antiquities originating from Syria, reports the New York Times. A resolution of the United Nations Security Council will be upheld with the new law, which will possibly close a ...
Museum Gets to Pick From Norwegian Billionaire's $120 Million Collection of Artworks From Munch to Mapplethorpe
Forbes / April 14th, 2016
Forbes reports: Grocery retail billionaire Stein Erik Hagen is now opening up his art collection, believed to be the largest private collection in Norway, to the public. The Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (Nasjonalmuseet) has been granted free access to roam ...
Man Charged in Murder of U.K. Antiques Dealer
Oxford Mail / April 14th, 2016
A 50-year-old man from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was charged with murder on Tuesday in connection to the death of UK antiques dealer Adrian Greenwood, 42, who was found with multiple stab wounds in his Oxford home last week. The suspect, Michael Danaher, will appear in Oxford Crown Court on ...
Iraq to Transform Saddam Hussein's Palace Into Museum
National Geographic / April 13th, 2016
A former palace in Basra, Iraq, that belonged to Saddam Hussein will reportedly be remade into a museum this fall. The project is estimated to cost about $3.5 million and represents the first museum to open in the country for decades, according to an article in National Geographic. ...
Experts Divided Over Caravaggio Found in Attic
Guardian / April 13th, 2016
Two years ago, the owners of an old house near Toulouse found a dusty painting behind a locked door in their attic. After a cleaning, the work began to resemble a Caravaggio. The rediscovery of a possible lost work by the Old Master, thought to be a second version of his famous Judith ...
Panama Papers Reveal Secrets Behind Ganz Art Collection Sale
Guardian / April 11th, 2016
When the Victor and Sally Ganz collection of modern art masterpieces hit the auction block at Christie's in 1997, it was game-changing sale. Prices for art reached a new level, with Pablo Picasso's vibrant Women of Algiers (version O) fetching a then-astonishing $31.9 million. The ...
Swiss Authorities Seize Modigliani After Panama Papers Leak
ArtfixDaily / April 11th, 2016
A painting by Amedeo Modigliani has been sequestered by Swiss authorities in a Geneva freeport (storage facility) following a Panama Papers disclosure that exposes its ownership. Descendants of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner claim the contested painting, Seated Man with a ...