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COVENTRY.- The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum has had the honor of being nominated for the prestigious Guardian Family Friendly Museum award run by Kids in Museums*. Since its re-opening in October 2008, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum has strived to create an environment where the entire family is welcomed. Through FREE events, exhibitions, learning resources, free on-line activities and facilitator-led activities, the museum has welcomed thousands of children in family groups through its doors. Melanie Corner, Family Learning Officer said “It is fantastic that the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum has been recognized and listed for this award. All teams at the Herbert have worked really hard to make the museum as family friendly as possible. A lot of work goes into creating and delivering our successful and FREE family activities, events and exhibitions program to ensure that families have a great visit and come back

LONDON.- The two day Russian Art sale at Christie’s realized a total of £8,889,025 / $14,746,892 and was sold 82% by value and 70% by lot overall. The sale was highlighted by Nicholas Roerich’s (1874-1947) painting “Legend, From the Series Messiah”, painted in 1923 which sold for £993,250 / $1,647,802. A solid sell-through-rate of 80% for the picture section confirmed Christie’s dominance in this market. Further observations made throughout the two-day-sale were: • Fabergé was in high demand, especially rare works and those with distinguished provenance. A jewelled gold and guilloche enamel snuff

PARIS (AP).- The Louvre Museum and the royal palace at Versailles were closed Thursday because of a French museum workers’ strike that appears to be gathering steam. Frustrated tourists gathered outside the landmark pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre, blocked off by workers. They are protesting government plans not to replace half of retiring public servants, which will affect the country’s national museums. The strike began at the Pompidou Center for modern art last month and workers at other national museums joined in Wednesday. Union leaders met with Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand on Wednesday afternoon but won no concessions, and unions said the strike gained

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP).- Before he died 340 years ago, Rembrandt van Rijn lost his house, studio and most of his money. He even sold his wife’s grave to pay bills. Since then, he’s also been stripped of credit given to him for hundreds of drawings and paintings. Experts say many works, once believed to be Rembrandt’s, were done by students who would sit at his side, use the same model and come up with similar drawings or paintings. At one time, Rembrandt was credited with 611 paintings. In the 1930s, scholars said only about half were his. Now comes a study of about a thousand ink

By: Jean-Pierre Verges, Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP).- French police detained 12 people in a sweep of a respected Paris auction house Wednesday after finding a stolen Courbet painting worth euro900,000 ($1.3 million) at an employee’s house. Police raids on the Hotel Drouot, its warehouses and homes of employees uncovered other small artworks believed to have been stolen, a police official said. Twelve people — an auctioneer, eight commission agents and three of their family members — were detained and questioned Wednesday by investigators from the agency for fighting art trafficking. Two were later released, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named because the investigation is ongoing. The 2004 theft of the Courbet painting, “The Wave,” prompted a formal judicial inquiry. Police found it in the house of one of the commission agents, the official said. No other details, including about how and where the painting was stolen, were

MIAMI, FL.- From December 3 through 6, 2009, Miami Beach, Florida, will be home to the 8th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art show. More than 250 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa will take part. Chosen by renowned gallerists of the Art Basel Miami Beach Selection Committee, the galleries will show works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centu-ries. Special sectors are devoted to very recent artworks, curated exhibits, perfor-mance, and art in public spaces. This year, the layout of Art Basel Miami Beach will be extensively redesigned, including larger spaces for many galleries, and an innovative floorplan to improve the visitor experience inside the Miami Beach Convention Center. The Art Positions sector, focused on special projects by young artists and galleries, formerly situated at Collins Park, will now be sited in the center of the

BROOKLYN, NY.- An installation of more than 170 objects selected from the Brooklyn Museum’s world-famous holdings of ancient Egyptian material explores the complex rituals related to the practice of mummification and the Egyptian belief that the body must be preserved in order to ensure eternal life. “The Mummy Chamber” will open at the Brooklyn Museum on May 5 and will remain on long-term view. Included in the installation will be a portion of the nearly 26-foot-long papyrus Book of the Dead of Sobekmose, acquired in 1937 never before on public view,