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[Editor's note: The following articles are published in American and British newspapers and magazines. The H-MUSEUM NEWS DIGEST service is made available by the editorial staff of H-Museum <[log in to unmask]>.]

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H-MUSEUM NEWS DIGEST (USA, UK)
February 14 - February 20, 2005

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-- February 14
++ American newspapers
Picking Up the Stolen Pieces of Iraq's Cultural Heritage
In 2003, a marine at an American military base in southern Iraq bought eight carved stones from a trinket vendor for several hundred dollars. When he returned to New York, he took the stones to an archaeology professor at Columbia University, who concluded they were ancient artifacts, some dating back 5,000 years (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/international/middleeast/14artifact.html

Obituary: Fritz Scholder, Painter of American Indians, Dies at 67 Fritz Scholder, an American expressionist painter and sculptor whose "Indian" series of paintings in the 1960's and 70's reimagined the depiction of Native Americans, died on Thursday in Phoenix. He was 67 and lived in Scottsdale, Ariz (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/arts/design/14scholder.html

++ British newspapers
Churchill for the 21st century
Toil, tears and technology in a bunker in London: The Churchill Museum, constructed in the Cabinet War Rooms (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/13/features/church.html

Who now will save our museums?
On Wednesday, the Science Museum will be closed because of a strike, but staff say this is about more than wages - it is about a lack of funding that threatens the future of all our museums (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1411583,00.html

Churchill's dentures go on show
The bones of an Irish giant and Winston Churchill's dentures are just some of the exhibits in a display opening on Saturday at a London museum. Up to 3,500 exhibits from the radical surgeon John Hunter make up the show at the Hunterian Museum, part of the Royal College of Surgeons (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4232965.stm


-- February 15
++ American newspapers
For Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens, Was It De-Lovely?
The scientists did not get around to the nitty-gritty question until the fourth hour of a two-and-a-half-day symposium on Neanderthals, held recently at New York University. A strong consensus was emerging, they agreed, that the now-extinct Neanderthals were a distinct evolutionary entity from modern humans, presumably a different species. They were archaic members of the human family, robust with heavy brow ridges and forward-projecting faces, who lived in Europe and western Asia from at least 250,000 years ago until they vanished from the fossil record about 28,000 years ago (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/science/15nean.html

Marine's Iraq Keepsakes Are Looted Relics
A Marine who brought home souvenirs from Iraq has turned them over to authorities after learning they were looted from an archaeological site (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/15/national/a121445S11.DTL

Museum Won't Clone Tasmanian Tiger
An Australian museum said Tuesday it has abandoned a project to clone a Tasmanian Tiger _ the extinct, wolf-like striped creature that carried its young in a pouch. The Australian Museum began research in 1999 to clone the tiger from cells of a pup found preserved in formaldehyde in a museum in the island state of Tasmania. The museum said the project had ended because the preservative had degenerated the DNA samples (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/15/international/i115153S84.DTL

++ British newspapers
Art tax to 'force sales overseas'
Britain's expanding contemporary art market is likely to lose out to the US when a new levy comes into effect next year, according to a report (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4267275.stm


-- February 16
++ American newspapers
Caught Up in the Aura of a Senegalese Saint
Listen, if you haven't yet, to the great pop stars of Senegal: Youssou N'Dour, Cheikh Lo, Baaba Maal. You'll adore what you hear and discover what they have in common, like the hustle and ping of their sound, etched with koras and horns. The other is what they sing about: transfixing passion, not for earthly lovers but for the holy men, marabouts, the Sufi saints of Islam. Theirs is a Higher Love, so high it's out of sight (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/arts/design/16sufi.html

Major Gifts of Cash and Art for Texas Museums
In a shower of philanthropy valued at some $400 million, the Dallas Museum of Art on Tuesday announced a series of cash gifts and art bequests from leading collectors that will enrich the museum's holdings by more than 800 Modern and contemporary works, including those by masters like Monet, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/arts/design/16gift.html

An eye for detail
Victorian photographer Roger Fenton is the subject of an outstanding retrospective at the Getty (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-fenton16feb16,2,3275969.story?coll=cl-art

Dallas Museum of Art Receiving Collections
Three extensive art collections, a house designed by award-winning architect Richard Meier and a painting by Monet valued at $25 million are being donated to the Dallas Museum of Art (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/16/entertainment/e140609S43.DTL

Institute revives classical interest but not all are hailing its comeback Modern vs. traditional continues The early 1990s did not seem the moment for a revival in classical architecture. On the contrary, from Manhattan to Berlin, museums, hotels, developers and wealthy individuals were clamoring to sign up Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel and other celebrity modernists, hoping that the style and substance of radical design would lure visitors and buyers in droves (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/16/HOG4HBAKNC1.DTL

What's the avant-garde up to? Ask Martin Muller. His S.F. gallery leads the way in Modernism Modernism Inc. gallery owner Martin Muller knew he was on to something as the first to exhibit Andy Warhol's work in San Francisco in 1982. The deal was sealed at the Factory in New York City, over a lunch arranged by Muller's stepsister, Diane von Furstenberg, whose portrait Warhol had painted. Warhol, in his white nylon wig and pink glasses, "kept saying 'groovy' to everything I was saying,'' Muller recalled (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/16/DDGNFBATLC1.DTL

12,000-Year-Old Bones Found in Kansas
Scientists say mammoth and camel bones unearthed in northwest Kansas that date back 12,200 years could be part of "one of the most important archaeological sites in North America" (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/15/state/n114928S83.DTL

++ British newspapers
Museum in Jerusalem exhibits Holocaust horrors anew
The Holocaust is the cornerstone of the Israeli state, and Yad Vashem is its guardian. Soldiers and schoolchildren are bused here for a somber indoctrination; foreign dignitaries must pay a hushed visit and lay a wreath; Jews in the diaspora come in their thousands, to be reminded why a Jewish state exists (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/15/features/memory.html

Science museum closed by pay strike
One of London's most popular museums will be closed today and two others elsewhere in the country will offer reduced attractions because of a pay strike by workers, timed to hit the school half-term holidays (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1415740,00.html

Fingerprint puts Leonardo in the frame
Art historians had always detected the style of Leonardo da Vinci in the mysterious painting Adoration of the Christ Child, which is regarded as a gem of the Renaissance (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1415335,00.html

Museum closed by pay strike
One of London's most popular museums will be closed today and two others elsewhere in the country will offer reduced attractions because of a pay strike by workers, timed to hit the school half-term holidays (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,,1415740,00.html

Museum brings exhibits to Belfast
A new WW2 exhibition, designed and managed by the Imperial War Museum, is being launched in Belfast (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4272433.stm


-- February 17
++ American newspapers
In a City of Ads, 'The Gates' Promote Nothing, Except Maybe the Artists That may be one of the greatest gifts of "The Gates" to New York City: a sponsor-free public installation in Central Park. At a time when the civic realm is blanketed with corporate promotion, from lampposts to landmarks, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude have shown that it is possible to hang 1,067,330 square feet of nylon in the heart of Manhattan - almost 50 acres of potential display space - without a slogan, trademark or logo (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/nyregion/17blocks.html

Young Critics See 'The Gates' and Offer Their Reviews: Mixed Yesterday morning, unusually balmy for February, the gentle slopes north of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park resembled a giant schoolyard. Swarms of students were led to "The Gates" by their teachers, to observe, to draw, to meditate - and in many cases to pontificate - on the meaning of art and nature (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/arts/design/17kids.html

Cooper-Hewitt Proposes $75 Million Expansion
Seeking a higher profile and more visitors, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is proposing a $75 million expansion that would create three new floors beneath the spacious gated garden of its home, the landmark Carnegie Mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/arts/design/17coop.html

Culturally, Berlin Is Ascending, if Slowly
It was easy for culture to be overlooked amid the heady events after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet once the city was reunited and was again the capital of a single Germany, culture took on new importance here. With many Europeans and not a few Germans worried that Berlin would soon emerge as a political powerhouse, culture was a far more appealing way of proclaiming the city's rebirth (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/arts/design/17ridi.html

Arts funding study causes stir
After wading through stacks of economic and educational studies used to drum up arts funding, Rand Corp. researchers say the numbers don't make a persuasive case and that arts advocates should emphasize intrinsic benefits that make people cherish the arts. The Rand report, "Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts," issued Tuesday, says that trumpeting the most quantifiable and utilitarian benefits doesn't address the biggest long-term challenge facing arts organizations: cultivating an arts-savvy public that wants what museums and performing groups offer (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/17/DDG66BCA811.DTL

Convicted museum boss still quibbling
He wants to change law that he violated: More than a year after he was convicted of violating a federal endangered species law, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lawrence M. Small is still negotiating with the Justice Department over exactly what kind of "community service" he must perform as part of his sentence (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/17/MNG7EBCPRQ1.DTL

Archaeologists Find Ancient Pueblo Site
A 600-year-old pueblo is buried under Santa Fe's City Hall, its convention center, the parking lot they share and nearby federal buildings. An archaeology report by the Museum of New Mexico's Office of Archaeological Studies confirmed what Santa Fe historians and archaeologists long suspected. The report will be submitted to the city's archaeological review committee Thursday (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/16/national/a184218S16.DTL

++ British newspapers
Obituary: Mildred Archer
Pioneer expert on, and collector of, Indian painting under the Raj. The works that attracted her interest were paintings made by Indian artists for Europeans during the 18th and 19th centuries, and also works by European artists under Indian patronage. Paintings for Europeans illuminated aspects of Indian life that were hardly represented in indigenous traditions of Indian painting (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/obituary/0,,1416117,00.html

The complete Caravaggio part two
Jonathan Jones continues his quest to see all of the master painter Caravaggio's known works in the build-up to the National Gallery's exhibition Caravaggio: The Final Years (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1415929,00.html

Pay strike shuts Science Museum to half-term crowds
Very few visitors seemed to have heard that the Science Museum was closed yesterday because of a strike. Curators, conservators, managers and security guards at the museum voted in favour of industrial action a fortnight ago in protest at a 2.5% pay offer and cost-cutting measures (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1416332,00.html

National Gallery is favourite museum
The home of some of the nation's most beloved art treasures was boosted by a 13.75% increase in visitors in 2004 (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1416317,00.html

National Gallery is in the pink
The National Gallery, home to some of the UK's greatest artworks, has seen a big jump in visitor numbers (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4273137.stm

City's gallery plans in jeopardy
Plans to abandon a multi-million-pound overhaul of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry have been criticised by arts groups across the city (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4272919.stm


-- February 18
++ American newspapers
A Sleeping Dog Comes Out of Hiding
A tiny painting of a napping dog by the 17th-century Dutch master Gerrit Dou, which has not been published since 1908 and has never been publicly exhibited, is expected to be the star of Christie's sale of old master paintings in New York on May 25. For decades the 7-by-9-inch canvas, "A Sleeping Dog Beside a Terra-Cotta Jug, a Basket and a Pile of Kindling Wood" (1650), hung in the bedroom of Nelda C. Stark, a collector and philanthropist in Orange, Tex., who died in 1999 (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18voge.html

A Brazen Visionary With a Surreal Self
The Philadelphia Museum of Art's retrospective of the work of Salvador Dalí, the megalomaniacal Surrealist painter and every teenager's favorite artist, is a visual and psychic marathon. It fills 20 galleries, many quite large, with nearly 200 works of art, many quite small and so stupefyingly detailed that they require close study. At times, as one gallery follows another, the show begins to feel like a Surrealist labyrinth. Be prepared to catch a good case of Dalí delirium (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18smit.html

The Cars Aren't Really Exploding, but the Terrorist Metaphor Is Not every museum has space the size of a football field to allot to a one-person show. But at Mass MoCA, the rambling factory-turned-art center here, Building 5 is where an artist can get carried away. With its several rooms, including a main gallery 300 feet long, 55 feet wide and 28 feet high, it has, like a big movie soundstage, a voracious appetite for spectaculars. And the museum's staff seeks them out, sometimes commissioning works especially for the space, at other times taking shows already put together (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18mass.html

Varied Phases of Damien Hirst (Sliced-Up Cow Not Included)
A Selection of Works by Damien Hirst From Various Collections," at the Museum of Fine Arts here, is a perfect introduction to the art and enterprise of the famously controversial British artist whose intentions are perhaps still unclear even to people familiar with his work (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18hirs.html

Seen Through a Lens Truly, Before the Kodak Brownie
Judging from "First Seen: Photographs of the World's Peoples, 1840-1880" at the Dahesh Museum of Art, the whole 19th-century universe was waiting for photography to happen. In those four decades after the camera was born, photo ops were multitudinous and multicultura (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18dahe.html

A Collector Who Appreciated Arts and Crafts' Directness
Some of the world's most serious collectors become collectors almost by accident. Consider Max Palevsky, the computer industry pioneer, activist for campaign finance reform, Hollywood film producer, philanthropist and art collector. Nonetheless, for the past 30 years he has been buying fine examples of Arts and Crafts furniture, which can now be seen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in "The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and
America: 1880-1920," an exhibition that runs through April 3 (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/arts/design/18anti.html

Exhibit Charts Spanish Exploration
In 1493, before Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas, Queen Isabella wrote the explorer asking for a map that described the geography he saw. Over the next three centuries, Spain learned much more about the Americas, as seen in a new exhibit at the Norton Museum, through May 1. "Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492-1819" features more than 130 priceless paintings, sculptures, tapestries, scientific instruments and other objects. Many of the items have never before left Spain. A few, including an enormous 17th-century crucifix kept in a monastery's private chapel, have never been seen by the public (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/02/18/entertainment/e131026S19.DTL

++ British newspapers
Through the looking-glass: how a mirror explains the secrets of a masterpiece After more than three centuries of speculation, researchers have at last unlocked the secrets of one of the world's most mysterious paintings. And in the greatest tradition of all illusionist puzzles, it was all done with a mirror. biblical scholar, Professor Philip Esler of St Andrews University, and the Amsterdam-based artist Jane Boyd worked together for five years to shed light Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, which was completed by the Spanish master Diego Velázquez when he was just 19. The 17th-century work hangs in the National Gallery in London, where it is classed as a "puzzling painting" (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=612203

£10m WWII exhibition goes on tour
A £10m nationwide exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II has gone on tour. The year-long project, entitled Their Past, Your Future, has been put together by the Imperial War Museum and is said to be the largest of its kind (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4273091.stm


-- February 19
++ American newspapers
Museum Puts 'Da Vinci Code' on Trial in Leonardo's Hometown
Art experts and conservative clerics are holding an unusual ``trial'' in Leonardo da Vinci's hometown aimed at sorting out fact from fiction in the ``The Da Vinci Code'' after many readers took the smash hit novel as gospel truth. The event in Vinci, just outside of Florence, began Friday with an opening statement by Alessandro Vezzosi, director of a Leonardo museum. He said he will produce photographs and documents as evidence of the mistakes and historical inaccuracies contained in Dan Brown's best seller (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/19/international/europe/19italy.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Da-Vinci-Code-Questioned.html

Every family's old photo album tells a story, but Duane Cramer lets his tell African American history It's not hard to figure out where Duane Cramer got his talent for photography. Cramer has lovingly restored and collected photographs of five generations of his family that are now on exhibit at one of the San Francisco Airport museums (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/19/DDGSHBDGF51.DTL

++ British newspapers
'Matys? Mathis? Qui?'
When Hilary Spurling first visited Matisse's birthplace, the locals either didn't know who he was or called him the village idiot. Now he's their proudest possession (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1417765,00.html

Iron age necklace discovered
An amateur archaeologist using a 30-year-old metal detector has discovered a rare golden necklace from the iron age buried in a local farmer's field (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,,1417263,00.html


-- February 20
++ American newspapers
The Museum With the Mostest
he art-lovers came - and so did the party-planners. Since its reopening last November, the Museum of Modern Art has proved as irresistible to the people who plan glamorous events as a name-brand goody bag (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/arts/design/20ryzi.html

Armored Vehicles That Ran on Oats
Armor is romantic. It suggests adventure, bravery and, thanks to legend, the rescue of countless damsels threatened by fierce beasts like dragons, or men. And don't forget chivalry, a kind of manners for the Middle Ages, which is said to be still alive though rarely observed (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/arts/design/20gran.html

Art Houses
A collaborative arts residency comes of age at Montalvo Arts Center (San Francisco Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/20/CMGIVAVGR21.DTL

++ British newspapers
Los Angeles gets major Islamic art display
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art inaugurates its installation of the Madina Collection this month (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11721

Government knew Nigerian gift to Queen was expropriated treasure The Foreign Office was informed that the bronze head had been taken from the Lagos Museum (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11720

Dams in Iran: reprieve for some, no time left for others Archaeologists in the Bulaghi valley have been given more time to survey the site before it is submerged. Their colleagues elsewhere are not so lucky (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11719

Retrospectives boost Flavin but damaged Rauschenberg in 1998
As Flavin's survey continues its US run, recent record prices for the artist show how exhibitions affect the market (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11718

Sting operation in Paraguay recovers paintings by Esteban Vicente Close US-Latin-American collaboration behind the success (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11717

French museums: New man at the top
After five months without a director, the Réunion des Musées nationaux (RMN), the government body which organises exhibitions, publishes catalogues and acquires works of art for 30 of France's top national museums, finally has a new man at the helm: Thomas Grenon (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/

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