The Former Head of the Centre Pompidou Pleads Guilty to Misusing Public Funds
Agnès Saal, who served as the Executive Director of the Centre Pompidou in Paris from 2007 to 2014, has pleaded guilty to misusing public funds during her time at the institution. In April 2015, it was revealed that Saal had spent $43,000 on taxis between January 2013 and April 2014 while at the Centre Pompidou, and an additional $45,000  between 2014 and 2015, while she was the director of the National Audiovisual Institute. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)  

Sekhemka Statue Will Leave England Despite Efforts To Keep It in the Country
A monumental ancient Egyptian sculpture will leave England after plans to raise the funds needed to keep it in the country failed. The statue of the scribe Sekhemka was sold by the Northampton Museum to a foreign buyer for a record £15.8m in 2014. Authorities quickly deferred the buyer’s request for an export license, but were unable to find a buyer in the UK. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)

The Peabody Essex Museum Appoints a New Deputy Director
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, has appointed Lynda Roscoe Hartigan Deputy Director. Hartigan, who has served as the institution’s chief curator since 2003, will replace Josh Basseches. Before joining the Peabody Essex Museum, Hartigan, an American art scholar and an expert on the work of Joseph Cornell, served as the chief curator at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. Click here to continue reading. (via WBUR)  

A Blockbuster Rothko Painting Could Fetch $40 Million at Auction
A large, blue-and-green canvas by Mark Rothko, a master of Abstract Expressionism, is expected to fetch between $30 million and $40 million at Christie’s post-war and contemporary art evening sale on May 10 in New York. Created in 1957, No. 17 was included in a seminal Rothko retrospective that introduced European audiences to the artist's work. Rothko continues to command astronomical prices at auction as evidenced by the sale of his 1958 painting, No. 10, last May, which garnered nearly $82 million, just shy of his $86.8-million auction record. Click here to continue reading. (via ABC News)

For Sale: Frank Lloyd Wright's Pied-a-Terre at the Plaza and a California Ranch Filled with Antiques
1. Frank Lloyd Wright lived in this pied-a-terre at the Plaza while working on the Guggenheim. Located in New York’s iconic Plaza Residences, this 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom condo served as Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and headquarters while overseeing the construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in the 1950s. Built in 1907 by Henry J. Hardenberg, the Plaza stands at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park and stretches twenty stories high. A Historic National Landmark, the stunning structure was designed in the style of a French Renaissance chateau. Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

The Louvre Remains the World’s Most Visited Art Museum
A recent study conducted by The Art Newspaper revealed that with 8.6 million visitors in 2015, the Musee du Louvre remains the most popular art museum in the world. The institution saw 600,000 less visitors last year than in 2014—a result of the devastating terrorist attacks that shook the city in November. The Louvre is once again trailed by the British Museum, which welcomed a respectable 6.8 million visitors in 2015. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

US Museums Spent $5 Billion on Expansions Between 2007 and 2014
Museums in the United States spent a whopping $5 billion on expansions between 2007 and 2014, despite the country’s faltering economy. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York  are among the twenty-six institutions that have pledged or spent millions upgrading their facilities. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)  

A Trove of Modern Architecture Images are Now Available Online
Attention modern design lovers: the University of Southern California Libraries has digitized approximately 1,300 rare photographs of mid century structures in the American west. The images, which allow visitors to tour architectural marvels that are otherwise closed to the public, depict masterpieces by a number of Modernist icons, including Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Frey, William Lustig, and John Lautner. Click here to continue reading. (via Hyperallergic)

Bern’s Museum of Fine Arts Will Exhibit Works from Cornelius Gurlitt’s Estate
The Museum of Fine Arts in Bern, Switzerland, will exhibit Cornelius Gurlitt’s Nazi-era art hoard beginning this winter. The collection, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Marc Chagall, has been cloaked in controversy since Gurlitt bequeathed it to the institution upon his death in 2014. The museum quickly enlisted a taskforce to assess the history of each artwork, but discovered that only one percent of the collection could be proven to be of sound provenance. Click here to continue reading. (via AFP)

This Week’s Top 3 Interior Design Projects: Colorful Homes & A Historic Apartment with a Stunning Modern Art Collection
1. Upper East Side Townhouse by Cullman & Kravis. This bright and airy Upper East Side townhouse marries youthful exuberance with old-school refinement. The elegant home gets an energizing boost from punchy colors, luxe finishes and whimsical decor. Oozing with personality, the abode is a study in balance—bold pinks are reigned in by silvers, grays and whites, and unexpected elements, like taxidermy pieces, are complemented by the inhabitants’ extensive photography collection. Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

Le Corbusier’s Cité de Refuge Opens to the Public
Paris’ newly restored Cité de Refuge will open for public tours this month. Designed by the seminal Modernist architect, Le Corbusier, and his equally influential cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, in 1933, the structure was Le Corbusier’s first urban housing project. Inspired by the design of ocean liners, the Cité de Refuge was badly damaged during World War II. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)  

The Whitney Names Its New Building After Leonard Lauder
The Whitney Museum of American Art, which moved from its landmark Marcel Breuer-designed building on the Upper East Side to the Meatpacking District last May, has named its new Renzo Piano-designed home after Leonard Lauder, the institution's Chairman Emeritus. The announcement was made on Tuesday, April 5, during a dinner honoring Lauder, who contributed $131 million to the building’s construction. The structure will be named the Leonard A. Lauder Building. Click here to continue reading. (via The New York Times)

Christie’s Closes Offices in Three Major Cities
Christie’s has announced that it will close its offices in Boston, Philadelphia and Palm Beach, as it plans to expand its presence on the West Coast as well as in the Midwest and Southwest regions. Clients in the three cities will now be serviced by the auction house’s New York location. In January, Christie’s reported a five percent decline in annual sales—the first time revenue has dipped in five years. Click here to continue reading. (via Bloomberg)

A Long-Lost Caravaggio Painting May Have Been Found in France
The second version of Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes may have been discovered in a private French collection. The work has been missing since the early 17th century. While the authenticity of the painting has not yet been proven, Italian specialists and Caravaggio experts are expected to evaluate the work shortly. If proven to be a true Caravaggio, the painting could be worth up to $113 million. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

Two Men Have Been Arrested in Connection to a Stolen Munch Lithograph
Norwegian officials have arrested two men in connection to a stolen Edvard Munch lithograph that went missing in 2009. The hand-colored lithograph, which was stolen from the Nyborgs Kunst art gallery in Oslo, was recovered earlier this week. The suspects, who are currently in jail, are accused of handling the stolen artwork, not carrying out the theft. Click here to continue reading. (via ABC News)

After a Devastating Fall, A Terracotta Relief by Andrea della Robbia Has Been Repaired
In 2008, a terracotta relief by the Renaissance master Andrea della Robbia came loose from its perch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and shattered on the floor beneath. Luckily, the 15th-century artwork landed flat on its back, ensuring that all of its pieces remained within its frame. After more than five years of study and repair, the relief has been reassembled and is back on view in the museum’s European Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries. Click here to continue reading. (via The New York Times)

The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Has Been Slammed with a $65-Million Lawsuit
The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which was established by the artist himself in 1988, some ten months before his death, to protect his work, to advance his creative vision and to promote the causes he cared about, has been hit with a $65-million lawsuit. The suit was filed by Bobby Miller, a photographer and writer who claims to have taken a number of Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits from the 1970s, which have since been reproduced without his permission. Click here to continue reading. (via Artnet News)

A Magnificent Private Collection of Venetian Art Goes on Public View for the First Time
An illustrious collection of Venetian art assembled by the Italian industrialist and collector, Vittorio Cini, is currently on public view for the first time. Works by Titian, Francesco Guardi, Canaletto and Gianbattista Tiepolo will remain on view at the Palazzo Cini, Cini’s former residence in Venice, through November 15. During his lifetime, Cini also amassed  impressive collections of art from Tuscany and Ferrara. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)   

Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse Will Undergo Major Renovations
The Royal Collection in England has announced that two of the Queen’s residences—Windsor Castle in Berkshire and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh—will undergo a £37m revamp. The project aims to increase public access to the historic homes by creating new visitor and education centers at both residences. Click here to continue reading. (via The Guardian)

Mid Century Modern Design Masters: Milo Baughman
There’s something, dare we say, sexy about Milo Baughman’s furniture. Sleek and sophisticated, his innovative designs manage to be both beautiful and comfortable, cutting-edge and classic. A firm believer that design should be, above all else, functional and accessible, Baughman relied on bold proportions, rich materials and restrained forms to create his distinctive and utterly timeless aesthetic. Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)

Canada’s Arts and Culture Budget Gets a $1.4-Billion Boost
Canada’s recently released annual budget has a hefty $1.4 billion earmarked for the country’s arts and culture initiatives. The funds will be used over the next five years to foster Canadian creativity, both in the country and abroad. The investment will bolster a range of industries, including visual arts, radio, film, historic sites, and science, and technology. Click here to continue reading. (via Hyperallergic)

The Leopold Museum Settles a Long-Running Dispute Over Two Egon Schiele Watercolors
Vienna’s Leopold Museum will return two Nazi-looted watercolors by Egon Schiele to the heiress of their original owner. Eva Zirkl, 95, has been fighting for the works’ restitution for nearly twenty years. The two paintings originally belonged to the Austrian art dealer Karl Maylaender, who was deported to Poland in 1941 and then killed. Click here to continue reading.  (via Artnet News)

Manet’s Olympia Will Leave France for the Second Time in Its History
Edouard Manet’s Olympia, which caused quite a deal of controversy when it was unveiled at the Paris Salon in 1865, will leave France for the second time in its history. The painting, which hangs in the Musee D’Orsay, will go on view at the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow beginning April 19. The work will be exhibited alongside paintings by Paul Gauguin and Giulio Pippi, a student of Raphael and pioneer of the Mannerist style. Click here to continue reading. (via The Art Newspaper)

A Copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio Has Been Discovered in Scotland
A copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, one of the most sought-after books in the world, has been discovered in the library of Mount Stuart, an opulent 19th-century mansion on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. There are only about 230 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio—a compilation of thirty-six of his plays, including The Tempest and Macbeth—in existence. The work was discovered by Alice Martin, the head of collections for the Mount Stuart House Trust, while she was cataloguing the library’s holdings. Mount Stuart will publicly display its copy of the First Folio beginning April 23. Click here to continue reading. (via Smithsonian)

The Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show Debuts a New Name and Expanded Offerings
After a one-year hiatus, The Philadelphia Antiques Show is back with a few new tricks up its sleeve. Now known as the Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show, the seminal event’s new name reflects an increased focus on fine art. Diana Bittel, who is managing this year’s show alongside Karen and Ralph DiSaia, says, “We’ve renamed the show to reflect our shift towards art and the increased number of art dealers. We thought that it was something that the younger generation of collectors would be interested in.” Click here to continue reading. (via InCollect)