“A basketball-player-size wooden idol that allegedly escaped destruction by the Spanish conquistadors is real — but it may not be quite what people suspected. The statue is even older than thought, and may have been worshipped by the people who came before the Inca. And belying the grisly lore that surrounds it, the so-called Pachacamac idol was painted with cinnabar, not drenched in blood, the researchers found.” – Live Science
Category: visual
Bird Killers – Our Glass Buildings
All told, glass buildings are responsible for up to one billion bird deaths in the United States each year. At a time when two-thirds of North American birds are in danger of extinction from climate change, it’s no exaggeration to say that glass architecture is a threat to life on Earth. Yet buildings sheathed in smooth glass walls continue to go up, not because they are cheaper to construct or better from an architectural standpoint, but because they embody modern luxury. – The New Republic
Jewels Stolen From Dresden’s Green Vault Are Turning Up On The Dark Web
“The thieves who stole priceless jewels from the Dresden Green Vault treasury at the end of last year are allegedly trying to sell some of the loot on the dark web. Investigators from an Israeli security company claim they made contact with the criminals online, but authorities in Germany say it has received no evidence of the ransom demand.” – artnet
When Piet Mondrian Painted Landscapes
“Decades before becoming New York’s Pied Piper for nonobjective art, he had established a reputation in Europe for navigating and remaking realism in his own image.” – Hyperallergic
Is This The Earliest Drawing Of Venice?
Friar Niccolò da Poggibonsi took notes on gesso tablets while he traveled, and when he returned to Venice in 1350, wrote down his full firsthand account. The oldest manuscript of the work and its illustrations, titled Libro d’Oltramare, now resides in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence. – Smithsonian
Notre Dame Cathedral’s Roof, Destroyed By Fire, Should Be Rebuilt In Wood, Says Top French Architect
“Eric Wirth, vice president of the Guild of French Architects, … forcefully argued that wood — rather than concrete, material, or other materials that have been suggested — was the most ecological and structurally sound material during at a hearing at the National Assembly this week. …’If the structure had been made of steel, there would be no cathedral to speak of today,’ he said. In a fire, ‘iron holds for half an hour, an hour, and then writhes, pulls on the walls and collapses everything.'” – artnet
Could The Walls Of Notre-Dame Cathedral Really Collapse? Yes, It’s Quite Possible
Says the former master builder (i.e., chief preservation officer) of Cologne Cathedral, “The risk of further collapse is quite realistic. The vault is unlikely to collapse as a whole, but more parts could come down. What most people don’t realize is that heat can also damage stone. Intense heat dissolves — simply put — the structure of the stone.” What’s more, the scaffolding that was in use for a restoration project before last April’s catastrophic blaze “was completely welded into place by the intense heat generated by the fire” and the stone walls could be damaged further as that scaffolding is removed. – Deutsche Welle
Director Ousted At Erie Art Museum Following High-Profile Reports Of Sexual Harassment
Just one business day after articles were published detailing accusations that he propositioned subordinates in Erie, Pa. and in his previous post at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and after a petition demanding his ouster attracted hundreds of co-signers over the weekend, 31-year-old Joshua Helmer is “no longer employed at the Erie Art Museum,” according to a brief statement on the museum’s Facebook page. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
News Reports Of Joshua Helmer’s Behavior ‘Barely Scratched The Surface’, Say Philadelphia Museum Of Art Staffers
A statement signed by hundreds of current and former employees says that “the reporting in the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer seems to barely scratch the surface of the abuses perpetrated by this man.” Helmer, who left the Philadelphia Museum abruptly in 2018 and was later banned from the building, has been ousted as director of the Erie (Pa.) Art Museum in the wake of those reports. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Here Is Some Of The Art That Entered Public Domain Last Week
A tour of some of the many paintings created in 1924. – Hyperallergic