Lick These Links: Lucy's Skeleton in Houston, Dissing Dennison, Beware the Bears, McQueen's Ferrari, Prince's Burned House Photos

Lucy's Bones on a Slab

Is this 3.2 million-year-old woman fit to travel? The fossilized remains of Lucy, the oldest and most complete (40% intact) human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil, makes her first appearance outside of Ethiopia in an exhibition opening Aug. 31 at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, prompting outcries from famed paleontologist Richard Leakey. He predicted to Khaled Kazziha of the Associated Press that moving Lucy from her home at the National Museum in Addis Ababa (where she is not normally on display) would damage the fragile fossil and he lambasted the exhibition as "a form of prostitution" and a "gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity." Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution's National Natural History Museum have also objected. As you might suspect, this is yet another rental show, intended to raise big bucks for Ethiopian museums. They're seeking additional U.S. venues.

Eric Gibson in today's Wall Street Journal takes a jaundiced view of Lisa Dennison's move from museum director to auction-house rainmaker.

Old-time collectors just can't believe that the bull market in art can last much longer. Eventually, they'll be right. Eli Broad, in today's Bloomberg, is the latest bubble-will-burst prognosticator. Is he looking to move markets and pick up some bargains? I do believe, though, that not even the ever ebullient auction-house experts would argue that the art market could be immune to a prolonged global economic slump that might result from the current credit crisis.

Did I hear myself say this week on WNYC that today's super-rich don't want the Ferrari; they want the Warhol? Apparently they do want the Ferrari. Steve McQueen's just sold at Christie's for $2.31 million, well above its $800,000-1.2 million estimate.

Great photo essay of Richard Prince's fire-ravaged Second House, published yesterday by Martin Bromirski in his Anaba blog.

Now that I've left you some links, I'm leaving you to tackle some other links: I'm embarking on a brief golf vacation with the rest of my family foursome. And I'm the weakest link.