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Russian Soldiers Remove Art From Mariupol Museums And Take It To Donbas

The city council of the occupied, now-largely-destroyed Ukrainian city says that more than 2,000 works, including paintings by the renowned 19th-century artists Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Aivazovsky, were taken by Russian forces to Donetsk, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014. - The Guardian

Russians Steal Ancient Scythian Gold From Ukrainian Museum

Russian soldiers and intelligence officers, along with "a Russian-speaking man in a white lab coat" and a film crew, entered the Melitopol Museum of Local History and stole an entire collection, which had been carefully hidden, of 2,300-year-old Scythian gold ornaments, plates and weapons. - The New York Times

That Philip Guston Show Is Opening In Boston At Last, But Are We Ready?

The exhibition in Boston is "a referendum, of sorts, on just how far the MFA and its peer institutions have evolved when it comes to grappling with the issue of white racism following the murder of George Floyd." - Boston Globe

The Venice Biennale Was Surrounded By, And Part Of, This Meaning-Free Surreal Moment

Take the NFTs, for example: "banal, tasteless and pointlessly surreal ... The ambiance was somewhere between that of a particularly bad high school art exhibition and a video game expo." - Washington Post

Ady Fidelin Was Man Ray’s Muse, And The First Black Model In Harper’s Bazaar

During WWII, Fidelin also preserved Man Ray's entire studio. "Without her preservation, Strauss said, 'we’d be missing a whole chunk of Dada and Surrealist paintings, drawings and objects.'" - The New York Times

A Very, Very Cleaned Up Constable Takes Center Stage

It only took 270 to get the yellowed varnish off. Looks like the 19th century wasn't as dark and dreary as one might previously have concluded, hey. - BBC

An Artist Takes Advantage Of The Bridgerton Moment To Remind Everyone Of The Black Aristocracy

Glory Samjolly, paints oil portraits of Black business owners, artists, writers, and intellectuals in the styles of the European old masters, but she also runs an Instagram account where she posts historical works of Afro Europeans. - The New York Times

Russian Troops Looted Art Museums In Mariupol

The Mariupol City Council says that "Russian forces have seized more than 2,000 pieces of artwork from the besieged port city of Mariupol," and the works "have been taken to Russian-occupied Donetsk." - Washington Post

UK Art Dealer: Brexit Has Killed Our International Sales

Since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, Shovlar’s income has dropped by 60%. He says trade with the EU, where 99% of his clients are based, is now “virtually impossible” and the 30 to 50 sales he was making a week have dwindled. - The Art Newspaper

For The First Time, There’s A Comprehensive Reference Source On Indian Art — And It’s Online And Free

"An upstart museum in (Bangalore) has launched an open-source digital encyclopedia of ... the subcontinent's rich artistic history, dating from 10,000 years ago to the present. Included on the free platform, which went live last week, are thousands of articles on famous artists, movements, disciplines, techniques, and other topics." - Artnet

Flemish Modern Architecture Used To Be Notoriously Ugly.  New Buildings There Now Are Really Cool.  How’d That Happen?

"It is an astonishing output for a region of six million people, featuring elegant libraries and special educational needs schools, as well as dramatic concert halls and bridges – in a place once derided as 'the ugliest country in the world'."  Oliver Wainwright explains the change. - The Guardian

Russia Threatens To Imprison Artist For Work He Showed At Moscow Art Fair

The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a “rehabilitation of Nazism” case against Kulik. If he’s found guilty, the artist reportedly faces a fine of up to three million rubles, forced labor for up to three years, or imprisonment for up to three years. - Artnet

A Paris Curator Is Auctioning Off Lalanne Sculptures To Help Pay For An Expansion Of The Musée d’Orsay

"A trove of sculptures and objects by the design duo Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne are hitting the auction block at Sotheby's to help fund the Musée d'Orsay's forthcoming research and archive center." - Artnet

“Unprecedented”: Ancient Phoenician Burial Complex Discovered In Andalusia

"Archaeologists exploring the site – which was discovered amid the Roman ruins in the town of Osuna, 55 miles (90km) east of Seville – say the Phoenician-Carthaginian cemetery dates back to the fourth or fifth century BC." - The Guardian

Three New Buildings Shake Up Boston Architecture

“Once a decade or two, Boston’s architectural establishment breaks out of its inherent conservative aesthetic comforts and heeds a call for some inventiveness.”  - Bloomberg

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