Halo, Banned On Banksy Tube Poster, Is Restored "Transport for London (TfL) banned the halo dripping with paint on Banksy's artwork promoting his film Forgive Us Our Trespassing. The poster was reworked and displayed without the offending drips. But within days of it going up at London Bridge Tube on 11 March, the golden circle over the kneeling boy's head was repainted." BBC 03/17/10

Sole Rothschild Foundation Trustee Benefits From Position "A major beneficiary of the foundation's efforts over the years" is Harvey S. Shipley Miller, who said his work is "a labor of love." "The foundation, however, failed to make promised grant payments to arts groups last year. And now the New York State attorney general's office is undertaking a broader review of the foundation and Mr. Miller's stewardship even though the grants have since been paid." The New York Times 03/18/10

Will The New Miami Art Museum Ever Be Built? Miami-Dade voters have approved $255 million in bonds, starchitects Herzog and de Meuron have been engaged, $20 million in public money has been spent - all in pursuit of a shiny new waterfront building for MAM. That building is now two years behind schedule (so far), and the museum has lost its director and an unsettling number of trustees and donors. Miami New Times 03/16/10

MOCA Fund-Raiser At Private Gallery? Bad Idea. "Appearances matter. In this case, there is no way to determine whether the relationship between the gallery and the museum is philanthropic or business-driven. That's not the gallery's problem, but it is the museum's. MOCA is stumbling into troublesome territory." Los Angeles Times 03/16/10

SFMOMA Mulls Boldface-Name Architects For Expansion "[G]rand masters like Renzo Piano and Norman Foster as well as emerging stars like Norway's Snohetta and London-based Tanzanian designer David Adjaye" are among those being considered, alongside "Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, Rem Koolhaas, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Steven Holl, and Mexican architect Enrique Norton." San Francisco Business Times 03/16/10

Michigan State Breaks Ground On Modern Art Museum "Designed by Zaha Hadid, the Baghdad, Iraq-born architect who ranks among the world's foremost designers, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum features a sharply angular, glass and pleated stainless steel skin that boldly goes where no Michigan building has gone before." Detroit Free Press 03/17/10

Museum Quadruples Visitors With Terra Cotta Warriors "In anticipation of the crowds, the [National Geographic Museum] doubled its exhibition space and, for the first time in its long history, charged admission. ... During the show, the museum has counted upwards of 2,200 people a day, as opposed to the 550 visitors it normally receives. The financial payoff? An estimated $2.7 million in gross revenue." Washington Post 03/17/10

Lloyd Webber Foundation To Sell Blue Period Picasso With a current high estimate of $60.9 million, "the work had been scheduled to be sold by the Lloyd Webber Foundation at Christie's New York in November 2006" but "was withdrawn after a German academic claimed it was forcibly sold to the Nazis in the mid- 1930s." The dispute was later settled. Bloomberg 03/17/10

Art Dubai Isn't The Scene It Once Was "A third of last year's exhibitors are skipping Art Dubai, including dealerships such as London's Lisson Gallery and New York's L&M Arts. With booth rates discounted by 20 percent, there are 72 exhibitors -- four more than in 2009. About 40 percent are first-timers." Bloomberg 03/17/10

Calling All Goldsmiths: The Bolshoi Wants You The managers of the lengthy, expensive, complicated rehab of Moscow's landmark theater are looking for artisans skilled in a specialized Russian gilding technique to restore the Bolshoi's lavish golden décor. Russia Today 03/14/10

Stratocasters And Zebra Finches An installation at the Barbican's Curve gallery features a set of microphoned guitars and cymbals being "played" by a flock of zebra finches who flit about and perch on the instruments. The Guardian (UK) 03/16/10

Rating Art: The Best Approach To Criticism? "In fact, in all the interviews with and biographies of great artists I have read, this is how they talk about art. The truth is that overanalysing art, as opposed to intuitively rating it, carries its own dangers." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/10

Gardner Heist Author: 'Run-Of-The-Mill Crooks' Did It "The museum was less secure than the average 7-Eleven or bank that night, [Ulrich] Boser said. According to a previous Globe investigation, the Gardner was equipped with only one alarm button and two young guards." Boston Globe 03/16/10

Prosecutor: Whitey Bulger Didn't Steal Gardner Paintings "Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly, who prosecuted [South Boston gang leader turned fugitive] Bulger and his criminal gang, said that investigators had specifically looked at a possible Bulger link to the crime, including interrogating former Bulger associates Stephen Flemmi and Kevin Weeks, but found no links." Boston Globe 03/16/10

Archaeologists Find Cemetery Rife With Sexual Symbolism "In the women's coffins, the Chinese archaeologists encountered one or more life-size wooden phalluses.... Looking again at the shaping of the 13-foot poles that rise from the prow of each woman's boat, the archaeologists concluded that the poles were in fact gigantic phallic symbols," corresponding to "symbolic vulvas" on the men's. The New York Times 03/16/10

Study: Mona Lisa's Smile Shifts, Thanks To Painting Trick "Austrian neurologists say analysis of the masterpiece shows her face appears to shift depending where a person focuses their gaze. If her eyes are stared at, it appears she has a subtle smile on her lips. But if the onlooker shifts their gaze to her mouth, then the smile disappears." The Telegraph (UK) 03/15/10

Boston-Area Billboards Picture Stolen Gardner Museum Art "[B]eginning today Clear Channel Outdoor is running an FBI poster on two of its digital billboards announcing the $5 million reward for the stolen art and urging anyone with information to contact the FBI and go to gardnermuseum.org for more information." Boston Globe 03/15/10

What Does Ben Bernanke's Taste In Art Tell Us About Him? Yes, the Federal Reserve board has its own art collection. "Rather than being predictable, Mr. Bernanke's stylistic choices at the Fed changed three times during my years at the Fed. His willingness to try different styles and periods of art was indeed the mark of a man who could be creative, innovative and flexible." Wall Street Journal 03/16/10

Follow Van Gogh Restoration Online A new blog will allow art lovers to follow the restoration, step by step, of Dutch post impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh's famous "The Bedroom", the Van Gogh Museum said Thursday. The Independent (UK) 03/13/10

Museums - The New Hip Concert Venue "At the forefront of a growing number of bands that [yoke] together artistic and musical practices, the Lucky Dragons have performed at several museums, including the Whitney in New York and the Pompidou Center in Paris. Like kindred local spirits Los Elegantes and My Barbarian, or Yacht from Portland, Ore., they view performance, visual art and music as one seamless expression." Los Angeles Times 03/14/10

Philadelphia Museum Sues Over Art Swindle A pair of lawsuits filed this week detail a swindle that appears to have cost the Philadelphia Museum of Art $1.5 million. Philadelphia Daily News 03/14/10

A New Economic Model For Performance Art? "In the past, performance artists have often sold photographic or video documentation of performances, say, or props and other artifacts left over after the events. But Tino Sehgal is believed to be the first to have sold the rights to the performance itself." The New York Times 03/14/10

Does The World Really Need A Denver Biennale? "Plans are solidifying for what is being billed as a 'hemis-fair,' with discussions on politics, culture and ideas drawing leaders from across North and South America." Denver Post 03/14/10

Another Proposed Boston Cultural Building Bites The Dust "Four years after showing off plans for a glitzy $80 million building on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, organizers of the New Center for Arts and Culture have decided to abandon those plans, leaving yet another empty space on the sprawling tract created by the Big Dig." Boston Globe 03/12/10

Questions For "Barnes" Movie Maker "A lot of great collectors talk about themselves as mere custodians of the work they collect. Should the fact that someone has deep enough pockets to buy a lot of great art give him an absolute right to control the circumstances in which the work is seen, even after he is dead?" Boston Globe 03/14/10