Artworks seized from MET, Hause and Wirth new gallery, and seized antiquities in UK

A SUMMARY OF THE MOST EXCITING ART NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

While we focus on Indian art, we can’t obviously function in a vacuum. It’s a small world and everything is connected, especially on the web. So, let’s train our spotlight across the world map to see what’s going on — from art trends to socio-political issues to everything that affects the great aesthetic global consciousness. Or, let’s just travel the world and have some fun!

Ancient Egyptian artworks seized from MET

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has confiscated five valuable Egyptian artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a part of an ongoing investigation into an international trafficking ring. The DA’s office seized the antiques late last month as the objects constituted evidence of criminal possession of stolen property. Four of the antiques are connected to Roben Dib, a German-Lebanese art dealer who, along with Paris-based dealer Christophe Kunicki, is accused of falsifying documents to traffic hundreds of artifacts from the Near and Middle East. The objects seized includes a Fayum mummy portrait dating back more than 1900 years to Nero’s reign as emperor, a collection of linen fragments from an Exodus painting between 250 and 450 CE, a painting of a face from wooden coffin from around 945 to 712 BCE and two limestones’ steles, one from around 1750 to 1720 BCE and other from 690 to 650 BCE. Artnet news reports.

New location for Hauser and Wirth gallery

The mega gallery Hauser and Wirth that till now had 14 exhibition spaces spread across Switzerland, the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Spain and Monaco is going to have its 15^th location in Paris. The new space will open next year in a 19^th century hotel, spanning some 8600 square feet across four floors. Luis Laplace is going to restore the location’s previous 20-foot-tall ceilings on the ground floor. In a statement quoted in Art News Iwan Wirth, the gallery’s cofounder, said, “We have made no secret that we have been looking for the perfect home for Hauser & Wirth in Paris for some years and I’m delighted that the search is now over. We have a deep respect for the incredible cultural community in Paris. The city’s importance for artists is undisputed over the centuries and we look forward to adding to this rich history.” Art news elaborates the news.

Antiquities seized in UK to be unveiled at The British Museum

The British Museum will unveil a collection of Ukrainian antiquities that has been seized in the UK last year. The early medieval jewellery was illegally acquired and exported from Ukraine. The trafficked haul will be exhibited in London, until it can be safely returned to Kyiv. The 86 recovered metalwork antiquities include pendant crosses, dating from the 11th to 14th centuries, which are local copies of Byzantine prototypes. Disc pendants with a cross of a similar period, showing the influence of Christianity, are part of the hoard. The objects will now be put on display in room 53 of the British Museum until it is logistically safe for them to be returned to Ukraine. Read more on Art Newspaper.