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Author Archives: Milton Esterow
Are Museum Trustees Out of Step?
For all the talk about educating museum directors in the new challenges of the job, many say board members could use some training as well. Read More
‘The Scream,’ the Thief, and the 2 Million M&M’s
Stolen masterpieces are priceless and worthless at the same time—they’re too hot to sell, and have limited use as collateral. But one criminal tried to use them to sweeten his sentence. Read More
55,000 Signatures and Counting
Starting with the Old Masters and continuing through the present, John Castagno has documented signatures, monograms, and initials—most of them readable, some of them strange or illegible—and published them in ten books. Read More
The 2006 Top 10 Collectors
“Collectors are suffering from cognitive dissonance,” said Stephen A. Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul and one of the world’s top art collectors. “They’re struggling intellectually. They know that their paintings are worth more than they paid for them and … Read More
‘Fools, Show-offs, and Trophy Hunters’
The art thieves in western Europe, says one expert, are mainly the Balkan Bandits. Read More
The 2005 Top Ten Collectors
“In the history of art, as in more materialistic matters, money talks vividly,” Alfred H. Barr Jr., the Museum of Modern Art’s founding director, wrote in 1929. “Let us not be ashamed to listen.” “Well said,” Eli Broad, the financier … Read More
The 10 Most Faked Artists
Back in 1940 Newsweek reported that out of 2,500 paintings produced by Corot, 7,800 were in the United States. In 1953 ARTnewsstated that there was a “saying in France that Corot painted 2,000 canvases, 5,000 of which are in America.” … Read More
The 2004 Top Ten Collectors
A top collector should have three things, says a knowledgeable observer of the things top collectors should have: 1. Deep pockets. 2. Big closets. 3. No memory. Deep pockets? Big closets? That’s easy. How come no memory? “Say, for example, … Read More
The 2003 Top Ten Collectors
Our annual list of the world’s top collectors—plus the Top Ten. Read More
