LA Unveils $578M School, Costliest in the Nation, Fine Art Murals Included

LOS ANGELES (AP).- Next month’s opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation’s most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la [...]

Florence and State Spar Over Michelangelo’s Masterpiece ‘David’

ROME (AP).- Florence’s mayor is defending his city’s ownership of Michelangelo’s marble masterpiece “David” after the Culture Ministry reportedly asserted that the treasure belongs to the central government in Rome. The Renaissance-style feud broke out over the weekend with reports that Rome was laying claim to the sculpture, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. Michelangelo completed the 4.34-meter (14 foot)-high nude statue in Florence in 1504, and its home has been the city’s Galleria dell’Accademia for more [...]

Eastern Europe Under Spotlight on Art Restitution Cases

BUDAPEST (AP).- A tug-of-war in the United States over who owns a huge art trove seized by Hungary’s Nazi henchmen is the most prominent example of disputed restitution policies in formerly communist eastern Europe — but by no means the only one. Heirs of Jewish banker Baron Mor Lipot Herzog filed suit last week against the Hungarian government in U.S. District Court in Washington. They also are suing several state-owned museums to try to recover the works. But uncounted other [...]

Cultural Leaders in the North East Add Voice to National Debate on Funding Cuts

GATESHEAD.- Today, leaders of some of the North East’s principal, building based, arts organisations and prominent artists from the region voiced their concerns about the impact of deep or hasty cuts to the arts budget, warning that a hard won sense of place and confidence could be put at risk. Cultural venues across the North East have powerfully demonstrated that working in partnership with artists of international standing makes a tangible difference to the communities in which they work. From [...]

British Culture Minister Barrs Export of Murillo Painting

LONDON.- The Culture Minister has placed a temporary export bar on a painting by the Spanish artist Murillo. This will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the painting of The Virgin and Child in the United Kingdom. The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Committee recommended that the export decision be [...]

Mickey Mouse Art Poster with Nazi Symbol Ignites Polish Anger

WARSAW (AP).- A huge outdoor art poster that blends Mickey Mouse’s image with that of a swastika and a nude woman’s body is causing a stir in Poland, where memories of the suffering inflicted by Nazi Germany remain strong. The poster, which went up in June in the western city of Poznan just steps from a synagogue, is an Italian artist’s take on what he calls the “horrors” of the American lifestyle and is one piece of artwork in a [...]

Paintings Taken by Serviceman in WWII Return to Germany

NEW YORK, NY.- In a ceremony at the Goethe Institute in Manhattan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) displayed some of the 11 oil paintings that were taken by a U.S. serviceman from a Pirmasens air raid shelter after the allied invasion of Germany in 1945. The paintings, several by a hometown artist, are on their way home to Pirmasens Museum in Germany. ICE New York Special Agent in Charge James T. Hayes Jr. thanked the grand-niece of the U.S. [...]

Austrian Panel Recommends Restitution of Four Works of Art

VIENNA (AP).- A commission has recommended that four paintings contained in a vast Vienna art collection should be returned because they were either seized by the Nazis or given up against the will of their former Jewish owners, Austria’s Culture Ministry said Monday. The paintings — one by Egon Schiele and three by Anton Romako — belong to the Leopold Museum Private Foundation, which has been criticized by the Jewish community and others for allegedly containing works stolen by the [...]

Benefit Party and Silent Auction Hosted by OptART to Raise Funds for Children of eatsern Sri Lanka

NEW YORK, NY.- On August 6th, 2010 OptART, a project based philanthropic arts initiative, will host a benefit party and silent auction at the Clemente Soto Valez Community Center’s L.E.S. Gallery, NYC (107 Suffolk Street at Rivington), from 7pm – 12am. Photographs taken by the children of the Visions of Hope Community Center in the Tamil village of Pandiruppu in the eastern province of Ampara, Sri Lanka will be auctioned to raise funds for the Visions of Hope Community Center [...]

New York City Steps Up with $44M for Delayed WTC Arts Center

NEW YORK, NY (AP).- New York City has stepped into the long-delayed planning for a performing arts center at ground zero with over $40 million to help build its below-ground foundation. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board approved a deal Tuesday that would have the city pay it back for the construction at the World Trade Center site. Authority spokesman Steve Coleman says some work on the foundation and shared infrastructure is in progress, but other [...]

National Museum Wales Purchases Painting by William Dyce for the Nation

CARDIFF.- Today, the National Museum Wales announces it is able to save for the nation a painting by William Dyce entitled Welsh Landscape with Two Women Knitting, 1860, thanks to crucial funding grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), membership charity the Art Fund and others. Thanks to the generous support of the NHMF and the Art Fund, who each awarded a grant of £166,000, one major private donor, a number of significant gifts and nearly 150 other individual [...]

Unpaid Greek Workers Heckle Culture Minister on Acropolis

ATHENS.- Greece’s economic problems erupted at the country’s best-known ancient site Tuesday, as unpaid cultural heritage workers heckled the country’s culture minister during a tour of newly completed restoration work on the Acropolis. Amid goggling tourists, about 100 protesters with bullhorns and banners pressed Pavlos Geroulanos to pay wages outstanding for up to 16 months and to renew their soon-to-expire contracts. The demonstration ended peacefully after the minister conceded that many of the demands were “absolutely justified,” and promised action [...]

German Foreign Minister: Nefertiti Bust Should Stay in Berlin

CAIRO (AP).- Germany’s foreign minister says the 3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti that has been in a Berlin museum for decades is in Germany legally and could break if moved to Egypt. Egypt’s antiquities chief had said he will formally demand the return of the bust of the 14th century B.C. monarch because it was taken out of Egypt with fraudulent documents in the early 20th century. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Saturday the case is still open but [...]

French Parliament Approves Return of Sixteen Maori Heads

PARIS (AP).- French lawmakers decided Tuesday to return 16 tattooed and mummified Maori heads to New Zealand, ending years of debate on what to do with the human remains acquired long ago by French museums seeking exotic curiosities. For years New Zealand has sought the return of Maori heads kept in collections abroad, many of which were obtained by Westerners in exchange for weapons and other goods. Dozens of museums worldwide, though not all, have agreed to return them. Maori, [...]

Egypt’s Zahi Hawass Chides Museums over Antiquities

NEW YORK, NY (AP).- Egypt’s antiquities chief, speaking at a preview of a King Tut exhibition, renewed his attacks on museums he claims have refused to return artifacts that rightfully belong in Egypt. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Wednesday he had a wish list of objects he wants returned. He singled out several museums, including the St. Louis Art Museum, which he said has a 3,200-year-old mummy mask that was stolen before the museum [...]