Australia: Sydney-based lawyer Ken Reed has bequeathed 70 works to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The collection, which is estimated to be worth A$7m, includes 25 old master paintings and 25 pieces of 18th-century European porcelain.
Greece: The €38m Onassis Cultural Center opened in Athens last month. The cultural complex has been funded by the Alexander S Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, which was established by the late tycoon Aristotle Onassis, in memory of his son. A conference on culture and civilisation formed part of the launch programme.
Italy: Charges were dropped in October against former Getty antiquities curator Marion True, who was accused of conspiring to receive antiquities illegally excavated and exported from Italy during her time at the Los Angeles Museum (1986-2005). The case was closed because the statute of limitations had expired.
Mexico: A museum housing the art collection of the world’s richest man, telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, opened last month in Mexico City. The opening show at the Soumaya Museum features 350 sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin, drawn from Slim’s 66,000-piece collection.
Saudi Arabia: The Centre Pompidou in Paris has signed a cultural agreement with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, an arts complex incorporating a museum that will be built in the Saudi Arabian city of Dhahran by 2013. The Pompidou has agreed to assist with temporary exhibition programmes, acquisitions and training.
US: A $345m, 53-gallery wing opened at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts last month. The four levels of the new building are devoted to art from north, south and central America. The galleries are organised chronologically, beginning with pre-Colombian art. The extension was designed by Foster+Partners.
US: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will return 19 artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun to Egypt next year. The objects will be housed at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open in 2012 near the Giza pyramids. The Metropolitan Museum’s director, Thomas Campbell, said Egypt’s claim on the antiquities, which were sent to New York in 1948, was justified.
Compiled by Gareth Harris. Seen in the Art Newspaper, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, Reuters and the Daily Telegraph
