In this Issue
Inside the Art Market
A special section. Our reporters go behind the scenes at the salerooms and galleries to find out who’s buying what–in fields ranging from contemporary and modern art to photography and antiquities–and why. Also, Ann Landi examines the inexact science of setting a value on art; Paul Jeromack reports on the rise and fall and rise of 19th-century Salon painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau, whose maudlin compositions are today considered great bargains; and Paul Gardner cracks the secret codes of auction signals
The Las Vegas Louvre?
Where can you find 2,500 slot machines–and $300 million worth of art? Barbara Pollack brings our readers to Bellagio, Steve Wynn’s opulent new casino
The China Syndrome
Spencer P. M. Harrington investigates counterfeiters who are confounding the experts–and flooding the market–with sophisticated fakes of classic Chinese artworks
Departments
Art Talk
Damien Hirst’s new restaurant, Mariah Carey mixes architectural site and sounds in her new video, and more
National News
Protests from preservationists and the public stop the sale of a beloved Maxfield Parrish mural in Philadelphia. A settlement is reached in dispute over a Degas painting claimed by Holocaust victims. Plus Art Market, In Brief, and more
International News
Sweden is divided over a show of photos of male teens–and by the fact that neo-Nazis tore it down. Michelangelo’s Florentine Pietà goes digital. In Brief and more
City Focus: Cologne
The cheerfully idiosyncratic city on the Rhine is redefining its identity with renovation, innovation, and provocation. German correspondent David Galloway reports
Looking at Art
Author Francine Prose considers Brassaï’s Streetwalker, 1932, an image that expresses both fascination and empathy
Books
Mark Polizzotti reviews Ian Gibson’s The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí; Michael Ybarra on Suzanne Muchnic’s Odd Man In: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture
Perspective
Editor and publisher Milton Esterow reflects on a new biography of Norton Simon that captures his love of art and the art of the deal
Reviews
Our far-flung critics assess exhibitions in New York; Los Angeles; Venice, CA; San Francisco; Chicago; Santa Fe; Morristown, NJ; Wainscott, NY; Barcelona; Buenos Aires; Paris; Berlin; and Zurich