"What makes the usto ply their craft when their own culture moves beyond them? Some find work by updating old techniques for new patrons. Others create because that alone is what gives their life purpose." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Recently, studies using x-rays, CT scans and DNA testing showed Tutankhamun had malaria, along with some other medical conditions such as a cleft palate. He also broke his leg just before he died. - The Conversation
Uncertainty about an artist’s intentions—including, but not limited to, which way she intended the picture to be top and which bottom—is not a sign of what a certain man would call a “hoax”; it is a sign of originality of purpose and a tolerance for open-ended inquiry. - The New Yorker
The National Gallery of Art in DC, which owns the painting and is lending it out for this year's Vermeer blockbuster, says that its high-tech examinations show that the painting is not authentic. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which is presenting the big exhibition, insists otherwise. - The Guardian
Our sex can play a role in how we perceive color, as well as our age and even the color of our irises. Our perception can change depending on where we live, when we were born and what season it is. - Knowable Magazine
Jean-Christophe Quinton made a point of designing the project, inside and out, so that the neighbors in the 6th arrondissement would approve of its look — if they noticed it much at all. - Bloomberg CityLab
This tactic was certainly a provocative act and Van Gogh’s work is undoubtedly some of the most important artwork of modern times. However, many of these commentaries on Just Stop Oil’s actions simply just don’t hold up. - The Conversation
For a country as young as Kosovo, which achieved independence in 2008, the arrival of Manifesta this summer was a coup, bringing hundreds of curators, dealers and critics to Pristina and giving the city a rare moment of the international art world’s attention. - The New York Times
Over the course of the last two decades, Frances Morris served in various role at the London museum, as head of displays and as director of the its international art collection. In 2016, she was appointed as director at Tate Modern, becoming the first women to lead the museum.
On Tuesday evening, Lil Nas X posted an iconic diptych of himself “throwing” a photoshopped van Gogh “Sunflowers” painting at an Andy Warhol soup can work, along with the caption “i will avenge u mr van gogh.” - Hyperallergic
“We shouldn’t be vehicles for political protest and we shouldn’t be vehicles in and of itself for political change. I regard museums as civic institutions playing their role in society as providing a frame and context for the political and social discussions while remaining highly trusted.” - ARTnews
The first clue that the painting, an adhesive tape version of the similarly named New York (which hangs right-side up in Paris at the Centre Pompidou), was hung incorrectly came from a photograph of the artist’s studio in taken in 1944, shortly after he passed away. ARTnews
"We don't know the protests are effective, and we do know they're likely to cause financial problems for many museums. Here I'll add my own concern: The activists look so silly. ... The soup-and-superglue movement fails an important test of youthful, radical politics: It does not look cool." - MSN (The Atlantic)
The two plots are at the southwest corner of the National Mall, near the Washington Monument: one is directly across the Mall from the African-American Museum, and the other is directly around the corner, facing the Tidal Basin. - MSN (The Washington Post)
