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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

The Native American Artist Who Insisted That Indians Get To Define Indian Art

The furious response that Yanktonai Dakota artist Oscar Howe wrote when rejected for the 1958 Philbrook Indian Annual competition because the abstract painting he submitted was "a fine painting, but not Indian" still resonates today, while Howe himself went on to produce a very impressive body of work. - Smithsonian Magazine

Farmer At Work Digs Up 4,500-Year-Old Sculpture

A late Bronze Age stone head depicting Anat, the ancient Canaanite goddess of love and war (and the sister of Baal), was discovered by a farmer in the southern Gaza Strip. - BBC

Archaeologists Find Enormous Underground City In Turkey

The newly unearthed Midyat city dwarfs Derinkuyu in comparison. It could hold at least 60–70,000 people. - ARTnews

Inquest Into Harassment At Paris Museums Ordered By Mayor

A report by the French daily Libération uncovered serious allegations of racial and sexual harassment, and even assault, at six of the 14 museums run by the municipal government. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has ordered that all cases be handled expeditiously and that preventive measures be implemented. - Apollo

Italy’s “Monuments Men”-Style Task Force Has A New Deal With UNESCO

"The first heritage task force of its kind, the Blue Helmets includes officers from Italy's specialist police force for art crime, and ... art historians and restorers. Its main tasks include assessing damage to heritage, planning conservation, and preventing looting and trafficking after terrorist attacks or natural disasters." - The Art Newspaper

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