"There are now three lawsuits claiming that Leigh Keno or Leslie Keno and/or one of their companies have not paid their auction house bills."

Details in the Maine Antique Digest here.  At least one involves allegations of shill bidding. Background here.

"That I would be able to ever pronounce these words is something I had no longer dared to hope for." (UPDATED)

NYT:  2 van Gogh Paintings Stolen From Amsterdam Are Recovered in Italy.

UPDATE:  Jonathan Jones:  Gangsters' use of paintings as currency shows a profound belief in art.

Met lays off 34 employees (UPDATED)

Story here.

UPDATE:  There's also this:  "The museum also expects to reduce the number of annual exhibitions over the next few years, perhaps to 40 from 55."  That's fine; just remember it's a choice.

Michael Rushton on whether museums should provide free admission

Self-recommending (even without the interesting detour into deaccessioning).

"Are museums for sale?"

A big thank you to the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee of the International Bar Association for including me as a panelist in yesterday's session:  Are museums for sale? The role of the private collector and corporate sponsor.  (I was on Panel 1 -- "Will de-accessioning be the new normal?"  To which my basic response was/is:  isn't it already the new normal?  Haven't we been told it shouldn't be such a touchy subject?)

"[Negishi] has intervened in some areas of my paintings, but the intellectual authorship of the works is mine."

Via Clancco, news of a co-authorship claim in Spain by a former studio assistant of the artist Antonio de Felipe.  I don't know what the story is in Spain, but the problem with this sort of claim under U.S. law is that co-authorship requires that the parties intended to be recognized as co-authors, and that's obviously not the case in most artist-studio assistant situations.

Getty Images moves to dismiss Highsmith lawsuit

Story here.  Background here.