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NEWS ABOUT: modern art

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Artist Mike Kelley Dead in Apparent Suicide

Influential American reportedly depressed after breakup

(Newser) - Influential American artist Mike Kelley was found dead yesterday at age 57, in what police say appears to be a suicide. A friend told investigators he had been depressed following a recent breakup, the New York Times reports. Kelley specialized in large-scale pieces, often incorporating sculpture, video, or performance, and... More »

Drunk Attacks $30M Painting

Woman punches iconic modern art piece, tries to pee on it: officials

(Newser) - A Denver woman, apparently incredibly drunk and not a fan of modern art, has been arrested for attacking a $30 million painting at a Denver museum. Witnesses said Carmen Tisch pulled her pants down, punched Clyfford Still's 1957-J-No. 2 repeatedly and then slid her bare butt down the painting,... More »

Protesters Smash 'Piss Christ'

Catholic activists hit it with a hammer in Avignon museum

(Newser) - A pair of extreme Catholic protesters celebrated Palm Sunday this weekend by bursting into the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon, France, and smashing Andres Serrano’s (in)famous photograph “Immersion Piss Christ,” and some other works of art they objected to, with hammers. According to a French report... More »

Picasso Biographer: Lost Painting Stash Must Be Stolen

No way Picasso would part with some of these gems

(Newser) - Pablo Picasso’s biographer doesn’t buy Pierre Le Guennec’s story that the great artist just gave him 271 lost or unknown works in exchange for electrical work. The works must have been from a large collection Picasso was forced to remove from his Paris apartment when the French... More »

Electrician Reveals Trove of Lost Picassos

Legal battle looms over 271 previously unseen works

(Newser) - A retired electrician has come forward with a treasure trove of 271 previously unseen paintings and sketches from Pablo Picasso, which he says the master painter gave him after he helped install alarm systems in several of his homes, the AFP reports. There’s just one problem: Picasso’s heirs... More »

140 'Lost' Masterworks to Hit Sotheby's Auction

Paris art dealer's collection hidden since 1939

(Newser) - A stash of 20th-century artworks hidden for generations because of war and legal wrangling is finally seeing the light of day. The 140 artworks, including works by Picasso, Derain, and Renoir, had been placed in a Paris bank vault by influential art dealer Ambroise Vollard's assistant after Vollard's death in... More »

New Museum Piece Shows Viewers Total Blackness

Miroslaw Balka's How It Is , at the Tate Modern, displays the void

(Newser) - The Tate Modern's latest installation is an enormous steel container—100 feet long, 43 feet high, and 30 feet wide—that envelops visitors in total darkness upon entering. How It Is, by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka, is lined with a suede-like material that is 10 times darker than black paint.... More »

Obamas' Art Collection: Modern, Aggressive

White House borrows 47 works of art from Washington museums

(Newser) - Barack and Michelle Obama, working with curators at the White House and DC museums, have borrowed 47 artworks for their walls, and their selections are far more modern and discerning than their predecessors', writes Blake Gopnik. The Washington Post critic is impressed by the "surprisingly sober, even dour" choices... More »

Collectors Give 50 Artworks Each to 50 States

(Newser) - Herb and Dorothy Vogel had just modest incomes—he was a postal clerk, she a librarian—but over four decades they acquired more than 3,600 drawings, paintings, and collages from America's leading artists. They collected so much that they had to stuff works under their bed. But now the... More »

How to Bust Art Myths

(Newser) - Too many people have given up talking about modern art, retreating behind pat statements like “art is subjective,” writes Paddy Johnson in the Christian Science Monitor. Here are some attitudes that drive her crazy: 
  • Anyone could do that: A typical rejoinder is, “But you didn’t.
... More »

Dumped by Girlfriend, Artist Sells Everything

(Newser) - Jasper Joffe isn’t taking his breakup well. When his girlfriend of 5 years walked out on him, the painter, who’s sold work to such heavyweights as Charles Saatchi, decided to sell not just paintings, but all his worldly possessions, the Independent reports. Every single paint brush, keepsake, doodle,... More »

Obama's Inclusive Message Extends to White House Walls

Call for art includes minority painters, abstract works

(Newser) - More change is coming to Washington, and this time it’s aesthetic. President Obama’s request for works from African-American, Hispanic, and female artists to adorn the White House walls stems from a desire to “round out the permanent collection” and “give new voices” to non-traditional or low-profile... More »

Modern Meets Classical in Chicago Museum Wing

Piano's addition for Art Institute called his best in a decade

(Newser) - This weekend the Art Institute of Chicago opens a mammoth new modern wing designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Nicolai Ouroussof praises Piano's mix of "Modern and classical themes," and "towering glass-and-steel facade, with its floating roof and excruciatingly slender columns" straddling gritty railroad tracks. The New ... More »

Sotheby's Sale Busts, Picasso Goes Unsold

$61.3M result fails to reach low estimate

(Newser) - The art market failed to recover from its recent slump last night, as Sotheby's held a disappointing New York sale that saw works by Picasso and Giacometti go unsold. The small auction of 36 lots brought in just $61.3 million—well below the low estimate of $81.5 million.... More »

New Museum Wing Tests Cash-Strapped Modern Days

(Newser) - The Art Institute of Chicago's new $283 million modern art wing isn't just expensive—it's also expensive to visit, reports the Tribune. The museum plans to bump its ticket prices from $12 to $18 a week after the 264,000-square-foot wing's May opening, a move that has recession-minded critics crying... More »

Now Brandeis May Close Museum, Keep Art

But university president insists that museum will have to close

(Newser) - In the face of universal shock and disapproval, Brandeis University has backpedaled on its plan to sell 6,000 works of modern art—but it will go ahead with its plan to close its museum. At a meeting with about 200 students, the university's president said that a sharp drop... More »

Mass. AG Will Probe Brandeis Museum Sale

Art world condemns decision to close gallery, sell collection

(Newser) - The Massachusetts attorney general announced a probe into Brandeis University's shock decision to shut its modern art museum and sell off the entire 6,000-work collection. Brandeis did not consult the AG's office or even the museum's board, and wills and agreements between the Rose Art Museum and its donors... More »

Brandeis Shuts Museum, Will Sell 6,000 Works

Art world shocked as university closes renowned institution

(Newser) - Facing severe budget shortfalls, Brandeis University will close its well-regarded modern art museum and sell off the entire 6,000-work collection, reports the Boston Globe. The move has shocked the art world and drawn heavy criticism from museum and university professionals. "This is not a happy day in the... More »

Auction Houses Counting on Russians

Buyers prop up industry staggering from economic crunch

(Newser) - With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of... More »

Vatican Gets Back in the Art Biz

Project aims to revive church's role as a sponsor of the arts

(Newser) - The Vatican was the world's biggest buyer of modern art in the days when modern art meant Michelangelo, but its influence on art has ebbed in recent centuries. The church now plans to put itself back in the forefront of the art world, Newsweek reports. A commission of critics and... More »

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