Here's a roundup of some of the things we missed over the holiday break:
- The LA Times's Diane Haithman spoke with MOCA's new chief executive, Charles Young, and reported that one of the things he will do is "oversee the museum’s cooperation with the California attorney general’s office, which is looking into the museum's finances following news reports that MOCA had used restricted funds to cover general operating expenses. 'I talked to some of the members of the board about the situation, and it appears that they sought approval of the donors of the restricted gifts to do this before they did it.... I really don’t know enough about the facts to say more than that,' Young said. 'The fact that they are looking into it doesn’t mean any wrong has been done.'"
- A sculpture was stolen from Bernie Madoff's Palm Beach property . . . and then returned, with a note attached: "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners. Signed by - The Educators."
- Speaking of Madoff, the Art Market Monitor notices Sotheby's CEO Bill Ruprecht telling the Wall Street Journal that he has spoken with “lots” of collectors who invested with Madoff: "I have clients for whom art is the sole liquid asset they own today," he says.
- Thirty works, including an etching by Picasso and prints by Matisse and Braque, were stolen from a Berlin gallery. "The police said that the theft was discovered on New Year’s Day, and that it was probably committed by two or more people, given the weight and number of pieces that were stolen."
- Glenn Reynolds calls for federal civil rights legislation to protect photographers' rights (because there are "too many situations" where "idiot security officers violate the law").
