The Washington, DC Metro (photograph by Howard Ignatius, via Flickr)
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Vilma Bautista, a former aide to former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos, was convicted in a scheme to sell a $32 million Monet painting. Here’s Hyperallergic’s coverage of the case and the Marcos art collection, which was amassed with state funds; the Monet painting was among those stolen by Bautista to sell.
The plans for a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki were resurrected by the city board, which has decided on opening an architectural competition for its design.
Smuggled sculptures worth some $1.5 million were returned to India by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Philippe Vergne is leaving his position as director of the Dia Art Foundation to serve as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
The buyer of the $142.4 million Francis Bacon triptych — which last year became the priciest piece of art ever bought at auction — was revealed to be Elaine Wynn, a LACMA trustee. An anonymous source stated that she plans to donate the work to a museum, according to Bloomberg.
Refuting claims by Chinese art historians, Sotheby’s insisted that the ancient scroll auctioned for $8.2 million in September is real.
Rizzoli on 57th Street (photograph by Clyde Adams III, via Flickr)
The home of Rizzoli Bookstore on 57th Street is facing the wrecking ball, with the owners of the building notifying the store that they plan to have the 109-year-old structure torn down and replaced with “ultraluxury towers,” the New York Times reported.
Collective Gallery on Canal Street was allegedly a cover up for an illegal hotel, Bowery Boogie reported.
The redevelopment plan for the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg was unanimously approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, giving Two Trees another step forward in the massive construction project. Meanwhile, Kara Walker will transform the space this May with a large-scale installation in collaboration with Creative Time.
Legislation to permit the expansion of the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side was approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources, a requirement since it’s part of the National Park System. The construction is planned to start in 2016.
The Minnesota Orchestra finally reached an agreement with management over a labor dispute that has locked out musicians since October 2012.
The name of a previously unknown Egyptian pharaoh, and his skeleton wrecked by ancient tomb raiders, was unearthed by an archaeological team from the University of Pennsylvania.
The Metro system of Washington, DC was awarded the AIA Twenty-five Year Award for 2014. AIArchitect Managing Editor Zach Mortice wrote:
Designed by Harry Weese, FAIA with the matching ideals of ‘Great Society’ liberalism and Mid-Century Modernism, the Washington Metro gives monumental civic space to the humble task of public transit, gravitas fit for the nation’s capital.
A Reversible Destiny House designed by Madeline Gins with her husband, Arakawa (photograph by Masakazu Matsumoto, via Flickr)
Architect, painter, and poet Madeline Arakawa Gins passed away at the age of 72. Through projects like the Reversible Destiny Foundation, which she created with her husband, Arakawa, she focused on “not merely better living — but, ideally, eternal living — through design,” the New York Times wrote.
Gavin Delahunty was named the senior curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art, leaving his role as head of exhibitions and displays at Tate Liverpool.
Former gallery director Helen Toomer is the new director of the Pulse art fair.
Michele Thompson, former executive director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, was named the first director of the new Southampton Center.
Philanthropist Frederic C. Hamilton bequeathed 22 works of Impressionist art to the Denver Art Museum. They are being exhibited in the museum through February 9.
The Arizona State University art museum received a $2.5 million challenge grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation, which will be aimed at their international artist residency program.
The Museo del Novecento, focusing on 20th-century art, will be inaugurated in Florence this April.
A van Gogh once owned by actor Errol Flynn is going to auction next month at Sotheby’s in London, the Wall Street Journal reported.
2013 was a record year for the British Museum, with 6,701,036 visits, 20% more than 2012.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is renovating its Baroque and Rococo galleries with ZMMA architecture firm, planning to complete the project by December.
“Triumph of Civic Virtue” in Green-Wood Cemetery (photograph by the author)
The pedestal at Queens Borough Hall that formerly contained the controversial “Triumph of Civic Virtue” statue by Frederick MacMonnies, which was relocated to Green-Wood Cemetery, will remain vacant for at least the near future. Despite some local outcry against the removal of the statue, Borough President Melinda Katz declared that she has no interest in bringing it back. Many view it as sexist since it depicts a man with a club standing on top of two sirens.
Visitors to the San Agustin archaeological park in Colombia were outraged to find cardboard cutouts in place of the pre-Columbian statues, which had been relocated to a museum.
A Nazi guillotine used to execute thousands was discovered in storage at the Bavarian National Museum.
A small treasury of ancient Egyptian jewelry was stolen from the display cases in the New Walk Museum in Leicester, England, in May 2012, but the theft was only revealed to the public this month after a Freedom of Information Act request.
Daredevil Tattoo on the Lower East Side is turning part of its store into a tattoo history museum, planned to open in May.
Thieves trying to steal the Ancient Greek urn holding the ashes of Sigmund Freud dropped the funerary antiquity, and the shattered remains were found at the north London crematorium on New Year’s Day.
