The New Orleans Museum of Art Makes Paintings From Its Collection Available Online
The New Orleans Museum of Art is the latest institution to add works from its collection to the Google Cultural Institute—an online platform that allows visitors to browse masterpieces from an array of international museums. So far, the New Orleans Museum of Art has added seventy-one works to its digital collection, including pieces by Jackson Pollock, Edgar Degas, Stuart Davis, Robert Henri, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and Frederick Carl Frieseke. Click here to continue reading. (via The Washington Times)

Seven Arrests Made in Connection to Francis Bacon Theft
Spanish authorities have arrested seven individuals in connection to the theft of five paintings by Francis Bacon. The works, estimated to be worth around $27.8 million, were stolen from a home in Madrid earlier this year. The paintings, which belonged to a close friend of the late artist, have not yet been recovered. Click here to continue reading. (via PBS)

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum Names a New Director
The Rijksmuseum—the most visited museum in the Netherlands—has named Taco Dibbits as its new Director. Dibbits, who has served as the institution’s Director of Collections since 2008, will replace Wim Pijbes. In addition to facilitating a number of notable acquisitions, Dibbits played a pivotal role in the Rijksmuseum’s ten-year renovation, which drew to a close in 2013. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

A Forthcoming Biography Explores the Life and Work of Diane Arbus
A new book by the journalist Arthur Lubow will explore the life and work of the seminal photographer Diane Arbus. Known for her unflinching images of people on the outskirts of society, Arbus is widely considered one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer will be released on June 7—approximately a month before a highly-anticipated retrospective of Arbus’ work opens at the Met Breuer in New York. Click here to continue reading. (via The New Yorker)

A New Luxury Design Fair Comes to the Hamptons
Rick Friedman, founder of the art fair empire Hamptons Expo Group, has launched a new luxury living design fair. The inaugural Hamptons Contemporary Design + Decor Fair will take place in a magnificent, 40,000-square-foot pavilion at the Southampton Elks Fairgrounds. Friedman, who sold the Hamptons Expo Group—the producer a number of influential fairs, including ArtHamptons—back in 2015, says, “After I sold the fine art fairs, I took inspiration from the landscape and luxury synonymous with Hamptons living to create a new experience.” Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

Michael Govan and Peter Zumthor Unveil LACMA Expansion Plan at Venice Architecture Biennale
Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and architect Peter Zumthor revealed a model of the institution’s new wing during the first day of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Zumthor, who will helm the renovation, has been working on the expansion plan for a number years. Construction on the new wing is expected to reach completion in 2023. Click here to continue reading. (via The Los Angeles Times)

Xavier Bray Takes the Reins at the Wallace Collection
Xavier Bray has been named Director of the Wallace Collection in London. Bray, an expert in Spanish Golden Age art, is currently chief curator at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Located in the historic Hertford House, the Wallace Collection features twenty-five galleries filled with French eighteenth-century paintings, furniture and porcelain, as well as Old Master paintings and arms and armor. Click here to continue reading. (via Apollo Magazine)

Alexander Nemerov Will Partake in the National Gallery’s A. W. Mellon Lecture Series
American art scholar Alexander Nemerov will deliver six talks in 2017 as part of the National Gallery of Art’s A.W. Mellon Lecture Series. Nemerov, who teaches art history at Stanford University, will discuss the work of painters like Thomas Cole and John Quidor as part of the series titled The Forest: America in the 1830s. Launched in 1949, the A.W. Mellon Lecture Series was founded “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the Fine Arts.” Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)

Collector Returns Stolen Old Master Painting to the Westfries Museum
A Ukrainian art collector has returned a stolen Old Master painting to the Netherlands’ Westfries Museum. The work, Isaak Ouwater's Nieuwstraat in Hoorn,is one of twenty-four paintings stolen from the institution in 2005. The canvas is the fifth piece taken during the robbery to be successfully recovered. The identity of the collector has not been revealed. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

For Sale: An Oceanfront Marvel in La Jolla & One of Dallas’ Most Celebrated Homes
1. This architectural wonder boasts unmatched views of the Pacific—This home, designed by the California-based architect Don Edson, is meant to mimic the sculptural, alabaster structures found in Santorini, Greece. One of only ten homes set on Marine Street Beach—one of La Jolla’s most desirable beaches—the residence features an abundance of arched windows and walls of glass that dramatically frame the astonishing ocean views.  Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

MoMA Will Send Masterpieces from Its Collection to Australia
The Museum of Modern Art in New York will send a number of masterpieces from its collection, including works by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, to the National Gallery of Victoria. Many of the works have never been on view in Australia. Masterworks from MoMA will open in 2018. Click here to continue reading. (via The Sydney Morning Herald)

Italy Hopes to Appoint Museum Directors from Abroad
Italy is in the midst of an international search for new directors to lead its most notable museums and heritage sites. Officials hope that bringing in accomplished professionals from abroad will help reinvigorate Italy’s cultural sector. Last year, the country appointed foreigners to helm a number of its most high-profile museums, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Click here to continue reading. (via The Telegraph)     

Court Rules That Henry Moore Statue Belongs to East London
After a lengthy legal battle between Tower Hamlets Council in east London and Bromley Council in south London, the Court of Appeal has ruled that Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman belongs to Tower Hamlets. The work, which currently resides in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Yorkshire, will be moved to a more secure location in east London. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)  

UC San Diego Shutters Art Gallery
After losing funding last year, UC San Diego has decided to shutter its University Art Gallery for good. The announcement coincides with the gallery’s fiftieth anniversary. The university, which has seen a swell in enrollment, will convert the gallery into classrooms. UC San Diego will now be the only University of California school without a major on-campus art gallery. Click here to continue reading. (via Hyperallergic)  

Top 3 ID Projects of the Week: An Exotic Retreat, A Refined Brooklyn Heights Duplex & A Bold Upper East Side Apartment
1. Haverford Original by Eberlein Design Consultants—This stunning home posed a unique challenge for designer Barbara Eberlein: how to integrate the two divergent backgrounds of its owners—his dramatic southern Californian and her exotic Dutch-Indonesian—seamlessly? Eberlein embarked on a comprehensive renovation, transforming the 1930s Georgian structure into an oasis of rich colors, sensual textures, and gleaming woods. Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

French Museums Close as the Seine Rises
The Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay have closed their doors as the nearby Seine River continues to rise, threatening dangerous flooding. Both institutions have emergency plans in place and will relocate collections as the need arises. According to a statement from the Louvre, the museum has already begun moving works from an underground storage facility to higher floors. After days of rain, Paris’ city center has been placed on an orange-level floor alert. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)

A Recently Discovered James Ensor Painting Nets Over $1 Million at Auction
A recently discovered painting by the Belgian artist James Ensor realized $1.1 million at an auction in Vienna on Tuesday, May 31. The painting, which was created between 1925 and 1930, was first owned by Simone Breton—an art dealer and wife of the Surrealist pioneer, Andre Breton. The work has remained in the Breton family until now. The current auction record for a work by James Ensor is $6.9 million. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

Photographer William Eggleston Leaves Gagosian Gallery for David Zwirner
The influential photographer William Eggleston is the latest artist to join David Zwirner Gallery. For the past five years, Eggleston has been represented by Gagosian Gallery. Zwirner, who represents some of the most sought-after artists working today, including, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, and Luc Tuymans, will mount an exhibition of Eggleston’s photographs from the 1980s in November. Click here to continue reading. (via The New York Times)  

The Vitra Museum Unveils Its New Building
The Vitra Museum has unveiled its new, Herzog & de Meuron-designed gallery in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The new space will allow the Vitra Design Museum to display its permanent collection for the first time. The gallery joins a slew of other architecturally important structures on the museum’s campus, including works by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Tadao Ando. The Vitra Design Museum’s illustrious collection includes over 7,000 pieces of furniture, and the estates of mid century furniture designers including Verner Panton and Charles & Ray Eames. Click here to continue reading. (via Blouin ArtInfo)

Interior Designer Robert Passal’s Glamorous Manhattan Apartment
For most interior designers, there are easy clients, difficult clients, and then there is the hardest client of all: themselves. “When you work with clients, you have lots of parameters,” says Robert Passal, a New York designer known for his traditional-meets-glam style and roster of high-profile clients including Yankees’ All-Star Alex Rodriguez and trendsetting hair stylist Guido Palau. “When you do your own work, the options are unlimited. It can be much more difficult to design for yourself.” Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)