□ Sunday, 9 Jul 2006

Met Museum Says Painting Is Authentic
The Metropolitan Museum of Art says the Duccio painting it bought last year for $50 million is authentic and denies claims by an art historian that it is a fake. The museum says the painting has been "carefully examined... as a matter of course" and that it had "no reason to doubt" the authenticity of Madonna and Child, attributed to medieval artist Duccio. More...

Spanish Sculptor Juan de Avalos, 94, Dies
Spanish sculptor Juan de Avalos, 94, died in Madrid. He was a member of the prestigious Fine Arts Academy. Francisco Franco chose De Avalos to create colossal statues that were to adorn his vast mausoleum in the Valle de los Caidos, northeast of the capital, eve though being politically opposed to the dictator's extreme right-wing policies. Juan de Avalos was working on a monument to Spain's King Alfonso XIII at the time of his death, in Madrid. More...

Wadsworth Atheneum Acquires Two Major Paintings
Two magnificent and radically divergent depictions of man facing nature have been acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. The Shore at Trouville: Sunset Effect (1866) by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) is the second work by the French Realist to enter the Wadsworth Atheneum's European painting collection. A gifted painter of seascapes, Courbet spent the summers of 1865 and 1866 in the coastal resort towns of Trouville and Deauville in Normandy, often in the company of the American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler. This serene sunset view is the largest of the seascapes Courbet produced in that period. More...

□ Friday, 7 Jul 2006

Albert Oehlen - I Will Always Champion Good Paintings
The Whitechapel presents the first major UK show of an artist bringing painting back to the forefront of contemporary art. Albert Oehlen is the first survey of the work of a painter who engages directly with the history of painting. Rebellious, discordant and allusive, his paintings are driven by an explosive collision of line, color and form. More...

Andy Warhol's Stars, Deaths and Disasters at the AGO
The Art Gallery of Ontario presents the exhibit Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 through October 22. Guest-curated exclusively for the AGO by film director David Cronenberg, Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 focuses on one of the most influential periods in the artist's life. More...

□ Thursday, 6 Jul 2006

Falling For The Picasso Hype?
Christie's has been hyping the sale of an expensive Picasso owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. But maybe it's not a very good Picasso. "Lloyd Webber recently suggested to Bloomberg that his sale announcement would be 'the biggest news in the art market in 30 years.' Why does it matter if someone actually falls for such hype? After all, the proceeds will reportedly go to a good cause the education of young performers. The problem is that feverish prices pose a threat to the longterm health of the art market. The acquisition of lesser works for exorbitant amounts is the art trade's version of 'irrational exuberance.' It can only set the stage for the next correction. More...

The Museum Will Be Podcast
Thanks to podcasting, it's becoming as easy to download a museum visit onto a portable digital audio player as it is a pop tune. And museums, realizing this is a way to reach a younger generation of potential patrons, are racing to get involved. They are making their in-house audio tours of special exhibits, as well as original programming, available on their websites for free use on iPods and other MP3 players. And art lovers can listen through their home computers as well. There's even a newly coined term for the phenomenon - 'artcasting'. More...

Expert Says Met's $50 Million Painting Is A Fake
When the Letropolitan Museum bought Duccio's Madonna and Child last year for a reported $50 million, the painting was hailed as a masterpiece. Now James Beck, a leading art historian and Professor of Art History at Columbia University in New York, believes that the painting, which the Met dates to 1300, is not by Duccio at all. It is a fake based upon indications found in works by or associated with Duccio. It is not even a good forgery. More...

□ Wednesday, 5 Jul 2006

Benjamin Hall To Join Christie's New York
Christie's announced the appointment of Benjamin Hall as Senior Vice President in the Christie's New York Old Master Paintings Department, effective early 2007. He will join Anthony Crichton-Stuart as a new Co-Head of Department. More...

The Master Sculptor Rodin in Istanbul
The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) hosts works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The exhibition titled "The Master Sculptor Rodin in Istanbul" More...