Vancouver

Unfair portrayal of Bill Reid
Re: The Artist: A Genius, A Trickster, An Uncaring Brute, Brian Hutchinson, Dec. 18. Bill Reid was an astounding artist and man. Anyone that met him could not fail to perceive this in an instant.  Letter to the Editor, National Post, December 21, 2010

Toronto

'Andrew' drawings pop up around Toronto  Andrew is Andrew Mackenzie Hull, an architect, writer and filmmaker who died in May in London, England, of a head injury after a bicycle accident. He was 46 and had recently finished production on his first feature film, Siren.  The artist is Shaan Syed, 33, originally from Toronto who was Hull's long-term partner.  CBC, December 20, 2010

Montreal
Archeologist dies after accident in Old Montreal  An archeologist digging for the remnants of Canada's first parliament building has died after he was buried in rubble earlier this week in Old Montreal.  CBC, December 17, 2010

Newfoundland

He took pictures of princes, but outports were his passion   Ben Hansen (1927-2010) was a pioneer of Newfoundland cultural photography. Using black and white film, he shot the vernacular of Newfoundland outports: boats, stages, wooden-pegged clotheslines foregrounding weathered clapboard houses, buckets and brooms on a porch, cod drying on a line.  Globe and Mail, December 21, 2010

Los Angeles

What Did LA-MOCA Pay for the Mural It Painted Over?   "But despite all the polarized assertions, one question has lingered. Did Blu get paid for the mural that MOCA commissioned - and if so, how much?" (In fact, museum director Jeffrey Deitch says that MOCA itself didn't pay the artist's fee at all.) Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2010

Boulder, Colorado
Colorado City Removes Mysterious Sculpture That Suddenly Appeared On Museum Lawn

"Six city workers took just under 20 minutes Monday to lower, disassemble, strap down and drive away a sculpture that mysteriously appeared on the front lawn of the Boulder History Museum a week ago. The work of art was deposited overnight Dec. 13 by an unknown sculptor, inspiring people to come by the museum to take pictures and try to decipher its meaning." Boulder Camera, December 20, 2010

New York

A Velázquez Portrait Is Reinstated at the Met   In 1973, a 1624 image of Philip IV was found to have been made by Velázquez’s studio, not the artist. A reassessment has reversed that conclusion.  New York Times, December 21, 2010

U.S. seizes Nazi-looted art in NYC   U.S. authorities have seized two paintings by Polish artist Julian Falat believed to have been looted by the Nazis during the Second World War.  CBC, December 21, 2010  

Washington, D.C.

ARTIST’S WISHES UNHEEDED BY U.S. GALLERY   The National Portrait Gallery in Washington will not comply with a Canadian artist’s request that it remove a work of his from the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the gallery’s spokeswoman said Monday.   National Post, December 21, 2010

Madrid

Stolen Picasso, Botero, Chillida Works Recovered in Madrid   Spanish police have secured 34 of the 35 artworks - pieces by Picasso, Botero, Chillida and others, collectively worth €5 million - in a truck stolen from a warehouse last month. The tipster: a scrap metal merchant to whom the thieves offered some of the sculpture. The Guardian (UK), December 20, 2010

Art thieves caught after trying to sell $1M sculpture to scrapyard for $40   Works stolen in one of Spain’s biggest art thefts have been recovered after thieves tried to sell a $1-million sculpture by Eduardo Chillida, pictured, to a scrapyard for $40.  National Post, December 21, 2010

Cheryl Siegel, Librarian/Archivist

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street Vancouver BC, V6Z 2H7

604-662-4709