A visitor looks through two holes in a wooden door to Étant donnés, the Marcel Duchamp masterpiece behind it and the subject of a new show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image via the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Through November 29, 2009, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is showing works by the late master Marcel Duchamp. Almost 100 works of art related to the artist’s Étant donnés are featured in this celebration of the 40th anniversary of the piece’s unveiling at the Museum, which has hosted it since 1969. Drawn mostly from the museum’s holdings, the show also includes works on loan from public and private holdings in Germany, Israel, France, Sweden, and the United States.

Related links:
Given, Finally [artnet]
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Landscape of Eros, Through the Peephole [New York Times]
A peek into Duchamp [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Duchamp’s Secret Masterpiece [Wall Street Journal]

Interior view of Marcel Duchamp’s Étant donnés, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image via the Wall Street Journal.

More images and story after the jump…
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Race Riot by Andy Warhol, top left, Forget It! Forget Me! by Roy Lichtenstein, right, and Life is a Killer by John Giorno, bottom left. Undated picture taken at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. Image via Bloomberg.

Several major Brandeis University donors and trustees suffered substantial losses when Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was exposed, leaving the university in a very precarious financial position.  Facing a potential $79 million deficit, according to an official interviewed at the Daily Beast, the university is facing some rather stark choices: closing the Rose Museum and selling the entire collection at a fire sale price, or potentially firing up to half of its faculty.

Museum page: Rose Art Museum
Statement from Michael Rush, Director of the Rose Art Art Museum, regarding the impending closing of the museum [Rose Museum]
Brandeis Forced To Close Museum [WSJ]
Outcry Over a Plan to Sell Museum’s Holdings [NYT]
Brandeis Art Sale Illustrates Pressures on Colleges [WSJ]
Brandeis President Says School May Keep Its Art, but Rose Will Close [ARTINFO]
Brandeis may keep art, says president [Boston Globe]
Critics Blast Brandeis Plan to Close Rose Museum, Sell Artworks [Bloomberg]
Protests, Rumors swirl in Rose Musem closing [Artnet]
Q&A with Rose Art Museum director Michael Rush [ArtJournal]
A Madoff Sell Off? [TIME]
Brandeis on the Brink [The Daily Beast]
Save the Rose Art Museum [Facebook]

More detail on the story after the jump…

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Jasper Johns’ ‘Flag’ via MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art now has on view a survey of the work of Jasper Johns. The exhibition presents a focus on Johns’ reworking and repetition of ideas and motifs, and celebrates the Museum’s recent acquisition of thirteen new works on paper done by Johns in 2001. These untitled works are based around Johns’ ‘Catenary’ theme, so named for the curve of a string between two points, a figure prominent in most of the works. Johns received leftover, rejected prints from the printshop of two aquatints, ‘Untitled (Positive)’ and ‘Untitled (Negative).’ He used those prints to rework the images, collaging, painting, and drawing over the prints.

Focus: Jasper Johns [MoMA]
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MoMA Shows Off: 13 Works On Paper by Jasper Johns [SFGate]
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The Museum of Modern Art Presents Focus: Jasper Johns [Artdaily]

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Le Grande Julie, Fernand Léger (1945) via Foundation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler Presents Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York, at their space in Switzerland through September 7, 2008. On view at the exhibition are over 80 paintings, several works on paper, an original Léger film from 1924 called Ballet mécanique, in addition to approximately 20 pieces by American artists that exemplify some sort of influence from Léger and his work. Exhibition is more than just a retrospective of work completed by Léger; it also focuses on how the artist influenced the American Pop movement by exhibiting work from other well-known artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, Robert Rauschenberg, Al Held, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist, and Frank Stella, all of which reference Léger’s work in one way or another. Philippe Büttner of Fondation Beyeler is responsible for curating the Retrospective.

Fondation Beyeler Presents Today in Basel Fernand Léger: Paris – New York [ArtDaily]
Fondation Beyeler, Fernand Léger Retrospective, Paris to New York [Beyeler]
Art Exhibitions: Fondation Beyeler [Yucolo]

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Red, Andy Warhol, (1978) via Gagosian

Gagosian’s spacious Chelsea gallery presents 13 contemporary artists in ‘Retrospective’: Chris Burden, Marcel Duchamp, Tom Friedman, Piero Golia, Douglas Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami, Piotr UklaÅ„ski, Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, and Ed Ruscha. Keeping in company with several thematic group shows this summer, this one has been assembled by Andisheh Avini, Gagosian curator, and artist.

Press Release [Gagosian]
‘Retrospective’: Been There, Sold That [NYSun]
Some Shows For Escape, Some For Introspection [NYTimes]
View video of the Retrospective group show here [Gagosian]

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Snow Scene at Argenteuil 1875 by Claude Monet (1840-1926) via Guardian

On view at Tate Britain: 18 masterpieces recently bequeathed to British National Gallery, including works by Degas, Freud, Monet, worth roughly $200,000,000 [GuardianUK]
The art/fashion, Vuitton/Richard Prince link in London [Bloomberg]
Mutualart.com’s Top Art Exhibitions for 2008 [Businessweek]
French art thief pleads guilty in botched $4.7M masterworks sale, indictment covered by AO here [NYSun] [AO]
2009 Turner Prize judges announced [TheArtNewspaper]
MOMA buys 3 Jasper Johns works for undisclosed sum (note: 2 years ago a Johns sold for $80M) [NYTimes]

‘The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory,’

J.M.W. Turner, 1806-8, via Tate

Tate sends 100 Turners to Moscow despite frigid diplomatic relations [ArtForum]
Update: French art market eclipsed by China [Financial Times]
Jasper Johns: Most successful artist ever? [New York Sun]
Russian artist Anna Mikhalchuk disapeared in Berlin [Artdaily]
View of Olafur Eliasson sculpture in Munich [contemporist via C-Monster]
Update: Interview of Whitney chief curator on Biennial’s process [Wall Street Journal]
Warhol’s Upper East Side townhouse for $5.99M  [New York Times]

Jeff Koon’s “Rabbit” 1/3 (1986) via Artinfo.com

Famed art dealer Ileana Sonnabend’s art collection was sold in two private transactions by her children this past week. Valued at nearly $1 billion, Sonnabend’s collection included works by artists such as Rauschenberg, Warhol, Koons, Johns, Lichtenstein and Twombly.

A Colossal Private Sale by the Heirs of a Dealer[The New York Times]
Sonnabend’s Children Part with $600 Million Worth of Art to Pay Off Estate Taxes[Art Forum]
Sonnabend’s Children Sell Most of $900 Million Collection[Bloomberg News]
Sonnabend Works Sold in Private Auction [Art Info]

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Yayoi Kusama via T-Magazine

An interview with “dot” artist,Yayoi Kusama [T Magazine]
Louis Vuitton’s boutique controversy at Brooklyn’s Murakami Show [Arts Journal]
On “looted” Russian & French Paintings at Royal Academy of Art [NY Times]
Update: Critique of Jasper John’s recent show [Financial Times]
Wealthy eclipsing public funding for commissioning new works? [Financial Times]

LA Museum of Modern Art via Bloomberg

Renzo Piano too popular with Museums? Too many projects? [Bloomberg]
Collectors steal the headlines at Jasper Johns opening at the Met [NY Mag]
Knight Foundation gives $5 million to Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, $15 million other Miami institutions [NY Times]
Hong Kong International Art & Antiques Show adds Contemporary Art for first time in decade [ArtDaily]
China over takes France as 3rd largest Art Market Worldwide [ArtNewspaper]
Martin Lawerence Gallery sues Brooklyn Man, Chrisitie’s over supposedly stolen Warhol [NYDailyNews]