Cleveland museum unveils $350M expansion

CLEVELAND.- The Cleveland Museum of Art has given some of its prized treasures more elbow room to show off. Galleries housing Egyptian, Greek, Roman, early Christian, Byzantine and African art open Saturday. The new space marks another milestone in an eight-year, $350 million expansion and renovation that began in 2005. The museum’s iconic 1916 neoclassical building holds items spanning 5,000 years. The galleries highlighting art from ancient Greece to the Medieval era surround those with Egyptian and African art. The [...]

Bucerius Kunst Forum to Show Masterpieces of Trompe-l’oeil

HAMBURG.- Trompe-l’œil is distinguished not just by its realism – after all, still life, perspective painting and photography can all claim to be realistic – but by its wit. In the best trompe-l’œil the artist deliberately sets out to trick you, and then lets you know you have been tricked. The exhibition “Genuine Illusions: The Art of Trompe-l’œil” celebrates the charm, irony and sometimes irreverence of trompe-l’œil, from antiquity to the present day. This is epitomized by the very first [...]

Rhode Island Museums Consider Relocating Sarcophagus

PROVIDENCE, RI (AP).- Gina Borromeo is well-versed in ancient artifacts, but one recent question from a museum curator caught her off-guard: “Do you want a sarcophagus?” And not just any sarcophagus. This was a white coffin with marble dating as far back as the 2nd century that depicted followers of the Greek wine god Dionysus. It was brought back from Europe by a wealthy Rhode Island couple who donated it to the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in 1904. [...]