The Manhattan District Attorney's office seized dozens of ancient artifacts in June from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bringing the total value of looted objects recovered from the New York institution to $95 million, the New York Times reports Paradoxically, the museum has characterized the seizures as a collaborative effort in sharing provenance information with investigators, pointing to the fact that it agreed to part with the items rather than categorically refuse an official demand to hand over stolen art. The Met has also expanded its in-house provenance research team. Yet, as Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, noted in a statement, the museum's "collaborative" framing contradicts the very notion of a police seizure—the bureau has also grown frustrated at the slow pace of the Met's provenance review. The high number of seizures "spoke for themselves," he said. "The question has to be asked, 'Why are we the ones doing this?'" Meanwhile, the Met's head of provenance research, Lucian Simmons, insists: "The Met doesn't want any stolen art in our collection." Among the seized items are antiquities from Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and elsewhere, ranging in value from $20,000 to $26 million.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York’s City Council have approved $323.8 million in funding for culture, reports Hyperallergic. That’s a record amount of yearly funding. Specifically, the $323.8 million will go to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), representing a seven percent increase over last year’s $299.6 million and more than $100 million more than the City Council initially proposed. In a statement, Mamdani said the budget was part of his mission to make life more affordable for New York artists. “A crushing affordability crisis has threatened to drive out the very artists who have long defined life in this city,” he said. The budget also established a $10 million “Cultural Stability Fund” to support struggling cultural organizations.
A retrospective dedicated to the late Argentine artist León Ferrari was canceled at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) in Santiago due to budget cuts by Chile’s newly installed far-right government led by José Antonio Kast, reports The Art Newspaper. The major exhibition was scheduled to open in June, after three years of prep, conceived as an adaptation of the 2023 exhibit Recurrencias in Buenos Aires. However, lack of funding amid budget cuts to the arts, spearheaded by Antonio Kast’s government, has brought the project to a screeching halt. The government told Andrés Duprat, a curator organizing the exhibit and the director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Argentina, that “unfortunately, they could not afford to put on the exhibition." He added that "it is a great shame. Everything was already in place: the list of works, the transport and insurance budgets, and the exhibition layout." Chile’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage budget was slashed by nearly 10 percent by the new government. Importantly, Ferrari’s work, which condemns state violence and authoritarianism, is in conflict with Antonio Kast’s ultra-conservative politics, which have been connected to the memory of Chile’s former dictator, Augusto Pinochet.
more short news ......
A photograph by Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov, from his 1993 series, AT Dusk, was stolen from the Radvila Palace Museum of Art, a part of the Lithuanian National Art. [ Ocula ]
A painting was picked up on the street by a resident of Murcia, Spain, because he liked its elegant golden frame; later, he learned that he had a valuable Joaquín Sorolla painting in his hands. The Guardian ]
Andrés Hurtado displays the painting by Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla that he found on the street. Photograph: Marcial Guillén/EPA
The discovery of toxic levels of lead in Paris’ monumental Palais Garnier Opera will delay its planned renovation. [ Le Figaro ]
Archaeologists are defending their mid-20th-century colleague, Juan Cabré, against accusations that he placed 90 gold coins in the church of the Gothic city of Recópolis, in Guadalajara, to back a claim that it was built by King Leovigild. [ El País ]
