Hera Gallery

I was ambient listening to NPR this morning as I was in the gallery work on some emails... I heard a story on Here and Now that peaked my interest. Apparently, the University of Iowa may be forced by their state legislators to sell a $140 million Jackson Pollock painting that was gifted to the school in the 50's in order to fun future art scholarships. Although I support scholarships for students, and think that financial assistantship is an important aide, it doesn't seem that the sale would reflect kindly upon the University's opinion of the arts. The legislators should consider the paintings value to be more than just a portable asset. Iowa Lawmakers Move To Sell Pollock Painting To Fund Scholarships (University of Iowa Museum of Art, Gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 1959.6) Iowa legislators are considering a bill that would force the University of Iowa to sell its Jackson Pollock “Mural” painting , valued at $140 million, which was donated to the state-owned...

This is a very sad story, from the Associated Press : A lone thief stole five paintings possibly worth hundreds of millions of euros, including major works by Picasso and Matisse, in a brazen overnight heist at a Paris modern art museum, police and prosecutors said Thursday. The paintings disappeared early Thursday from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower. Investigators have cordoned off the museum, in one of the French capital's most tourist-frequented neighborhoods. The museum's security system was disabled, and a single masked intruder was caught on a video surveillance camera, according to Christophe Girard, deputy culture secretary at Paris City Hall. Investigators are trying to determine whether the intruder was operating alone, Girard told reporters. He said three guards were on duty overnight but "they saw nothing." The intruder entered by cutting a padlock on a gate and breaking a museum window, the Paris prosecuto...