The Week’s Muse: 5 April

Could the art world do more to address the issue of looted and stolen art? The question has been in the news this week, with several high-profile restitution stories reported in the mainstream media and further developments in the Cornelius Gurlitt case.

Lost, rediscovered, and returned

An allegedly looted Shiva statue at the National Gallery of Australia looks likely to be returned to India. Cornelius Gurlitt will also return items from his notorious hoard, but more have recently been discovered.

Italy’s cultural heritage

In this month’s Editor’s Letter, Thomas Marks asks how Italy can better protect its collections and cultural sites. A prescient question, given recent incidents at Pompeii.

Vanity projects?

Digby Warde-Aldam thinks Boris Johnson’s plan to rebuild the Crystal Palace on Sydenham Hill is ‘ludicrous’, and Jonathan McAloon comments on Francesco Vezzoli’s thwarted attempt to rebuild an Italian church at MoMA PS1 in New York.

Flipping and the ethics of the art market

Is flipping art at auction an acceptable practice? And should we be preserving the traditional art market structures, or moving on and finding new ways to value and distribute art? Jerry Saltz and Stefan Simchowitz’s opinionated articles have fanned the debate.