Abu Dhabi/France: The text of the treaty between France and the government of the United Arab Emirates over the creation of the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been made public and can be found on www.latribunedelart.com/Editoriaux/Accord_Abu_Dhabi.pdf
Belgium: A new Magritte museum is being created within the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. Due to open in summer 2009, it will house the largest display of the artist in the world and will be designated as a separate museum with its own admission charges. It is being set up with the Magritte Foundation.
France: The construction of a new wing for Islamic art has started at the Louvre. The €86m project, due to be completed in 2010, will create 4,000 sq metres of gallery space in one of the museum's neoclassical courtyards.
France: Jeff Koons will be exhibiting some of his most famous works in the palace and gardens of Versailles from September to December this year. The show will include Hanging Heart suspended from the Queen's Staircase.
Italy: A privately organised loan exhibition which was to show 130 old masters from the Louvre at Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona in September has been cancelled because of delays in upgrading the venue for the event. About 100,000 advance tickets had been sold.
The project had been criticised because of the €4m loan fee being paid to the Louvre and there had been objections in France because of the number of major works being lent.
Sharjah: A new Museum of Islamic Civilisation opened in June with a loan exhibition of artefacts from the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. The museum houses a collection of 5,000 artefacts mostly belonging to the ruler of Sharjah, Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi.
US: A third of the collection of Coptic sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum of Art has been revealed as fakes. The works were mainly bought in the 1960s and 70s through major dealers in New York and Switzerland. At the time of their acquisition they were hailed as the largest group of sculpture to have survived the early Christian era. Hundreds were acquired by museums in North America and Europe.
US: The Association of Art Museum Directors is considering the ethical issues surrounding Denver Art Museum's acquisition of a painting by Thomas Eakins. In return for a financial donation to fund the purchase, a local billionaire collector received 50 per cent ownership in the painting as well as 50 per cent ownership in another major work already in the museum's collection.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen. Seen in artsjournal.com, the Art Newspaper and Bloomberg
Belgium: A new Magritte museum is being created within the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. Due to open in summer 2009, it will house the largest display of the artist in the world and will be designated as a separate museum with its own admission charges. It is being set up with the Magritte Foundation.
France: The construction of a new wing for Islamic art has started at the Louvre. The €86m project, due to be completed in 2010, will create 4,000 sq metres of gallery space in one of the museum's neoclassical courtyards.
France: Jeff Koons will be exhibiting some of his most famous works in the palace and gardens of Versailles from September to December this year. The show will include Hanging Heart suspended from the Queen's Staircase.
Italy: A privately organised loan exhibition which was to show 130 old masters from the Louvre at Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona in September has been cancelled because of delays in upgrading the venue for the event. About 100,000 advance tickets had been sold.
The project had been criticised because of the €4m loan fee being paid to the Louvre and there had been objections in France because of the number of major works being lent.
Sharjah: A new Museum of Islamic Civilisation opened in June with a loan exhibition of artefacts from the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. The museum houses a collection of 5,000 artefacts mostly belonging to the ruler of Sharjah, Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi.
US: A third of the collection of Coptic sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum of Art has been revealed as fakes. The works were mainly bought in the 1960s and 70s through major dealers in New York and Switzerland. At the time of their acquisition they were hailed as the largest group of sculpture to have survived the early Christian era. Hundreds were acquired by museums in North America and Europe.
US: The Association of Art Museum Directors is considering the ethical issues surrounding Denver Art Museum's acquisition of a painting by Thomas Eakins. In return for a financial donation to fund the purchase, a local billionaire collector received 50 per cent ownership in the painting as well as 50 per cent ownership in another major work already in the museum's collection.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen. Seen in artsjournal.com, the Art Newspaper and Bloomberg
