David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. - The New York Times
The British Museum will lend two fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to an exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, while Greece has rejected a request to lend nine Parthenon fragments from the Acropolis Museum for the same exhibition. - Greek Reporter
It would be easy to describe the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens Sept. 22, as “unconventional,” a description the museum’s leaders seem to favor, though “oppositional” also comes to mind. - Los Angeles Times
“Everyone experienced the attacks on 9/11 as this really, really intense television event, and bringing a piece of steel from the World Trade Center ... allowed people to lay hands on these artifacts and to really feel this kind of deep expression of complex and lingering grief.” - NPR
Of course, “while the museum and the Walton family espouse natural connections between art, community and general well-being (see also recent major investments in healthcare), the urge to collect continues apace.” - KC Studio
"Among the French, the mood is anxious. The tapestry’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to have led a fameless existence in Bayeux for hundreds of years.” - The New Yorker
“Portrait of a Lady by Italian baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi was missing for eight decades before being photographed in 2025 hanging in the home of the daughter of a senior Nazi officer who had fled to Argentina after the second world war.” - The Guardian (UK)
The art world’s merriest prankster; the guy who duct-taped a banana to a gallery wall, called it “Comedian,” and saw it get eaten, sold for $6.2 million, and then eaten again — he says “My work has always been serious. The problem is people often stop at the joke.” - The Guardian
If we look at the meanings incorporated into different objects during the early medieval period, we see that the Bayeux tapestry is a visual form of the scop, an early medieval storyteller who told tales of heroes and great deeds, helping to preserve the oral tradition of the early English peoples. - The Conversation
According to the VPD, a caller reported seeing a person’s feet sticking out from behind a counter and believed medical assistance was needed. - Vancouver City News
After years of extensive renovation and structural upgrades, the LDS Church will open its signature temple April 5 to the public — Mormons and non-Mormons alike – for six months of unprecedented tours. - CNN
Attacks on Bauhaus by Alternative for Germany, also known as AfD, come as Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany is about to vote in an election that could see a far-right party take control of one of the country’s states for the first time since World War II. - AP
“The anonymous homeowner was planning to build a new terrace in his garden when he found … a trove of 700 Viking Age silver objects and fragments. … The hoard contains numerous silver bars, as well as bracelets, 47 whole coins and fragments, a small Thor’s hammer, and various cut silver objects.” - ARTnews
The twin towers were a product of their time, the mid-1960s, and what has replaced them is still, sadly, in too many ways a product of that same time. We have learned a lot about building cities since the World Trade Center went up, and we did not put nearly enough of that knowledge to use. - The New York...