An article in Bloomberg this week traces the path of stolen art from theft through to sale, accounting for the variations in strategy by thieves for maximizing returns on what are often considered unsellable works.  “Sometimes people don’t even recognize that the art’s gone missing” says Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, head of the FBI’s art-theft program. “It could be in a storage facility, or in the basement of someone’s house, and it can often be years before anyone notices it’s gone.”  (more…)

Artist Mark Bradford is profiled in the New Yorker this week, discussing his work, his early life growing up in Los Angeles, and his recent adventures into performance and stand-up comedy.  “I’d seen so many black male comics, with their untouchable heterosexual superiority,” he says. “I thought, well, why not do a piece where we shake that up a little bit?” (more…)

The Guardian notes the recent completion of two new European contemporary art spaces (The Garage Center in Moscow and the Fondazione Prada in Milan) designed by Rem Koolhaas, heralding what some consider a new era in the shape and strategy for cultural centers.  “If you want to change the world you also have to decide what you want to keep,” Koolhaas states.

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Maccarone Gallery is the latest New York gallery opening an exhibition space in Los Angeles, the New York Times reports.  The gallery will take up residence at 300 South Mission Road, a location that inspired gallerist Michele Maccarone.  “I saw the space and was very inspired by it,” she says. “The departure point was really the building.” (more…)

Following the example of collectors seeking tax breaks for their donation of art works to museums, artists themselves are seeking more equitable tax treatment for donating works.  While collectors currently can claim fair market value for the works they donate, artists themselves can only write off the cost of materials.  “It seems to me there is a discrepancy in treatment there”, says Philippe Vergne, director of MOCA. “What’s extraordinary is that artists keep giving.”  (more…)

A Los Angeles Judge has rejected a lawsuit against the nation of Spain and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid to return a Camille Pissarro taken from the Cassirer family through forced sale by Nazis in 1939.  The painting, Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, was subject to Spanish law, Judge John F. Walter ruled, and therefore could not be removed by his decision.  The family plans to appeal.  “Museums and governments around the world recognize the need to return Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners,” said Laura Brill, a lawyer for the Cassirer family. “Here, it is undisputed that the Pissarro was owned by the Cassirer family until it was stolen by the Nazis in 1939.” (more…)

Amid a New York State Attorney’s investigation and the resignation of five board of trustee members at Cooper Union, the University’s embattled President Jamshed Bharucha has resigned.  Bharucha headed Cooper during its controversial decision to begin charging tuition, and has been the subject of numerous protest actions since.  He will take a position as visiting scholar at Harvard. (more…)

A long-running investigation into the contested work Saul and David has resulting in the painting’s reattribution as the work of Rembrandt, an attribution that was previously denied in 1969.  “For eight years, a large team of international experts has contributed to the research. A wide range of trusted and innovative research techniques have been employed,” says Mauritshuis Museum Director Emilie Gordenker The result is significant: the Mauritshuis has one of its most famous Rembrandts back.”  (more…)

Sotheby’s has announced that its London Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale, scheduled for June 24th, will lead with Edgar Degas’ iconic sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, estimated at £10-£15 million.  “The artist’s ambitious and highly innovative work marks the pinnacle of his achievements as a sculptor, and its forthcoming sale represents a rare opportunity to acquire an icon of Impressionist art,” says Helena Newman, Sotheby’s Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide. (more…)

Paul Gauguin’s Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When will you Marry?) seems to have had its massive $300 million price tag confirmed by the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, which has currently taken the work on loan for a new exhibition.  “Nafea Faa Ipoipo was recently purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority from the Swiss collection of Rudolf Staechelin for more than $300m,” reads text released by the museum, further supporting its new place as the world’s most expensive piece of art. (more…)

Anish Kapoor has opened his new installation of works at Versailles to controversy this week, after the artist noted his new work Dirty Corner, as a reference to the sexual organs of Queen Marie Antoinette as she rose to power.  “I know it is a composition, but let’s say that this is ruining the perspective that visitors of the castle may have,” says retired professor Pierre Dhainaut. (more…)

MoMA has acquired several hundred photographs by artist August Sander from his series “People of the Twentieth Century,” the New York Times reports.  “His ambition is nothing less than to use photography to describe the people of the 20th century,” says Sarah Hermanson Meister, a MoMA photography curator.  “He is doing this through the German people, but it’s not limited in its intention to that.” (more…)

A former employee of sculptor Dale Chihuly has been accused of stealing over $3 million in works from the artist’s Tacoma, Washington warehouse.  The accused assistant, Christopher Kaul, had been dealing with drug addiction, and began stealing works after leaving rehab.  “We’ve seen this story before — an employee is hooked on drugs and steals from his boss,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “The twist here is the boss is a world famous artist.” (more…)

Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Cyber Iconic Man sculpture, an inverted and gorily wounded subject dripping blood, is set to be installed at Sheffield Cathedral’s Chapel of the Holy Spirit this summer.  “The congregation is up for it,” says The Very Reverend Peter Bradley, Dean of the Cathedral. (more…)

Maja Hoffmann, founder of the LUMA Foundation, a board member at Palais de Tokyo and Fotomuseum Winterthur, and a trustee at the Tate, has been named board chair at the Swiss Institute.  “Swiss Institute has a unique voice with a long tradition of championing innovative perspectives in contemporary art,” she said in a statement accepting the position. (more…)

Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Arkansas is soon to announce a major series of acquisitions filling major holes in its collection of American art, the New York Times reports.  Pieces recently acquired include Jasper Johns’s Flag, which was purchased last fall for $36 million, the record-setting Georgia O’Keefe work Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, as well as four works by Louise Bourgeois, estimated at a combined $35 million to $40 million.  “Bourgeois is really important to 20th century art and yet she has not received the entire due that she deserves,” says Margaret C. Conrads, museum director of curatorial affairs. (more…)

Following widespread protests, the Frick is expected to cancel a planned expansion that would have eliminated a rare piece of landscape architecture.  “It just became clear to us that it wasn’t going to work,” says an anonymous museum official.  “It won’t be the best plan, but we will go back and prioritize.  There was just a number of voices out there and we heard them.” (more…)

Bloomberg profiles a pair of former Sotheby’s employees, Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat, who are launching a start-up “offering uniquely privileged access to every aspect of the art world.”  The company, called The Cultivist, already boasts Marina Abramovic and Rashid Johnson as founding members, and includes an impressive list of museum memberships and VIP access to major art events as part of its annual $2,500 fee.  Offering counterpoint, the publication notes the dissonance between providing “access” and catering to collectors, a distinction that overshadows much of the “privilege” the art world is so often critiqued for. (more…)

Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her works depicting national politicians as monkeys and goats as protest over plans to outlaw voluntary sterilisation and restrict access to contraception.  “Atena Farghadani has effectively been punished for her cartoons with a sentence that is itself a gross caricature of justice,” says Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for  Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa. (more…)

The Art Loss Register, widely considered the authoritative body on looted and missing artworks, is currently involved in a trio of cases involving disputes on works’ provenance claimed by the register to be authentic which were actually contested.  “It’s incredibly frustrating because it doesn’t matter what you do,” says one anonymous figure affected by the cases. “You do everything you can to check a painting is clean, and it’s useless. How can you protect yourself? You can’t.” (more…)

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has stated his fears that more art is missing from the Boston Public Library collection following the disappearance of two prints valued at $600,000.  “I think the lack of security with these two prints and (more) … really, really concerns me greatly that there’s other things missing,” Walsh said in an appearance on Boston Herald Radio. (more…)

Chicago artist Theaster Gates is planning his first public installation work in the UK, a “sound sanctuary” that will look to be installed in a disused church in central Bristol.  “We are looking at a number of different sites of historical importance, but Theaster is particularly interested in sound,” says Claire Doherty, the director of Situations, a UK non-profit sponsoring the project. “We need to get scheduled monument consent [to use the church], so it may change.”  (more…)

Established artists and classic masterworks are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs of eager art flippers, Bloomberg reports, pointing in particular to a Francis Picabia that saw a massive 220% gain in price in less than six months.  “Because art is seen as an asset class, the more rapid turnover is considered encouraging. There’s a whole new generation of collectors who are playing the art market,” says Frances Beatty, VP at Richard L. Feigen & Co. (more…)

Last night’s Party in the Garden at MoMA was marked by vocal protests from museum staff, following museum proposals to reduce health care coverage during ongoing contract negotiations.  “A lot of us here are professionals,” says Luke Baker, an architecture and design curatorial assistant. “We’ve got master’s degrees. You know, we’re here for the long haul. We really want to make sure that working here, and giving as much as we give to the museum, that this is a tenable position for us and that we’re able to stay here.” (more…)