February 4, 2008

Australia
has handed a 526-year-old map back to Spain, the Australian Associated
Press reports. The map, which dates back to 1482 and was stolen last
year from the National Library of Spain, is from a rare edition of an
atlas known as the Cosmographia, prepared by 15th century cartographers
using the calculations of the second-century Greek astronomer and
geographer Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Last
August, thieves took the map, along with 14 other rare documents, from
the library, and the map, estimated to be worth about $145,000, passed
through the hands of dealers in Argentina, London, and New York before
it ended up in a Sydney art gallery, where it was recovered during an
investigation by Interpol and the Australian Federal Police. A
Uruguayan-born researcher, Cesar Gomez Rivero, is being held in
Argentina and has been charged with the theft of the maps. "It is a
great moment for Spain and, I would say for all Spaniards," said
National Library of Spain director Milagros del Corral. "We all have
lived this as a real mutilation of our heritage." (Artinfo, February 4,2008)

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Saatchi Buys "Candy-Colored" Himmler Portrait

Charles Saatchi has paid about $5,940 for a Jasper Joffe portrait of
Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi who planned the Holocaust, for a new gallery
he is opening in Chelsea, London, this spring, the London Times reports.
Saatchi bought the painting from Joffe’s exhibition "Beauty Show" at
London’s V22 Gallery, in which paintings of Nazis and scantily clad
models are juxtaposed in a concept the 32-year-old artist calls
"fashism." "It’s meant as a satirical exaggeration of the idea of
sexist male artists looking at women," said Joffe, whose father is
Jewish. London’s Whitechapel Gallery has withdrawn promotional support
for the show. (Artinfo, February 4, 2008)

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New York:

-Martyn Jones at Robert Steele Gallery, www.Robertsteelegallery.com
– “Enigmatic Visions” at Agora Gallery   www.Agora-Gallery.com  
-“Jasper Johns: Gray” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
– Ann Marie Rousseau: Interior Light, 6-8 pm at Soho Photo Gallery  
www.sohophoto.com

National:

-Eric Zammit: Acrylic Constructions at Scott Richards Contemporary Art,
San Francisco, CA       www.srcart.com

International:

– Sigmar Polke ‘Uran & Interferenzen’ at Springer and Winkler
Galerie, Berlin, Germany       www.springer-winckler.de