A New York Federal Judge has decided that a marble figure which is owned by hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt and which has spent decades on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will not be returned to Turkey. The Turkish government sued for the return of the figure in 2017 however, according to Judge Alison J. Nathan, there is “insufficient evidence” to support Turkey’s claim that it should be returned.
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‘Big John’, the largest triceratops skeleton ever discovered, is coming to auction at Paris auction house Binoche et Giquello next month. The 66-million-year-old fossil is estimated to sell for a staggering €1.2 million to €1.5 million (£1 million to £1.5 million).
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The Bank of England, which has its own museum, will no longer display eight oil paintings and two busts connected to the slave trade. Earlier this year, the bank set up a working group to critically review the 40,000 artworks in its collection.
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In 2018 Banksy left the art world reeling after shredding a spray paint and acrylic on canvas version of Girl with Balloon (2006) just moments after it sold for a record price for the artist – £1.04 million (with fees). The partially shredded work is returning to auction this October.
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Art Basel’s global director, Marc Spiegler, has written a letter to exhibitors addressing their concern about the fair’s new rules due to Covid-19 restrictions. His reassurances follow calls to cancel the already-postponed fair in Basel, Switzerland.
Continue readingThe owner of the Cheltenham home featuring Banksy’s ‘Spy Booth’ mural told the BBC yesterday (23 August) that the £1 million work had been accidentally destroyed during repair works undertaken on the property. “I just want people to know that I wasn’t trying to sell it and it wasn’t taken off deliberately,” David Possee said.
Cheltenham Borough Council plans to investigate.
Read our original blog post on the mural’s disappearance here.
2017 may provide an opportunity to see the Gurlitt hoard in its entirety. The artistic director of Documenta 14, one of the world’s most hotly anticipated contemporary art events, has told a German newspaper that he hopes to exhibit all of the works of art in the collection of the late Cornelius Gurlitt in the next edition of the fair. Continue reading
At the end of last month the British Museum and the UK Government formally declined UNESCO’s request to enter into mediation on the subject of transferring the Parthenon marbles back to Greece. Removed by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the 1800s, the marbles were sold to the British Museum in 1816 and have remained there ever since. The sculptures date from 447-432 BC, and are divided between London and a purpose built museum in Athens. Continue reading
Since our last two articles (here and here) there have been several developments in the ongoing saga of the Gurlitt collection. Continue reading
Further to our previous article on whether there should be an expiration date on restitution claims, a Los Angeles federal judge has denied California’s Norton Simon Museum’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a woman seeking the return of two paintings in their collection on the grounds that the claimant is too late. Continue reading
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