News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: police took down a noose art installation, the leader of a Chinese antiquities looting ring was sentenced to death, and someone stole a public sculpture of a porcupine.
Lawsuits
News
Artist Claims Copyright to Four Photos of Robert Mapplethorpe in $65 Million Lawsuit
On Tuesday, the poet, actor, photographer, and makeup artist James R. Miller filed a lawsuit against the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, claiming copyright to four photographs that have been shown and sold for decades as Mapplethorpe's work.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week's art crime blotter: an artist sued two dealers for plotting to split up and sell off his installation, the Pompidou's former managing director racked up €40,000 in taxi fees, and a group of art students accused their professor of being a sleazeball.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: 14 members of a British museum-robbing ring were convicted, Christie's sued collector Jose Mugrabi for failing to pay for a $37 million Basquiat he won at auction, and the NYPD seized a crate labeled "art" only to find it full of weed.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: people pillaged stones from the quarry where Stonehenge's giant rocks were sourced, the certificate of authenticity of a Lee Ufan painting recently sold at auction was found to be fake, and a curator bit a fellow passenger on an airplane.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a dog sculpture goes missing in Albuquerque, meth smugglers hide drugs in art supplies, and an artist sues Wu-Tang Clan and Martin Shkreli.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a disgraced antiquities dealer's stash of loot was discovered, a fake Picasso was seized by Turkish police, and a stolen portrait of R2-D2 was returned.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a performance artist faces charges for pooping on the Israeli flag, Le Corbusier chairs are stolen in India, and a graffiti artist sues singer Kiesza for featuring his murals in a music video.
News
Artist Orlan Tries Again to Sue Lady Gaga for Plagiarism
Two years ago, French artist Orlan sued pop star Lady Gaga in French court for plagiarism over the singer's cover art for her 2011 album Born this Way and the eponymous, award-winning music video.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: photos of same-sex couples are vandalized, Justin Bieber's street stencil campaign irks San Francisco, and a man wearing a panda hat steals art from a King Kong fast food restaurant.
News
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: a photographer sued Jeff Koons over a painting from 1986, an art thief tagged the artist in an Instagram post of his loot, and Nicolas Cage agreed to return a stolen dinosaur skull.
In Brief
Museum Sues Wikimedia for Hosting Copyrighted Photos of Its Public-Domain Artworks
On October 28 the Reiss Engelhorn Museum (REM) in Mannheim, Germany, filed a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation for making high-resolution images of public domain artworks from its collection available for download.